Make sure you tie down your tractor on your trailer

[AchingBack]

I had my tractor, bush hog, and disc loaded up on my trailer. Everything was strapped and/or chained down. Safety chains on the trailer connecting it to the truck. Trailer on the ball. Everything was good until I got to the job site. Hit a bump and the trailer jumped off the hitch. Luckily, everything was secured and the safety chains worked. No harm, no foul.

That is when I remembered the trailer takes a 2 5/16" ball, not a 2" ball. Could have been a lot worse. Doesn't take much for everything to go bad fast.

Sounds as if guardian angels were on the job.

 

[TomSeller]

I had my tractor, bush hog, and disc loaded up on my trailer. Everything was strapped and/or chained down. Safety chains on the trailer connecting it to the truck. Trailer on the ball. Everything was good until I got to the job site. Hit a bump and the trailer jumped off the hitch. Luckily, everything was secured and the safety chains worked. No harm, no foul.

That is when I remembered the trailer takes a 2 5/16" ball, not a 2" ball. Could have been a lot worse. Doesn't take much for everything to go bad fast.

I never have understood why trailer ball size has not been mandated for safety reasons. It would be awful easy to do the same thing you did and have the hitch pop off at freeway speeds and kill someone.

 

[Looking4new]

That is when I remembered the trailer takes a 2 5/16" ball, not a 2" ball. Could have been a lot worse. Doesn't take much for everything to go bad fast.

You wouldn't think that 5/16" would make that much difference, would you?

 

[bcp]

Time to get out the spray cans and color code the ball mounts and couplers.

Bruce

 

[PHPaul]

I think anybody that hauls regularly has done something like that.

I have two:

First, a brand new trailer behind a brand new pickup. Happened to be driving home from work and noticed a guy baling hay. I'd been having trouble finding a source for hay, so I stopped and asked if he was selling any. He was, so I hauled booty home, hooked up my trailer and hauled booty back to the field after picking up my grandson to help.

All good until I went to hop up on the back of the trailer (an 18 foot double axle "landscaping" trailer) and between my weight and the weight of the bale, the hitch came off the ball. I'd never fastened the latch and the only thing keeping the trailer on the ball was tongue weight. Scared the whey out of me thinking about that trailer coming off as I was hauling butt down the highway.

Second one, older truck older trailer. Had a landscaping job where the use of a small dozer would GREATLY speed things up. Acquaintance had an old John Deere 40C crawler and he said "Sure, just put some gas in it when you're done". Hooked up the truck and trailer and went and got the dozer. Got it up on the trailer (a bit more exciting than I was used to right there...) and inched it forward watching the back of the truck to judge balance and tongue weight.

Got it where I wanted it, shut it down, put it in gear and set the track brakes. Stowed my ramps and started looking at tie points to chain it down. And then I had a HUGE dumba** attack. I decided that with that much weight, steel tracks, brakes set and in gear, it wasn't going anywhere and I didn't need to chain it.

Rapidly turned into a good news/bad news situation. When I stopped (quite gently) at the end of the guy's driveway I looked in the mirror and watched that dozer slide along the treated lumber deck of the trailer, watched the blade drop off the front of the trailer and clean the tongue jack right off the trailer, stopping just before bashing into the tailgate of my truck.

Good news is, it happened before I got out on the road, and as far as I know, nobody saw it.

Bad news is, I wound up needing a new jack, a new hitch on the trailer and a clean pair of shorts...

 

[cqaigy2]

I had my tractor, bush hog, and disc loaded up on my trailer. Everything was strapped and/or chained down. Safety chains on the trailer connecting it to the truck. Trailer on the ball. Everything was good until I got to the job site. Hit a bump and the trailer jumped off the hitch. Luckily, everything was secured and the safety chains worked. No harm, no foul.

That is when I remembered the trailer takes a 2 5/16" ball, not a 2" ball. Could have been a lot worse. Doesn't take much for everything to go bad fast.

Thanks for the heads up on tie down. I've done the too small ball on to big trailer too.

 

[Cat_Driver]

NEVER EVER buy made in China Trailer Balls. I had on sheer clean off like it was made of pottery. That day I understood why you used LOCKED IN trailer chains. It wasn't even overloaded, but it was made in China.

 

[IXLR8]

I think anybody that hauls regularly has done something like that.

Second one, older truck older trailer. Had a landscaping job where the use of a small dozer would GREATLY speed things up. Acquaintance had an old John Deere 40C crawler and he said "Sure, just put some gas in it when you're done". Hooked up the truck and trailer and went and got the dozer. Got it up on the trailer (a bit more exciting than I was used to right there...) and inched it forward watching the back of the truck to judge balance and tongue weight.

Got it where I wanted it, shut it down, put it in gear and set the track brakes. Stowed my ramps and started looking at tie points to chain it down. And then I had a HUGE dumba** attack. I decided that with that much weight, steel tracks, brakes set and in gear, it wasn't going anywhere and I didn't need to chain it.

Didn't happen to me, but several years ago one of our local excavation contractors who has been in business for over 45 years, decided that he didn't need to tie down his bulldozer as he was only going 5 miles from job site back to his yard. It is a small rural road, 45 mph speed limit, first turn he came to the bulldozer ended up on its side on the side of the road. It only slid about 30 ft after sliding off the trailer so I can't imagine he was going very fast. He has always been a conservative driver, not a speed daemon like some of the contractors around here. That taught me to ALWAYS tie down anything on a trailer or bed of truck. I even make sure to tie down equipment in my enclosed trailer.

 

[toomanymachines]

A coupe of years ago a neighbor was moving his old 15t excavator from his yard out to a spot that he was going to make some drainage. He had a lowboy on a dolly, behind a 550 hp 4wd tractor. He made it about 300 yards down the gravel road when the washboard and the crown of the road made the machine slide off the side, and lay on it's side in the ditch.
It was a model with a cab on the right hand side, and well, to say that the cab got smashed was an understatement. It did not take him very long to get it flipped up and back on the trailer before the neighbors could all come by to watch.
To make matters worse, he cooked the engine about a month later as a heater hose to the cab had been pinched and wore through.
Well at least he had an excuse to buy a much newer john deere 15 tonne.

 

[wmonroe]

Wow some good stories that really make you think. I always try to do a final walk around just before I drive away to check the coupling, lights, tie downs, etc.