I want to cry

[MOW ED]

After much thought and sleepless nights I went out and traded my 91 S-10 for a 98 Chevy Z-71. I have had this truck 6 days and yesterday I hooked my trailer up to rearrange some equipment (second time hitched) To make a long story short I was distracted by my daughter and I'm not blaming her. I forgot to secure the hitch to the ball and when I went to reload the hitched popped up I hit reverse on my Walker and my trailer went ahead to the tune of $283 dollars to repair my tailgate. So I cant help to think that I have to work for free for a day to fix it. Its spring so I can't cry too much. Has anything like this ever happened to you?

[yardsmith]

yeah I know the feeling.<br>In the past, I've had instances where I forgot to get gas before hitting the route, & get to the site & &quot;shoot! Gotta get gas&quot;. So I unhooked the trailer after equip. was unloaded by worker & I took the truck to get gas. Come back & back up to it & get out & finish mowing. Then go to load the mower, forgetting it wasn't hooked, & UP TO THE SKY WE GO! Then SLAM! back down- ouch! Another time I unhooked but forgot the trailer wires; backed the mower off & UP WE GO AGAIN(this seems familiar). But the coupler stayed into the socket & the trailer catapult ripped the wires right out of it. so I had 10 min. downtime to fix it, thank goodness- coulda been alot worse <p>----------<br>Smitty ô¿ô<br>

[grasscapeinc]

Count your blessings. Now you will never forget to lock the coupler. It is much better learning this way than forgetting and having the trailer come off on the road and injuring people.

[DMC300]

DON'T WORRY YOU ARE NOT ALONE.<p>----------<br>DON<br>LIANNES' MOWING

[geogunn]

so far it looks like I hold the record for trailer damage. a little over $1500 to talk round numbers. &quot;HOW'D YA DO THAT GEO???&quot; *&%$#@+&&^%^%!!!

[Eric ELM]

My tail gate has a little owy on it too. Our helper forgot to latch the trailer hitch and then we backed the JD on it and the hitch lifted up and banged the tailgate. I did it myself on my old truck too. Your not the only one and there will be others to do this even after reading this. I just hope it's none of us. <p>----------<br>&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.townserver.com/elm/&quot;&gt;Eric@ELM&lt;/a&gt;<p>

[bob]

A friend of mine left his pick tail gate down while turning around in a circle and the jack stand tube on the trailer put 2 dents on the top of his tail gate.

[osc]

Newer truck + work = old beat up work truck.

[lawrence stone]

Don't fix the tailgate?? Buy a handy ramp end gate for $500 instead.<p>http://www.ncrampsystems.com/endgate.htm

[Administrator]

My guys set the truck on fire one season.!<p>They threw a butt out the truck and it went into the bed where there was dried leaves. Yes, they had a fire extinguisher but I guess they got so scared they forgot to use it. <p>By the time it was all over it came to the tune of $22,000. The price to buy a new truck.. Thank God for insurance.<p>NO more smoking in the trucks!

[dfor]

About 5 yrs. ago I left in the morning to head out and forgot to latch the coupler. I connected the wiring and safety chains but not the coupler. I made it about 5 miles, hit a bump and down went the trailer. I hit the brakes & let it hit me and it got wedged under there somehow. Gotta learn the hard way sometimes.

[Charles]

Mow Ed you jinks my trailor this morning!!! I didn't do what you did. But. I read your post before i left for work. I went to my first job a trailor park. Going about 5 mile per hr on their gravel road. Hit a pot hole and the area between the ball and the trailor just collapsed. This is a very heavy duty trailor 4 ton I guess dually. I heard a bang and thought it was my new hitch. I didnt panick though and called alot of welders trying to find a portable company. I found one finally that wasnt busy. Took him 15 min to get their. I had jacked it into place for him. Took him and hour. Said he had a 2 hour minimum at 55$ an hour. Total charge 110$$ for an hour. And some of you out their think we charge too much?!! Thought about asking him where was his gun for this robbery:) But I was happy to get it done and not waist my hole weekend . Plus I was blocking traffic (*&^%$#%%&. MO ed man I not reading your post anymore before i go to work

[GroundKprs]

Learned myself years ago, and first thing I taught an employee: As soon as you start to crank the trailer down, nothing else exists until you finish your count. Tongue on ball(1), Latch & lock (2), raise jack (3), plug in wiring (4), breakaway brake cable (5), left safety chain (6), right safety chain (7). Doggone 13-count when using the weight distributing hitch, but it's worth it to me.<p>----------<br>Jim<br>North central Indiana

[slagerlawncare]

in a hurry is not a good thing...<br>i had my Jd on my trailor ..it has bad parking brakes. I had to strap it down all the time. well before i got my yard gate, i was giving it a little too much gas to get across a busy street...bang! my strap broke and there went johnny d. right in the middle of the busy street!<br>thank God that i have someone up there that is watching over me,because nothing was damaged other than my face being red jumping on my tractor and dodging traffic to get out of danger..whew!

[nlminc]

I know a guy in town that had his employees tie a rope from the new 48&quot; JD walk behind on the trailer to a tree in the back of the dump truck to keep it standing upright. Only they forgot to hook up the trailer before they took off down the road! Needless to say the JD looked like a pancake after it flew over the trailer and landed on the pavement:)

[gusbuster]

I think all of you have been VERY lucky. I have a friend two years ago that lost his trailer while driving 35-mph. He was stopping for a red light to make a right turn. The light turned green before he came to a stop. He made his right turn all right, but the trailer continued going straight. His trailer ball had lost its nut. Hit the center divider, jumped it, hit an oncoming car. Another car hit the car that hit the trailer, pushing the trailer into the passenger compartment of the first car killing a passenger in the first car. Besides being issued a citation by the Highway Patrol for not having safety chains for the trailer, he also was convicted of vehicular manslaughter because of his gross negligence. I know his insurance is still dealing with the deceased family.<br>Jean<br><p>----------<br>J-LC Landscaping & Maintenance Gardening<br>C-27 Ca Contr# 770044

[Jamey]

Just this morning I kicked the chock block out from under the rear passenger wheel. The truck jumped out of gear, the emergency brake didn't hold (which is why I had it chocked in the first place - it's a '69), and away she goes, down a steep hill. So down the road it goes, along with my 16' trailer loaded down (Grasshopper and various other pieces of equipment), with me in hot pursuit. I manage to sprint to the passenger door - and it's locked! After that, all I could do was wave bye-bye. It jumped a curb, went down a hill, and knocked down a 50' tall, 1' diameter oak tree. A carpenter working nearby was able to hook on a chain and we pulled it out to the road, and By God, except for a v-shaped front bumper, the old girl runs as fine as ever. Damn those old Fords are tough!

[cantoo]

A friend of mine was loading a Ford 3000 loader tractor onto a double axle trailer hooked onto a BORROWED Ford pickup. He was slowly backing it onto the trailer to get it balanced right. He figured he was about the right spot and locked the parking brake ( it didn't work) his foot slipped off the clutch while he was fooling with the parking brake. The tractor backed up 3 feet off the front of the trailer, the 3 point hitch was sitting on the tail gate of the truck,the tractor rear tires were strattling the hitch and touching the ground, the bumper of the truck was on the ground and the front wheels of the truck were barely touching the ground. All this happened it about 3 seconds, it was the most amazing thing I have ever saw. Took a couple of hours, 3 jacks and a bunch of planks to get the tractor back onto the trailer. The only real damage was to the tail gate and bumper on the truck. I wish we had of taken pictures but we were in a hurry before the guy that owned the truck got home.

[Alan]

Been there! I was lucky, I thought the trailer was acting a bit too loose on the hitch and checked at the first stop sing after leaving home. Latched the hitch and it was fine after that. Also forgot to unhook safety chains one day in a pouring rain. Dragged the trailer on the jack for a few feet, bent hell outa the swivel lock and mounting plate on the jack.

[SLSNursery]

We've had our share of incidents, and more than one time I've bailed out friends who needed the backhoe to lift up a loaded trailer that popped off of a ball. All of our trailers - from the leaf vac up to the equipment trailers are pintle hook arrangements. Accidents can still happen, but I can say that this provides more peace of mind and security. <p>As for fires, one year we had a leaf fire during fall cleanups at a house (3 down from the chiefs house). No emergency, but the FD came. 6 months later, 2 houses down, the fuel pump let go on an 85 F-250. Once again the FD came. The same truck seemed to be on the scene of a few of these incidents. I have since sold 'Fireball'. When the fuel pump caught on fire, I think the truck was angry at me for buying a new one, since the 94 was only 3 days old. I didn't even get to drive it a week before putting it into full time service. <p>----------<br>Phil Grande - Soundview Landscape Supply - http://members.aol.com/slsnursery<br>Ivy League Landscaping - http://members.aol.com/scagrider

[jeffclc]

Doesn't sound as if any of you guys have actually sufferen any physcial injuries as a result of these accidents. <p>Back when I first started, I was using a 4'x10' trailer behind a Ranger. I was hitching up one day, and was in a hurry. I was standing on the left side of the tounge, pulling the trailer rail with my right hand. My left hand was on the very front of the coupler. Once I got the trailer moving, it had too much momentum for me to stop quickly, and it crashed into the rear of the pickup. The main problem was that my hand was still on the very front of the coupler, and now smashed inbetween the trailer coupler and truck bumper. <p>A fast trip to the emergency room confirmed my worst fear, 2 broken bones in my left hand. I was in a cast for 6 weeks. That didn't stop me from mowing though. I was able to use a self propelled LawnBoy mower. There is no way that I could have operated a pistol grip walk behind mower. <p>I certinly learned my lesson, and now always look in the line of fire. <p>Lesson learned, dents in trucks are much less painful than broken hands. Next time, the truck will take the hit.

[dylan]

I was cutting the grass at a resort down by the lake and noticed a guy backing a trailer down the boat launch ramp. All of a sudden the hitch popped off the ball and the trailer rolled into the lake. I guess he panicked and took his foot off the brake and his car rolled back and the tongue went through his rear window. I went down to help and we noticed that after we pulled the trailer out of the lake and hooked it up again, the hitch was 2&quot; and the ball was 1 7/8&quot;.

[cjcland]

jeff, <p> i did the same thing loading up an airboat lucky for me i didnt break any bones i had a hard time holding on to the shotgun that day though<p>----------<br>CJC Landscape Management<br>Winter Haven, Florida

[MOW ED]

To All,<br>Thank you for all of the stories. It helps to know that others have problems too. I laughed at some of these and others really got me thinking. I'm even feeling better about the dent. Since I started spring cleans<br>I can pay for it. Thanks again, I have become safer as a result.<p>P.S. I bought a new drop reciever for the hitch. I pulled out of my garage without a problem but somehow the trailer &quot;GREW&quot; 2 inches when I came home. Anyway it was easy to bend the garage door panel back into shape where the gate caught it. I have something against doors.:)<br>

[thelawnguy]

Ha Ha dents and dings are a hazard of this business. My mother commented that, while on a walk, she saw my truck at a location I usually dont do work at (it was for one of her friends) she says she can tell my truck a mile away cuz its &quot;old and beat up&quot; and everyone else has newer trucks. Its a 1995 Dodge for Petes sake! Must be the dents rust peeling paint and two years of road grime which threw her.<p>Bill

[lawnforce1]

Yesterday morning I was waiting for my partner to get his lazy butt out here to start the day, I was backed our two week old Ford F-250 up through the gate to pick up the mower trailer left the door open. Big mistake, popped outta gear and bent the door back to the front fender and knocked the trailer about thirty feet back (over the chalks.) Took about two hours with a mallet and my partner pushing and pulling on the door to straighten it out.

[osc]

Dropped a toro walk behind into a busy 4 lane highway. Back before I had landscape gates on my trailors and I forgot to put the thing in gear and tie it down to boot. Only took 2 mistakes to create 1 accident. After I flipped it back over I started it up and drove it off the highway. Glad none of my customers were driving by.