I did this yesterday.....
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Yeah yeah, I know, should use chains, not straps. But I went around smooth edges and avoided anything sharp with the strap, and hooked it to itself in a loop. I went around the FEL mounting bracket on the front, and around the ROPS on the rear, then just found the most solid place I could on the trailer to loop back. I only put two on it for mock-up about where to strap it, but I actually will use 4 before that trailer rolls one inch. They're rated 3000 lbs working load each, meaning I have the tractor restrained with 6000 to the front and 6000 to the rear when I get 'em all on. If I were hauling any distance, I'd definitely be using chains. I've just gotta go about 8 miles with it to the dealer for 50 hour service, so figured I better mock up what I needed to do to load. Gotta get a brake module for the truck, too. PO of the trailer told me it had all new brakes a couple years before I bought it. I'll dry run to make sure they're working before I take off with my 'bota on board. I did some minor repairs/upgrades right after I bought it, including LED lights on the trailer, all the connectors on the braking circuit, as well as a new 7-pin connector. New jack, too and a little cosmetic work. Old trailer had good bones, just needed a little TLC. Definitely worth the $600 I paid for it. Managed to lose my first lynch pin, but not off the tractor. Lost it from one of the ramp hinge pins on the trailer while figuring out the best way to set up the loading ramps. No idea how I managed to do that. They were all there when I started. So, grabbed a spare and replaced the one that went MIA.
Got up this morning to a beautiful day, and me and the missus raked and picked up leaves around one of our flower beds until lunchtime [it's a big flower bed with a water feature, what can I say]. We put it all in by shovel, pick, wheelbarrow, and a WHOLE lot of elbow grease. Used the 'other' orange tractor (Husqvarna) for the leaf moving. Then I hauled a little dirt with the LX to fill up some old stump holes in the same area (we both have very sore knees tonight from stepping in holes while cleaning up the leaves). Pushed a bunch of stumps and debris back to the stump pile. Flattened some bumps with the BB where we had a veggie garden several years ago, and filled up some more stump holes. Then the neighbor came over and asked if I could help him out with another 10 yards of screened topsoil. I had to move all the soil one bucket at a time across his yard, because he had the dump truck drop it next to his driveway on the opposite end of the house. He's got the same marshmallow clay that I do at the moment, and 10 yards of screened top on a dump truck is likely sink out of sight in either of our yards. I made a LOT of trips and other than me forgetting I was in 4x4 a couple times and turning too sharp, and a few spots that were still damp, the R14's didn't tear up his yard too badly at all. He was pretty tickled about not having to move 10 yards by shovel and wheelbarrow, and since the grass hasn't started greening up yet, it should be OK when it does. I've made a much bigger mess in my own yard being impatient with the weather. I'm gettin paid on Saturday when he cooks up some Boston Butts and some Beef Brisket and some ribs ....... He's a great BBQ cook.
Pretty close to 49 hours now, so can't do any more big jobs until I get the warranty service done. Figured I'd let the dealer do it because I'm not set up to handle that much oil yet, and really don't have a place to get out of the weather to do the work. Hoping to correct that with a new 24x36 shed where the red one is in the background. Already have 220V power run out there (trenching done by hand with a sharp-shooter shovel and a pick), so electrifying the new shed should be a piece of cake, but gotta move the old one to a temporary place in the yard until the new one is finished.
