I 've had so many trailer nightmares happen I don't know where to start.
There was the one time when we were towing 2 atv's down #7 just west of Madoc when the pin for the tilt came out :0: The trailer immediately popped up and we could barely keep the nissan Pathfinder within the 2 lane highway. The trailer was gouging the highway for a few hundred feet before we could stop it. We even had to go over a bridge. For some reason that day I put an excessive amount of hold down straps on thank god. We ended up walking back 1/2 a klik or so and found the pin. Put it back in with a retaining pin this time and off we went.

Same trailer another time, we were on our way to Lake scugog for some lake and river running with the Machs. Crazy B was looking out the window and saw the bearing buddy cap blow off but before he could even say it the whole wheel blew off and passed us on the highway. We pulled over rebuilt the bearing assembly and off went. I always keep a bearing rebuild kit on hand after the time in Mac Tier , but thats another story. I 'll post that one later.

one of my favorite stories was when we came over the "big mac" on a sunday afternoon and saw a new motor home with a 4 new cats on the trailer.the trailer was up on the jack and the wheel bearing was shot.why do people think that things last forever without maintainence? :hallo2: :hallo10:

Originally posted by permafrost@Oct 14 2002, 11:29 AM
I 've had so many trailer nightmares happen I don't know where to start.
There was the one time when we were towing 2 atv's down #7 just west of Madoc when the pin for the tilt came out :0: The trailer immediately popped up and we could barely keep the nissan Pathfinder within the 2 lane highway. The trailer was gouging the highway for a few hundred feet before we could stop it. We even had to go over a bridge. For some reason that day I put an excessive amount of hold down straps on thank god. We ended up walking back 1/2 a klik or so and found the pin. Put it back in with a retaining pin this time and off we went.

Same trailer another time, we were on our way to Lake scugog for some lake and river running with the Machs. Crazy B was looking out the window and saw the bearing buddy cap blow off but before he could even say it the whole wheel blew off and passed us on the highway. We pulled over rebuilt the bearing assembly and off went. I always keep a bearing rebuild kit on hand after the time in Mac Tier , but thats another story. I 'll post that one later.
Hell, I would get rid of that trailer, it's bad luck. I was towing 2 sleds to Lovells, just outside of Grayling when I had a spring snap. I had to put one sled on a 3 place which put 4 sleds on one trailer, one being across the seats and one in back of a pick up. Same trailer a long long time ago I was in the back seat with my sister and bro of out then 77 LTD stationwagon on our way up north. While driving I 75 my sister says hey dad look at that donut. It was one of the tires passing us up. We had to put the spare on and steal 2 lug nuts from the opposite side to get back on the road.

I have a horror story for you. I'm custom building mine right now!!!! In fact I just ordered the rims and tires about 20 minutes ago. The axle and material are sitting in front of the garage....... Will be a nice trailer, 2 place with brakes, ramps, custom spray shield..... I don't have enough time or money for a fully enclosed one but either way I new my welding certifications would pay off. I'll have to post pictures when it's done. Won't be able to miss it, it's going to be painted bright yellow!!!

Snow-Drift

I guess I have been lucky. With all the mild winters I have trailered everywhere without a problem..... well there is the time we went out with no spare tire and we did get a flat. We pulled that trailer at 10 mph on the rim untill we got down to the hub......then unloaded the sleds in the middle of nowhere, pitch black and rode around untill help arrived. So I wouldnt consider that a horror story but a learning curve........Make sure before you load up at the end of the day to have lots of fuel in the sled in case the trailer fails.

o boy

towing a two place going to island pond vt on 91 when i jumped lanes and the trailer started going left to right! i figure speed it up to pull it out of it! ya right i and trailer ended up in the middle of a 2 lane hgwyat 80 mph. trailer was rocking so bad tat the truck was rocking with it! the steering wheel was going left to right! for at least 1/4 mile !
when i got it under control people were backed up in two lanes i was sweeping up LOL! when people went by they had the holly sh1t look on ther face!!
the best part the wife thought i had it under control!! when i have never been so scared in my life!!!LOL i got off the next exit so we could get food!!
still got look s at buger king from people who saw the show!!

Not a snowmobiling trailer, but a trailer horror story none the less.

I had just graduated from college, my parents had come with the big pickup and a trailer to come get 5 years of accumulated crap. I am running late, and we are like 3 hours behind schedule. My mom and I have an argument about putting a tarp over it all... I give up and halfa$$ed tie the tarp on... about 10 miles out of town we stop and take the tarp of cuz it is blowing in the wind. Then we stop for gas, and she is still insistent on tarping it so she buys 200 feet of clothesline, and proceeds to use it all tying the tarp on... overkill to say the least. About 10 miles later, we hit a large bump and the trailer comes unhitched (dont ask about the safety chains !!! ) The trailer gets a mind of its own, moves into the opposing lane, and succeeds in passing us. after about 250 very tense yards, it goes into the opposite ditch, takes out a bank of mailboxes, and buries the tongue into a culvert. The resulting momentum shift causes the entire trailer to stand on its nose, then fall back to the wheels. The only thing that kept my 5 years of accumulated crap from spreading over 40 acres?? Yep, my mom's tarp job. My dad made me apologize for arguing, and thank her for doing such a good job tarping. He got a $100 ticket from the state troop that just happened to drive by as we were pulling it out of the ditch.

My horror story,
It started off as my fault as I broke my own cardinal rule and borrowed a trailer. Well off we went after loading up in Port Perry heading for Haliburton Forest and the only sledding short of going to the far north. Cruising along with the C&W just a howling when suddenly the trailer started go wildly from side to side, got er anchored down on the shoulder with no incident. Damm I got a flat or so I thought until pulling the rim off and finding half of it had separated. I guessed that I had driven for some distance before noticing the flat and thats what caused the rim destruction. No big deal on goes the spare and on off we go.
Just got settled back into the seat long enough to warm up when doesn't the damm trailer start swaying even worse than the first time. Thank goodness no one else was on the road as this things using up two lanes. Again got it over to the side without incident and have a look. Hasn't the tire on the opposite site gone flat now. OK so now I've got no spare and another flat. I'm still fairly calm figuring I can pull it off and with a little searching get it repaired. So off it comes only to find better than 3/4 of the rim has broken off plus when I look over at the side I put the spare on its going flat as the rim has now broken on that side as well.
We spent 2/3 of the day running all over hells half acre to find two wheels and tires. Needless to say that ended the days sledding.
It turns out the rims for these "fat boy tires" are very prone to salt accumulating along the weld where the two halfs are joined causing them to rot and eventually break.
Hard to beleive on a trailer that was only 18 months or so old.

Seems to me most trailer horror stories are usually caused by the ignorance of the user. Not pointing fingers but most people think you can just load up and take off. Not paying any mind to proper weight distribution, trailer maintenance, or safety precautions just to name a few.

I would agree, but in my case I checked the air in both tires plus the spare, gave the bearing buddies a good snort of grease, had a look at the springs and shackles and checked the lights only to have nothing but trouble.

Boy ZRSleadhead, I thought I was reading my own post there for a second. I have a pic in the Cat section under sled pics of our accident. I too borrowed someone else's trailer who told me it was all ready to go...
NOT!! We were about 2 hrs into our 10 hr drive home and my buddy's girlfriend had to take a leak...we normally only stop for gas. But for some reason we pulled into a gas station for her to do her duty, and on my usual walk around the trailer I saw grease splattered around one of the wheels and it smelled hot. I crawl under and the bearings were gone and the hub had already been grinding into the axle about 1/2 an inch. It was a Sunday in a small town, so our options were limited. Found a trailer dealer in the town, but he didn't have an axle and hub...but he did have a bunch of new trailers. We decided to buy a 3-place trailer if we were going to buy one, but he didn't have one in stock. Well, the plant was about 3 hrs on the other side of Wisconsin. He would give us a heck of a price, but we had to go pick the trailer up. SOOOOOO, we unhitched the old trailer and drove across the state, picked up the new trailer, drove back to the dealer, unloaded the sleds off the old trailer, flipped it upside down on the new trailer, put the sleds on top of that, and strapped it all down. A 10 hr trip turned into a 24 hr trip. Thank god my buddy's g-friend had to use the bathroom.
We patched the old trailer together and gave it back to the guy.

The year was 1989 and me and a buddy were heading back to minneapolis from U.P and just after the Wis, border it started to snow and got really cold. Next came the black ice and then one slide later and my Exciter and my buddys new 600 Indy were off the trailer around 50' from each other on both sides of the road in around 4' of snow. It was around 3 in the a.m. and we were cold and the hitch was broke. After about an hour and a little inivation we had the sleds loaded and were back on the road. All in all the trip was great and there was no damage to either sled.

i towed from sudbury home, when i got home got out of my truck and noticed a trailer tire and rim laying beside the truck. i thought what in you know where as it turned out it was the tire and rim off my trailer. WHEW ! lucky or what ? :nervous:

Just for the record, I have never had an accident w/my own trailer....knock on wood.

I gotta dig back to my trucking days for my worst trailer incident. I'm pulling a set of "Rocky Mountain Doubles" (one 48 foot trailer with a 27 foot trailer being pulled behind it). Everything is nice and easy as it's a weekend haul where I have no set time to get back to Denver from Salt Lake City, UT. I'm about Rawlins, WY when I notice that the drivers side of the trailer looks "odd." I pull off the highway to find that I've lost a complete set of duals!!! My brake drum is all that's left just hanging there. Of four tires on that one axle, I had only ONE left with air in it. :0:

I have no idea when or where that set of wheels came off as it was the typical Wyoming pitch black night, nor was there ever any reaction from the combination when they came off. I can only hope that nobody was hurt by those wheels when they decided that they no longer needed to occupy their required placement. :(

after reading these stories im glad i dont have to trailer to go riding :p just drive right out of the yard

We used to ride from the house and sometimes we still doo, but mostly we trailer up to you Panteraone where the best snowmobiling is :hallo3:

Mine's rather minor compared to everyone else's, but it still sucked.

Most of you may know where the interstate north of Wausau goes from four lanes to two. Well, that's where the "tone" changed in the driving sound and I picked up a vibration. I attributed it to the difference in payment, slowed down, and it went away. A couple miles later, I sped back up to around 70 mph and the vibration returned and I saw the trailer bouncing up and down. Again, I slowed and it disappeared. No problem, I'll just keep her under 60. I finally pulled into a gas station in Minocqua to do my ususal trailer walk-around (like Mr. Fritch) and noticed that the left side sled on the outside is completely covered with slush, dirt and ice. After closer inspection, I'm amazed to see a huge hole in my trailer deck. Gazing through the splintered mess of plywood, I see the entire half side of tread gone on my tire.

Now the vibration at high speed starts to make sense. When the tire threw its tread, it became like shrapnel and disintegrated my threated 3/4 inch plywood and replaced it with a one square foot hole. Fortunately, I had a spare. Unfortuately, it was -15 degrees F. Then, there's no worse feeling in the world than using your spare and having another 100 miles to go.

Jon

P.S. No wonder there were no cars behind me for so long.

Jon, did it damage your sleds at all??

i dont have a trailer for the sleds yet the trucks work fine for me so maybe next year ll have a story... i did get a flat on the boat trailer once no biggy though

I know a guy who lost his renegade out of the back of his truck last year on the highway, it got pretty smacked up. :0:

Originally posted by Wolfman@Oct 14 2002, 02:34 PM

I have no idea when or where that set of wheels came off as it was the typical Wyoming pitch black night, nor was there ever any reaction from the combination when they came off. I can only hope that nobody was hurt by those wheels when they decided that they no longer needed to occupy their required placement. :(
You're the schmuck that killed my mom! Just kidding.
I'll have to dig in the old memory banks and think of some good stories from when I drove tow trucks for over 2 years during college.

Jim,

No damage other than the road grime and salt that started to corrode the metal parts of the sled because I didn't get it off in time. That Michigan road salt is the harshest stuff I've ever come across. Ya gotta get it off quick, or else!!

Jon

Never had any on road disasters other than 1 flat tire. Last year we were talking about trailers and someone mention SledBed!! They said the main frame rails were cracking so I went out for a look an what did I see, you guessed it, busted rails! And I mean ready to go right in half, that would have been a nice mess in the middle of I-75! I would have caught it as I do a good yearly inspection but what a cheap piece of crap for a trailor!
$300.00 later and a lot of welding, it is better than new, now the rails run full length and are 1/4 thick. :hallo2:

i think ill stick to the truck some of these trailer storys are kinda scary.. and to think you guys are on the road again... to strike again... haha :p

This is just one of many Crazy B trailer stories. Coming home from a day of fishing I come to a four way stop, well I rolled through it and a cop pulls me over :angry: comes to the car and asks for all the paperwork say`s I ran the stop sign. OK. Goes back to his car to write the ticket. He comes back rather quickly though and say`s I think your boat is on fire! I say What no way it`s most likely my leaky tranny dripping on to the exaust. He`s say`s no I think it`s your boat. We go back and look and sure enough there is smoke coming from the boat. I open the tarp up and now the air get to it and poof... flames. Cop yells FIRE FIRE FIRE and runs back to his car and get`s a fire extingisher and puts the flames out. :D Thank god for that pull over as I had no insurance on the boat. Cop then say`s he feels sorry but he had already written the ticket and had too give it to me :(
:devil: that was ok though.....he didn`t show up in court :sarcasm:

Back in '86 I'm heading from Oshawa to Elliot Lake w/ a friend. My sled in the back of my truck & my father's sled on his trailer that I've borrowed. I pick my friend up in Toronto after she finished work @ 5. On the 400 north of Canada's Wonderland, the dash lights go out & the dome light comes on half dim. I pull over put a new fuse in & continue on. South of Mactier the same things happens, put a new fuse in. South of Parry Sound the friend says the cops are behind us & she sees the cherries are flashing. I look, sure enough, so I pull over. The constable walks up & says I've got no taillights on the truck or trailer. I get out walk back & look, nothing. I tell him about the fuse problem & he says there's a garage up ahead. I've run out of the proper amp fuses, so I tell him I'll get some at the garage.

I get there & they have none of the blade type fuses :cussing: So I just pull the trailer connector & run w/ the hazards on. The rest of the trip THAT night was uneventful.

Sunday we leave around 3 PM for Apsley. Around the Espanola turn it starts to snow a bit. Getting closer to Whitefish on #17 I'm about to pass a car & the guy following me starts flashing his lights. I touch the brakes to pull over & it feels like the truck is going to go thru the snowbank & into the ditch.

The L pin & hair clip have disappeared & the drop hitch has come out of the receiver, breaking one of the safety chains in the process. The fellow who flashed his lights had stopped & helped me get the hitch back in the receiver. We shortened the remaining chain enough that the hitch wouldn't come out. He followed me into a gas station at Whitefish. Luckily there was a girl there selling gas, but no mechanic. I asked her if I could get a 5/8" bolt, lock washer & nut & borrow some tools. I got things put together & gave her 20 bucks for the stuff. She said that was too much, but I said it was worth it.

Now I figure we're set, well no. Heading south on Hwy. 69 the snow really picks up. We catch up to a transport & he's going along about 45 mph w/ his hazards flashing. East of Parry Sound my friend can't handle the way it's snowing so hard & the visibilty sucks, so she tries to get some sleep. We finally roll into Apsley at 2 AM. That morning it's sunny & clear.

Two lessons, we should have stayed over in Parry Sound. And I won't use the L pin & hairclip to hold the hitch on. Use a bolt.

no real horror stories, when we go on a long trip we take two spare with us. Had flats a few times , we have had this newman manufacturing trailer (1 year pre sled bed) all over, it has been out to portland twice, yellowstone four times, ect. when we were making a short trip i noticed the trailer hanging low , got out and looked and the main frame in front was 3/4 broken. we got it home, took it into the shop and welded it up.(they did not have a big enough brace under it) now it is rock solid. we builit it farmer tough, i could haul a few 1500 pound round bails, and the tires will blow, but my welding will stay.

lost a 83 vmax off the back end of the trusty ol jd one time,found it in pieces over a two day period

Call protective services, this is sled abuse! :cussing: Not specifically a trailer horror story, but it is a horror to see that much crud on an uncovered sled. trust me it wasn't by choice that they were loaded up without covers, it was out of pure necessity.

I used to keep my sled down here in my garage, but got tired of hauling it up north. Now I just leave it up there, most of the time the roads are really bad to where it makes trailering a tricky situation.

Ok, Questions???
So how did the pin and hairclip come out? Why weren't the sleds covered? What happened to the tires on the semi? :devil: :sleeping: doesn't anybody repack bearings anymore? :hallo3: What happened to the rims? :hallo4: I'm just kidding! SWRules I've done plenty of stupid stuff with jetski trailers. Just haven't towed a sled trailer enough yet I guess. Had a blowout on the jetski trailer once. No biggie. I'll say one thing. I know of a lot more things to check over on my triton now, thanks to everyone here. Gonna have to check out those wheels real close. :sly: :hallo8:

The guy who sold me my current trailer said he had an aluminum trailer (built by a company that went bankrupt and reopened under a different name). He told me he was exiting I-75 on a turn when the trailer broke and fortunately his two sleds (one a thundercat) didn't get destroyed. He said he was at highways speeds a moment earlier and would have lost both the sleds had it happened moments earlier.

The problem, bad aluminum welds. It seems it much harder to get a good aluminum welder than a steel welder. He took the trailer to a guy he knew who did good welding and the guy said the original welds looked like something done by a high school kid. The dealer tells him, "the company is out of business". . . why? Because they couldn't handle all the lawsuits I suppose from bad trailers breaking.

He gets the trailer repaired by the good welder, sells it and gets a Pace American steel trailer. (I end up buying the Pace off him two years later.)

--- Another trailer story ---

This from an old friend, not snowmobile related.

A guy I know was working with a local rock band that travelled around with all their equipment in a trailer that was 15 to 20 feet long. They were travelling on the highway to a gig in Ohio. He said were driving down the freeway and were surprized to see their trailer was passing them on the left going down the freeway merrily on it's own way. It was travelling straight and the tongue was scraping along the freeway. Eventually the tongue finds a rut or crack in the road and the entire thing does an endo into the medium spilling all their equipment everywhere. They spend a considerable amount of time picking up all the stuff. Reload the trailer, and get to the gig and actually play (with a few pieces of broken equipment). The show went on without anyone getting hurt.

After hearing this and other stories, I'm considering modifying my safety chain to have a clip that keeps it attached added to it.

LAST thought:
My trailer is due for some maintainance. I have a number of superficial things unrelated to safety that needs to be done. I'm taking it to a local welder guy for a full inspection. For one thing I may be due for some new door hinges. It's a good idea to have them inspected after a while, especially after reading the posts of everyone above.

I know I'm due for a couple of new tires. I have the big tires that are typical of a Pace Arrow Sport. These have lasted 5 years and the rims are in pretty bad shape. We store our trailer up north and tow shorter distances, saving gas (since we go up almost every weekend) and headaches in towing.

Greg

Originally posted by ATOMICAT@Oct 15 2002, 10:25 AM


The problem, bad aluminum welds. It seems it much harder to get a good aluminum welder than a steel welder. He took the trailer to a guy he knew who did good welding and the guy said the original welds looked like something done by a high school kid.
Aluminum TIG welding relies a lot on technique & surface cleanliness. I've seen good & bad aluminum welders & the bad ones outnumber the good ones.

The materials being welded have to be free of oils, porosity, etc to begin w/. Put the 2 together & you have a recipe for disaster.

This one time we were trailering our sleds and ............and........... I can't do it, I can't tell the story.........it's just too horrible...........terrible things happened........the agony:......the horror........... I can't go on.........................Sorry.............. :(

Hey UPrider, your picture brings a tear to my eye. and now
my ulsuer is bothering me. :(

Originally posted by ATOMICAT@Oct 15 2002, 10:25 AM
After hearing this and other stories, I'm considering modifying my safety chain to have a clip that keeps it attached added to it.


I have seen some trailers that just have an S hook on the ends of the safety chains. Is this legal? You would think a hook w/ a clip should be manditory. Bouncing along the roads that we see during the winter, the S hooks are bound to fly off the tow vehicle.

Any other opinions or comments?

:nervous: :0: Have to add this one. pullling an emty older 40' trailer while passing another rig at about 65 to 70 miles per hr. the
emergency line fitting broke off the air tank on the trailer. end result was 4,$ 200.00 tires
spread out down the road in long black streaks. made so much smoke I could not see the back
of the trailer or the right lane to see if I could get over to the side of the road..

I think this was a pretty good one and it really did happen . I was on my way home from a dice run with my sled and a friends on my older trailer. I went about five miles down the road with no problem. Came to a red light on a corner , I made a right turn onto a main 4 lane road when all of a sudden I noticed the trailer start to swerve violently I looked in the mirror and could see the trailer tilted back. Before I could come to a stop the trailer broke off the tongue stayed tipped back made a sharp right turn,hit a guard rail and flipped over it and landed upside down in a ditch in 3 feet of slushy road plowed snow. The sleds were still attached to the trailer. Now I crawled under and unscrewed the tie down bars. Someone stopped and helped me flip the trailer off and pull it out of the snow then I flipped over the sleds but I didn't have the key for my friends sled and it was a fuel injected 500 , so I had to tow it out with my sled. Had to call another buddy with a trailer to come and get the sleds. then chained mine back togeeather with straps and a come along and take it home. Best part was it was my own stupidity for forgetting the pin. Now I have the pin and a spring loaded safety catch . Oh by the way this all happened the night before I was starting a new job. :cussing: :cussing: :withstupid:

If you dont have the pin in the tilt on an empty trailer, and you are going say... 60mph down the road when it decides to tilt, the trailer will try to become a kite.

The pic to match my story.

I was driving on the interstate 75mph w/ my sled on the trailer, looked in my rearview to see a BMW trying to pass, as he got up along side my trailer I hit a sheet of black ice, I didn't hear my tires spinning because the radio was cranked, but before I knew it my 400hp jimmy was going sideways down the interstate, I looked out my drivers window to see my trailer right beside me, then I went into the median back on the road, back in the median again, back on the road and finally got it straightened out I looked back to see the backend of my snowmobile hanging off the trailer (DON'T BUY CHEAP STRAPS!!!) I came REALLY close to taking out the BMW but I was lucky and all was o.k. (the look on the drivers face of the BMW was priceless) :p

The ''S" type hooks are illegal in ontario now rev.They must be the
locking type.I find the locking swivel ones work the best.The mto
or opp don't pull over many sled trailers for inspections,but if you are
pulling a larger trailer or a heavily loaded one that is when they really
start checking espicially for the annual inspection stickers.

The ''S" type hooks are illegal in ontario now rev.They must be the
locking type
----
Finally a Canadian law that makes sense. Now if they could only get rid of most of the dumb ones. . . come to think about it Michigan has it's fair share of dumb laws too.

Originally posted by z800rtx@Oct 16 2002, 08:36 AM
The mto or opp don't pull over many sled trailers for inspections,but if you are pulling a larger trailer or a heavily loaded one that is when they really
start checking espicially for the annual inspection stickers.
I guy I know at work got stopped either this past winter or a year ago up on #11 during their northern trip. Ticketed for their 2 place trailer because it was being towed by a commercial van (cube style) apparently w/ no proof of inspection for the trailer?

Rev,
Was he ticketed because the truck, trailer or both didn't have an inspection sticker? Does the sticker inspection not come into play once the combined GVW of both the truck and trailer goes above a set number. Meaning if your towing a regular double sled trailer with a commercial truck that requires a sticker the trailer then requires a sticker as well.

ZR, the trailer was a personal trailer that didn't have a inspection sticker. They had borrowed the cube van (w/ commercial sticker) as a chase vehicle. I assume they got pulled over for a safety check. The truck was OK. No problem w/ the trailer other than no inspection sticker. I guess this should be a warning to others in Ontario.

Where does the trailer inspection sticker go? I've never seen one.

This one fall under the quote when you buddy says" turst me were good to go " look for you self .this happened this summer we were raceing down in ohio at Angola speedway in the first lap of the main we were sent in to the wall at around 100-105 mph then hit by three more cars. The car was a mess this was on a Thursday night . so we got back home in MIchigain at about 4:00 am we started to cut the front and rear sub frame off to put on new clips .We had to have the fix by saterday Their were some big wigs comming frome McDanalds to see the car race that day .So after 36 strate hours of working on the car it's now saterday moring at 12.30 practis starts at 1:00 McD's people are arriving at 2:00 for pic's The three of us had about 2hours of sleep combined so we get the car loaded and down the road we go( pulling a 32 foot inclosed) I looked over at my bud and asked is the car tied down he says yes trusted me we get about 20 miles from the track (55 miles from door to door) when this little old lady decides to stop on the hyway . Were doing around 70-75 Mph, well all fo a sudden we hear this god alful bang/slam/boom I look in the mirror and see the front of the car sticking out the trailer !!! tools and toolbox are all over the place.Big mess!!!!The best part of this is that the people from Mcd's were unablie to make the show and came the following week and we got the sponcership to thank god WE NEEDED THE $$$$ :cussing: :withstupid: :0: :0:

I've put all our inspection stickers on the left front of the trailer.I hope
that is where they are supposed to go ;) I think the annual on heavy
combos is a good idea as it gets some of the unsafe junk off the roads.

Last year my brothers and I sold our 4-place wide body trailer and bought a 5-place in-line. The new trailer happens to be approx. 5 ft. longer than the old one, and I snagged the right front wheel on the sign in front of our shop. The impact peeled the fender off and drug the axle back about an inch or so!! All this about 12hrs. before we're to leave for the U.P., a 9 hr drive. It took 3 guys 3hrs. to staighten it up, and the tire didn't even wear baddly. Still need a new fender though. We're just glad it didn't happen at a gas station half way up!!!

In the Nov/Dec issue of Truck Trends, there is quite a bit of info on trailering. You might want to check it out.

10-4 :)

Boy, after reading all of these stories i sure hope that i don't have anything happen this winter. Best trailer wreck i ever saw destroyed a half million dollar boat. Down in Floridia some guy had a 47' Fountain come off a trailer after taking a offf ramp way to fast. We watched the trailer start to lean onto one side then bam, the boat was off. Guy migh have been ok if he had useed the massive ratcheting tie downs that were built into the trailer.
Caleb

folgers-

I'm not laughing at you but that is the funniest story I have beard in a long time.

I was easy to put myself in your place.

I got pulled over last winter on the 407 coming back from a week trip sledding with the wife Pickeral Lake, on my birthday. Got a $103 ticket for the trailer plate not being visible to the cameras. Cop siad to be legal, you have to put the trailer plate and the tow vehicle plate at the top of the trailer, which didn't make a bunch of sense to me anyway. Between Hwy400 and Milton counted 14 sled trailers pulled over, cops weren't bothering speeders, just sledders. Real good for tourism, as a lot were Americans, and why are the OPP writing tickets whose proceeds go to a private corporation(407). Sorry for the rant, but if you're using the 407 this winter, be aware. ???

I've read that 407 warning many times on some ATV sites this summer. Guess I better move my plate.

Thanks for the warning.

FishHOg

We haven't had to many trailoring problems, but this one time we had just loaded my brother sled on the back of our truck and there was ply-wood on top of the platic bed liner... So when we went to pull away from the snowbank of slides the sled and lands perfectly on the groung with my brother still on it. You should of seen his face. :nervous:

TTT

Time to think about those trailer bearings if you havent done so already :)

Originally posted by cat4life@Oct 19 2002, 10:15 PM
We haven't had to many trailoring problems, but this one time we had just loaded my brother sled on the back of our truck and there was ply-wood on top of the platic bed liner... So when we went to pull away from the snowbank of slides the sled and lands perfectly on the groung with my brother still on it.* You should of seen his face. :nervous:
59863

Actually I know of a guy that unloads his sled using that method. First time I witnissed it was at St. Ola at Sam's Restaurant ( Trudy's) on highway 62 south of Bancroft. He would back up across the parking lot, get close to the snowbank and stomp on the brakes. Out comes the '93 Mach on the plywood. It was done so perfectly, it was a Kodak moment. I have never used this method, and now never will with RER. Still, it is something to see! :blush:

Our Snowmobiling road trip from hell, with 3 flat tires on the same trailer, if you get a chance read it. (Last Year)

Here are a few highlights, we left on Saturday at 2:30pm
Estimated travel time - one-way from Amherst, NY to Adirondack Mountains 4 Hours
Group: Dad, three friends and myself + 5 snowmobiles with two trailers
that hold 2 sleds each. Had one sled in the back of my truck.

4:30 pm - Mom called cell phone from house and informed me that my snowmobile pants were sitting on the table.
5:00 pm Flat tire (blow-out) on trailer - had spare, no jack that would
work ...or lug wrench. Called AAA on the Highway
5:30 pm Tow truck arrived and changed spare.
6:00 pm Stopped at K-Mart in Syracuse, NY, bought snow pants
7:30 pm Second flat tire (blow-out) on trailer, drove / called all over to
find spare tire ...no luck. 45 minutes from hotel and destination.
8:30 pm Drove both vehicles and trailer that had no flat to the hotel (left
trailer behind w/ snowmobiles on)
9:15 pm Unloaded trailer and went back to pick up other two sleds (45 mins away)
10:00 pm Loaded up other two sleds and left trailer behind
10:45 pm Went in hotel and rested / drank beers, found out there is no cell phone service anywhere in that area.
11:00 pm Saw toilet from hell ...dirty hotel rooms
11:15 pm went snowmobiling
1:30 am Arrived at bar below hotel room. Drank till closing
3:00 am went to sleep
7:30 am woke up
7:40 am went to sleep
8:30 am woke up
10:15 am went snowmobiling
11:00 am My snowmobile broke (Broke the bulkhead where the shock conects)...hobbled it back to hotel
12:00 My friend and I got back to hotel ...and the other couple rode till 3:30pm
12:15 My friend and I went looking for a trailer tire in the middle of nowhere.
12:45 I pulled truck over on side of road ...wasn't side of road
...snow covered ditch. Got stuck!
1:15 Police SUV driving by help pull me out of ditch.
1:30 Driving around looking for a spare tire. I found a messed up looking trailer on the side of the road with a wheel on it that might work. Went to house and found that the owner was at the bar.
1:44 Got to bar and owner was drunk and didn't want to sell tire.
Another patron in the bar overheard conversation and said he had some old
tires that might work in his barn.
2:00 Drove to Barn and got two wheels, then drove the drunk back to bar. One wheel had a slow leak to we bought fix-a-flat and put chewing gum over the hole and it worked. The leak was around the valve stem.
3:15 Arrived at trailer with tires. Tires were smaller, but the rim fit. Thank God!
3:30 Borrowed lug wrench from gas station down the street. Changed with no jack. My friend held the trailer while I changed it.
4:30 Brought trailer back to hotel room where our snowmobiles where 45 mins away. The rest of our group had left already
5:15 Loaded up snowmobiles on lop-sided trailer (miss-matched tires)
5:45 Started drive back (could only go 55 mph in a 65 with the trailer the way it
was set up)
11:20 Third flat tire (blow-out) on trailer, 30 minutes away from home.
11:25 Pissed off so I drove on rim till the wheel was square and sparks were getting too hot. Then had to unload the snowmobiles off the trailer so that the axle
could be lifted by hand.
11:35 Police arrived and put flares in street to route traffic around created mess.
11:45 Put leaking second tire on trailer, used gum and flat-repair in spray
can (bought two cans previously)
12:15 When done changing I threw truck jack into the front of the truck where it landed on the other can of fix-a-flat that we had and blew up, foam everywhere
12: 40 Turned on wrong street and went way out of the way.
1:15 Arrived home.

Nice, huh!

Brent

P.S. I check the tire the next morning and there was still air in it. (chewing gum, hmm)

Unbelievable Trailer Story,

Many, many moons ago I was towing my enclosed snowmobile trailer with my 2 Polaris TX's travelling HWY 401 close to Kingston on my way to Ganonoque. It was about 6:00 am Saturday morning when I felt the trailer pulling as if I had a flat. Pulled over to the shoulder, stopped and got out. The trailer was leaning badly towards the ditch as if I had a flat. Trailer had 13" wheels. I walked around the vehicle to the passenger side and to my horror, the wheel was gone. Trailer sitting on the hub. With a knot in my stomach thinking I'm really screwed I took a closer look at the hub. To my astonishment the wheel bolts were all still there. Not only were the bolts there, they were tight. No wheel, not even a piece of the wheel. Finally got the bolts loose, put the spare on and away I went. Never had a wheel problem before or after that. Did the wheel get beamed Up? If anybody can explain this please let me know.

Rob

sledbuttrob, the rim can rust at the weldsand the center part will break off. Had this happen before and got to see the wheel pass us on the highway. WE have also caught cracks in the rims from checking them ater that happened.

I was driving Westbound on the 401 when I felt the truck get a little loose in the rear-end, I looked out my rearview mirror and noticed my trailer was trying to race me ( it was sliding around to the side of the truck). And then the truck started going sideways. I don't know how I managed to get it under control, but after twisting and weaving across both lanes of the 401, she straightened out. I pulled over thinking a bearing had stuck on me or something but could find no evidence of anything mechanical going wrong. Turns out it was black ice and there were all kinds of vehicles in the ditches.

Needless to say I had to change my pants when I got to my destination. :crazy:

Wow those are some intense story's :(

I've got two that come to mind...

1st one was so long ago but its a pretty good one. My Dad was bring his lawn tractor to one of his rental houses to cut the grass (a weekly thing). so he starts climbing a hill and says to me "Did you tiedown the tractor?"
"No Dad you said you where while I was going to get the gas can" just as I said that he looked in the mirror again and noticed the tractor was gone w00t
He stoped the truck right away we both jump out and look down the hill... There she was rolling down the hill. Thankfully it just rolled into a ditch and stopped.

2nd one was on my double trailer coming back from Big Gull Lake (Ardoch, Ontario) heading back to Montreal.
It was Sunday evening around 11:00PM. I was the passenger and I looked in my mirror. No trailer? So I ask my buddy where the F@#K is the trailer! He looks in the mirror and freaks out.
What happened was the drivers side U bolts had broke offand the axle moved back about a foot, causing the trailer to drive sideways. Ofcaosre we had spare bearing, tire, lugs. But spare U bolts not a chance. So we tied the axle using tiedowns front and back and made it home :D

Re 407 and plates.
I got pulled over and told OPP that I have to mount the plate under the trailer.
There is no provisions up top for lights,to my suprise he let me go.

I'll sit in traffic on the 401 than use the 407. The tolls on that highway are the highest per mile in North America :cussing: .

My snowmobile trailer stories are too many to list... They just don't design the 2 place trailers with 10" wheels to go highway speeds...

Best trailer story is when I used to work for a tree company in ann arbor. We had a 5 ton drum chipper with a 460 ford which we'd unhooked from the truck for some reason. When I hooked it back up I forgot to put the pin in. We crossed the Huron river and went up this steep hill going into barton hills. About halfway up the hill the chipper came off the hitch, and the chains (they were hooked up) broke like dental floss. The guy I was working with jumped out, ran after the chipper, grabbed the tongue and steered in in to the guardrail, bringing it to a graceful stop. If he hadn't intervened, it would have gone right in to the river, and probably done some damage to the bridge as well... We used to get 'beer fines' at that job and that one cost me 2 cases.

Agreed Revrend Agreed.

My best stories with a trailer both have to do with pulling a boat..

Imagine this one: Brand new trailer, brand new boat. Pulling it up to the cottage and we hit a rock along the cottage road.. The trailer builder never tightened the u-clamps that hold the trailers axels enough and the axel slides along the trailer frame -- now the trailer axels point 30' from the truck! That was a fun one to control...

The other time was our fault. :embarassed: pulled the trailer + boat to the marina. When we got there we unhooked the trailer from the truck and realized that the nut holding the ball onto the truck was about finger tight -- the ball was loose and shaking and moving all over the place -- we're lucky we never lost the trailer.

Oh boy.... :p

...Bill

ttt

Every time read this thread I die

:bash: We were up in Mattawa with a bunch of friends in the fall 4 wheeling. On the way home we were coming up to a trailer on the shoulder and sure enough it was a friend of ours who had left earlier. They had blown a tire and his wife was standing there waiting for him to come back with some 2x4"s to put on his jack. By the time he came back I had changed his tire for him using my hydraulic jack. They thanked us and away we go. Just south of Sundridge our other friends whom we are travelling with blow a tire on their trailer. When that tire blew it took the fender clean off and mangled the plate. Well that"s 2 out of 3 and we only have our spare left. We managed to make it home with no more problems. :thumbsup:

:thumbsup: I loaned our friends my inline so they could haul their stuff home to Owen Sound when they sold their trailer in Haliburton Forest four years ago. I gave him the receiver to use also. We said our goodbyes and off they went. The other half and I were sitting there and she says what"s the matter. I said something didn"t seem right with the receiver. I grab my helmet and fire up my quad and the chase is on. If any of you know the area I caught them just as they were going into West Guilford. Just as I thought my friend hadn"t put the receiver in far enough and put the pin in thinking it was okay. Who knows when it would have popped out and what damage would have happened. SWRules