trailer loading adventure - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 08-24-2006, 08:15 PM

so this morning i loaded the black sdl that brian has bought from me onto my trailer.

but not without a little adventure first.

so i took my dodge truck down back and hooked up my trailer. i parked it off to the side and brought the sdl out of my lower garage and turned it around so i could load it nose first. i parked the truck with the nose heading down the short but rather steep incline that is at the end of my back driveway where it tees into the alley. i thought this would be a good position for loading the car with the nose heading down a bit.

the back driveway is gravel.

so i put the ramps down and set the brake on the truck and lined up the sdl with the trailer. i did a masterful job of lining the car up.

so i started to drive the car up onto the ramp. whoooooooaaaah. the truck and trailer started moving ahead as if driving off on its own. i clamped the sdl brakes right down and the whole rig slowly ground to a halt. it had moved about 8 feet. so here i am sitting in the sdl holding the car, truck and trailer with the sdl brakes. i eased off the brake after setting the parking brakes and the rig slowly begain taking off again! what the hell! so i clamped the sdl brakes back down and thought really hard. i am in my t shirt and rough shorts. no cell phone so i cant call anybody to help me. is the truck in neutral somehow? what to do? i picture the truck driving off with the trailer and hitting the neighbors garage which is now about 8 feet in front of the truck which has moved forward maybe 15'.

think think think.

so i notice that when the truck moves forward the rear tires are not turning. so that means they are just sliding. the front of the sdl is pushing the back of the trailer down, lifting up the (light anyway) back of the truck and it is all sliding. so i conclude that if i back off the trailer the truck wont slide too far. so i back off the trailer and watch the truck and trailer slide merrily forward. the truck slides til the front tires are resting against the railroad tie on the far side of the alley. the rig slid a good 15 to 20 feet before stopping.

so i back the sdl up and back the rig up and put the rig around the corner of the alley on the asphalt and loaded it with ease.

i havent had such a scare since i set my old sportscar on fire.

i will be heading east with brian's sdl tomorrow evening.

tom w

Brian Carlton · #2 08-24-2006, 08:40 PM

That's enough excitement for the entire trip........thank you.

SD Blue · #3 08-24-2006, 09:47 PM

You did say you were in "rough shorts"!

That is what I call pucker factor.

Brian will be glad to know that at least the rear brakes are in good shape!

#4 08-24-2006, 09:54 PM

Close call for your neighbor's garage and your shorts. Sounds like another one of those fun little moments when your heart does that funny stutter. Either keeps us young or kills us.

t walgamuth · #5 08-24-2006, 10:10 PM

i am not sure what you are imagining by rough shorts but i meant old ones. casual. that sort of thing.

another great adventure!

tom w

Hatterasguy · #6 08-24-2006, 10:36 PM

What the heck happened? I have never loaded a car on a trailer, but I have help/watch the loading various machines. Back hoes, big Volvo excavator, and the little Bob cat on the back of what is probably a similar trailer.

Make sure its on pretty flat ground, and chalk everything good, no problem. Driving something up on ramps with an aft loading trailer will make the tow vehicle want to go forward and kick its tires up a bit, hence the wheel chalks. For the larger stuff its all goose neck trailers.

t walgamuth · #7 08-24-2006, 10:46 PM

yep good advice.

i wont try to load it again on gravel. on a hill.

i have driven cars on that trailer so many times without any problems i just didnt think about the several little negatives that i had lined up.

tom w

#8 08-24-2006, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

yep good advice.

i wont try to load it again on gravel. on a hill.

i have driven cars on that trailer so many times without any problems i just didnt think about the several little negatives that i had lined up.

tom w

I can still hear my Dad, "Complacency breeds Neglect, and Neglect breeds Pain".
Of course 30-35 years ago I looked at him like he had 3 heads. Now I get it as I try to tell my younguns.

redassag00 · #9 08-24-2006, 10:55 PM

Thats scary! I didnt know you deliver too!!!

TWeatherford · #10 08-24-2006, 11:22 PM

sounds like a friends scary story, only his was even stupider.

He backed his tractor a little too close to a pond to pull a limb out, and got the tires mired down and couldn't move. So he went and got his very nice, very new, Dodge CTD. To help the truck out, he left the tractor in gear so it could help drive it out. After pulling it out, he realized that he now had a tractor ten feet from his truck, driving toward it. He made it back in time but just barely.

Stay safe, be smart, and I'm glad it turned out well.

#11 08-24-2006, 11:31 PM

I have a pretty dumb story too.

For a while my POS jeep had a bad neutral safety switch, so sometimes it wouldn't start with the key. I would just jumper across the starter terminals with a screwdriver to get it started whenever it wouldn't spin. One day I had to jumper it before I backed out of the driveway, then it stalled in the street in front of my house. I jumped out and started it with the screwdriver again, but I had left it in reverse. I had to chase it down the street and stop it before it hit anything.

JimmyL · #12 08-25-2006, 12:15 AM

I don't mind loading a vehicle on the trailer too much, but to this day I still don't enjoy backing it off!! Especially the tractor. It feels like you are 20 feet in the air, and fixing to fall backwards...

it was kind of funny. HitManX's dad drove Scar up onto the trailer when we picked it up, and Eric had driven it up this guys driveway to the trailer. So the first time I drove it was off the trailer. Well, when I got it down was when I realized the P.O. had removed all the shocks. The thing bounced for 5 seconds.......

Mismost · #13 08-25-2006, 12:49 AM

Brain...I'd visually check out the drivers seat real good....look for cone shaped pucker marks...from the sound of things, I think I'd pass on sniffing it!

t walgamuth · #14 08-25-2006, 08:20 AM

good one

tom w