Make sure you tie down your tractor on your trailer

[diesel lover]

Long and short of this, lost my job and had been a diesel truck mechanic for two years at a company. They required me at the one year mark to get more tools. I came across a matco two bay tool box and purchased it. It is 4 foot tall, 2 foot wide, and 5 foot long. Cant tell you the weight but it weighs a good amount. I got fired and rented a tilt deck trailer to haul it with my 2wd pickup. Not fun up the long freeway hills when it started snowing very heavy. I had it strapped down well. IF I did not that would have been a serious problem while my truck was spinning sideways going up hill. My rear end was sliding at 40 mph and I have never had an experience like that and not a comfortable feeling because I know how much money I have in tools and toolbox.

24 days later I got a new job!! Had a bad experience with the trailer I rented because they would not repair the wiring for the trailer lights, and not the greatest service. I rented from runyon a much heavier and larger trailer. It was 6 by 12 foot and the deck would lay completely flat on the ground. nice trailer.

Had a friend help me push it on the trailer, and strap it down. same as last time only a different trailer. I couldn't get the toolbox strapped down like I wanted to. Very hard to strap down and rather top heavy. The trailer I was using this time rode higher off the round and had larger tires with heavier suspension. It was more bouncy. All the way down the highway was ok with the clear roads. I had: 1 10,000 pound ratchet strap, 2 5000 pound straps, two 3000 pound and a motorcycle strap. All ratings are in breaking strength. Well I got off the freeway and started avoiding potholes as much as possible. VERY large potholes as it warmed up and they appeared. The trailer is wider than my F150. He called me right after I missed at least 12 and hit one very hard!! HE called me and told me THREE out of SIX ratchet straps came off which was so hard to believe as I am also very @nal about getting things tied down correctly. I quickly resecured one of the straps and drove straight to work. I had about 1 mile to go and didn't want to be late to my first day of work.

HEY if my friend wasn't following me I could have lost my several thousand dollar tool box. OUCH. im crazy about straping things down safely and have knowledge on proper rigging and common knowledge on what will structurally hold in any case. best of all this was only 6 days ago this all happened

 

[joshuabardwell]

Thats definitely worse than the time my dad and i went to sears to get new tires for the van and someone pulled the old lunch wheel trick (Forgot to install lug nuts before going on break) and the rear wheel fell off and passed us as we attempted the turn out of parking lot. My dads face turned a shade of purple i'd never seen before and then he started spewing profanity's

An ex-girlfriend of mine once bought a car from some hot-rodder who had put custom wheels on it. Well, it turns out the spacing on the wheels' holes was not quite the same as the studs, but the hot-rodder had got them on somehow. She was driving home on the highway one day when the front-right wheel's studs sheared from the stress. She said there was a thud, and she thought she had a flat, but then she saw their wheel rolling down the road in front of them. They came to a stop without incident, but sheesh!

 

[flhpi]

There was a service truck changing lanes in front of me on a four lane road. A small tool box slid off his truck and the tools scattered across the road. Everyone else swerved and kept driving. I pulled over and started to pick up a well used supply of Craftmans tools. Wrenches, sockets and ratchets with some screw drivers and pliers mixed it with the find.

I took them to a Sears to exchange them due to rust. It ended up being over $600 worth of tools. I though it was a great find but I also thought about those tools going through someone's radiator or windshield.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Those tools were how that guy made his living. His loss ........ Your gain. ....... I guess?

I think I would keep that one to myself.

 

[Fallon]

Those tools were how that guy made his living. His loss ........ Your gain. ....... I guess?

I think I would keep that one to myself.

If you can't be bothered to keep the tools that you make a living with secure I don't have much sympathy. Not only that you endangered the lives of everybody behind you. Sometimes you have to pay the stupid tax. Could have been a lot worse, if somebody had gotten injured he would be loosing a lot more than a toolbox.

 

[The Fred]

Those tools were how that guy made his living. His loss ........ Your gain. ....... I guess?

I think I would keep that one to myself.

Trust me on this real mechanics don't use Crapsman tools.

Fred

 

[Dr_Zinj]

We all have computers (otherwise we wouldn't be posting and reading here.)
We all probably have printers too.
Just print out 4.25 x 11 inch paper checklists and stash a bunch in your glovebox to use each time you haul a load. Works even better if you give one of your boys or girls the job to make sure you run through the checklist. (Teaches them safety AND responsibility, and keeps you out of the puckerbrush.)

 

[AGRIMAN]

You guys all have good stories, but I bet nobody has ever been passed by his own trailer!
It happened to my dad and I was still a kid sitting in the passengers seat. He started using the trailer chains after that incident.

Well, I have. Several years ago now (more than I care to say) we had a neighbor that wanted to sale us his flatbed (BP) trailer. Needing another trailer, we told him that we were interest and he said for us to come get it and try it out for a week or so. The trailer was homemade (by someone) and used a pin hitch (no safety chains), but looked really good. We soon realized it wasn't balanced very well and it bounced pretty bad when not loaded.

About the 2nd or 3rd time we using it, I was going to move a fairly heavy plow from the field back to the house (about 15 miles). After loading and chained the plow down, I hit the road home. The trailer still had some bounce to it, but the weight of the plow made for a fairly smooth ride (so I thought). About half way home I started into a slight curve in the road (running 55/60) when I noticed something was coming up beside me. I looked around just in time to see the trailer(and my plow) pulling along beside me. (pin came out)

For the next few feet (seemed like a mile) we rode side by side until it starting to come over in my lane (road hog). I touched the brake and watched as it crossed in front of me and down through the ditch and up the bank on the other side. It rolled back down the bank and stopped in the ditch (plow never moved). I pulled it out of the ditch and hooked it back to the truck (different pin) and drove 10 mph the rest of the way home. Once there, I unloaded the plow and took it back to the neighbor's house and told him that we were no longer interest.

I still remember too this day seeing the chains on the plow (as it passed me) and thinking to myself, at least they are still tight.

 

[joshuabardwell]

I still remember too this day seeing the chains on the plow (as it passed me) and thinking to myself, at least they are still tight.

And this, my friends, is why you do not screw around when securing your load.

 

[aczlan]

And this, my friends, is why you do not screw around when securing your load.

Unless you are using screw type chain binders

Aaron Z