A proper DOH ! moment

[Jaws]

Soo.. this morning I loaded the car on the trailer..
I always put a block underneath the jockey wheel to give a bit of height to the front which avoids the mid point of the smartie grounding out at the top of the ramp..

Drove the car on.. lovely.. Got all the straps on.. Lovely
Double checked all was good.... Lovely
Walked round the front and lifted the nose of the trailer to remove the block..

No I bloody well didn't !
I heaved and strained.. Really put some serious effort in to it.. Bloody thing would not lift.
So I am thinking
a) I know I aint a spring chook any more but hell, I should have no problem with this..
b) Nose weight cannot possibly be more than about 80 kilos and I can lift that no problem

Got a lump of 3 x 3 timber to use as a lever.. NOTHING ! ( Apart from the timber almost breaking )
Then I think.. OK, so lets wind the jockey wheel right out and try to tip the trailer back as much as possible and see if the weight transfer would help.. Nope ( no surprise to be honest )
Getting desperate now I decide to retract the jockey wheel as much as pos.
Movement !!
Only about 1/2" but enough
Grabbed a passing posty ( the way you do ) and asked him to kick the block away as I lift

All went well, I thanked said posty and off he went
Went to fit the wheel locks on ( as the trailer is not gonna be moved until tomorrow ) and walked round the back of the trailer to where I had left the locks..

It was then I noticed I had left the rear legs down !!!
So basically I had been trying to lift up in the air a 300 kilo trailer and a 750 kilo Smartie !!!!

What a total wally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ponyboy]

Soo.. this morning I loaded the car on the trailer..
I always put a block underneath the jockey wheel to give a bit of height to the front which avoids the mid point of the smartie grounding out at the top of the ramp..

Drove the car on.. lovely.. Got all the straps on.. Lovely
Double checked all was good.... Lovely
Walked round the front and lifted the nose of the trailer to remove the block..

No I bloody well didn't !
I heaved and strained.. Really put some serious effort in to it.. Bloody thing would not lift.
So I am thinking
a) I know I aint a spring chook any more but hell, I should have no problem with this..
b) Nose weight cannot possibly be more than about 80 kilos and I can lift that no problem

Got a lump of 3 x 3 timber to use as a lever.. NOTHING ! ( Apart from the timber almost breaking )
Then I think.. OK, so lets wind the jockey wheel right out and try to tip the trailer back as much as possible and see if the weight transfer would help.. Nope ( no surprise to be honest )
Getting desperate now I decide to retract the jockey wheel as much as pos.
Movement !!
Only about 1/2" but enough
Grabbed a passing posty ( the way you do ) and asked him to kick the block away as I lift

All went well, I thanked said posty and off he went
Went to fit the wheel locks on ( as the trailer is not gonna be moved until tomorrow ) and walked round the back of the trailer to where I had left the locks..

It was then I noticed I had left the rear legs down !!!
So basically I had been trying to lift up in the air a 300 kilo trailer and a 750 kilo Smartie !!!!

What a total wally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll let you in on a secret JAWS, anyone who can have a laugh at themselves is definitely not a wally. Onya and thanks for the laugh.

 

[Khizzie]

Soo.. this morning I loaded the car on the trailer..
I always put a block underneath the jockey wheel to give a bit of height to the front which avoids the mid point of the smartie grounding out at the top of the ramp..

Drove the car on.. lovely.. Got all the straps on.. Lovely
Double checked all was good.... Lovely
Walked round the front and lifted the nose of the trailer to remove the block..

No I bloody well didn't !
I heaved and strained.. Really put some serious effort in to it.. Bloody thing would not lift.
So I am thinking
a) I know I aint a spring chook any more but hell, I should have no problem with this..
b) Nose weight cannot possibly be more than about 80 kilos and I can lift that no problem

Got a lump of 3 x 3 timber to use as a lever.. NOTHING ! ( Apart from the timber almost breaking )
Then I think.. OK, so lets wind the jockey wheel right out and try to tip the trailer back as much as possible and see if the weight transfer would help.. Nope ( no surprise to be honest )
Getting desperate now I decide to retract the jockey wheel as much as pos.
Movement !!
Only about 1/2" but enough
Grabbed a passing posty ( the way you do ) and asked him to kick the block away as I lift

All went well, I thanked said posty and off he went
Went to fit the wheel locks on ( as the trailer is not gonna be moved until tomorrow ) and walked round the back of the trailer to where I had left the locks..

It was then I noticed I had left the rear legs down !!!
So basically I had been trying to lift up in the air a 300 kilo trailer and a 750 kilo Smartie !!!!

What a total wally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha been there more than once ,glad you joined in and shared the fun !!haha

 

[2bob]

age comes into it again

 

[Jaws]

age comes into it again

Well yess.. Woman says I behave like a 9 year old !!

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[Khizzie]

age comes into it again

Amazing the mistakes you make when you are young!!us young uns do foul up sometime don't we jaws.?

 

[chaser]

Soo.. this morning I loaded the car on the trailer..
I always put a block underneath the jockey wheel to give a bit of height to the front which avoids the mid point of the smartie grounding out at the top of the ramp..

Drove the car on.. lovely.. Got all the straps on.. Lovely
Double checked all was good.... Lovely
Walked round the front and lifted the nose of the trailer to remove the block..

No I bloody well didn't !
I heaved and strained.. Really put some serious effort in to it.. Bloody thing would not lift.
So I am thinking
a) I know I aint a spring chook any more but hell, I should have no problem with this..
b) Nose weight cannot possibly be more than about 80 kilos and I can lift that no problem

Got a lump of 3 x 3 timber to use as a lever.. NOTHING ! ( Apart from the timber almost breaking )
Then I think.. OK, so lets wind the jockey wheel right out and try to tip the trailer back as much as possible and see if the weight transfer would help.. Nope ( no surprise to be honest )
Getting desperate now I decide to retract the jockey wheel as much as pos.
Movement !!
Only about 1/2" but enough
Grabbed a passing posty ( the way you do ) and asked him to kick the block away as I lift

All went well, I thanked said posty and off he went
Went to fit the wheel locks on ( as the trailer is not gonna be moved until tomorrow ) and walked round the back of the trailer to where I had left the locks..

It was then I noticed I had left the rear legs down !!!
So basically I had been trying to lift up in the air a 300 kilo trailer and a 750 kilo Smartie !!!!

What a total wally !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Knew what was coming from the start of the story, been there ,done that

 

[joncris]

Sat on van bog went to flush it and it wouldn't no matter how hard I pressed the button. After about 10mins pushing button and cursing when I suddenly realised I'd forgotten to switch on the electrics

 

[tonyidle]

Knew what was coming from the start of the story, been there ,done that

Me too. More than once. When I was a tugalongerer I used to try to raise the front of the van to hitch up with the rear legs down.

 

[Tea Bag]

Hi Jaws.
If you had eaten "2" eggs for breakfast,you would now have been straightening two rear legs... Love the post
Tea Bag

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[Bartyfixedit]

Many years ago I used to drive recovery trucks. One day one of the other drivers was tow starting someone and, having pulled away, the person in the car started honking their horn and jumped out. The car then careered out of control striking two brand-new cars before coming to a halt. The driver of the car had failed to release the steering lock.

There is an easy way to spot he who never made a mistake. He is the one sitting on his ass doing nothing.

 

[Cal54]

It's heartening to hear that such a techy block like yourself can make the same mistake as us mere mortals!

 

[Wildman]

not too long ago I decided to move the dinghy and trailer in front of the workshop so I could carry out some mods, Would not lift so went round the back, nope all clear so what next I'll have to jack it up I must be really weak I thought. Just take the cover off as it was tied to the wheels and found, A SWIMMING POOL, the dinghy was full up with water, it seems the waterproof cover wasn't. 2 hours siphoning the water off and the trailer lifted easily.

 

[TheTwoOfUs]

At Lake Garda I had the misfortune of proving my senility, not once, but twice. Arriving late at night we were put on a pitch next to where we were eventually going to be residing. Next morning in front of a large audience I manouevered the trailer using the Motormover onto the pitch, dropped the tailgate, unstrapped the bike, fired it up and reversed out. All was fine until I was just about off when the front of the trailer reared up in the air like the Lone Ranger's horse. The jockey wheel dropped out of it's mount and as I cleared the ramp the whole lot dropped down again.
You guessed it right, I forgot to put the steady down.
About ten days later as we were leaving I loaded up the bike and tried to move the trailer towards the back of the van. No chance, checked the handbrake which was OK so my mind is now racing thinking that the brakes had seized on. I thought that if I connected up to the van a short tug might free them, so I backed the van up and off I went. Just got clear of the pitch and I noticed a nice furrow straight across the middle.
You guessed it right, I forgot to put the steady up.
I have an excuse, there is only one rear steady and this is mounted centrally under the trailer at the point of maximum load and is dropped/raised by a wheel brace and as a consequence it is not visible without getting down on your knees. It didn't stop my red face though.

 

[Jaws]

LOL !! Oddly, it was at Rovereto ( 12 miles east of Garda del Riva ) that I was found trying to use the MH legs as a plough !
It was the first time I had ever used them and had only fitted them the day before we left for the trip, so at least I had some sort of ( weak !) excuse

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[funflair]

LOL !! Oddly, it was at Rovereto ( 12 miles east of Garda del Riva ) that I was found trying to use the MH legs as a plough !
It was the first time I had ever used them and had only fitted them the day before we left for the trip, so at least I had some sort of ( weak !) excuse

At least if the legs are fitted trailing you don't do as much damage as the front ones on a caravan that are fitted 90 deg to travel direction.

 

[bernardfeay]

Many years ago I used to drive recovery trucks. One day one of the other drivers was tow starting someone and, having pulled away, the person in the car started honking their horn and jumped out. The car then careered out of control striking two brand-new cars before coming to a halt. The driver of the car had failed to release the steering lock.

There is an easy way to spot he who never made a mistake. He is the one sitting on his ass doing nothing.

Just because I'm sat on my arse doing nothing does not mean I haven't made any mistakes.

 

[Jaws]

At least if the legs are fitted trailing you don't do as much damage as the front ones on a caravan that are fitted 90 deg to travel direction.

Noooooo.. not pointing back but forward !! Made a LOVELY couple of furrows much to the amusement of a massive crowd of bikers !!

 

[funflair]

Noooooo.. not pointing back but forward !! Made a LOVELY couple of furrows much to the amusement of a massive crowd of bikers !!

Even better, makes them dig in for added depth.