Securing Equipment on Trailer

firemanpat2910 · Mar 17, 2009

wow I would never load a trailer that wasnt hooked to my heavy diesel truck with my fat dog helping to hold it down. Different strokes for different folks. That would scare me to death, but I have seen first hand a tractor lift the back of an f150 2wd off the ground and the whole rig, truck, trailer, tractor, bushhog and operator take a wild ride down a slight inclene and fold the open drivers side door of the truck backwards ona pine tree. I will uncouple 1 of my trailers when it is loaded. it has 2 legs, with the drop down feet so you can level, and they are rated at 14000 lbs I think. same as the trailer is rated at, Dont quote me on thatone they might only be 4000 tounge weight rated. Oh and on the main subject Chain 4 corners

JB4310 · Mar 17, 2009

firemanpat2910 said:
wow I would never load a trailer that wasnt hooked to my heavy diesel truck with my fat dog helping to hold it down. Different strokes for different folks. That would scare me to death, but I have seen first hand a tractor lift the back of an f150 2wd off the ground and the whole rig, truck, trailer, tractor, bushhog and operator take a wild ride down a slight inclene and fold the open drivers side door of the truck backwards ona pine tree. I will uncouple 1 of my trailers when it is loaded. it has 2 legs, with the drop down feet so you can level, and they are rated at 14000 lbs I think. same as the trailer is rated at, Dont quote me on thatone they might only be 4000 tounge weight rated. Oh and on the main subject Chain 4 corners

Well if I'm doing something dangerous I need to know, so I appreciate the comments/warnings by you and wwalkersd.

After looking at the pics again I can see one potential problem, after the back wheels get to the top of the ramp and onto the trailer, but still well before the front jack comes back down. with that much weight on the ramp brace/leg, even though that brace is angled under the end of the trailer, if there was some forward motion with the trailer, those ramp legs could possibly cam out which would cause the ramp to hinge on the pipe that holds them and swing up with some destructive /dangerous force as the back of the trailer dropped. Chocking the wheel would help to prevent that, so I will choke wheels if there is a next time.

The trailer would only drop about 6-8 inches, which would still leave the deck at less of an angle than the ramps are typically. Once the weight shifted back down on to the front jack I don't see any danger unless the front jack collapsed, which would leave the deck at a fairly mild angle.
Anyone see any other potential hazards?

I can't think of a real world reason to load the trailer uncoupled to the truck, I only did this to practice my binding and to take some pictures of the results.

I guess those additional jacks I've seen on the back of some trailers would be more stable than just the ramps.

JB.

Midsouth · Mar 20, 2009

I think you have got it figured out. As far as chain versus straps when i was pulling for Anderson Trucking Service out of St. Cloud MN the rule was steel on steel unless it would damage the load. Then it was ok to use straps. So i'm a firm believer in using chains to tie down mine when i haul it.