Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

[tomatolord]

Driving down my street yesterday and there was a neighbor trying to pull a dual axle trailer out of the woods with his truck<br /><br />I stopped and said I have some tow straps at home and would get them - he left to get a rope<br /><br />Met him back at the trailer and he said he was driving down the road and "was suprised to see the trailer missing"<br /><br />The metal framed trailer had run off the road and driven itself into a tree deep enough that he had to use a chainsaw to cut out a chunk of the tree.<br /><br />Upon pulling it back out of the woods we went to hook it up to the hitch and he had a Pintle hitch (the construction type hitch that looks like a C) and the trailer was just sitting on the bottom point. I looked at him and thought you got to be kidding me. The trailer needed a 2 inch ball<br /><br />He then said " I guess I should have hooked up the chains" which he had not. <br /><br />The trailer was severely bent to the point that it trailered to the left of the truck by about 2 feet.<br /><br />He said he was going to try and get it back to his sons but then he turned around and went home.<br /><br />Being that it was his sons equipment trailer he seemed a little depressed at having bent it so bad.

 

[imstillatwork]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

wow. what a nut. chain it at LEAST!

 

[RubberFrog]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

What an idiot. I would be PO'd if my dad towed my trailer with the wrong hitch and no chains... and then sent it into a tree.<br />EDIT: It was nice of you to stop and help!

 

[tomatolord]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

He is lucky he did not kill someone as people are always walking their dogs in that area - or smash into another car<br /><br />I drove by his house today and he had the ball hitch - it just is a receiver hitch so he could have slid the pintel hitch out at any time and put the correct ball one in.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

I absolutely refuse to follow a construction crew hauling a Bobcat (skid steer loader). In one week I saw three of these usually overloaded trailers either break a hitch, or simply come unhooked because the equipment is so abused and towed in a wreckless manner. They usually have no operable brakes or lights. One look at the wheels is sufficient to tell you stay out of their way -- they are usually towed in at the top by 2 - 3 inches due to overloading. At a building center some years ago I saw a guy pull up to the check out gate with a home built trailer that had wheelbarrow tires on it. I could go on about the dumb stuff I've witnessed on my many travels.

 

[NYMINUTE]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

Sounds like a training chapter.

 

[dtherrien]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

I'll tell you what....he is one lucky S.O.B....if that trailer would have hit an on coming car...oh boy...big head ache!

 

[monoshock]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

Once I hired a guy to grind some tree stumps. After he had finished, I looked at the front of the stump grinder and it was bent all to heck. This is one of the larger one with a 4cylinder engine. I asked him what had happened, he said he was going about 55mph on a 4 lane road with no media when the grinder came off the ball and passed him. He watched in horror as it went straight for oncoming traffic and hit a car head on. Both the women in the car were sent to the hospital with serious injuries. He was sure he was going to be sued. I can’t remember if he had safety chains or not, but I would say not.

 

[QC]

Re: Suprise suprise!! stupid trailering story

BTW, I have witnessed a boat trailer (with boat) come off the ball WITH safety chains at probably 60 MPH. Can't remember now if it was a single or double axle. I was in the next lane over and watched the whole thing. He was able to control it and succesfully steered the whole mess to the side of the road without much trouble. Maybe his trailer was perfectly balanced, but it was actually pretty uneventful although it threw a lot of sparks . . .