Ford 4610 trailer conundrum

[ETD66SS]

I bought a 4610SU a couple of years ago.

The rear tire tracking was similar to this 4610 this when I bought mine:

When I put new tires on it, I experimented with the rim/center disc combinations to get the tracking dimension smaller.

I ended up with this as the best I could do without hitting the fenders:

The trailer I want to buy is 78 inches between frame rails.

16 Ft. 8,000 lb. Wood Skid Steer

The 16.9 x 24 tires are killing me here. I wish before I bought new tires I would have searched for rims that accepted 14.9 x 28 tires, but it's too late now, paid over $1100 for that rear rubber.

As far as I can tell, I'd have to remove the ROPS and move the fenders all the way in to get the tires close together enough to fit on the trailer I want?

Any other ideas?

 

[Zebrafive]

How close are you to the fenders? Where would next step in put you?
Is removing the ROPS an option?
Have you tried finding someone with smaller wheels tires and working a trade?

 

[ETD66SS]

How close are you to the fenders? Where would next step in put you?
Is removing the ROPS an option?
Have you tried finding someone with smaller wheels tires and working a trade?

Well, If I buy a trailer that is 82" between fenders, I have no inches left And would probably rub the tires everytime I load/unload.

I don't really need the rops, my land is flat. The canopy is nice for working in the sun however...

I just bought the tires $1100. I think I would get screwed in any trade deal...

Many are suggesting a deckover trailer, but I don't want one of those, first off they are about $1000 more, and the CG of the load is too high for my liking.

I really wanted the skidsteer trailer, and that deck is 3" lower than the equipment trailer, but only 78" between fenders.

I think what I'm going to do is leave the rops on, remove the fenders and flip the rim centers, then see what that gets me as far as width.

If that works, I can make up my own sheetmetal fenders, similar to these:

 

[Jerry/MT]

I bought a 4610SU a couple of years ago.

The rear tire tracking was similar to this 4610 this when I bought mine:

When I put new tires on it, I experimented with the rim/center disc combinations to get the tracking dimension smaller.

I ended up with this as the best I could do without hitting the fenders:

The trailer I want to buy is 78 inches between frame rails.

16 Ft. 8,000 lb. Wood Skid Steer

The 16.9 x 24 tires are killing me here. I wish before I bought new tires I would have searched for rims that accepted 14.9 x 28 tires, but it's too late now, paid over $1100 for that rear rubber.

As far as I can tell, I'd have to remove the ROPS and move the fenders all the way in to get the tires close together enough to fit on the trailer I want?

Any other ideas?

Why not get a wider trailer? You won't regret it. I take it you do excavating work and need to haul your tractor to various locations.A wider trailer that allows you to position your loads for proper balance will give you more loading flexibility in case you are carrying other stuff to the job.

I have a Ford 4610 and when the PO delivered it, he had it on a car hauler that was about 7 ft between the trailer fenders. The front wheel track on mine is adjusted slightly narrower (~6ft?) then the rear wheel track (which is about 7ft IIRC) and he drove the tractor on so that the rear wheels were against the trailer fenders. That's the only way it would fit on that trailer. I don't know how the trailer balanced out with the tractor but he drove it through Seattle traffic at rush hour to our place at that time which was about 50 miles S of his business. he said it towed fine.

We have a 25 ft GN BT flatbed that's 8-1/2 ft wide and I hauled our TD95D/820TL Loader from S of Roswell NM to Montana with our '99 F350 SD. It was easy to load and balance and towed beautifully.
Personally I wouldn't futz around trying to make the tractor fit the trailer. I'd get a trailer that allowed more flexibilty for loading.

Your $'s, your Choice.

 

[ETD66SS]

Nah, I don't own a business, and I probably will not even haul my equipment much, I just want the ability to be able to haul them if I need to.

Right now, I do need the ability to haul my Ford 1620 back and forth between my house and my land for mowing/snow plowing. But that is only 2 hauls per year as the 1620 stays at my house during winter, and my land during mowing season, and it is only 4 miles each way

I am in need of a trailer primarily for moving stuff like logs, picking up stuff I order that may be on pallets or otherwise too bulky for a PU truck.

I won't really need to haul tractors much, but I want the ability to haul the pieces of equip I do have, and I don't really want a deckover for hauling a 4610 or the like with a PU truck, that high center of gravity does not sit well with me...

I'm trying to future proof my trailer purchase a bit.

 

[rambler]

Why are we hauling the tractor, and how are we using the tractor?

You're worried about the center of gravity of the trailer if it is higher, I'd be worried about the narrow width of the tractor if you narrow it up.

Buy a trailer to match your tractor, wouldn't want to deal with trying to fit the tractor to the wrong trailer.

Just my opinion.


Edit: I see we were typing at the same time. If hauling this tractor is not really needed, then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Sounds like the trailer works for all your real needs. Can always hire or rent a bigger trailer in the rare case you need to haul your bigger tractor. Seems like a non-issue. It appears if you take the fenders off you can flip the rims from side to side & it will fit, for that one time haul, so it will be possible.

For me the tractor needs to be the right width and the right tires for the traction I need, and so on - I focus on m tractor being set up to do the jobs I need done, so I guess I'd never set up my trctor in a silly configuration so it could fit on a trailer just in case I someday need to haul it. Looks like you _could_ narrow it up enough to haul once in a blue moon, seems good enough for what you want?

--->Paul

 

[ETD66SS]

Why are we hauling the tractor, and how are we using the tractor?

You're worried about the center of gravity of the trailer if it is higher, I'd be worried about the narrow width of the tractor if you narrow it up.

Buy a trailer to match your tractor, wouldn't want to deal with trying to fit the tractor to the wrong trailer.

Just my opinion.

I use the tractor for general purpose stuff:

Brush Hog
Box Blade
Tiller
Post hole Digger
Other farming needs, etc

My land is not sloped in any way, I never work on an incline except cutting drainage ditches.

As far as why am I hauling the 4610SU?

I'm not. At the moment, I have no need to haul it anywhere... But I don't want to buy a trailer that would not allow me to haul it, ever. Likewise, I don't want to spend an extra $1000 on a trailer to haul the 4610SU, if I have no great need to do so at the present time.

My main question is, with all those U-Bolt locations on the 4610SU rear axle for fender/sway bar locations, and the rim/center combination possibilities, what are my options? Is there a min. allowable tracking width for safety purposes?

I mean, if I make the tires as skinny as possible, with no ROPS, was that not an original option for this tractor? Would there be some kind of roll-over disclaimer with a tractor in a user manual somewhere telling me not to do so?

If Ford sold a 4610 with 14.9 x 28 tires in the rear, the tracking width is already substantially less than I have now. Right?

The most expensive trailer I'm willing to buy will have 82" between fenders, which means as my 4610SU currently sits, may or may not fit on that trailer. That's the conundrum without doing anything to the tractor.

 

[Smallplot]

If only 4 miles and two times a year I would drive it. By the time you hook up a trailer, load, and secure you could have jumped on and driven most of the distance in that time.

What is the wright of your tractor and heaviest implement you would transport? Seems an 8000 lb trailer may be under rated for the haul

 

[dkizerian]

I'd get a wider trailer, just for future flexibility. I've had one skinny trailer for hauling cars, and the day I got rid of it and didn't have to perfectly wedge cars between fenders was a great day.

If your new trailer had a full width deck with the fenders cut into it, you could drive it up till the tires were just against the fenders, but this doesn't give you any flexibility to adjust for weight distribution.

 

[rambler]

I mean, if I make the tires as skinny as possible, with no ROPS, was that not an original option for this tractor? Would there be some kind of roll-over disclaimer with a tractor in a user manual somewhere telling me not to do so?

If Ford sold a 4610 with 14.9 x 28 tires in the rear, the tracking width is already substantially less than I have now. Right?

We typed at the same time twice in a row - I edited the message above but you might not have seen that.

Every Ford manual I've seen has explained the tractor widths and listed the varoius opions, your manual should tell you the info you want. However different from factory tire and rim combinations can alter that a bit.

I get more concerned about using my tools in good ways, than in possibly maybe hauling them some day maybe.

If you are doing a dry run to see if the tractor will fit on the trailer, that's cool. Return the tractor to it's safe, best usefulness configuration.

I sure wouldn't remove the rollover structure, narrow up the tractor as much as possible, buy narrower tires, and _use_ it that way for years, with the thought that someday I might haul it on a trailer.

Narrower rubber tires means less traction.

Narrower wheel settings means it doesn't track as well, easier to tip, doesn't fit some implements as well, mud doesn't clear as well.

No roll over means it's less safe - since you are worried about the safety of a too-high of a trailer, I'd think you would be worried about a narrow tractor without the rops.

Seems you are worried about a situation that is rare to come up, but your solutions make the tractor much less safe and harder to use along the way?

I'm probably just not quite understanding your intentions here - if you are just trying to see how narrow you can make the tractor for a very rare tactor haul, and then returning it to it's original stance that's cool.

It's pretty common to flip the tires around for a haul to narrow them up - the treads are on backwards, but doesn't matter for just hauling it, put things back again when you get where you want to use the tractor. Since it sounds like this would be a once in 5 years sort of deal.....

--->Paul