The importance of the circle check

And yes, we significantly upgraded the safety chains. Probably should’ve let Bandit know they were shipping chippers with tissue paper for chains, but had other priorities at the time.

You can see the trench the chipper with hitch still attached dug. That likely slowed and saved it. Miracle it didn’t flip at highway speeds.
 
I’ve been lucky a few times. Went to disconnect the chipper once and the latch of the pintle wasn’t down. Only about a half mile..

Had a wheel bearing blow but the wheel stayed on a different time.

Employee moved the chipper with the mini. Jack was down and hung up on a stump, ripped the mount tearing the tubing of the frame!

Then there was the time where I was lazy, needed to load the mini and used a 2” ball instead of the needed 2 5/16’s.. that 5/16’s really matters!

Not too long ago went to disconnect and the pin wasn’t in. Looked around and it was set down on the bumper!
 
Pins should have hi-viz lanyards.




Connecting and checking needs to be done by only one person. Getting two people involved in a one- person job is dangerous.

A laminated checklist for the trailer tongue is a simple thing.

Most places have signage for similar things in other work places.
Tree work rarely does.
 
Boomslang said:
Had a little "oh shit" moment today. Was taking the chipper over to the mechanic and when I got there and went to unhook I saw this....

View attachment 82308

I had driven more than 8 miles. In town, over speed bumps, through construction zones, hitting potholes. How the chipper didn't jump off is beyond me.

I wasn't rushing hooking it up, but it was raining, mosquitoes were in my face, clearly I wasn't focused. I usually do a second take after hooking up to make sure I haven't missed a step. Obviously I didn't this time. Just glad nothing more serious came of it.
Click to expand...
I have this on both chipper and dump trailer. Just love it!
 
Bucknut said:
Just gonna say it, we’ve lost several chippers over the years. Had a Mitts & Merrill break in half just outside the shop. Broke a weld at a notoriously weak spot on the frame where there’s a jog. Horrible design. This one was not really the drivers fault. Still embarrassing to watch half of chipper roll down the road.

Number two was a circa 2003 Morbark Model 13. Not a pintle, young guy failed to close the clasp around the ball which has the same effect. Made it about half a mile before it came off. Driver’s natural instinct was to hit the brakes when he felt the jerk from the safety chains, which of course resulted in the chipper slamming into the back of the truck. Dented the motor shroud badly and messed up the throttle. But still usable. And use it we did.

Last one was unique. Brand new Bandit 1390xp. Either the driver failed to insert the receiver hitch pin or it broke. (I have my suspicions) Result was chipper decoupling on the highway. Thankfully in the right lane. Here’s where it gets weird: safety chains just snapped. Had no effect whatsoever. So much so that the guys didn’t even know they lost the chipper for a few miles. Sounds unreal but I swear it’s true.

Driver was my brother who is an intelligent, competent, experienced guy. I was already at the job waiting on him to bring the chipper. He called and sheepishly told me he “lost the chipper”. :oops: “Uhhh…. Say again?” Literally had to backtrack to find it against a fence on the highway. Miracle the only damage was to the battery and battery platform. Couple of pics in case I haven’t embarrassed myself enough already:
Click to expand...
Holy shit what an experience, I would shit myself if I had to tell the boss that we lost the chipper. One way highway I can see how that's possible
Bucknut said:
Just gonna say it, we’ve lost several chippers over the years. Had a Mitts & Merrill break in half just outside the shop. Broke a weld at a notoriously weak spot on the frame where there’s a jog. Horrible design. This one was not really the drivers fault. Still embarrassing to watch half of chipper roll down the road.

Number two was a circa 2003 Morbark Model 13. Not a pintle, young guy failed to close the clasp around the ball which has the same effect. Made it about half a mile before it came off. Driver’s natural instinct was to hit the brakes when he felt the jerk from the safety chains, which of course resulted in the chipper slamming into the back of the truck. Dented the motor shroud badly and messed up the throttle. But still usable. And use it we did.

Last one was unique. Brand new Bandit 1390xp. Either the driver failed to insert the receiver hitch pin or it broke. (I have my suspicions) Result was chipper decoupling on the highway. Thankfully in the right lane. Here’s where it gets weird: safety chains just snapped. Had no effect whatsoever. So much so that the guys didn’t even know they lost the chipper for a few miles. Sounds unreal but I swear it’s true.

Driver was my brother who is an intelligent, competent, experienced guy. I was already at the job waiting on him to bring the chipper. He called and sheepishly told me he “lost the chipper”. :oops: “Uhhh…. Say again?” Literally had to backtrack to find it against a fence on the highway. Miracle the only damage was to the battery and battery platform. Couple of pics in case I haven’t embarrassed myself enough already:
Click to expand...
Thats a crazy story. That chipper should have been upside down on the way to the junkyard. What a perfect outcome and that knowone was injured. Iron is replaceable!

My question is were you hoping the chips would enter the upper atmosphere and drift into space. The angle of your turret is extreme. Ours will clog if it's at that angle. Possibly due to the 97hp perkins.
 
The chute had to be raised to make room for the tow cable to attach somewhere near the turret. One tow truck pulled it up the hill and the other had a cable attached higher to prevent rollover.
 
When we work as a team the man doing the guiding is instructed to drop the latch on the hitch as soon as the pindle is on. The driver won't get out of the truck until he hears the latch come down.. That's always first thing before wires or emergency brake cable.. drop the hitch and pin it closed.

On the stump grinder, I leave the engine running until the big pin is in... and that's always first thing too.. I learned to remind myself never to walk away from the trailer to attend to ANYTHING. Whatever it is can wait until the trailer is secured.

I've lost two chippers to the safety chains.... mostly flat tires.. one shroud and radiator got pushed back a little.
 
Bucknut said:
Just gonna say it, we’ve lost several chippers over the years. Had a Mitts & Merrill break in half just outside the shop. Broke a weld at a notoriously weak spot on the frame where there’s a jog. Horrible design. This one was not really the drivers fault. Still embarrassing to watch half of chipper roll down the road.

Number two was a circa 2003 Morbark Model 13. Not a pintle, young guy failed to close the clasp around the ball which has the same effect. Made it about half a mile before it came off. Driver’s natural instinct was to hit the brakes when he felt the jerk from the safety chains, which of course resulted in the chipper slamming into the back of the truck. Dented the motor shroud badly and messed up the throttle. But still usable. And use it we did.

Last one was unique. Brand new Bandit 1390xp. Either the driver failed to insert the receiver hitch pin or it broke. (I have my suspicions) Result was chipper decoupling on the highway. Thankfully in the right lane. Here’s where it gets weird: safety chains just snapped. Had no effect whatsoever. So much so that the guys didn’t even know they lost the chipper for a few miles. Sounds unreal but I swear it’s true.

Driver was my brother who is an intelligent, competent, experienced guy. I was already at the job waiting on him to bring the chipper. He called and sheepishly told me he “lost the chipper”. :oops: “Uhhh…. Say again?” Literally had to backtrack to find it against a fence on the highway. Miracle the only damage was to the battery and battery platform. Couple of pics in case I haven’t embarrassed myself enough already:
Click to expand...
amazing pictures... you know that ground friction saved the day... I leant my pickup truck to a friend last year and he did $26,000 in damage to an old 6' wrought iron fence... That chipper would have done some serious damage to the fence if it had been moving with any kind of speed...
 
Here’s another new one for me: IMG_1931.jpegIMG_1925.jpeg
Happened about two weeks ago. This is the trailer that hauls our loader and occasionally the grinder. It’s about ten years old. Not sure if this is “normal wear” (kinda doubt it) or possibly the result of closing the pintle clasp over the top, which it probably doesn’t need since the trailer secures itself to the ball anyway as you all know. Drove the whole way to the job like this, with just the front lip of the trailer averting disaster. (And it drove to the repair shop that way too!:inocente:)

All fixed up now. No more closing the pintle.
 
I will add that we used to haul both loader and grinder at once. The SK650 was loaded in front, which in hindsight was a tremendous amount of tongue weight. That surely didn’t help.
 
When you're in there check for wear on the latching mechanism pins - or I presume you just replaced new wholescale.
 
In a pinch on a Sunday I noticed my regular trailer hitch seeming too loose despite tweaking the adjust bolt. Turned out it had worn away metal on the front lower edge of the "socket". Grind, mig, grind I ended up with more positive lock than when the unit was new! note for a smaller utility trailer

There was a time when greasing hitches was the norm. I don't bother.
 
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