Moving my Ford 5500 TLB with my new trailer

LD1 · Jul 18, 2013

Well I promised pics in another thread about moving my BH next time I did so. So here they are...

She handled it just fine. NO issues at all, other than noticing how little power if feels like the truck has with that much weight back there. Felt like I was towing it with my 100hp Saturn :laughing:

Handling was great, as was stopping with the trailer brakes on both axles.

I certainly wouldnt tow like this across country, but for the 8-9 miles between my parents house and mine, I think this is better than driving on the road.

Gary Fowler · Jul 18, 2013

LD1 said:
Well I promised pics in another thread about moving my BH next time I did so. So here they are...

View attachment 328031 View attachment 328032

She handled it just fine. NO issues at all, other than noticing how little power if feels like the truck has with that much weight back there. Felt like I was towing it with my 100hp Saturn :laughing:

Handling was great, as was stopping with the trailer brakes on both axles.

I certainly wouldnt tow like this across country, but for the 8-9 miles between my parents house and mine, I think this is better than driving on the road.

I don't know about your truck, but that trailer must be good for much more than 18K load with those double axle dually's. Good job on the trailer re-build by the way. I think I will do the underside of my trailer and the boards with that paint since they didn't paint it underneath at the factory. Since mine is only about 2200 #, I think I can flip it on its side to do the painting which shouldn't take a lot of time to do.

LD1 · Jul 18, 2013

Gary Fowler said:
I don't know about your truck, but that trailer must be good for much more than 18K load with those double axle dually's. Good job on the trailer re-build by the way. I think I will do the underside of my trailer and the boards with that paint since they didn't paint it underneath at the factory. Since mine is only about 2200 #, I think I can flip it on its side to do the painting which shouldn't take a lot of time to do.

Yea, trailer is good for 24k. The sticker is barley legible (faded) but GVWR of the trailer is something like 29,333 or something and it says max payload 24,000.

It certainly would have been nice to flip this one as opposed to crawling around under it for an hour or so with the wagner painter. But the BH is the only thing I would have had to flip it, and didnt want to tear things up. Especially with the deck off, It would be easy to bend or twist something (or at least thats what I was afraid of.)

Midniteoyl · Jul 18, 2013

Nice! I notice the trucks rear is barely lowered

Piston · Jul 18, 2013

That looks like a perfect match for that load! How heavy is the backhoe? Nice job on the rebuild. :thumbsup:

LD1 · Jul 18, 2013

Midniteoyl said:
Nice! I notice the trucks rear is barely lowered

Yep, its deceiving when actually loading. So I used a tape measure at the reese hitch. Loaded was slightly over 1" of squat on the truck. And unloaded, I'd guess the 6500# trailer has about 1k-1.5k tongue weight.

Needless to say, I dont think I was over the trucks payload capacity of ~4300#, cause its a 12,200 gvwr truck and weighs about 7900-8000 empty.

LD1 · Jul 18, 2013

Piston said:
That looks like a perfect match for that load! How heavy is the backhoe? Nice job on the rebuild. :thumbsup:

Hard to put a finger on it for sure. I have yet to find a exact spec.

Tractor data lists the 7500 @ 16,600 shipping weight
........................The 5550 @ 17,200 Operating weight
....................and the 755 @ 17,920 w/cab

All of those are VERY similar to my 5500.

Mine had a cab, and I took it off with my little kubota. I cant imagine it weighing more than 600-700#

I am guessing the weight is between 17k and 18k. Probably depends on how low on hydraulic fluid I am and how much dirt remains stuck in the loader bucket and BH bucket:laughing:

wmonroe · Jul 18, 2013

Looks good with everything loaded up. It's easy to understand that it didn't feel like a powerhouse, it's sitting at about 32k combined weight. :thumbsup:

LD1 · Jul 19, 2013

wmonroe said:
Looks good with everything loaded up. It's easy to understand that it didn't feel like a powerhouse, it's sitting at about 32k combined weight. :thumbsup:

Yep. Thats what I figure, right around 32k.

I scaled the truck and trailer both empty for a combined 14,500. I may have to look into one of those programmable controllers to get a little more ponies for towing.

Also may consider doing something with the transmission to make the shifts a little more crisp and easier on things.

But it isnt like I am towing the TLB often or far. Maybe 2-3 times a year. and not more than 8 miles each time.

I love the reach and power this thing has, but am likely going to downsize since we got my parents basement dug and my pond dug. Looking at the next size down. ~12k range. Like dads 4500, or the older case's, deere's etc. Something around 12k with a 14-15' hoe.