How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

[LippCJ7]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

OK for me I can say that would be a first, I always knew it could happen but I have never unhooked the chains before taking the coupler off.


My god I wished you had a video though, Funniest home video of the year winner right there!!

Of course only because nobody was hurt and nothing other then your ego and underwear was damaged.....

 

[T_Herrod]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

Glad no one was injured. There were lots of chances to be hurt. I think i'll take my camera to our local lake this Labor day weekend and see what unfolds. Then i will go watch the launch for a walleye tourney the next weekend to see if any of the big boys do anything worth recording.

 

[Nandy]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

I seen this happen to a popup while camping. My neighbor for the weekend showed up, young couple, little kids. I see them driving to their spot and setting up and I could tell this was about their first trip. Dad had the rest of the family sitting on the picnic table out of his way. This campground is around a lake, right on the bank and all sites are inclined to the lake. Im watching carefully and I see him take the chains first, I know that is a bad idea but im sure he is going to choke it before taking it off the hitch plus I have learn not to get on someones business as much guys don't like to be told they are doing something wrong specially in front of their family. He lowers the jack and start cranking the trailer off the hitch. I go oh now, I tell the wife to grab me the wood I use to level the trailer and I get ready for it.... As soon as that hitch popped the trailer start to head towards the lake. Dad is holding the trailer by the A frame and I close in the short distance between us and choke one tire after the other. Funny things, kids are clapping and all excited, mom dont know what to do and dad is mortified.. I tell him that if he dont have chokes he can return that to me later or just keep it. He thanked me and he went and got his brand new chokes, chained the trailer pulled up a bit, choke and took the chains of. I bet he wont forget the order of this procedure again.

 

[jerryjerry05]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

I use a (real)chock with a piece of rope attached tied to the trailer.
That way when I'm launching or loading I can just pull away and it follows to the top of the ramp.
Just sometime I forget and it drags down the road.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

OK, I have a confesssion. While setting up camp I once failed to chock the travel trailer wheels. I was at a campground and on level ground at a campsite, but the tongue jack still slipped off it's blocks when someone inside the trailer moved.
It scared the he _ _ out of me, but thankfully no one got hurt, and nothing got broken. I am the worlds most fussy chock checker now. I recommend rechecking everything, and tough luck for those who have to wait, it's better than hurting someone or breaking something.

 

[korygrandy]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

Don't try this at home!

Had to confess, hoping I will be forgiven by confessing my stupidity.


"LOOK FOR ANY SLOPE, AND LEAVE THE CHAINS ON UNTIL YOU ARE CHOCKED."

Hooked it all back up, turned her around and parked from the other direction, drove right in no problem.

Hope this stops anyone else from ever making the same mistake.

Witnessed this first hand a few years ago. Only I was the guy who had to run and jump in his car and move it before the boat came smashing into it from 3 houses up the block.

I managed to move my car...it didn't matter because the boat took a turn and slammed his out-drive and kicker into a stack of mailboxes.

I looked back and thought good lord I was an idiot for attempting to move my vehicle out of a rolling 7,000lb boat but it was instinct...I could tell after the incident luck wasn't necessarily on my side, but it CERTAINLY wasn't on the neighbors side LOL.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

Guy in minnetonka got crushed a month or so ago trying to stop his boat from rolling down a driveway. Unfortunately the boat was heavy and there was a retaining wall at the end of the driveway. Couple lessons there, but the final one is - if it starts rolling get out of the way and deal with the insurance co.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_21000692/minnetrista-man-fatally-crushed-by-boat-trailer-was

 

[korygrandy]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

...

 

[korygrandy]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

...

 

[ChoochCharlie]

Since we are confessing...

Since we are confessing...

Empty snowmobile trailer parked next to my wife's car. I'm sitting on the back, working on something when both kids come and join me, sitting down. We all go right to the ground as the now see-saw lifts the tongue off the ground. I only had one side chocked, so the trailer pivots on the free wheel right onto the car. The kids thinking they have done something wrong, both jump off the trailer. Gravity took over and the corner of the trailer grinds a gouge down the passenger door, top to bottom. Lesson learned, chock both sides, front and back.

Another time, back when I was 19, I towed my buddies Bronco to the shop with him using my FJ40 Landcruiser and a strap. Both hop out. Forgetting he had the transfer case in neutral for the tow, his truck starts to roll towards mine. While he jumps in the cab I'm pushing with all my might trying to slow the roll. I didn't get myself out of the way in time and just as our bumpers are about to touch, my hand on his headlight, my elbow meets my tailgate. Pow. Broke my arm and the headlight.
Lesson learned. Just get out of the way and try to enjoy your stupidity for a moment.

 

[OllieC]

Re: Since we are confessing...

Re: Since we are confessing...

Well, I guess I can contribute.

I have to park my boat on the street while doing maintenance because I live in an urban area, otherwise I have to bring all my tools to the marina. Anyway, guess why I am posting? My street is on a slope.

So, trying to hook up the trailer to the truck, because of the street angle, is difficult at times. Sometimes the hitch doesn't want to latch, so I have to move the truck backward slightly. I figured this time, instead of backing the truck up, I could remove the chalks and the boat will roll backward a little and I can lock the latch. Well that didn't work.

So in my infinite wisdom, I decide to crank the trailer back up off of the tongue, however, I didn't replace the chalks.:facepalm: The hitch is still stuck on the tongue, so I started jumping up and down on the bumper of the truck.

Well, "POP" goes the trailer off of the tongue and starts sliding down the street......however luckily I had the safety chains attached :redface:

Nobody was there to watch, so I guess you can consider this a confession.

 

[bassman284]

Re: Since we are confessing...

Re: Since we are confessing...

Empty snowmobile trailer parked next to my wife's car. I'm sitting on the back, working on something when both kids come and join me, sitting down. We all go right to the ground as the now see-saw lifts the tongue off the ground. I only had one side chocked, so the trailer pivots on the free wheel right onto the car. The kids thinking they have done something wrong, both jump off the trailer. Gravity took over and the corner of the trailer grinds a gouge down the passenger door, top to bottom. Lesson learned, chock both sides, front and back.

Another time, back when I was 19, I towed my buddies Bronco to the shop with him using my FJ40 Landcruiser and a strap. Both hop out. Forgetting he had the transfer case in neutral for the tow, his truck starts to roll towards mine. While he jumps in the cab I'm pushing with all my might trying to slow the roll. I didn't get myself out of the way in time and just as our bumpers are about to touch, my hand on his headlight, my elbow meets my tailgate. Pow. Broke my arm and the headlight.
Lesson learned. Just get out of the way and try to enjoy your stupidity for a moment.

Man, that reminded of something. I was a lot younger than you at the time so that's my excuse.

Anyway, I was about 8 or 9 years old (circa 1954) and always trying stuff out. I figured out somehow that I could get hold of the fender on Dad's car and get it to rocking. Shocks obviously weren't too good which made for some impressive rocking. Extremely entertaining.

Once we were at Gramp's place and I started doing my car rocking trick. The car was on a slight downward incline and when I got her rocking pretty good, it popped out of gear and started to roll. Gramp's car was about 50 or so feet away in the direct path, so I I jumped in front of Dad's car and tried to stop it. Fortunately Dad was watching and yelled at me to get the hell out of the way. Put a pretty good crease in Gramp's car.

Dad yelled quite a bit more after that, but it was mostly educational stuff.

 

[catfishcarl99]

Re: Since we are confessing...

Re: Since we are confessing...

wow. between the guy being killed and the broken arm thats a sure sign to jump and run. a ton or more of rolling steel it nothing to mess with.

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

anything over 17ft should be on a trailer with brakes.
And anti roll back brakes at that.
Very simple to fit and makes a dangerous situation a lot easier to get over.

in the uk you can only tow with a max of 750 kilo without brakes, thats about 1600 pounds total weight inc trailer.
many people dont understand just how easy it is for the trailer to roll back, and most times it is a disaster.

this one could of very easy been fatal.

but i do understand your hooror of having the boats keel scratched by petski's.

they should make it law that jetski's have soft handlebars so when boat run over them they dont get scratched.


phill

 

[oldjeep]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

anything over 17ft should be on a trailer with brakes.
And anti roll back brakes at that.
Very simple to fit and makes a dangerous situation a lot easier to get over.

in the uk you can only tow with a max of 750 kilo without brakes, thats about 1600 pounds total weight inc trailer.
many people dont understand just how easy it is for the trailer to roll back, and most times it is a disaster.

this one could of very easy been fatal.

but i do understand your hooror of having the boats keel scratched by petski's.

they should make it law that jetski's have soft handlebars so when boat run over them they dont get scratched.


phill

Last thing we need is more laws. Brakes on a 1600lb trailer seems a little odd, but then again you guys tow with some pretty small vehicles.

 

[tazrig]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

Wow!!! I'm stressed out just reading this thread! I'm starting to think, though, that some of us may be related?

God I hope not!!!:laugh:

 

[atika]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

ha ha ha.. you could have cracked you back...

 

[phillnjack2]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

oldjeep wrote
Last thing we need is more laws.
Brakes on a 1600lb trailer seems a little odd, but then again you guys tow with some pretty small vehicles.
.............................................................................................................................................................
yeah we also tow with some of the heaviest trucks in the world and still have to have brakes over 750 kilo.
its probably due to in the uk we drive a bit quicker and the roads are a lot smaller, and we have a lot more traffic per sq mile.

it is good to have trailer brakes as long as they are washed out after every trip to the sea.
I would want to tow anything ove a ton without brakes, we have some very steep hills in the uk that
chevy blazers cant cope too well with when towing.
I almost over turned a range rover when towing a boat a few years back that started to sway due to bad loading.
i had just got the boat from a guy and didnt know the rig, anyway,if i had been in a normal car that trailer would of
been a gonna for sure.
It was only beeing in a 2 ton 4x4 that helped me keep it upright.

the boat i tow now is just about on the limit for brakes and i tow with a diesel ford focus estate.
It tows realy good and seems to be a perfect set up, if i was towing my old campion allante 195 ,then i would have
to go back to big petrol guzzling 4x4 and they eat up all my boat fuel money.



phill

 

[mercurymang]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

I got lucky once and pulled my boat from my house to the lake without the trailer tongue locked in placed (it's about a 5 mile drive). I did have my chains on but to this day, I don't under stand how I didn't lose it. Must have been very front heavy.

 

[Sawz]

Re: How to stop a trailer rolling downhill...

Ok here is one. Not a boat trailer but a trailer none the less. I was pulling a mini excavator with my 89 ford ranger one day up to the mountains to work on a project I had started. The house I was working on had a parking place across from it I used all the time. it was on the top of a hill that would drop off a steep angle and at the bottom of the hill about 200 feet down slope was the back door of a local pro golfers house. I pulled into this space truck first, went to unload the mini ex , unstrapped it got it started and started backing off the tip trailer. Yup I forgot to pull the tip pin, I got all the way back and the front of the trailer lifted off the ground complete with my trailer hitch and rear end of the truck. Rear wheels, parking brake and transmission were up in the air and all of us were heading to the edge of the hill ready to start rolling down to the neighbors back door. I had the sense to jamb the controls forward and get the mini ex back towards the front of the trailer and attach the rear wheels to the ground again coming to a halt just before we went over the edge . Needless to say I was counting blessing that morning