After reading all the responses so far to my post I thought I'd clarify a little more about my equipment and my mistake. Got plenty of time on my hands right now, this arm is very uncomfortable to say the least - got the cast put on yesterday. It broke the radius bone (the larger of the two that are your forearm) clean in half just before it meets the wrist. My hand is about the size of a baseball mitt.
My main mistake was assuming the grade wasn't too steep to load. If I had thought it was a risky grade I would have moved down the driveway another 150' and everything would have been OK. Had I thought it was too steep and didn't have an option, I would have put it in 4wd and used the 2 excellent tire chocks I always have with me - sawmill oak tie blocks that I cut on an angle and even added rope handles to.
I built the flip-up ramps for my trailer and they each have 2 full-framed channel iron legs under them - no need to block the end of the trailer. The only thing is that if I'm not on level ground the legs may not quite touch the ground or just the opposite - they may not let the ramps go down all the way. In this instance the legs were barely 3/4" - 1" from meeting the pavement but it was just enough to take a little weight off the rear tires of the truck. The tires did not leave the ground - I distinctly remember looking at them as they broke traction. At first I though maybe it had broken the park pawl in the trans. and/or the park brake wasn't tight enough. I never have liked the brakes on my F250 - Ford could have done better, but the wheels were stationary. We haven't had rain here in quite awhile so the driveway had just the slightest bit of dirt/sand/gravel from vehicle traffic on it which made it easy for the tires to skid along.
As far as moving the tractor forward or back off the trailer, don't know even now what might have worked safely, sure didn't have time to think about it while sitting up there, was picking up speed quickly. I think if I had gone forward and stopped the skid with tongue weight it would have launched me off the tractor and over the truck - it sure slammed the tractor into the truck hard when it caught traction and stopped !! Granted I didn't have the park brake on the tractor but it was still in low gear with the engine stopped. As far as backing off the trailer, I was in low range forward and it would have taken too much time to shift to reverse and drive the approx. 8' to get the rear tires back to the pavement - I was at least 2' onto the trailer and my ramps are 6' long (my trailer isn't a dovetail).
I also could have snatched the break-away cable out to lock the trailer brakes before loading - it would have moved maybe 6" before they engaged and all would have been OK too. In fact I had just adjusted & checked operation of the trailer brakes before going to this jobsite a couple days before. I always pull the break-away and turn the wheels by hand to make sure each one is operating, never know when a magnet or wiring is bad. It only takes about 1/4 of a turn of the wheel before mine engage on this trailer.
All in all it was just a costly error in judgement on my part, not faulty equipment or lack of equipment or know-how. I'm glad my little story opened a few eyes - those of you that said you had never considered this scenario. You can bet it will never happen to me again - that rig will be locked-down tighter than a drum before I load/unload again.
My main mistake was assuming the grade wasn't too steep to load. If I had thought it was a risky grade I would have moved down the driveway another 150' and everything would have been OK. Had I thought it was too steep and didn't have an option, I would have put it in 4wd and used the 2 excellent tire chocks I always have with me - sawmill oak tie blocks that I cut on an angle and even added rope handles to.
I built the flip-up ramps for my trailer and they each have 2 full-framed channel iron legs under them - no need to block the end of the trailer. The only thing is that if I'm not on level ground the legs may not quite touch the ground or just the opposite - they may not let the ramps go down all the way. In this instance the legs were barely 3/4" - 1" from meeting the pavement but it was just enough to take a little weight off the rear tires of the truck. The tires did not leave the ground - I distinctly remember looking at them as they broke traction. At first I though maybe it had broken the park pawl in the trans. and/or the park brake wasn't tight enough. I never have liked the brakes on my F250 - Ford could have done better, but the wheels were stationary. We haven't had rain here in quite awhile so the driveway had just the slightest bit of dirt/sand/gravel from vehicle traffic on it which made it easy for the tires to skid along.
As far as moving the tractor forward or back off the trailer, don't know even now what might have worked safely, sure didn't have time to think about it while sitting up there, was picking up speed quickly. I think if I had gone forward and stopped the skid with tongue weight it would have launched me off the tractor and over the truck - it sure slammed the tractor into the truck hard when it caught traction and stopped !! Granted I didn't have the park brake on the tractor but it was still in low gear with the engine stopped. As far as backing off the trailer, I was in low range forward and it would have taken too much time to shift to reverse and drive the approx. 8' to get the rear tires back to the pavement - I was at least 2' onto the trailer and my ramps are 6' long (my trailer isn't a dovetail).
I also could have snatched the break-away cable out to lock the trailer brakes before loading - it would have moved maybe 6" before they engaged and all would have been OK too. In fact I had just adjusted & checked operation of the trailer brakes before going to this jobsite a couple days before. I always pull the break-away and turn the wheels by hand to make sure each one is operating, never know when a magnet or wiring is bad. It only takes about 1/4 of a turn of the wheel before mine engage on this trailer.
All in all it was just a costly error in judgement on my part, not faulty equipment or lack of equipment or know-how. I'm glad my little story opened a few eyes - those of you that said you had never considered this scenario. You can bet it will never happen to me again - that rig will be locked-down tighter than a drum before I load/unload again.
