Left and right? Clear. Top? Clear. Landing gear? Ooops.
 

I was directed to pull into an open aircraft hanger door type entrance at a facility here in Plainview, TX today. I was being spotted in by two people. 10 or 15 others were watching. I Got Out And Looked.

I was in first gear putting along at MAYBE 2-3 miles per hour. I heard a bad sound. I stopped and looked left and right and up and I was well clear of everything.

I got out and, oh dear.....

The door track that these sliding hangar-type doors roll on is a 3/4" thick, 1" tall iron sunofabitch. The concrete slopes down into the facility on the other side. The landing gear (which was, in fact all the way up) snagged on the track.

The right foot was ripped clean off- as in the pivot pin was torn completely through the metal.

The left side mount was ripped 80% off the bottom of the trailer- all the welds except two 2" welds on a crossmember were ripped off. Bracing included.

The remaining crossmember was twisted, and the decking in the trailer floor buckled and broke above this crossmember.

The whole landing gear assembly is twisted. The crank will not crank.

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Right now I am at a local truck and trailer repair place. They don't have the capability to replace the entire landing gear as needed (which includes replacing 1 or more trailer crossmembers), so they are welding it up so as to make it safe to travel down to Lubbock. American Trailer there has the correct landing gear in stock and they say it will take a few hours to fix.

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Yeah, I ****ed up. No excuses.

-p.

oops :D jest one of those dayz :wink:

:D Yeah, I had those days when I was driving. One day everything would go smooth as silk; would hit every gear without grinding, trailer drop would go perfectly, back under new trailer perfect, would find the right exit and on ramp. The next day every gear would grind, low oil pressure light would stay on (it was a Detroit after all), four wheeler drivers would give me the finger, DOT would casually ask to see my logbook. Yep, been there, done that! 8)

Hey, at least your landing gear didn't get destroyed by losing the trailer on the road like mine was :wink:

The trailer I dropped was checked out by our mechanics. Apparently the damage is worse than anyone thought. The trailer has to go to Wabash for repairs...

Worst part? The trailer is the newest one in our fleet. It had 3 weeks of use before my screw up.

Ya - I'd rather do what you did :lol: