How do you keap your attachments safely loaded on your trailer?

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Eric

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Joined
Jan 19, 2005
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169
How do you keap your attachments / buckets safely loaded on your trailer while driving from job to job? I have a flat bed Ziemen Trailer which I carry one tooth bucket and one smooth bucket on each side of the trailer facing each other. I use one chain over the middle of each bucket and 1 chain binder to hold them in place. I find that this just doesnt hold the buckets on very well. On a very rough freeway lane in Southern California the chain tends to loosen up and the buckets slide inward towards each other about an inch or so and sometimes even start slide spin out slighty. Is this the way everyone does it? If not what do you do??? I am currently working on an idea to resolve this issue.
 
I usually load my forks, tooth bucket, and v-shaped "stump" bucket on the front of my trailer from the driver's side all in one pick. I then use 2 chains with binders to secure them to the trailer. Two chains prevent the attachments from twisting/spinning on the trailer during transport. I load these three attachments from the driver's side because I may only have access from one side of the truck when I am parked at the job site.
It gets a little more difficult when I bring my Brushcat with me. If I load the Brushcat on the front of the trailer, I use nylon ratchet straps to secure it so I don't scratch the paint on the attachment. I utilize nylon ratchet straps on attachments like rototillers, soil conditioner, sweepers, etc... to protect the finish of the attachment, but yet still secure it. Most of the time it is easier to leave the Brushcat attached to my SSL and load my other attachments on the front of my trailer normally.
You can never seem to have enough chains, binders, and ratchet straps. I am going to build a box for these permenantly mounted to my trailer. It is also a good idea to check your load and adjust any chains or straps a couple of miles into your trip because the load may have shifted.
I also plan on building two rectangular tube steel pockets underneath the sides of my trailer, which I can load my forks into from the side of the trailer and secure with a short chain. I may even load them from the passengers side of the trailer, so the fork headache rack acts as a secondary safety in case my load shifts.
 
We have 2 "stakes" made out of rebar bent in a vertcal V pointing upwards at the edge of the trailer. We space them so that the lower pocket of the attachment can be tipped over the top of these 2, then we throw our chains on. We have them on the passengers side so that if they did fall off or we did have to stop and retighten our chains, it would be away from traffic
 
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