BCS Travel Platform

   / BCS Travel Platform #1  

DLVinCT

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
25
Location
Sandy Hook, CT
Tractor
BCS 853 diesel, 33" Zanon mower, 33" Berta, 2 stage snow thrower
Does anyone know where you can purchase one of these travel platforms in the USA? You can tow just about anything with it.




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   / BCS Travel Platform #2  
Is your site very hilly?

I hay on the farm and I pull a small square baler behind a 4010 and a thrower rack behind the baler. This means I have three pivot points - tractor to baler to rack pin to rack steering mechanism. My farm is VERY hilly. I generally NEVER turn downhill on slopes if there's any bales in the rack. If I'm not careful and turn downhill with bales in the rack, the weight of the rack will push the baler sideways. The tractor weighs over 10,000 pounds and has plenty of weight to hold back a 5000 pound baler and a 2000 pound empty rack, but then I start tossing 50 pound bales into a rack that will hold 180 of them. At 60 bales, my rack weighs as much as the baler (and my rack, bales, and baler weigh as much as the tractor). Even at that weight, the rack has a huge advantage over the baler on a downhill turn. If you think about a downhill turn, imagine the point where the tractor has completed the turn and the baler has just about completed the turn, but the rack is still in the middle of the turn. You have a unit that is pointed downhill that outweighs the baler AND the baler has a pivot point behind the big weight of the tractor. Yep, the rack will push the baler sideways until it jackknifes into the tractor's tire. I have hillsides where I won't fill the rack, it's just too dangerous. The rack and baler would outweigh me by far too much to make any kind of turn. My F-I-L once turned downhill with a rack of hay and he ended up rolling the baler. He's the only guy I know that can roll a small square baler!

A second issue with adding pivot points is that it makes it much more difficult to back up. You now need to aim the rear unit and still keep the front unit in line as well. Some people are good at backing trailers, far fewer are good at backing wagons. This unit would make your trailer into a wagon.

Now, with you standing on this unit, you and the cart are going to weigh a little better than 250 pounds, depending on how much you weigh ( I'm not gonna ask...). The tractor weighs 275- 375 pounds, depending on ballast. So, you can haul 500 - 600 pounds, right? Sure, on nearly flat ground. But, on a hill on this cart, you've added a pivot point between you and the tractor. With 250 pounds on the trailer, you're going to be the baler in my example if you turn downhill. A trailer that is hitched directly to the tractor with you riding on the tongue or front of the box is generally going to be safer to operate.

If your lot is generally flat, you're good at backing wagons, and you aren't going to load the trailer very much, this would probably make a very good attachment. Unfortunately, I do not know of a dealer selling it. You could call or email Tracmaster in the UK and see how much it'd cost to have it sent over. You could also buy the transport sulky and put a hitch on the rear of that, but I'd call that more dangerous because you're sitting. At least with the platform, you're standing and can leap off and out of the way if a situation becomes dangerous.
 
   / BCS Travel Platform #3  
Does anyone know where you can purchase one of these travel platforms in the USA?

Hand the wheels and picture to your local welder.

Bruce
 
   / BCS Travel Platform
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Is your site very hilly?

I hay on the farm and I pull a small square baler behind a 4010 and a thrower rack behind the baler. This means I have three pivot points - tractor to baler to rack pin to rack steering mechanism. My farm is VERY hilly. I generally NEVER turn downhill on slopes if there's any bales in the rack. If I'm not careful and turn downhill with bales in the rack, the weight of the rack will push the baler sideways. The tractor weighs over 10,000 pounds and has plenty of weight to hold back a 5000 pound baler and a 2000 pound empty rack, but then I start tossing 50 pound bales into a rack that will hold 180 of them. At 60 bales, my rack weighs as much as the baler (and my rack, bales, and baler weigh as much as the tractor). Even at that weight, the rack has a huge advantage over the baler on a downhill turn. If you think about a downhill turn, imagine the point where the tractor has completed the turn and the baler has just about completed the turn, but the rack is still in the middle of the turn. You have a unit that is pointed downhill that outweighs the baler AND the baler has a pivot point behind the big weight of the tractor. Yep, the rack will push the baler sideways until it jackknifes into the tractor's tire. I have hillsides where I won't fill the rack, it's just too dangerous. The rack and baler would outweigh me by far too much to make any kind of turn. My F-I-L once turned downhill with a rack of hay and he ended up rolling the baler. He's the only guy I know that can roll a small square baler!

A second issue with adding pivot points is that it makes it much more difficult to back up. You now need to aim the rear unit and still keep the front unit in line as well. Some people are good at backing trailers, far fewer are good at backing wagons. This unit would make your trailer into a wagon.

Now, with you standing on this unit, you and the cart are going to weigh a little better than 250 pounds, depending on how much you weigh ( I'm not gonna ask...). The tractor weighs 275- 375 pounds, depending on ballast. So, you can haul 500 - 600 pounds, right? Sure, on nearly flat ground. But, on a hill on this cart, you've added a pivot point between you and the tractor. With 250 pounds on the trailer, you're going to be the baler in my example if you turn downhill. A trailer that is hitched directly to the tractor with you riding on the tongue or front of the box is generally going to be safer to operate.

If your lot is generally flat, you're good at backing wagons, and you aren't going to load the trailer very much, this would probably make a very good attachment. Unfortunately, I do not know of a dealer selling it. You could call or email Tracmaster in the UK and see how much it'd cost to have it sent over. You could also buy the transport sulky and put a hitch on the rear of that, but I'd call that more dangerous because you're sitting. At least with the platform, you're standing and can leap off and out of the way if a situation becomes dangerous.

I do have one area that is hilly. Otherwise fairly flat. I'm actually not interested in towing anything really heavy. Don't even like the cart idea on the sled. I want it to tow a lawn aerator / sweeper / etc. I'm having a hard time figuring how to use drag behind implements. They conflict where you would stand.
 
   / BCS Travel Platform #5  
Hey DLV,

You can remove the attachment and directly connect towed implements to the tow hitch. The biggest problem with this idea is most tools aren't near heavy enough to counterbalance the heavy engine. You'll need to modify the attachments with extra weight and a shorter, stronger drawbar.

BCS made an aerator attachment for their tractors. It actually replaces the wheels and a wheel gets mounted under the engine to hold it up. I think Joel has a pair of these wheels. I was gonna buy them, but just never got too much of a desire for them.

Another idea I just came up with while sitting here is to modify and mount the tow-behind aerator you have to mount solid (no pivot point) under or just in front of the engine. With nothing on the PTO, that engine should give you more than adequate weight for penetration.
 
   / BCS Travel Platform
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Or you would do the opposite. Rather than shorten the draw bar you could lengthen it and weld a platform to stand on for weight.
 
   / BCS Travel Platform #7  
That's a good idea. Surely safer than pulling it behind a forecart (though if you're not using the forecart to pull heavy loads, it'd be safe enough as well). As long as the unit is capable carrying your weight. Some of this stuff is pretty flimsy anymore. More than the weight of a couple cinder block might buckle the lighter duty equipment. One thing you'd need to do when you build this is make sure the drawbar pivots only left-to-right. Any up-and-down pivot will make holding the handlebars tiring as you'll be fighting to hold them either up or down, depending on how you attach it. Another thing to consider is you need to make sure your weight is in front of the wheels on the attachment so that some of it gets transferred to the tractor's wheels. If you can overcome these engineering issues, you'll have quite a unit.
 
   / BCS Travel Platform #8  
Just a word of caught from an old man and from a farmer a little older (84) it is much better to walk than to subject your legs and back to constant pounding as the travel platform bounces over the ground. My farmer customer bought the mower to walk behind because his back could no longer take the pounding on his tractor. His adage was "you can always walk long after you can no longer ride". My physical therapist couldn't agree more. Just saying....
 
   / BCS Travel Platform #9  
I agree with you on that point, John. The BEST exercise a human being can do is walking. We're built for it. These little tractors - no matter the brand or features - give us that opportunity.
 
 
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