Did something dumb today.

[firefighter ontheside]

That's gonna leave a mark.  Hopefully the damage was not too bad.

[Walnut Beast]

Wow Don! You definitely had some excitement!! Glad you didn't get hurt

[Crossroads]

Oh Dang, that stinks! We did that a couple weeks ago loading a D3. Fortunately it was a gooseneck trailer and the guy on the cat got off the trailer when the truck was 90°to the trailer. Other that some dirty shorts and some divots in the driveway, it was no harm no foul. 

[Don P]

I had time to run all the way to the front of the deck trying to plant the tires but .. the mass was in motion.

I barely left a mark on the tree that caught the grill, hood, fender, bumper, inner subframe, wheel liner, radiator and all the bits. It looks like it stopped there. When I get the front off the engine I can turn it over and see if it throws the belt but it looks ok. Hard to say, definitely a total but at replacement costs I'm looking for a front clip tonite.

[Old Greenhorn]

Man, that could have been a lot more uglier than it was, really glad you are OK. Hope the truck and trailer are the same.
 
 This reminds of something really stupid I did last week but did not have time to record here. I was getting ready for the festival and needed to get my Mule up on the trailer, but the trailer was unhitched. I have done this a few times. I put jack stands under the back edge of the trailer and whne I drive up, they carry the weight shift. Except this time. When I drove up, the trailer pushed forward ad the back end dropped and the jack stands were at a 60° angle to the ground, I mad the mistake of stopping when I saw the shift. SO there I am, halfway up with the jackstands ready to fall over and the front wheel of the trailer off the ground. I wound up letting it roll back slowly as I prayed, reset the jack stands, but this time raised up the trailer tongue so that all the weight was on the jack stands and I pulled it off. I felt really stupid perched up there in a state of limbo not knowing which way to go.

[beenthere]

We lost a good member several years back when he had a similar move. Winching a log onto his trailer hitched to his Suburban. The log weight on the rear lifted the rear Suburban wheels (that were braked and in Park) and the whole rig slid down a street with our member getting caught under and dragged along. Ugly.

Services For Mark Mathys in General Board


On another "dumb" move, just reported a fire dept. in a WI community being called to a garage fire. Apparent cause of the fire was a guy trying to use his shop vac to siphon gas out of a container. Maybe thought the suction would start the siphon flowing..??  But suspect the gas fumes were ignited by an arc/spark in the motor on the shop vac and thus started the fire. Lost the garage, but saved the house.

[firefighter ontheside]

Oh man thats terrible about our lost member.  Could happen to any of us.

Public Service Announcement...shop vacs are not intrinsically safe.

[sawguy21]

It hurts being reminded of Mark, he was a great guy. I recently tried to help a guy loading a skid steer on a bumper pull behind a 1/2 ton, he panicked when the nose of the trailer and the rear of the truck rose. I suggested he stack blocking under the trailer leaving enough room to allow the springs to settle. Of course he had to overdo it and jammed the blocks under the corners of the deck. Loading went well but now he couldn't pull away. He cursed me so I just got in my truck and left, we can't fix stupid even with duct tape.

[rusticretreater]

Hey sawguy, I think that goes in the ever elusive "I did something smart today" thread.

Yeah, we are dealing with physics and as a friend of mine says "Physics is a b*tch."

The dent in the side of my truck reminds me of when my parking brake didn't hold and while the truck was in gear(engine off), the landscaping trailer pulled it slowly down a hill and jackknifed at the same time.

When I was starting to plan my log arch for my trailer I noticed the jackstands in the vids of the guys who knew what they were doing.  I have them at all four corners. I also use tire chocks on the truck and trailer.  Did you ever notice the first thing the firemen do when they arrive on the scene in their trucks?  One of them immediately chocks the wheels.  I try to do that as soon as I get the trailer in position.

[Crusarius]

I like to put my truck in 4wd before I do any loading or unloading of the trailer. that way all 4 tires are locked instead of just the rear like when you put it in park or set the parking brake.

and wheel chocks are great and should always be used on the trailer at least but if on the truck put them on the front tires that won't lift off the ground

I had a time once I was screwing around when I got to camp, everyone had already left to go wheeling so I put one tire up onto the back of my buddies trailer. The tongue of the trailer lifted straight up and almost hit the truck. glad he had the tires chocked. The scariest thing was the hitch was the way it was when he brought his bronco to the wheeling area. He should have lost it on the road but somehow got really lucky.

[firefighter ontheside]

I could tell lots of stories about firetrucks that were not chocked and the consequences of that.  Of course those stories usually go hand in hand with forgetting to set the air brake.  Yesterday I was at a call that the ladder truck responded to and had to park on a steep hill.  They will often have a guy get off to place a chock before the driver takes his foot off the brake just in case the brake doesnt hold.  That only happens with brakes that need adjustment and hot brakes.  It was hot yesterday and they had to travel pretty far on curvy roads.  The truck rolled onto the first chock, so they set 2 more chocks to be safe.  The ladder carries 4 chocks because the front axle has to have chocks front and back of each side when the ladder is deployed.

I always use jack stands at the rear corners of my trailer while loading.  Even if the trailer sits down on them, its easy to pull away and the stands will tip over.  

[doc henderson]

my goose neck has ramps that are triangular and when flipped up create a flat area on top of the dovetail.  the last 5 feet of my 32 foot trailer.  so when down behind the trailer for loading, the bottom is only a few inches off the ground.  so it does not let the ramps push down on the back of the trailer.  they are also self stowing,  if you forget and drive off the will flip up.  makes a big bang.  guess how I know that!

[Don P]

If you look at those ramps they do have "feet" and the truck was in 4 low... take it to the bottom of the hill. It's an E ticket ride  .
As I was perusing the local online junkyard offerings, those parts trucks look better than mine, here's your sign  :D

[Crossroads]

Not me but a friend of mine was holding a board while another kid nailed it. As they say, "even the best laid plans got to pot every now and then "

[firefighter ontheside]

"Nailed it!"
I bet Doc has seen that in the ER a few times.

[fluidpowerpro]

*DanG, I hate it when that happens!

[Don P]

Oww, that is not a good place, is everything ok?

[Crossroads]

He said it missed the bone, he had his dad pull it out after the photo shoot of course. I haven't heard any updates yet. 

[rusticretreater]

Doc, will I ever play the piano again?

[Old Greenhorn]

Tell your friend that counts for two. Getting shot is one thing, pulling it out without an x-ray is the more dumber second thing and could cause more damage than the original penetration. Coated nails add to the problem.

[kelLOGg]

How could he pose long enough for a pic??

[Crossroads]

Sounds like he's back to work, said it's a little sore, but getting better 

[K-Guy]

I bet he doesn't hold boards for that guy anymore!!  :D

[Tom K]

That reminds me of something I did dumb quite a few years ago. The first year the wife and I were together I had her helping me build a chicken coup. One of the rafters had a twist so I held it in place and asked her to nail it for me. You guessed it, the gun bounced and fired a second time which proceeded to nail two of my fingers together. She flipped out and was getting ready to head to the ER while I was pulling out my phone to take a picture. She wasn't too happy when I grabbed a pair of pliers and pulled it out myself, what could go wrong I had a nurse on site after all (she's a nurse). Still one of my boys favorite stories to tell even 10+ years later.....I need to see if I can still find that picture....And yeah, I'd still hold the board for her, but she won't touch a nail gun :D

[kelLOGg]

They use staples in place of stitches sometimes. Why not nails?😮