What gear should i be travelling downhill when loaded?

[rockstarrancher]

Not the most ideal on gravel, but I would keep using the stab approach on the brakes.
Uupshift if you feel like you’re losing control or going sideways and get off the brakes. You can always regain control and slow down at the bottom.
I don’t like that situation, but deal with it more than I like.

Thank you so much.

 

[Have tractor did travel]

You mentioned you're doing this as an employee. And that your boss had no advise.
Many have told you what you are doing is dangerous, and now that I know you've got 400 bushels behind you, I'm going to tell you it's dangerous.
The owner of the business (your boss ?) is the one who should be experimenting with gears, and brakes. As an employee, you don't paid enough to be the guinea pig. If he's not willing to figure it out (too dangerous), then let him give you a trailer with electric brakes.
As a younger man, I always showed the employee I could do, and did do, the jobs that were dangerous. Doing the job and explaining how to do it with the least exposure to injury. Now I'm 80. I won't do some of the stuff I used to do. But I tell the employee if their concerned with the task at hand, no worries - we'll hire it done.
I don't like the disrespect for your life and limb, as displayed by your boss.

 

[Hay Dude]

I agree with that, but:
Maybe his boss is sick or injured and he’s trying to help get crops in?
You never know with farming. You get one chance and you have to pull through.

Farming is like no other occupation in some ways. When you have to get the job done to feed livestock, they will do whatever it takes.

I am not condoning making someone do anything dangerous. It’s all relative to the occupation you chose and what risks you are willing to bear.

 

[lman]

I remember what seems like a hundred years ago helping my brother in law in northern WI on his dairy farm. We were combining corn and I was hauling back to the bin in a large gravity wagon, pulled by an old Allis Chalmers. It was around Thanksgiving with a fresh 6" of snow on the gravel road. Going downhill on the first trip, it jackknifed so much that I thought it was gone. I then figured out that I needed to start down the hill at an idle and throttle up gradually to avoid jackknifing. He only milked about 100 cows then, now they're milking about 1500 and use grain carts and semi truck to move everything.

 

[ptsg]

Wagons and no brakes? Bad bad combo. At least a trailer would put weight on the tractor, making it much safer, even without brakes.

You have been given a lot of good advice. Proceed carefully.

 

[lman]

You mentioned you're doing this as an employee. And that your boss had no advise.
Many have told you what you are doing is dangerous, and now that I know you've got 400 bushels behind you, I'm going to tell you it's dangerous.
The owner of the business (your boss ?) is the one who should be experimenting with gears, and brakes. As an employee, you don't paid enough to be the guinea pig. If he's not willing to figure it out (too dangerous), then let him give you a trailer with electric brakes.
As a younger man, I always showed the employee I could do, and did do, the jobs that were dangerous. Doing the job and explaining how to do it with the least exposure to injury. Now I'm 80. I won't do some of the stuff I used to do. But I tell the employee if their concerned with the task at hand, no worries - we'll hire it done.
I don't like the disrespect for your life and limb, as displayed by your boss.

I don't know how many acres you farmed but overall it seems like farming is safer now than when I helped on our family farm of about 500 acres back in the 60s and 70s. My dad would usually get me going on something easy and you learned on the job. He only lost half a finger during his lifetime so not too bad for a farmer.

 

[LD1]

Did I miss you say how big the mccormick is?

How big is the bigger case that handled it fine?

Tractor weight is the factor for safely handling a load. 400bu wagon loaded is probably in the 25000# range.

We arent in real hilly area, but usually see farmers not exceed 3x.

So for a 25000# hopper you'd want at least a 8000-9000# 4wd tractor in relatively flat area. Not sure what your hill is like. Im in central OH, so what I call a hill, someone in WV or KY might call flat gound.

Trying to hold back a load too big for the machine, with just gearing and brakes, is a dangerous proposition. As is trying to go even faster just to stay ahead of it

 

[LouNY]

The old run of thumb was just like the truckers old rule of thumb, come down the hill in the same gear you could go up it in. With a partial Power Shift I'd start in my lowest gear in the range that I'd feel comfortable in high gear. Heading down if I can't slow my engine rpm down to 2/3 of my max governed, pick up a gear to keep from skidding and repeat.
I try to brake down to the 2/3 max rpm then let it wind up to pto rpm and brake to bring it back down and repeat if it's starting to push me around then up a power shift gear and repeat.

 

[oosik]

My mile long gravel driveway has a valley. I've been in a tough situation ONCE. Heavy load of rocks on my farm wagon. Wagon has no brakes. By the time I reached the bottom of the valley - going a whole lot faster than planned. AND the tractor was in 2WD. Fortunately - live and learn.

Future loads - tractor in 4WD - low range, second gear. A MUCH more pleasant experience. 1200 rpm - tractor just loafing down the grade - no need for any brakes. Then up the other side - turbo was doing its job - no problems on this side either. Eight tons of rocks - collected and delivered.

 

[BlueKnife]

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

If in doubt, choose a lower gear. A general guideline for such things is to use the same gear going down as you would pulling the same load up the hill.