Good job of chaining down your tractor?

[FlaDon]

Hey, that is my truck! Na, just kidding. I am not a JD man. Anyway according to TractorData.com that 3320 weighs 3,570# and giving 700# for the Loader and another 700# for the Cutter would put him just shy of 5,000# load. The trailer weighs about 1,300# so he is not overloaded and he does have brakes but he is obviously not distributing the weight properly. The trailer is just too short. And like you mentioned he needs a better draw bar or even just a Weight Distribution hitch.

Chris

I'd guess a good DOT cop would find it fails an inspection. That isn't going to be a 2 5/16" ball so he likely has an overloaded hitch. Next would be the axle loading of the trailer front axle. And that is a lightly built trailer for a 7K rating. Note the trailer hitch frame stops before the axles. Might only be a 5K trailer.

 

[KeithInSpace]

Eeesh! That poor little ball is SCREAMING for mercy!

I distribute my load better with HALF the tractor and TWICE the trailer!!! AND I run WD hitch and sway control. And if that trailer is rated for 7,000, I wouldn't load to that...one single weld popping anywhere on that a-frame and the whole thing is going down in flames. Looks a little too home-grown to me.

Furthermore, he's chaining down to some silly little hoops drilled into the top rail. There is ZERO strength in that setup...the chain's there, but it isn't connected to squat.

Should definitely take a second trip with the BushHog and center the tractor in the trailer better..

 

[bp fick]

Yup, that's the famous 2" ball on your basic 3500# hitch insert. Yikes!!.
But guys that do this stuff just keep sayin' to themselves, "Ah, it'll be OK"

 

[mjncad]

I just saw this today. The pickup had a DOT number on the door. He had a
FEL up in the air resting on a homemade FEL stand, over the rear of pickup. At least he is using chain a binders pulling it forward, no other method of tiedowns. He also had a bush hog sticking out the back as well. The hitch ball looks like a 5 or 7k rating maybe ? I am not sure what he hobbled together to make the chain longer in the middle.

I'm guessing $80k worth of truck, tractor and implements using a light duty trailer worth what...$2k? Penny wise and dollar foolish sums up that owner I'd say.

 

[schmism]

That truck is a 2 wheel drive and was not sagging one bit. It is setting level. Switching the ball mount around would not make the truck sag but moving the tractor forward on the trailer would do so. Remember we are talking about a Ford here, not a Cheby!

Chris

the reason why the arse end of the truck isnt saggin is id wager he only has about 100lbs of toung weight on that thing.

point is there is no way he can the tractor far enough forward to get the 700 ish lbs of toung weight he needs.

and lets be honest there is no way the tractor is falling off the rear. If anything, it's going to slam into the back of the truck and then he deserves whatever he gets for not tying it down right.

 

[radioman]

I knew you guys gonna found more to nitpick on. But! I am impressed with diamondpilot, he checked the facts of the tractor weights to get the general ballpark figure.

 

[KeithInSpace]

FINALLY took pictures of my truck-trailer-tractor all put together.

Just thought I'd share what is, in my opinion, the best possible tie/tow job in the galaxy. No, check that...in the UNIVERSE. MINE.

G70 chains looped through 10k hoops bound to the trailer cross-members by Grade 8 bolts. Chained tight front and back by the tractor frame. Implements similarly chained down.

Some will nix me for doing the "looping chain" maneuver, using only two 16' long chains, one front and one back. The alternative being 4 independent chains, one on each corner. Considering one single chain could clean-jerk 1.5 of my tractors straight in the air (at rated working capacity), I figure I'm pretty good.

I also earn a demerit for the loose spare tire. I only carry it with me when I leave town with my trailer and haven't gotten around to a proper mount. It just sits between my box-blade and my FEL bucket and doesn't wander around much.

As you can see, even with this tiny tractor, the 20' long trailer (18' deck) gets used up in a hurry.

The rig tows like a dream behind the Expedition...70 MPH and 12 MPG. I have a very minor issue in that the trailer 'wanders' back and forth very slowly as I tow. Not the short frequency sway that is so obviously dangerous...just something that gives you what my wife calls 'sea sickness'. I have a friction sway bar for my travel trailer...I just need to add the little ball to this trailer and attach. Should straighten that right out.

Thank you for letting me share how awesome I am. You're welcome.

And by the way, as a German, and Engineer, and a Lutheran, painfully dry sarchasm is but one of the many services I offer for free. Like it or not.

 

[farmboy12]

Just loaded the '46 JD B and '51 JD MT onto our 24k 16+4' bumper. The B weighs about 4,500lbs. The MT weighs about 2,550#. Our trailer empty is about 4,500# with chains. Totaling up to--11,550#. Slightly over our 3/4 Chevy's rated cap. But that's just back round.


For the strapping down, we used 1~1 1/2" strap and ratchet, 1~4" strap and ratchet, and 1 chain and binder each tractor. This held us down pretty good.


We towed it there with the Chevy, but will probably take it back with our 42', 3 axle,, 500hp Cummins, 6spd Allison Monaco. I have a feeling this will hold better. I'll try to take some pictures of our strap combo and the towing combo tomrrow or Monday when we take them home.


Kyle

 

[jcmseven]

I am by no means a towing expert, and many of you in this forum have much more towing experience than I do, but these unfortunately are common examples of what is being seen on the road these days. In NC it seems the patrol is interested in ticketing motorists without loads by using stationary speed traps and running speed stings due to revenue generation but I rarely see a contraption such as this one stopped. Just yesterday I was coming back from visiting my parents in Ashe County and going down 321 through Lenior and Morganton to hit 40 W back home. For those who are familiar with this area it has been under perpetual construction in an attempt to widen the road to Boone to four lanes for its duration. Given all the blasting, etc. it has taken forever and likely will take many more years to fully complete. The road up and down is comprised of two rough, twisty lanes that widen into four at the bottom of the hill. Even with a heavy duty pickup, bringing any substantial load down this grade is a puckering experience. I saw an old Ford tractor and rotary cutter combo flying down the hill behind an early 1990's model 15 Chevy pickup. I estimate the load, including trailer to be between 6000-7000#. The driver had no tag on the trailer, and the load was secured with tow straps, but they were loose. Needless to say the driver had a wobbly ride down and I backed well off to let him do his thing. A NCSHP officer came around me and pulled directly behind this death-trap down the last decline--only to pull around him to stop another motorist in a VW Jetta. Given the kinetic energy that would be involved in a crash with one v. the other of these vehicles, I think he chose wrongly. I see this often, not sure why. I personally feel towing safety is somewhat de-emphasized here and I have suspicion that it is due to the difficulty determining legality and the revenue available to the state for time spent citing. I can understand this when the load LOOKS OK but might not be, but this one was clearly not a safe load. I thought about calling to report it, but the truck turned off the main road at the next intersection and I kept going straight and was in fairly heavy traffic. Perhaps I am guilty also for this.

John M

 

[wkpoor]

I just saw this today. The pickup had a DOT number on the door. He had a
FEL up in the air resting on a homemade FEL stand, over the rear of pickup. At least he is using chain a binders pulling it forward, no other method of tiedowns. He also had a bush hog sticking out the back as well. The hitch ball looks like a 5 or 7k rating maybe ? I am not sure what he hobbled together to make the chain longer in the middle.
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I too am amazed at how people will spend 10's of thousands on trucks and trailers and pull a POS trailer behind. I'm exactly the opposite. In years past I've had POS for tow vehicles and spend all my money on the trailer. Even now the trailer out values the truck thats pulling it. Thats about a 30K worth of tractor there on a light duty landscaper. Jeeeeeeze!!!