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Tie downs who needs stinkin tie downs

xgiovannix12

Senior Member
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Feb 22, 2012
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474
Location
New York
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Operator/Mechanic/Truck driver
Hey bud. No offense but learn how to load a machine. I don't care what the truck driver says but I won't load a machine on an un-level trailer. If the trailer is level, it's all on you. I've loaded many machines on wet, muddy, frozen and snow packed decks. Flat is good. Don't do it otherwise. It's your life on the line. Be smart, not brave.

not my 1st rodeo it can happen to any 1 even on level ground. The trailer was level when this happened .
 

oldtanker

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Sep 25, 2010
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463
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vining mn
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Ret
This was too good not to post it. I live on a farm in west MN. A state highway runs through the farm with 40 acres on the north side and 160 on the south side. A county deputy stopped a guy about 100 feet from the end of the drive. Pickup with a small single axle utility trailer with a lawn tractor on it. I saw it while at the end of the drive mowing grass on the sides of the driveway. I recognized the cop as one that I know and waited by the end of the drive. When the cop was done he backed up the 100 or so feet and stopped to say hi. He nailed the guy for speeding but also wrote him up for an unsecure load (not a warning). He told me the guy was pretty mad but had tie down straps in his pickup. He got mouthy with the cop which is why the cop wrote him up for not having the mower tied down. The owner told the cop "I set the parking brake". Cop said the speeding ticket 71 in a 60 is going to cost him about 125 and the unsecured load about 750. The cop did take pictures and has footage on the dash cam of him putting straps on it. SO it's 50-50 is the guy just pays it or fights it.

To me kinda funny that while this thread is running this guy gets caught within sight of my house.

Rick
 

CM1995

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13,250
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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
If you are speeding and caught dead to rights - rule of thumb just take the ticket and go on. Unsecured load for a lawnmower...he must've really pissed that deputy off.
 

kshansen

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Mar 11, 2012
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Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
If you are speeding and caught dead to rights - rule of thumb just take the ticket and go on. Unsecured load for a lawnmower...he must've really pissed that deputy off.

Or if you get lucky like I was one Sunday many years ago. Was coming home from breakfast with family and got stopped in the village by the local cop. I was riding my Sportster with the sidecar. Cop spent a few minutes complaining that he could not get time off that summer to attend a motorcycle rally up north and also talking about my ride. Then at the end he says, "Better slow down a bit, you were going 42 in a 30 zone!"

But, yes, you are 99% of the time going to get much better deal if you treat the officer with some respect. Probably really pissed off the guy as the ticket for unsecured load was more than the mower was worth. Bet that cop had a good laugh over coffee and doughnuts with his friends!
 

oldtanker

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Joined
Sep 25, 2010
Messages
463
Location
vining mn
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Ret
If you are speeding and caught dead to rights - rule of thumb just take the ticket and go on. Unsecured load for a lawnmower...he must've really pissed that deputy off.

Not really, MN has started to enforce tie down laws to a certain extent on non commercial vehicles. About 4 years ago the MN state police DOT enforcement cops got a guy hauling tree limbs, noncommercial from his own property after a storm when they were doing roadside inspections for an unsecured load. They were either bored or the guy messed with em. Pretty hefty fine for stuff like that. It's a cash cow for the state, county and local governments.

Rick
 

kshansen

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Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Not really, MN has started to enforce tie down laws to a certain extent on non commercial vehicles. About 4 years ago the MN state police DOT enforcement cops got a guy hauling tree limbs, noncommercial from his own property after a storm when they were doing roadside inspections for an unsecured load. They were either bored or the guy messed with em. Pretty hefty fine for stuff like that. It's a cash cow for the state, county and local governments.

Rick

Well in a way I can understand, some of the loads have seen being carried by private individuals scares the heck out of me when I come up behind them riding my motorcycle. Just in shear numbers alone there are probably 100 times more lawnmowers or trucks hauling trash and brush on the road than those carrying D6 Cat dozers.So the chance of getting killed by one of those is many times more than some big machine.

Several years back a neighbor was killed by a truck tire that fell out the back of a truck while he was driving down the highway and he was in a car not on a motorcycle.
 

old-iron-habit

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Nov 22, 2012
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4,233
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Moose Lake, MN
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Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
Not really, MN has started to enforce tie down laws to a certain extent on non commercial vehicles. About 4 years ago the MN state police DOT enforcement cops got a guy hauling tree limbs, noncommercial from his own property after a storm when they were doing roadside inspections for an unsecured load. They were either bored or the guy messed with em. Pretty hefty fine for stuff like that. It's a cash cow for the state, county and local governments.

Rick

The other thing Minnesota is doing is the DOT is set up on weekends again stopping people going to there cabins or where ever hauling there toys behind the business truck pulling painted up with advertising trailers. Full DOT inspection and looking for .02 compliance on the alcohol. They have been in town twice already this summer. They have one officer on the hiway flagging them into the hockey ring parking lot and about 6 other officials are waiting. Its amazing how many pickups they find with offroad fuel in them when they stick the tanks and check. I have a hard time feeing bad for those folks.
 

fast_st

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Dec 1, 2010
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1,468
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Mass
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IT systems admin
Twisted said:
And then there is this.....

I think that'd need two straps minimum. :)

I love seeing the lowboy hauling a Tonka dump truck and held with 4 little straps.
 

oldtanker

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vining mn
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The other thing Minnesota is doing is the DOT is set up on weekends again stopping people going to there cabins or where ever hauling there toys behind the business truck pulling painted up with advertising trailers. Full DOT inspection and looking for .02 compliance on the alcohol. They have been in town twice already this summer. They have one officer on the hiway flagging them into the hockey ring parking lot and about 6 other officials are waiting. Its amazing how many pickups they find with offroad fuel in them when they stick the tanks and check. I have a hard time feeing bad for those folks.

There is a wayside rest off of 210 about a mile west of my place that MNDOT sets up at. They get a couple of trucks before word gets out then they get bored. I too have no sympathy for the guys burning off road getting caught. Last one I knew of the fine was 750 plus they made him get it towed to a shop that would drain the tank and fill it with on road. The owner was madder than all get out! The tow plus the "hazmat disposal" fees were not cheap.

I think that'd need two straps minimum. :)

I love seeing the lowboy hauling a Tonka dump truck and held with 4 little straps.

LOL I did see just that a few years ago a couple of days before Christmas on I94 just east of Fargo ND. 50 foot or so flat bed with a Tonka dump truck tied down in the middle of the bed as I was passing. Almost wrecked I was laughing so hard. I've wondered sense then if some little boy didn't wake up on Christmas morning to look out a window and see that.

Rick
 

Willie B

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Jan 2, 2016
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Mount Tabor VT
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Electrician
Drivers breaking the law deserve the ticket. My friend was fined heavily in the middle of a snow storm. He had tail lights, license plates, and required name, and weight ratings covered with snow. He did contest the fines, and the judge reduced them, but would not eliminate them.

Willie
 

Todd v.

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Jan 20, 2015
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SC
A ticket for snow on his tag during a snowstorm? I'm all for keeping things safe but there comes a point when it's simply about control and picking people's pockets for their hard earned money.
 

maddog

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730
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middle TN
They have one officer on the hiway flagging them into the hockey ring parking lot and about 6 other officials are waiting. Its amazing how many pickups they find with offroad fuel in them when they stick the tanks and check. I have a hard time feeing bad for those folks.

IMO, this is just another one of those revenue making laws, off road VS road fuel. If it was really about being "environmentally friendly" then off road would no longer exist. It's funny how a farm tractor working a field(right next to an interstate) can run off road fuel all day, but the dump truck running 5 miles down the road gets a ticket. Wasting tax payer $$$$$ to pay seven government employees just to issue Johnnybobby a ticket for off road fuel use is a huge waste of time and money. But then again our powers to be have been feeding Charlie Manson 3 squares a day for 50+ years now. Yep priorities seem to be alive and on tract :idontgetit
 

maddog

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middle TN
There is a wayside rest off of 210 about a mile west of my place that MNDOT sets up at. They get a couple of trucks before word gets out then they get bored. I too have no sympathy for the guys burning off road getting caught. Last one I knew of the fine was 750 plus they made him get it towed to a shop that would drain the tank and fill it with on road. The owner was madder than all get out! The tow plus the "hazmat disposal" fees were not cheap.
Rick

"Disposal fee" wonder where it gets disposed to? Burning off road fuel....... there must be a place for these hardened criminals, maybe we should reopen Alcatraz(as a prison) :D Now lets get out there and make it mandatory for all on road gassers(motorcycles, cars, trucks, vans, etc..) to use no less then 15% ethanol or have it tested and make them get fines and pay for a "disposal fee". After all the guberment needs that big $$$$ revenue.
 

maddog

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730
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middle TN
A ticket for snow on his tag during a snowstorm? I'm all for keeping things safe but there comes a point when it's simply about control and picking people's pockets for their hard earned money.

Completely agree, I have had many police officers as friends over the years and everyone of them said, "I can stop anyone at anytime and find a law somewhere that they are breaking!" Their point being is that, there are so many BS laws out there that no matter what, if one wants to they could find away to basically harass another.
 

JPV

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Aug 20, 2015
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S.W. Washington
It is illegal to run Offroad fuel because you are not paying road taxes on it, not because of sulfur content. In our area it is the same as On road but has dye added.
 

Todd v.

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Jan 20, 2015
Messages
213
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SC
Same here, it all about the highway tax. No highway tax for off road fuel. Here it's generally 20 cents cheaper for off road fuel.
 

old-iron-habit

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Moose Lake, MN
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IMO, this is just another one of those revenue making laws, off road VS road fuel. If it was really about being "environmentally friendly" then off road would no longer exist. It's funny how a farm tractor working a field(right next to an interstate) can run off road fuel all day, but the dump truck running 5 miles down the road gets a ticket. Wasting tax payer $$$$$ to pay seven government employees just to issue Johnnybobby a ticket for off road fuel use is a huge waste of time and money. But then again our powers to be have been feeding Charlie Manson 3 squares a day for 50+ years now. Yep priorities seem to be alive and on tract :idontgetit

The road tax on fuel has nothing to do with the envirionment. It was instated to pay for road repair and inprovement. Farm use does not use the road. Off course over the years the government stole the gas and fuel tax to the general fund and let the roads go to Sh*t anyway.
 
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