I've seen guys show up w/ everything they need for a day at the track except their car keys

 

 

I bought a 1961 MGA about ten years ago when I had an open trailer. I tied it down on the trailer just fine and when I went to finish putting the ramps back up the seller's brother said "I took care of it".

Going across the Throgs Neck Bridge one of the ramps shot out the back, in traffic. Very very lucky that it slid to the side out of traffic. The other ramp was hanging out about half way and was set to go as well.

Never ever trust someone to help you unless you have complete faith in them. The guy never put the pins in. That is a lesson I learned.

Lastly, as has been said many times, never let someone distract you when loading or unloading. Easy way to forget to do something important.

 

Regardless of how much you trust them, just don't accept help from anyone when loading up. They may be of great help with the things that they do, but that help ends up also being a distraction that may cause you to forget something or do something even more stupid than you usually do.

 

Habits are your friend when doing things like loading trailers. Anything that disrupts that routine is potentially a problem.

 

Help is fine. I don't mind help at the end of a long weekend. It is appreciated. You just either can't let them doing anything important or you have to double check everything they did.

I will let people help me get the car in the trailer (I can't drive it in) and help me get the truck/ball lined up with the trailer hitch. But I always do the tie downs and all the trailer to truck hookups and I close and lock all the trailer doors making sure the ramps and chocks get put away where they belong.

So yes, I do almost all the work even with some help. But the help I get is appreciated. My helper is usually my wife.

 

There was thread like this a year ago.

trailer-sense-tips-tricks-and-traps

Always fun to read.

Some of this stuff scares me almost to the point of never leaving my driveway.

 

One more to add.

In case of a tilt trailer make sure the lock to prevent tilting took.

Ask me how I know. But thanx to fellow participants I escaped harm - its the people, not the cars.