Trailer story

[JohnnyP]

How about this for a tale of woe? Yesterday I set off in pick up with trailer to collect fertilizer (two 600kg of 16-16-16). My journey starts with 10 miles of single track road in the highlands, and I'm bumping along a particularly bad bit when I feel something odd - look in the mirror and I can't see the trailer tailgate/ramp, which is the only part of the trailer usually visible from the driver position. Now I am seriously paranoid about losing a trailer, because it happened to an employee of mine once near Achnasheen. He described watching the trailer overtake him, crash through a fence and cartwheel into a field. The realisation of how much worse that incident could have been has always haunted me. So I always put extra safety chains on trailers, securing them beyond doubt to the vehicle. Back to the story - I can't see the tailgate/ramp. My immediate thought is that I've lost the trailer. I look around from the driver position - nothing in sight. Into reverse to go look for the trailer........CRUNCH. You've probably already guessed - the trailer was still firmly attached to the pickup, the tailgate/ramp had just dropped down! The retaining clips hadn't been put into the toggles (my fault), the ramp had dropped on the bumpy section of road, but then when I reversed I jack-knifed the trailer something rotten. The suspension unit on the trailer was wrecked, and the trailer put a pretty big dent in the side of the pickup. All fixable though, and I'm just glad that it wasn't as bad as I thought when I first looked in the mirror.

Lessons learnt: first, check the retaining clips are in the toggles; second, don't react too quickly without checking the situation.

Nobody else about, so put everything back together as best I could and limped to the garage. Hope this never happens to you.

[nuttalls]

Glad your ok, thought things like that only happened at our house, its always good for a laugh after, we lent someone are wagon to move horses and when they were on way backthe side door to the living area flew off near a roundabout and police helped him recover it, he daren't bring it back, but when he did Jordan said Oh don't worry about it it be rieet, jean