live and learn-a trailer story ...

[lilblackhorse]

As for security, I own one of those $20 jobbie that is the ball that you put on under your trailer coupler and put the big bar thru the top and lock it-I’m sure some determined thief could cut a masterlock, but it takes time, and there a many more trailers that are unlocked-it’s the same theory as my freezemarking my horse-make it harder, and a visible deterrent, and they will take someone elses…

As for sway bars, I am going to try just the equalizing hitch first-the AS’s were an extra $133, and all the wiring labor killed me to almost double what I was expecting to pay ( )-I hate that. Thank you for letting me know it made a difference-I can already tell a change, and that was empty. When the bank account recovers, I will contemplate the sway part. Until then, I guess I will look at the charge as the reward to the guy who found my “ball” problem…That alone is worth it, isn’t it?..I will look upon it as a “stupid fee”…I used to have a bumper sticker that said “stupidity should be painful”…I guess it was, in the pocket, but at least it wasn’t my horse

[DMK]

moose, when you first put them on, it’s really hard to get them truly tight, so you need to periodically check and retighten. Of course, I did that for 6 months, and it never loosened up, so I thought this must be The One that got put on tight enough. Nope, it just waited for me to stop checking, then the vibration helped it loosen up.

And yes, it was pretty scary driving that 2 miles back, knowing the only thing that kept my trailer attached to my vehicle was gravity!

[Tin]

We were at a show one time with my coaches bumper pull and just as we were about to leave she did a walk around to find that the pin locking the hitch on was gone! It was there when we left and when we parked the rig, good thing we checked!

~Did you know that it is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs?~

[Hattie]

I TOO have had the same thing happen to me…washer and nut GONE!!! The noise clued me in too and I pulled over. Better yet…one time I was pulling into the show grounds when a loose tire rolled right past me. It was off my horse trailer, a new Shoop with bad wheel bearings! I would have never thought to check the bearings on a new trailer. Can you imagine if it had happened on I-95!!! Especially with leaf springs!

[Janet]

I have had several who thught that winding up the jack so it was about a foot off the ground was sufficient. One time I picked up the van and trailer at night (didn’t do a full inspection), and got as far as the exit from their parking lot, where the bottom of the jack hit the ground and broke a weld.

I DID get them to repair it for free since it was entirely their fault.

Now I always check, even if they supposedly haven’t touched it.

[Kaori]

A friend of mine was hauling 6 horses to a show in New York, going through Baltimore on one of the beltways. The axels in the trailer break. Very quickly, he realizes something is going on (screech, grind, smoke) and pulls off onto a median. Fortunately, he stops the rig safely (even though it’s in the middle of some six lanes of trafffic and in the middle of August). He calls road side assistance and gets amazingly lucky that a mechanic comes out immediately, and that the owner of the shop has horses. The owner gets his horse trailer and they unload the horses (yes, in the middle of all this traffic) and reload the horses into the other trailer (without incidence–can we say “blindfolds” ). The shop owner takes the horses to his farm for a lay over at his farm while the trailer axels are welded together.

Thinking about that gives me the shivers, especially after have driven through Baltimore many times!