[AT] Chain grades

[Dudley Rupert]

Robert, your' post reminds me of a neighbor of mine who has spent most of
his life moving dirt around and always hauled his own dozers and backhoe.

He re-told me this story several months ago about the one accident he had
many years ago.  He was forced off the road and the trailer whipped/skidded
off the road and rolled over an embankment and rolled the truck with it.
Fortunately no one was injured.

My neighbor said "If I hadn't of had the dozer tied down then when the
trailer skidded off the road I would of only lost the dozer and not my truck
and trailer as well."  As he was telling me the story I think he was
reliving the sense of helplessness he had when this happened many years ago.

He said he believed the dozer rear winch cable attached to the back of the
trailer served a valuable purpose in that if the driver were forced to make
a quick stop the dozer wouldn't wind up in the back of the truck (I believe
it was Farmer who mentioned this in an earlier post).  He knew the law, of
course, so he continued to use cross-tie downs but he said he felt that they
mostly only provided a sense of false security on a dry wooden deck.  He
believed the only safe thing was to be in control at all times and if you
ever get in a situation where you're counting on the cross-tie downs to save
the day they probably won't and bad things are going to happen.

Of course, if the deck is icy/slippery cross-tie downs will be necessary.
And, I know, if an on coming driver decides he wants your' lane it's hard to
maintain control.  But the bottom line for me is when I trailer a tractor I
do use what I think are adequate tie downs but I tell myself when driving
that there are none and that it is totally up to my driving skill to keep
the tractor on the trailer.

Dudley
Snohomish, Washington

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com]On Behalf Of R Mull
Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2005 7:03 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Chain grades

Chain a  Heavy load to a trailer or truck and take a curve too fast and the
Load and trailer or truck  will turn over if you have the trailer or truck
tied to the load. It is just a saying that no matter how strong your chains
are you can still loose your load if you drive like a idiot or have to stop
or dodge some other fool in your path if you don't stay alert and use some
good common sense. Know your trucks capabilities and look out for others who
don't.

Thanks,
Robert Mull
Woodstock, Georgia