Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

Robert_in_NY · Apr 15, 2017

No picture but coming home from picking up my grandfather's Massey Ferguson 135 I saw a truck pulled over on the side of route 39. His boat trailer came off the hitch and was resting on the road. Safety chains kept it behind him thankfully.

TomSeller · Apr 16, 2017

Robert_in_NY said:
picking up my grandfather's Massey Ferguson 135.

picture of the 135?

Midniteoyl · Apr 16, 2017

TomSeller said:
picture of the 135?

He was hauling it correctly

Robert_in_NY · Apr 16, 2017

TomSeller said:
picture of the 135?

Sorry, didn't get one.

3930dave · Apr 16, 2017

Robert_in_NY said:
No picture but coming home from picking up my grandfather's Massey Ferguson 135 I saw a truck pulled over on the side of route 39. His boat trailer came off the hitch and was resting on the road. Safety chains kept it behind him thankfully.

I helped a guy out front of an auto-parts store last Summer, as I saw at a glance what the wiring problem was on his trailer.

I also pointed out to him that he needed at least a captive pin in his trailer coupler latch. He didn't forget, he didn't know. I'll give him credit; he listened, thanked me, and went inside and bought a latching pin. He did have this chains attached already, and IIRC, crossed.

Hot day, mini-van full of whining kids, with a pop-up tent trailer on behind. We all face distractions every day, but there is also a tremendous lack of basic trailer-safety knowledge out there....

Rgds, D.

BigBlue1 · Apr 16, 2017

Was at Menards yesterday and saw a real doozy. No pics, but it was a guy in a Ford Expedition SUV pulling a short snowmobile trailer. The hitch on the SUV was way too high and/or the load was way too far back because the trailer was tilted up in the front about 1 foot higher than the rear. He had a mixture of 4x4 16' treated posts (this is on a trailer about 8' long), some other 16' boards like 2x4s, some plywood and about 1 foot thick of what looked like hog wire fence panels which were strangely loaded about as far back as they could be without actually falling off. Almost all of it loaded way too far back, actually, which is what happens when you try to haul 16' boards on a 8' trailer. The long boards were almost dragging on the ground behind the trailer. Trailer tires were both looking really underinflated or overloaded. If he got out to the highway with that it was going to be in the ditch within the first mile.

Later I saw him after he left the yard area and was out in the main parking lot re-doing the load. Tried putting a bunch of the boards on the roof of the SUV (16 footers) to lighten the load on trailer. I had to run to another store before it closed but I had decided that if he was still messing with things when I drove back by I would offer to haul his stuff home on my 18' utility trailer that I was pulling (with just a half-dozen of my own boards). But within 5 minutes he had disappeared so I guess my good samaritan deed was delayed just a little too long.

Rob

sixdogs · Apr 18, 2017

3930dave said:
...

He didn't forget, he didn't know. I'll give him credit; he listened, thanked me, and went inside and bought a latching pin. He did have this chains attached already, and IIRC, crossed.

Hot day, mini-van full of whining kids, with a pop-up tent trailer on behind. We all face distractions every day, but there is also a tremendous lack of basic trailer-safety knowledge out there....

Rgds, D.

That is for sure the truth. There is a 65 year old fellow that I know that had to drive 8 hours one way and had never owned or pulled a trailer. His original intent was to buy an undersized trailer w/ 1 7/8" ball and mesh floor because it was cheaper and go from there. It would never have worked since he had zero instinct for trailering.

I convinced him to rent a U-Haul trailer for his first trip so they could set it up and made sure the shop he went to strapped the small tractor down correctly. He had a safe trip, realizes how little he knew and admitted his planned quick purchase would have been a disaster. Now he knows the drill and bought himself a heavier trailer, adequate straps and correct ball and mount.

Sometimes people just don't know and this is not the place to guess.

Renze · Apr 20, 2017

Here in Holland we have to get a trailer license for a GCVW over 3500kg or when the trailer is heavier than the tow vehicle. Since last year kids need a tractor drivers license too. Which isnt a bad thing because nowadays they have 16 year old kids with over 50 tonne racing through city traffic at over 50kmh with no clue about inertia of mass, and no sense of anticipation on other road users...

Sysop · Apr 20, 2017

handirifle said:
And I bet the transitions from joint to joint do not jar your teeth like those in CA. Either our works could care less, or are clueless as to how to smooth them out, But a 2" rise at 70 mph sure gets your attention. Almost as much as when the resurfacing machines leave a 4" cut and they let traffic keep going. Serioulsy, when you come to the part that is not cut, it's amazing there isn't more blowouts.

Been there... It isn't just the workers, drivers in CA don't care and are clueless too. Where road work is going on, 70MPH is entirely too fast. Try hitting those cuts at 55, they're not nearly so violent... Everyone drives entirely too fast in CA.