Farmall Cub

The scariest situations I have ever encountered loading and unloading tractors have all involved water. A couple weeks ago, I was helping a friend unload a non-running Cub (not mine!) from my trailer. It had been raining, one of those come-and-go summer thunderstorms. We got the trailer all set up, ramps down, put my jacks on the back of the trailer so it wouldn't bob the rear truck tires up, checked everything out, and proceeded to unload. My friend was in the seat so he could steer and brake, we rolled the tractor off by hand, checking brakes first before we got to the ramps. When the tractor started coming down those wet ramps, it seemed to accelerate to about 90 miles per hour... Not really, but my friend locked the brakes and it just came right down like it had no brakes at all. Fourtunately we had everything lined up right and it descended down the center of the ramps, and once he was on terra firma again he could control the Cub, but if we hadn't lined them up right with the tires, it could have become a very ugly situation very very quickly. In the few seconds he was descending the ramps, the only control he had was steering, all he could do was "hold on."

I am not saying I won't load/unload anymore when things are wet, but I hope this will remind everyone to take the extra time to make sure everything is set up perfectly, and try to anticipate any unforseen problems when conditions are less than ideal. It has, however, made me start to think about a nice electric winch for my trailer....

Al

I try to keep a coffee can full of course sand in the toolbox for just such occasions.

Never step on a tire on a trailer. on multi-axle rigs it may be off the ground and throw you. I had a tri-axle that was bad about that.

Something I have been doing for several years on most of my trailer ramps that helps in wet weather, etc. is to take my welder and run a rough bead on the flat surfaces, such as side rails etc. It really helps with traction, and considering my welding prowess it is pretty easy since all of my beads are pretty rough.