The Jeep’s ride changes abruptly. And you look behind you. And you know that heavily-laden trailer you were hauling a minute ago?
Oh, yeah. This is great. It’s almost five, the light will be going soon, I’m tired and footsore, and on a steep slope there’s no safe way to recouple the trailer even if I empty it first. Which will take forever. For a minute I consider just ditching the whole thing, worry about it in the morning. Except now it isn’t cold, and it will be in the morning. Screw that, fix it now if you can.
So I chocked the wheels, went and found a piece of 3/4″ rebar from Ian’s yard to pry with and some big rocks, and I slowly managed to get the hitch out of the dirt and then up high enough on the stacked rocks that I could drive the Jeep under it…
And sonuvagun it worked!
This is the sort of scenario that worries me, along the lines of getting seriously sick, because if something went violently wrong here I’d be in deep shit. This is a reason I carry my phone everywhere: I may not be able to call 911 if I got trapped and/or hurt, but I could call a neighbor. Without the phone I’d have to lay there and bleed alone, because nobody’s going to come this way for more than a week.
Since the whole thing was facing downhill, I had the familiar problem that the latch didn’t want to lock. This is probably why it came unhitched in the first place; it’s happened before. When the Jeep is facing downhill, that latch needs to be banged into place.
Fortunately I’m never far from Special Tool J-OEL.
You just haven’t lived until the trailer you thought was securely hooked to your truck passes you on the road!
Oh Ben, yes indeed! We had a 17 foot utility trailer once. It was old and had been over the road a lot, but it worked for hauling firewood. One day we loaded just a LITTLE too much, not wanting to make a second trip. There was a pretty steep hill between where we were and where we needed to be… down hill. The hitch broke on a curve, and we watched in horror as the trailer passed us and went right over the edge… Luckily, nobody was hurt, and there was a wide driveway near where the wood spilled all over… but we had to rent a trailer to recover it. The old trailer was salvaged, and a new (used) hitch put on… but I never trusted the thing after that.
I know it’s a pain, BUT….I put a pin in the hitch latch when I move a trailer in my flat driveway. Years ago I worked at a boat shop for 6 or 7 years. When you see all of the mayhem free range trailers produce you get real extra cautious-y.
Hauling a trailer 5 days a week for many years filled with lawn care equipment and only had this happen once. I think it was caused by the same inattention to details 😉
Forensic examination of the picture in your last post is a clue.
Slow down OCD is your friend
Mike
Looks like Mike has it. Check out that latch in the previous thread.
I saw a guy killed by a loose trailer once.
Having owned and used a utility trailer for years I can definitely say been there, done that. I goofed when hitching up the trailer one morning. I was off to get rid of some stuff at the town dump. Just after getting rid of the load the trailer bounced and the coupler came off the ball. Totally my fault, I hadn’t made sure that the coupler was secure on the ball and the bump caused it to uncouple. These days I am religious in checking the trailer before taking it on the road.
I’m with you on having a phone all the time I’m out in the sticks and when stuff happens it happens fast and you are normally all alone to deal with it.
Whyfor you no haz Hi-Jacker? (or the Hazard Fraught Tools equivalent: http://www.harborfreight.com/42-inch-3-1-2-half-ton-farm-jack-6530.html )
🙂 Yeah, I was thinking about those gadgets yesterday.
“I may not be able to call 911… but I could call a neighbor”
I is confuse. No 911 service available?
Is that special tool related to a the J tools recommended by GM in their overhaul manuals??
Not quite what I remember from the GM manuals, no. 😉