HOW DO YOU TOW YOUR TRACTOR 3

[4shorts]

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!!!View attachment 300479View attachment 300480View attachment 300481

Wow. I've done a good bit of welding and fabrication in my time but I've never seen anything as bad as that. The guy was not only a bad welder but a lazy one at that. He has absolutely no pride in his work at all. It's oblivious he didn't have any standards and I'm not even really saying what I want to say here.
Sad to think he may have built more like that and they are out on the highway some place :shocked:

 

[4shorts]

Our province went from an annual inspection to a multi-year program recently, with vehicles sold as "used" required to pass a safety inspection every 2 years, and new vehicles getting a pass good for 3 years, then requiring re-inspection every two years thereafter. So, let's say a vehicle gets driven 35,000 km per year, like mine does. Brakes are going to last for over 100,000 km? How about tires? Exhausts? Wheel bearings?

I wasn't happy to see the extra years added to safety inspections because human nature being what it is, some drivers won't replace anything til they're forced to by law or being left on the side of the road.

We do have "vehicle compliance" inspectors that can make roadside spot-checks at random, and we had a big sting operation a few years back that had vehicles that passed inspections and shouldn't have. That led to quite a few inspection stations having their licenses suspended or revoked. On the other side of the coin, the same operation also exposed a lot of shady garages and dealerships that were finding imaginary problems with vehicles being inspected and gouging the drivers for unnecessary repair bills.

It doesn't catch every poorly built or maintained vehicle on the road, but it does scoop up some of them.

Sean

Here in Newfoundland there's no inspections required unless its a used vehicle changing hands then it gets the one inspection. That being said my Navy son purchased a brand new car and put it on the carrier to ship to Nova Scotia and he had to get an inspection there before he could use it. The car had 100 Km's on it. :confused3:

 

[rustyshakelford]

Nice setup.. Dually truck or normal rear axle? Any idea what the actual pin weight is loaded like that? The truck certainly isn't squatting under it, to be sure.
Are there any regs saying you have to clean out the undercarriage on the excavator? The guy we use is always careful to get any big clods of mud out of the tracks before he loads, apparently Dept. of Transport will cite you if anything like that can come loose and go on the roadway or into traffic.

Sean

My truck is a dually. I would say maybe 2k pin weight. It wasnt as much as our 38' toy hauler that's 2500 lbs. I try to keep the under carriage clean to minimize the chance for dot to hassle me. For some reason it feels heavy pulling it though. It'll run 65 mph but takes a while to get it there. Dot here will cite you for dust on your lights. I might get some leeway since mines a farm trailer

Brett

 

[PAPPASMURF]

Wow. I've done a good bit of welding and fabrication in my time but I've never seen anything as bad as that. The guy was not only a bad welder but a lazy one at that. He has absolutely no pride in his work at all. It's oblivious he didn't have any standards and I'm not even really saying what I want to say here.
Sad to think he may have built more like that and they are out on the highway some place :shocked:

4Shorts, I wish I had just paid YOU to build my trailer. I saw some of your video's on You Tube, and I will have to say you do EXCELLENT work! Kudo's!! and I couldn't agree more with your post.:smurf:

This is my Idea of fabrication for lights. but after seeing your lights, I kinda feel like an amateur! lol!

 

[gsmaneeley]

Pappasmurf,

Ny has an inspection requirement V@T 306b (inspections are a joke). I would start looking at 49CFR and get up with DOT inspectors. Also if you look at the overweight section in your state you will be able to write overweight on registration. Meaning if they are registered at 3000lbs and are at 3500lbs they get charged. (big fines) You will be able to take someone that you suspect to be overweight to an official weight station (certified scale) but check on your states rules of how far you can take them! Also just another tip NY just made it illegal to register trailers in Maine (everyone does because they are cheap and will reg anything).

 

[4shorts]

4Shorts, I wish I had just paid YOU to build my trailer. I saw some of your video's on You Tube, and I will have to say you do EXCELLENT work! Kudo's!! and I couldn't agree more with your post.:smurf:

This is my Idea of fabrication for lights. but after seeing your lights, I kinda feel like an amateur! lol!
View attachment 301358View attachment 301359

Thanks Pappasmurf. Appreciate the kind words but I think you did really good on your lights. Sorry to hear about your trailer issues. If you were next door I would have taken care of that for you. I've seen some pretty bad work but that one takes the cake. No one takes any pride in their work anymore it seems.

Trailer building can be enjoyable if you take your time and you can build a trailer that can last a lifetime. I'm glad you got yours straighten out and safe to use. I built this welding trailer a few years ago and it was a fun project.
Stay safe!
Paul

 

[gsmaneeley]

shorts

that trailer is nice.

 

[4shorts]

shorts

that trailer is nice.

Thanks. Here's a link to the video build. Hope the link works. Don't trust these iPads when it comes to links

welding trailer - YouTube

 

[PAPPASMURF]

NICE WORK SHORTS!!!