My Kioti-Hauler is Down for the Count

[wallace]

Now that looks like a job for me... Thats what I get into..I love to weld bring it down and I will make it so you could tow a modular house!
Joel wait till you see some of the cool things we made around my shop!

 

[RexB]

Joel that awkward position of the hitch, tongue and load in reverse up the driveway is dratted bad luck. Rick W made a good offer, maybe the truck will be driving to the cookout?

You're right, that load prolly was heavier than a bare JD350 - on mine the ROPS, winch, rake and eared blade add about 3,000 lbs. She's a little beastie.

 

[JoelD]

WOW, that's a really nice looking machine, looks like something the military would used to sweep for land mines. Awesome set up.

Would love to drive the truck to Rick's, unfortunately, with the price of gas, lack of a Radio and AC, I'm thinking the 4 cyl. ranger will be making the drive.

Great picture of your dozer.

 

[RexB]

Thanks, "PacMan" is a real honey but is getting almost no use since the clearing is done. The Kioti has taken over the land maintenance and the backhoe is better at stumping. Since new-home construction is still going pretty strong here, it would get a good price and may be time to sell *sniff*. What a sweetheart this old John Deere has been, tough and always ready to go.

ps: I didn't notice that your trailer is a tri-axle, would love to have one. They're real pricey around here.

 

[RexB]

Excuse my ignorance, when you are refering to 3/4 & 1 ton trucks, are your refering to payload weight of the truck or something else?

Hi Spider, yes it refers to the payload the truck is made to carry. Most of the pickup nomenclatures over here now are:

Ford . . . GMC-Dodge
F-150 . . . 1500 . . . half ton (1,000 lbs)
F-250 . . . 2500 . . . three-quarter ton
F-350 . . . 3500 . . . one ton (2,000 lbs)

Although "1-ton pickups" and the others can actually haul much more than those weights. I.e., I've carried nearly two tons of metal in the bed of the F-350, and 3,000 pounds in the F-250 without them complaining too much. And they need big heavy engines in the front both for power and a counterbalance to keep the nose of the truck down in good contact with the pavement. I've had pickups since my first 1965 Custom-100 half-ton (pre F-150 rating naming system) 35 years ago and couldn't function without one. Hauls firewood, felled trees to the burn pile, once-a-month grocery trips 30 miles away, tractor parts, helping friends move *groan*, three big dogs to the beach, appliances, lumber, gravel, dirt, . . .

 

[darkviper]

OK let me help here and give my two cents. There is a payload rating and then there is a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Wieght Rating). Payload is what you can put in the bed of the truck. Most of the time the chasis is the same its just the springs and gearing that is different. Now with a trailer you can pull 20,000 pound on a trailer if the trailer is rated for it and 1) the truck is geared to pull it and has a sufficent GVWR (Please see this Ford Vehicles: Super Duty - Specifications and look at the towing specs 2) The trailer has adquete breaking to stop the load by assisting the brakes on the truck ) and finally you don not exceed the tounge wieght on the hitch of the vehicle itself. What you had happen was probably more to do with too much on the tounge or you had metal and or rust fatigue.

3/4 tons typically have a GVRW (meaning total truck and trailer wieght) that is between 10,000 and 15,00 depending on the make. My half tone dakota has about a 7500 GVRW as equiped. Also As was told to me by many of dealers that the GVRW is what the lawers at the manufactures say that they want to be liable for. In most cases it is about half what the vehicle is capable of. In all i think that maybe you might have been a touch over. But with 3 axels and if all were with brakes then it should have been fine. I will agree with the other guy that the hitch did seem to be a touch lengthy so you hade the princeple of leverage against you. I would move it closer to the axel as suggested. Most of your load balancing class 3 or better hiches bolt to just behide the rear axle and not at the end of the chasis. So there is my to cents. But deffinataly a learning experence for us all. keep us informed

 

[Highbeam]

To add to Rex's list... the nomenclatures have little or nothing to do with actual payload carrying abilities. That little sticker in the doorjamb gives GVWR minus empty weight gives you payload and it can be more or less than the nomeclature indicates.

I haul my CK30 with loader and one implement (NOT BH) with a half ton truck. The trailer weighs 2500# and has a hefty safety margin but the truck is right at the ratings. It is a great 7000# tow and has been trouble free. If you already have the half ton truck then get the hitch set up right and try it out.

That said, I would rather spend my 10mpg towing with a one ton truck. The safety margin would be very hefty and that should extend the life of wear items and give you warm fuzzies.

The OP's trailer was pretty heavy and very tongue heavy as can be seen by how it failed vertically. Popping bolts beats the heck out of complete frame failure. Tongue weight killed that bumper, 6.5 tons is a walk in the park for a 3/4 or 1 ton if the trailer and hitch are set up for it. I'm not going to call anyone stupid but that load could have been hauled by that truck.

 

[JoelD]

Agreed, the hitch is affixed at the very rear of the frame, problem one. The bolts were small, problem two and the tongue loaded up way more than I every intended due to angles on my drive, problem three. Perfect storm.

I am very glad with where it happened, no one got hurt and I could drag her up myself. Next step will be to have the hitch properly mounted.

Thanks again for all the responses.

Joel

 

[gboudreau]

That stinks, but it could have been much worse. I cringe every time I see a truck or SUV going down the road over loaded with a trailer. I've seen a very large boat trailer give way that was behind a small SUV and it took out a ford taurus. Now I know why I love my gooseneck so much.