Normally when I go riding, I either haul my ATV in the back of my truck, or I use my two place snowmobile trailer. A few years ago I thought it would be nice if I had a small, single place trailer for those times when I go by myself and don't want to load it in the truck or drag the bigger trailer around. Truth of the matter is, I rarely ever use the single place trailer. One exception being when I help the ATV club clean up the roadside garbage. The single place trailer is about the right size to pull behind the ATV and load up with garbage.

Unfortunately, this trailer is built kind of funny. I would have built it differently if it was me. The axle should be below the springs, not on top of them, and it should also be placed back another couple of inches to give it some tongue weight. Right now, as you can see from the above photo, it has no tongue weight and it rides with the tongue up too high. It's exaggerated in the photo because the ground the trailer is sitting on is lower than the garage floor, but you get the idea.

On the way to Necedah the other day, I noticed the ATV looked like it had moved back a little. Thought I better check it, so I pulled over into the Private Pleasures store (first time I ever stopped there, honest). Sure enough, out of the four straps, only one was holding and that one was loose! One of the back ones had even been dragging in the road behind me (funny none of the cars behind me tried to flag me down, I would have). I decided that was enough of that. Time to modify the trailer a little, more to my liking.
First I drilled holes in the front frame of the trailer to accommodate the strap hooks. (Hint: if you're making your own tie-down anchors on your trailer, try to match the angle of the ATV shocks more or less. It helps the suspension work with the straps instead of against them, and it's a hell of a lot easier to compress the springs and put some tension on them.)
Next, I drilled holes in the back frame of the trailer for the strap hooks. I intentionally made it so the straps would run across behind the tires. That way if the ATV should shift and begin moving back, it should press on the straps and help to hold it in place.
I can never remember from one time to the next where I hooked the straps to work best on the ATV. Seems like I have to figure out the best spot all over again every time. So, I marked the spots with orange reflective tape in the front.
And in the back.
Now I took a piece of angle iron (remember the chair repair?) and drilled it and the trailer and pinned it across the back. No way is that ATV ever coming off this trailer as long as it's right side up!
I also designed my angle iron bar across the back to be able to be swung out of the way and pinned to the side when not using it, or loading and unloading.

Seems like a lot of work for what usually amounts to a one time per year use, but it only takes one time for the ATV to fall off the trailer and ruin the rest of the year, the way I see it!