 One misjudged turn. One careless act can result in personal injury and property loss. These programs are designed to give you a basic understanding of the procedures and principles involved in loading and towing highway equipment on the tilt bed trailer. In Part 1 we'll cover pre-trip inspections, the daily checks you make to be sure the truck and trailer won't fall apart when you leave the yard. Then we'll look at hooking up the truck and trailer, then loading and securing a loader onto the trailer. In Part 2 we'll cover towing and basic maneuvering, unloading the trailer, then loading materials, guardrail and pipe. Before we begin, let's discuss your responsibility. The rule is simple. You drive it, you load it, and you are responsible. So if loading heavy equipment is new to you, by all means ask for help. But it's your responsibility to double check all work done by someone else. Don't move the trailer until you're satisfied the load is secure and safe to take out on the road. OK, pre-trip inspections. First there are the inspections for the truck. Checking engine oil, coolant and so on. These checks are covered in the tapes on dump truck operation, so we won't go into them here. Just make sure you use a tandem truck, one with two rear axles. And all trucks used for towing trailers have to be equipped with separate brakes for the trailer. So what do you check on the trailer? Let's start with the safety chains. They're your first line of defense should the trailer separate from the hitch on the truck. Look for worn or cracked links, anything that could affect the strength of the chain. Then check the breakaway switch. The breakaway switch will apply the trailer brakes if the hitch and safety chains fail. Check the breakaway switch battery by flipping the switch on the battery tester. If the light comes on, the battery is good. If not, you can remove the battery and recharge it. Good tires at the right pressure are critical for safe towing, so take a good look. Use a gauge if you think the tires are under or over-inflated. Check the condition of the tread and side walls. Look for uneven tread wear, cuts, embedded stones. And check for loose or broken lug nuts and axle bolts. Everything's got to be tight. Now on some of our trailers, the wheel bearings are lubricated with oil inside this plastic seal. Check the level and keep the oil up to the full mark on the seal. Look over the whole trailer. If you're satisfied that it's in good shape, you can go ahead and hook up to the truck. Before you hook up, it's a good idea to put some weight in the dump box. That extra weight will give you better control. Back the truck up slowly until the hitch on the truck lines up with the trailer tongue. You may have to raise or lower the trailer tongue depending on the height of the hitch. When we got lucky, the hitch and tongue matched up on the first try. Put the truck in neutral and set the parking brake. Then, using the trailer jack, lower the tongue until it rests on the hitch. Be sure to secure the jack stand to the trailer. You don't want it dragging on the ground when you're towing. Close the hitch and latch it with a pin so it can't pop open. Then, hook up the electrical connector. That supplies power from the truck's battery to the trailer's lights, brakes, and battery tester. Then, hook up the safety chains to the truck's frame. Leave plenty of slack so the trailer can turn freely. And fasten the breakaway switch to the truck. After you get everything hooked up, check the lights on the trailer. If none work, recheck the electrical connector. And if only some work, look for burned out bulbs. Now to lower the trailer for loading, crank the platform lock out to release it. And walk to the end of the trailer. That's why it's called a tilt bed. The trailer will tilt down under your weight. When you get the trailer down, look for leaks of oil or other damage to the cushioning cylinder. And block the wheels on both sides of the trailer. Take a good look at the tie-down chains and binders. Use approved chains, no less than three-eighths of an inch thick. One bad chain or binder can mean the difference between a routine trip and a serious accident. If they're okay, go get the loader. Back the loader slowly up the trailer. If your loader has four-wheel drive, use it. And take it easy. This is where most accidents happen. Whenever possible, use a spotter to guide you, but make sure they remain in a safe position. You want to end up with about 15% of the loader's weight on the hitch and the rest of the weight on the trailer's axles. So when the trailer bed comes down, move the loader until you get the correct weight distribution. It makes the trailer a lot easier to control. The bucket so it rests flat on the trailer and set the parking brake. On articulated loaders, you have to use the safety bar to lock the loader's front end in place. You may have to move the steering wheel slightly to get the holes lined up so you can insert the pins. Then shut off the engine. Reset the platform lock. If you don't, a slight shift in weight will make the bed tilt back down. Now before we cover tying down the loader, let's take a look at another type of trailer, the Lowboy. The inspections and preparations for loading are pretty much the same, but getting the equipment onto the trailer is quite a bit different. Unlike the tilt bed, the Lowboy trailer has two ramps you use to drive the equipment onto the trailer. You adjust the ramps to match the wheelbase of the equipment, in this case a small tractor. And it's a good idea to block the ramps for extra support. Act the tractor slowly up the ramps. As you can see, it's not that easy. Constantly check the position of all the wheels while you're going up the ramps. If it doesn't look safe, it isn't safe. Oh, you rocked off the side! You may have to adjust the spacing of the ramps. Of course, you can make it easier on yourself if you load and unload off of the loading dock. The point is, do it the safest way possible. Always load and unload on the most level ground you can find, and do it slowly. Okay, now let's get back to the tilt bed. You've got the loader positioned correctly. Now you have to tie it down. For a big piece of heavy equipment like the loader, you should use at least three or four chains, and there should be four tie-down points. Let's start in the rear. Pass two of the chains through the hitch on the back of the loader. Make sure there's a sturdy pin in the hitch to keep the chain in place, and attach the other end to the trailer. Then attach the binder and take up the slack in the chains. After you get it tight, wrap up the excess chain. For the front end, attach your chain to the arms of the boom on each side of the bucket, and secure the other end of the chain to the trailer. Then take up the slack with the binder. He's using the ratchet-type binder here. We're trying to get away from the spring-loaded type. Here's why. They're just plain dangerous. If you have to use a spring-loaded binder, use the department's approved extension bar to tighten and loosen the binder. An unapproved cheater bar or pipe can slip off the binder easily and might injure you when it snaps back. This is how you should end up. Two chains and binders on the hitch. Two chains and binders on the bucket. All fasten securely to the trailer. And the loader positioned properly on the trailer. Most of the weight on the axles and a slight pressure on the hitch. If the piece of equipment you're towing has a turbocharger, tape down the rain cap on the exhaust stack. That keeps air from rushing in and damaging the turbocharger. But be careful, the exhaust stack may still be hot. Again, double-check everything. All tie-down points are they tight. The tires. You've just added a lot of weight to the trailer. Did it affect the tires? Recheck the hitch, safety chains, electrical connector and breakaway switch. Remember, from this point on, you're responsible for the trailer and load. You know, parachutists always pack their own chutes. They just don't trust anyone else to do it for them. And in the same way, if you inspect your own trailer, you know you're safe. Well, that's it for Part 1. In Part 2, we'll get out on the road and cover towing and unloading the trailer and loading it again with guardrail and pipe.