Trailer safety (was Re: [AT] OT Darwin

[Indiana Robinson]

	I use my winch to hold load all of the time but it is a 5 
ton full manual 1 ass power (me)    :-)   winch with a 
"very" positive ratchet lock in addition to the hand brake 
that is used for controlling the "letting out" of the 
cable. The lock works the same in either of the two gear 
ratios. Even then I never use it alone. I don't worry as 
much about the tractor falling off of the back as I do 
wearing it in a collision. I always use the heaviest chains 
to prevent the tractor from going forward if I hit 
something. I like to chain to the corners, never just to 
the center of the front or rear. I also pretty much always 
have a chain from side to side in the center. On my 
tractors with actual paint I use clevises so I don't put 
that chain against paint. I do not like to over-tighten 
that center chain to avoid stressing the torque tube. Just 
enough to snug it well, after all, it is just an extra.
	I'm sure I have mentioned an old dealer friend that in the 
late 1940's used to just run a new Ferguson up on a small 
tilt bed trailer and lock the breaks and go...   :-)
	It was really great back when I still had the wrecker to 
load stuff. I could just back up in the general direction 
and reel out up to 200' of cable and winch stuff on the 
trailer in minutes. I also often just used the wrecker 
alone to move small implements. I could winch stuff up and 
chain it to the rear apron or hang it in the slings. I 
really miss that 4x4 wrecker... #$%& insurance companies... 
Wouldn't insure it as a boom truck or farm truck. They 
wanted an extra $1000 to cover it. If I had built it as a 
farm boom truck that would have been OK but this one had a 
history as a wrecker. I should have dumped them instead of 
the truck.
	I almost messed that wrecker up good once at an auction 
sale. I climbed in and started the engine and when I let 
out on the clutch I quickly discovered that while it was 
parked someone had put the winch in gear playing with the 
levers. They couldn't have put it in the gear to let out 
cable, noooo! They put in the gear to wind in. I always 
kept the cable hooked to one of the big "D" rings on the 
apron and it about tore it off before I realized what was 
happening and shut it down.   :-(   We finally fixed a 
chain and padlock for it.
	Along this same vein... I am hearing from more places 
about vandals pulling the pin that holds the hitch unit 
into the receiver while the rig is parked. The driver gets 
in and starts off and the trailer falls to the ground...   
:-(    More guys are buying the locking pins.
	One of my BILs also says that he has heard of the same 
thing happening to guys with 5th wheel hitches on RVs and 
horse trailers. Vandals walk past and pull the latch lever. 
He said it really messes up a bed and tail gate in that 
case.


-- 
"farmer"
Hewick Midwest

The master in the art of living makes little distinction 
between his 
work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and 
his body, 
his information and his recreation, his love and his 
religion. He 
hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision 
of 
excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide 
whether he 
is working or playing. To him he's always doing both. 
 ~ James A. Michener, attributed

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net