musician/lawnman
04-22-2009, 08:40 PM
Yesterday I ran solo & never pulled my 2nd machine off the trailer, at the end of the day I go to refuel & the 2nd one won't start... dead battery.
I fuel up, jump start it & decide to do 1 more lawn to use it & hopefully get the battery to charge. So on my way to my 1st job today (a small commercial store front) as I pull in I hit a pot hole on the right side of the entrance with the right side trailer tire (12x6' enclosed) & hear this sound..... "what is that?" I get out & see the tire has broken a belt, expanded out & is rubbing on a small screw that holds a reflector onto the back of the diamond plate fender. So I can't change the tire there in the entry way right? I have to pull in about 10' to a parking space..... tire blows out before I get there. Ok, Change the tire...... The spare seems awefully close to the rear of the fender well too? The entire trailer axle had shifted back about 2"! Damn, now I need to loosen, & straighten out the leaf spring. Well if I gotta work under there some more, I want less weight on the trailer.... let's pull at least one of these machines off. I drop the ramp gate & go to pull one out, halfway down the ramp & boom! On an enclosed trailer there is a steel channel or square tube that runs across the bottom of the trailer from side to side. The ramps hinges are welded to that. Well, the welds that hold this channel to the sides of the trailer give out, sending me, the mower & the ramp to the ground, Fast. THE ENTIRE RAMPGATE FELL OFF! IT BROKE THE HELL OFF!!!! It's 10 minutes after 8 am, I had 25 properties & 3 estimates on the schedule for the day & my trailer has seemingly self destructed in less than 10 minutes. I haven't gotten ANYTHING done yet?! wtf?
Now I have a trailer that can't roll (shifted axle) & a mower on the ground that I can't get back in the trailer .... (no gate!) I call a friend (fellow local landscaper & ask for help, he drops off his employee with a mower at some property he does & comes to help me out (Great guy, I would have been SCREEEEEEWED with out him..... THANKS DAVE!) He's gonna get my mower home for me since I can't reload it.
While waiting for him, I loosen, straighten, & retighten the leaf spring, & get the ramp door hammered back into it's upright position, I used the latches to hold it in place so I can get home. I pull out of the parking lot & there's that noise again..... the spring has shifted again.... I pull over & remove the reflector & the screws so that the tire can rub a smooth tire well with no screws & just limp it home (only about 2 miles).
On the way home I call my brother, (he's luckily off today) & ask him to please come over right now & bring his welder. He does (THANKS TOM!).
I get home & find that the leaf spring has now SNAPPED IN HALF!
I call around, find new springs ( about 45 minutes away).
So I spent all day, getting & replacing 2 lousy leaf springs & refabricating the entire *** end of my trailer. 4pm done..... I'm thinking wow I have ALOT to do tommorrow. Ding, ding, ding.... still got a dead battery on 1 mower!
So after running to get that done, hit the PO box, & the bank. I am 10 hours into a day that has cost me $300+ dollars (not counting new tire.... tommorrow) & earned me not a dime.
Wheew..... yeah, I don't drink all the time but, After a day like that. I am a couple beers in tonight.
I fuel up, jump start it & decide to do 1 more lawn to use it & hopefully get the battery to charge. So on my way to my 1st job today (a small commercial store front) as I pull in I hit a pot hole on the right side of the entrance with the right side trailer tire (12x6' enclosed) & hear this sound..... "what is that?" I get out & see the tire has broken a belt, expanded out & is rubbing on a small screw that holds a reflector onto the back of the diamond plate fender. So I can't change the tire there in the entry way right? I have to pull in about 10' to a parking space..... tire blows out before I get there. Ok, Change the tire...... The spare seems awefully close to the rear of the fender well too? The entire trailer axle had shifted back about 2"! Damn, now I need to loosen, & straighten out the leaf spring. Well if I gotta work under there some more, I want less weight on the trailer.... let's pull at least one of these machines off. I drop the ramp gate & go to pull one out, halfway down the ramp & boom! On an enclosed trailer there is a steel channel or square tube that runs across the bottom of the trailer from side to side. The ramps hinges are welded to that. Well, the welds that hold this channel to the sides of the trailer give out, sending me, the mower & the ramp to the ground, Fast. THE ENTIRE RAMPGATE FELL OFF! IT BROKE THE HELL OFF!!!! It's 10 minutes after 8 am, I had 25 properties & 3 estimates on the schedule for the day & my trailer has seemingly self destructed in less than 10 minutes. I haven't gotten ANYTHING done yet?! wtf?
Now I have a trailer that can't roll (shifted axle) & a mower on the ground that I can't get back in the trailer .... (no gate!) I call a friend (fellow local landscaper & ask for help, he drops off his employee with a mower at some property he does & comes to help me out (Great guy, I would have been SCREEEEEEWED with out him..... THANKS DAVE!) He's gonna get my mower home for me since I can't reload it.
While waiting for him, I loosen, straighten, & retighten the leaf spring, & get the ramp door hammered back into it's upright position, I used the latches to hold it in place so I can get home. I pull out of the parking lot & there's that noise again..... the spring has shifted again.... I pull over & remove the reflector & the screws so that the tire can rub a smooth tire well with no screws & just limp it home (only about 2 miles).
On the way home I call my brother, (he's luckily off today) & ask him to please come over right now & bring his welder. He does (THANKS TOM!).
I get home & find that the leaf spring has now SNAPPED IN HALF!
I call around, find new springs ( about 45 minutes away).
So I spent all day, getting & replacing 2 lousy leaf springs & refabricating the entire *** end of my trailer. 4pm done..... I'm thinking wow I have ALOT to do tommorrow. Ding, ding, ding.... still got a dead battery on 1 mower!
So after running to get that done, hit the PO box, & the bank. I am 10 hours into a day that has cost me $300+ dollars (not counting new tire.... tommorrow) & earned me not a dime.
Wheew..... yeah, I don't drink all the time but, After a day like that. I am a couple beers in tonight.