I don’t know how many times I have been roped into helping friends transport something from one location to another. Whether it was a fridge, large items, or a vehicle, somehow I am part of an elaborate move that leaves the word safety as a distant thought in the mind. We find ourselves in a mixture of redneck meets MacGyver as we combine 2×4’s, bailing wire, and duct tape as make shift ramps to load our cargo into whatever we could find to haul it. Now that being said I have a lot of experience on how not to load a truck or trailer, which reminds of a particular time me and some friends drove across the state to pick up a car we found online.
We drive a good 4 hours pulling a friends idea of a car hauler trailer, this would be mistake number one. This car hauler trailer was an old camper trailer frame converted to a long flat bed trailer with a wooden bang board in the front. The main problem with this trailer was it was reasonably tall; making it difficult to load a car considering we only had some long 2×6’s for ramps. But that wasn’t about to stop us, we were men! We arrive at the farmers field to pick up this car, now why is it that cars always look better in the picture than when you actually see them in person? Of course right off the bat the car has a flat tire, not shown in the pictures. 45 minutes later we have the car started, flat fixed, and trailer and wood ramps ready to go. We slowly start to drive the car up the ramps, the ramps start bowing and making cracking sounds as we approached the halfway point, we back the care off and find anything we can to support the ramps. 15 minutes, 3 rusted wheels, a truck bumper, and 18 bricks later we try it again, the car is making it past the halfway point, the wood creaking and bending, as soon as the rear tires hit the ramp they start slipping. He backs the car off and sits there for a moment, a couple of loud revs from the engine and the car takes off speeding up the ramps. The cars front tires become slightly airborne as they travel off the end of the ramps onto the trailer, the car makes it completely onto the trailer but moving to fast to stop before crashing through the bang board and stopping against the trailer jack. But hey, we got it!
It just goes to show you that while a group of friends with some creativity can move a car or items from point A to Point B, but that doesn’t mean your cargo is going to make it to the destination safely! There is a reason transportation companies have the proper loading and unloading equipment, the proper trailers, and professionals who know how to handle your cargo safely. So before you consider choosing the wrong way to transport your cargo, trust the professionals to handle your transportation needs!
