That timer basically forces your brain into panic mode and suddenly you can actually focus on one thing. I bet if libraries made the limit 2 hours instead of 45 minutes, half of us would just scroll the whole time and get nothing done.

Ha! This is like when my dad swore you couldn't fix a scratched CD with toothpaste. Then he tried it and acted like he invented the trick. Sometimes the old weird advice is just right.

That DOT guy in Omaha wasn't wrong about the general idea but he had it backwards for your setup. Stiff binders on a mini excavator aren't cracking frames, the frame cracks come from the load shifting and slapping against the chains, not from being held too tight. I ran a 5 ton mini for two years behind a single axle and the only damage I ever saw was from loose binders letting things walk sideways on washboard roads. On rough roads the trailer suspension and the truck suspension already soak up most of the bounce, so the excavator is moving way less than you think back there. What actually kills frames is hauling with the boom up too high or the bucket hanging out unsupported, and nobody ever talks about that because it's boring. Keep your binders tight, use four points like you're doing, check them at 50 miles and again at 150, and that frame will outlast the trailer.