You will be towing and postinc pics of you loads before we even knew you were missing!!!

Okay y'all.

I've had my trailer for almost exactly a year, and...

I want a bigger trailer.      

Y'all told me it would happen.

Y'all were right.  

THANK GOD you talked me out of the teeny weeny thing I was looking at in the first post!!!!

You gonna come down here and bring something I can use to PULL that thing?????

Not soon.  Still learning about what I've got.  But the "bigger trailer is better" folks..

Yeah they were right.

Wahtever structural engineer works for y'all, I need him down here.

I need an engineer's stamp on a renovation I'm doing.

Just sayin.

Okay so I wrote on my straps I use for my mower.

FR (Front, passenger side)

FL (front, driver's side)

RLeft (Rear, driver's side)

RRight (Rear, passenger's side)


Because that way I don't have to keep adjusting my straps.

Then it occurred to me, a few months later (duh, since I've spent many, many years handling rope and webbing that saves lives) that I might have deteriorated my (cheap, walmart) ratchet straps by writing on the webbing with sharpie.

Do y'all have certain "regular" things you haul?  And do you have straps "set" for those things?  

And if so, do you mark your straps?  And if so, how?

I kinda don't care about THESE lame-ass straps, cuz I hate them (okay I do sorta care, since uxb has to go back to school and we will now be poor again for the next year and a half) but I WILL care if I buy better straps.

Because I haul this mower twice a week, I've figured out that loading and tie down takes me HALF the time if I have dedicated straps.   (I should take a photo. Sorry.) I have one on each corner of the mower to the corner of the trailer. Maybe overkill, but I did it with fewer straps, and when I do it a different way or cheat on the straps, I've had the mower bounce, and then it was loose.  This way the mower never freaking MOVES.  Not an inch.  The straps are as tight when I park to unload as they were when I tightened them down.  

Incidentally, thanks to y'all and this thread, I hauled my mower to the tire place two weeks ago to get new rear tires, pulled through the bay (they have doors on both sides which is nice cuz kitties is still practicing backing) and the guys just stood there with mouths open and went, "Daaayum.  You don't plan for that machine to MOVE, do you?"  Me:  "Nope."    (Incidentally they cinched it back down for me and I wish they hadn't. They effed up one of my straps. )  

Anyway...I should say that this time savings with loading is directly related to my straps being already kind of "set."  If I don't have them just right, there isn't room in the ratchet mechanism for the rolled up webbing, or I'll get it set and then there's not enough strap to make five or six ratchet turns, which is what the instructions said is the minimum for safety. (I have not spent time learning a lot about straps yet, simply because I don't have the time.    This is my failure, so I don't truly understand the straps yet, and am insecure.  Once I apply my mind to it and take the time to screw around wtih the mechanism, hopefully I will grab onto it and gain confidence.)  All that to say...if I don't have the straps set, I have to screw around with them a lot and don't know what I'm doing so it really slows me down.

So I really like the whole "set straps for certain regular loads" thing.

I wrap each of my straps up neatly and put a tarp bungee around each one, so I just reach in my tie-down box in the back of the retro Trooper, grab the four red straps, pop the bungees, look at the writing on the webbing *hangs head* and begin securing the load.

Yeah, I see those going down the road.  

That's not likely to ever be me.   Maybe with a ZTR with its extremely WIIIIIIDE base and low center of gravity, but even then, I don't like the idea of going down the road with something not tied down.  I bounced my mower the other day with three straps on it, just by accidentally running the trailer wheel over a small curb. (Hey, it's the first time I've done that, so I'm not too embarrassed. ) The machine went kind of diagonal on the trailer because I fudged with just one strap at the front.  

Yeah, that ain't happenin' again.

I am envious, and sheesh, I've got a lot to learn.

I could do a whole thread just on chains.  Some of what you described (the axle straps) I've never even heard of before.

Yeah, they got a knot in one of the straps. It's easy to do, so I understand, and I'm not mad, but once that happened, it was over for taht strap.  Once those cheap, thin webbing straps are loaded with a knot in them, fuhgeddaboudit.  I'm not working that knot out.  I'll end up just buying new straps, and I would buy SHORTER ones for the front next time.  Now and then I load differently, like if I haul my push mower and my little wagon along with the mower, but mostly it's just me, the mower, and a gas can bopping down the highway.

Rescue webbing or rappel rope? Yeah, I'll eff wtih a knot.  Uber thin webbing?  No.

I actually have not been doing anything with the tails of my webbing when it is in use.

My tarp bungees are to hold my straps when they're stored in the bin.

One of the subtleties I still have to work on is not having those damn ends flapping.

Even cinched tight, I've  watched as I've gone down teh road and seen the strap vibrating an inch or two up and down or back and forth as the air moves over it (the back ones, moreso than the front ones) and I've seen them loosen from that intense vibration over an eight-mile trip.  Now I pull over, if I'm going far, and adjust.  I don't care if the tails flap, but the tightened straps should not effing MOVE.  Sometimes it's hard to get that last click on the ratchet until the load has shifted a little.
I kinda think of it as the second cinching of the saddle knot after the horse has quit puffing up his belly.  

Bump cuz I lost my welding thead..

It's a busy time of year. Don't want this one to drop to archives.

What a great post!

I don't even know where to position the jack should I have a flat on my trailer.

And if I had a flat with a load...hells bells, I would be even more lost.

I did not spend the extra $100 to get radial tires.  I wanted them, but went for regular tires because hey...first trailer, spending more than I'd planned by about three times, and I figured I should put my money in what cannot be replaced easily, but...

A friend asked to borrow the trailer (I said yes, reluctantly, but his trip fell through) to take furniture to a person in North Carolina. That's a long trip.  I was worried about the tires on a road trip of that length because they are not radials.  (friend has a lot of trailer experience. I trusted him.)  

Anyway, this is something I should pay attention to.  

You know...there is no "manual" that comes with a trailer.  Just the girl behind the counter handing you the paperwork saying, "I strongly suggest you engrave your name or something on the trailer in a hidden spot where it can be identified as yours" and the like.

Meanwhile I'm going and just worried about getting the damn thing home without taking out mailboxes.

No longer worried about the mailboxes (much) so I should start paying attention to the rest of this.

Thank you.

I should find the leaf springs soon.  

I know where to jack on my vehicle of course.  

Ain't nuthin' like that under my trailer that I can see.

OHHHHH!  You mean the trooper!

I was talking about knowing where to put teh jack under my urban assault vehicle (Grand Caravan) which has a transaxle so I ahve to be careful to not jack on the axles.  

I jack under the frame, axle, whatever I can get to that won't be in the way on that trooper.  Yes, it is body on frame.

I really have to crawl under the trailer and look around.  It's been so wet and I've been so busy I just haven't done it. I'm lame, I know.

Thank you!

Your advice echoes Rat's, about using the leaf springs as a guide.

Your tires lasted a really long time.  Did you not drive thatt much, or did you lift them when not in use?  

Or do you just have really good tire kharma???

I don't understand the axle strap thing.

Is that the blue strap with the rubber part?

Is that rubber non-slip, so it holds to the rail?

And you trust it enough to hold agains teh momentum of a hard jolt with that kind of weight?

Or are you fudging?

It's okay if you are.  Everyone does that sometimes.  That looks really secure actually.  I'm just trying to get a good sense of what people do who know more than I know.  You all have tools I don't know about and I'm very interested in the subtleties of how you do (and do not) use them.

ALSO...

Nik, will you explain that setup to me?

I mean, I recognize that there is a chain there.

But the red stuff....I do not recognize that.  

Would you be willing to walk me through your whole setup and explain each piece?

That would be a wonderful bit of education.

The more I see, the more I know I am a complete beginner.

I would like to know more.

How would you have done it differently?

(Serious question...I want to hear people talk about their approaches and why they choose those)

Ohhhhh....so the binders dont' have to go on the END of a chain, but can hook into any link?

That's really handy.

I doubt I need something that heavy for the light things I carry, but I can see those being incredibly useful.