I need something and don't want to reinvent fire to get it...

Yesterday, I came up to a loaded (+/- 40,000 pounds) that had sunk into the ground (landing gear in the ground up to the crossmembers). I had to make a call for help because there was no way I could've gotten under it without it...

That said, I would like to suggest that we get something to have on hand at our yard to prevent this in the future (an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, right?). I know that I can design something that would work, and if I had the right materials and tools, I could fabricate it (thanks Dad), but I really don't want to reinvent fire if it has been done....

Any thoughts or links to a solution?

 

Your solution is called "CONCRETE", strips that the landing gear sit on so the don't sink into the dirt.

 

We don't own the yard, as far as I can tell, that is not an option....

 

Why worry about something you basically have no control over? Should be easy to figure out which moron did it, either the last driver that dropped it in the mud or a yard jockey.

 

It wasn't mud, but I am willing to bet that it was a maze of gopher trails that made the ground weak. I wasted 2 hours waiting for the rescue...

 

I'd be looking for another yard if I owned the company.
Maybe keep some railroad ties laying around the yard and drop the trailer on those.
Probably get stolen though.

 

I hear ya, I ran team for a company once upon a time and when we went to pick the trailer up, a spotter sank the #### thing in the mud. Fortunately I worked for a private label manufacturer that just pulled their own freight so we were just assigned another load after a phone call. Worked out great too, the load we got was to Reno, as close to California as you can get without entering it . Easy 3800 mile trip...

 

fire was invented?

 

Weld a 2 inch by 8 inch by 8 foot piece of heavy wall rectangular tube onto the bottom of the landing gear feet... Many ag trailers I have pulled have had this on them so they could be dropped literally anywhere you could get a truck to... Never seen one sink more than 2 inches.

 

Try making one from scratch.

So, yes.