HOW DO YOU TOW YOUR TRACTOR 3

[srs]

Pappa, sent you a PM.

[PAPPASMURF]

Not real sure what "crappy" welds you had to fix, but I noticed on mine that there seemed to be some unfinished welds. After watching some show on building trailers, I realized that some welds shouldn't have been made continuous due to the trailer needing to flex some. Obviously I don't know if that is your case and will not even infer to it, but just thought I would throw that out there.

I do like the trailer stabilizers you have on the front (I assume that is what that is supposed to be), do you have those on the rear as well? I am assuming you made those? I am considering doing that to the rear of my trailer as many times I have lifted the rear end of my truck off the ground when loading and unloading. But until I saw yours, I never thought of doing that to the front as well.

The welds were sloppy and full of "air pockets" which I was told was due to the welder not using the proper type weld and / or having the temperature to hot making the weld "pop". I don't know much about welding, but my buddy that is an expert in that field said if they had used mig welding with Argon gas, the weld would have come out right. Anyway, all I know is that he showed me where some of the welds were not actually bonding the tow pieces of metal they intended because the weld was a "bad weld". There were good welds on the trailer, but at least 50% were done very sloppy.....looked like a lot of the welds popped and splattered all over instead of making a steady bead that bonded the metals.
The front stabilizers were just an idea I had because the old trailer didn't have ramps with legs to prevent the trailer from raising the tow vehicle. Since my new trailer had the proper ramps, I saw where sometimes front stabilizers could come in handy, so I put them up front. You should be able to do the same thing with yours in the rear with good results. Worked great for me.

[PAPPASMURF]

great job....you will like the fold up jack....I might steal the landing gear idea.....my g/n has only mid point jack

Landing gear was just me being bored and finding something neat, but useful to customize my trailer with. They actually work great and look pretty cool up there!

[crazyal]

Sounds like the mfg probably doesn't have qualified employees doing the work for them and isn't taking the time to inspect what the company is putting out. Sad that you had to fix their work but at least you know it's right now. It would be nice if they would compensate you for your efforts.

[PAPPASMURF]

I wonder if the manufacturer would offer up some money for the funds you paid out of pocket. That certainly would be a gesture of good will, couldn't hurt to ask for some type of reimbursement. You have nothing to lose by asking and certainly deserve it for the aggravation you encountered.

I doubt the manufacturer really cares. If you met this guy you would see he is very arrogant and for some reason didn't like me much (or so it seemed) maybe because of being a Cop.....I dunno, but whatever the reason, he was really short with me. The dealer on the other hand may be willing to at least listen to me when I explain the out of pocket expenses, and might just be willing to make it right, but if they don't its not going to ruin my day. After all....I did take possession of it, and after getting it home and discovering the problems I chose not to take it back for fear they would screw it up even more. Bad situation to be in. I can tell you this.....everyone I know that was considering buying from this manufacturer has changed their mind after talking to me. His business will feel it in the pocket just like I did!

[PAPPASMURF]

Just so you guys can see some of the crappy craftsmanship.....I have these pictures of the trailer frame (before repairing) where it angles off to the coupler. You can see a large gap where they didn't make a proper cut and no welds except on the outside of the trailer (out of eyesight). I had to take the wood planks off to get to both sides and have this fixed as well!!!

[RCman]

Man that is some hack work before.
Looks good now!
but... is that a 2000lb jack? I would think that would be just about the weight of the trailer (if not under). If it was me I'd put a 10K+ jack on it so that if I need to unhook the trailer from my truck with the tractor on it I can and not worry about the weight.
I know the tongue weight should never been the whole weight, but peice of mind is pretty nice for the minimal cost of the difference in jacks.

[megaboz]

The welds were sloppy and full of "air pockets" which I was told was due to the welder not using the proper type weld and / or having the temperature to hot making the weld "pop". I don't know much about welding, but my buddy that is an expert in that field said if they had used mig welding with Argon gas, the weld would have come out right. Anyway, all I know is that he showed me where some of the welds were not actually bonding the tow pieces of metal they intended because the weld was a "bad weld". There were good welds on the trailer, but at least 50% were done very sloppy.....looked like a lot of the welds popped and splattered all over instead of making a steady bead that bonded the metals.
The front stabilizers were just an idea I had because the old trailer didn't have ramps with legs to prevent the trailer from raising the tow vehicle. Since my new trailer had the proper ramps, I saw where sometimes front stabilizers could come in handy, so I put them up front. You should be able to do the same thing with yours in the rear with good results. Worked great for me.

I had no dis-respect intended, just was stating something that not everyone would know. I don't weld and have no professional experience, I know enough to be dangerous! I just know that not everything is always intended to be solid. But from what you explained, sounds like garbage to me. Glad you spotted it before you dumped the tractor somewhere it wasn't meant to be.

[YotaBota]

When I bought my BX a couple years ago, I also bought a 12' dump trailer to haul her in. I too found crappy welds, and poor design. But my MAJOR issue was the lack of primer used before the finish was applied. Now I am looking at sandblasting the whole thing, and properly applying the paint or protective coatings, which may include Rhino coat on the underside and frame. Speaking of proper finishing, I also have to call the dealer about my new Kubota snowblower. Doesn't seem to be any primer there either! Grrrr!

[PAPPASMURF]

I had no dis-respect intended, just was stating something that not everyone would know. I don't weld and have no professional experience, I know enough to be dangerous! I just know that not everything is always intended to be solid. But from what you explained, sounds like garbage to me. Glad you spotted it before you dumped the tractor somewhere it wasn't meant to be.

No disrespect taken at all megaboz....I fully appreciated the information. I had never heard of that before you mentioned it. I have learned alot over the last couple of months, and my primary goal here is to pass the information along so maybe no one else will have to go through what I did with this trailer. I too know just enough to be dangerous, and yes this construction was garbage. Thanks for the info!