Smashed GN trailer into back of my 5058M :(

[sdkubota]

I fixed a broken plastic welding helmet years ago with fiberglass mesh and resin. It bonded completely to the plastic. Don't know if that helps but thought I would offer that little tidbit. Thank God you weren't severly injured...that trailer looks like a spear.

 

[cdaigle430]

Chock blocks.

 

[radioman]

You are lucky it didnt hit you in the body part of back for worse. glad everything is ok and those things can be fixed. I'd opt out for replacing EVERYTHING if you have insurance. Isnt the labor covered too? might be worth the deductible and just chalk it up lesson learned.

 

[tcartwri]

Yup, they slide really easily on the landing gear. I had ours buried in a snow bank in the early spring and I couldn't get close enough to hook onto it, so I proceeded to drag it out with a chain on the truck. Just like you, it followed me across the parking lot and luckily didn't hit any of the cars parked there, nor the back of the truck.

 

[pclausen]

You are lucky it didnt hit you in the body part of back for worse. glad everything is ok and those things can be fixed. I'd opt out for replacing EVERYTHING if you have insurance. Isnt the labor covered too? might be worth the deductible and just chalk it up lesson learned.

Yes, labor is covered as well. I have an appointment setup for Tuesday morning with the service manager coming out to take a look at it. In the meantime, I'll unbolt the upper glass pane brackets and remove the weather stripping and vacuum out all the glass. This way I can continue to use the tractor as a semi-open station one until all the parts come in.

I'll be picking up some chock blocks. I'll check out the ones at tsc today. This is what their HD ones look like:

I figured 4 of these to block the wheels on one axle would do the trick.

Was also thinking about rigging a toggle switch to turn on the electric brakes at will, but they might drain that small trailer mounted battery within minutes. I know that the Deere dealer has their GN trailers wired so that when they turn on their emergency flashers for loading/unloading, the trailer brakes are engaged automatically. I might look into something like that as well.

 

[tcartwri]

There's no way you should ever try to load a trailer without it being attached to the tow vehicle. And if the truck does not have air brakes, you should also be chocking the wheels of the trailer.

 

[sdkubota]

There's no way you should ever try to load a trailer without it being attached to the tow vehicle. And if the truck does not have air brakes, you should also be chocking the wheels of the trailer.

Now you tell us!

 

[Artisan]

Your OK is the main thing...

Just yesterday I looked at the bushes removal thread and
totally drooled over your tractor and how nice it is...then I see
this today! OUCH!

 

[bigbull338]

that is the main reason you want nothing todo with a 3pt gooseneck trailer mover.i had a friend that used to move his gooseneck trailers like that.an quiet a few times he has almost been crushed from the neck going against the back of the tractor.you need a 2 wheel trailer mount gooseneck mover.had another friend do the samething with a goosemeck tailer an cab tractor.except he got the tractor stopped before it could hit the cab.

 

[PapaPerk]

It takes a real man to post pics like this. Thank you for sharing... it will help other's to not repeat the same mistake.

I'm glad you are okay! :thumbsup:

 

[pclausen]

Well, my plan was to load the bush hog, finish mover and grapple onto the trailer, connect it to the tractor (with the pallet forks still on the front) and drive it the 4 miles down the road to my other property to work there over the weekend, interchanging between the following configurations:

Grapple Only
Bug Hog Only
Finish Mover Only

There is no way for me to fit it all on the trailer at once with the tractor and haul it down the road with my truck. So I figured, hey, let me pick up a 3pt hitch trailer mover, and use the tractor as the pulling vehicle. I was planning on hooking up the trailer brakes as the loaded trailer would be 4800lbs (trailer) + 2400lbs (bush hog) + 1300lbs (finish mover) + 1000lbs (grapple) for a total of 9500lbs.

Now, the 3pt trailer mover states max trailer weight 2200lbs, but I must assume that is tongue weight only as I don't know of any GN that is less than 2200lbs.

Given yesterday's incident, I think a better plan is to just leave the trailer at home and drive the tractor with the grapple and bush hog the 4 miles down the road and do everything I can with that combo, then come back and switch over to the finish mover and drive back.

Just for the record, I did lock the GN collar around the ball while I pulled it with the tractor, it was after releasing the collar, and dropping the 3pt hitch that the trailer started following me. Lesson learned! I'll never release the 3pt hitch ball again without wheel chucks in place, especially on ground that is not absolutely level. And I will always lock the GN collar around the ball when moving the trailer! The 3pt hitch ball does make it much easier to get the trailer in and out of the barn as it is a real pain with my crew cab long bed dually truck without a spotter.

 

[joshuabardwell]

There's no way you should ever try to load a trailer without it being attached to the tow vehicle. And if the truck does not have air brakes, you should also be chocking the wheels of the trailer.

If the wheels are well chocked and the back has jack stands or blocks under it, I would go for it. Wait. Are we talking about loading a tractor, or are we talking about, you know, putting all your furniture on it or something. I don't think I would load a tractor, car, or other such thing without it being attached to a tow vehicle AND chocked/blocked.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Just for the record, I did lock the GN collar around the ball while I pulled it with the tractor, it was after releasing the collar, and dropping the 3pt hitch that the trailer started following me. Lesson learned! I'll never release the 3pt hitch ball again without wheel chucks in place, especially on ground that is not absolutely level.

YES YES YES! Some may call me a nervous nellie, but I never move the trailer without the safety chains on, and I never un-hook the trailer without chocking the wheels. Well... okay... I have a perfectly level concrete pad that I store the trailer on, and I don't always chock the wheels there, but I am 100% sure it's not going to roll. Anywhere else, the procedure is always 1) chock the wheels; 2) decouple and raise the tongue; 3) un-hook the chains and runaway brake cable. If you always do 2) before 3), you will never lose your trailer because your chocks came loose or something. You can verify that the trailer is stable before unhooking the chains. And if, somehow, it does get away from you, the brake cable will get pulled and that will stop the trailer.

 

[sdkubota]

Hindsight is always 20/20. What he did could have been done by 95% of the posters on here. You never think of the what ifs until "hold my beer and watch this!"

 

[Cat_Driver]

Glad you're OK. Man did you just spend a lot of money to educate ME.....I should send you money for the "class"

 

[foreman Etexas]

Glad your okay,sucks it happened but thanks for posting we to also move goosenecks around with the tractor and sometime if just moving it short distance dont latch it.I will now on go ahead and get out and latch it,cause I sure hate to be post some pics like this myself and remind myself to block the wheels when loading. I did before I started baling with the new hay equipment call my insurance agent and just make sure I had added everything,he kinda got a chuckle out of it. Man those photos turned my stomach,I know its not mine but it hit at home.I hope everything works out,seems just like yesterday you got it after all that wait.Hats off to you man,you seem to have took it alot better than I would have,you may have heard alittle crying in the back ground.....

 

[s219]

Yes, labor is covered as well. I have an appointment setup for Tuesday morning with the service manager coming out to take a look at it. In the meantime, I'll unbolt the upper glass pane brackets and remove the weather stripping and vacuum out all the glass. This way I can continue to use the tractor as a semi-open station one until all the parts come in.

I'll be picking up some chock blocks. I'll check out the ones at tsc today. This is what their HD ones look like:

I figured 4 of these to block the wheels on one axle would do the trick.

Was also thinking about rigging a toggle switch to turn on the electric brakes at will, but they might drain that small trailer mounted battery within minutes. I know that the Deere dealer has their GN trailers wired so that when they turn on their emergency flashers for loading/unloading, the trailer brakes are engaged automatically. I might look into something like that as well.

Do youself a favor and get a pressure treated 6x6 timber (about $15) to make your own chocks. What I do is chainsaw a trapezoid shaped chock with two 45 degree angles. It is sized to slide right in between the two tires of my dual-axle trailer with maybe 1" of slop (the chocks are about 18" long at the base and about 10" long on top). Put one on each side. That way you are covered for movement in all directions. In some cases where I know there is an uphill/downhill bias, or if there might be problems getting a chock out from between the tires, I will instead put a chock on the outside of one tire. But 90% of the time, I simply slide a chock in between both tires with my foot, on both sides of the trailer. Make sure there is enough slop that you can always kick it back out.

You can use the extra length of timber to make some 18" blocks -- these come in handy for all kinds of things when loading trailers, rigging gear, etc. I use some to block the back of my trailer when loading sometimes.

 

[Rustyiron]

At least you got your first "scratch" out of the way now! Hey, don't be to hard on yourself as we all have made or had similar things happen, at least I sure have! At least you have to turn around to see it, my scratches (or worse) allways seem to be right in front of me as a constant reminder! I once lost a trlr. that rolled down and hit the dock on the pond knocking it out of square providing me with another reminder. But it saved me from fishing the trlr. out of the pond. Glad to hear that only the wallet got hurt!:fiery:

 

[burnieman]

Lolololololololololololol!

 

[Zebrafive]

You posted about adding a toggle switch to turn on the trailer brakes. Wouldn't pulling the breakaway cable do the same thing at no cost?