Nat
Platinum Member
I posted this on the construction equipment page, but I thought it might need to be here also.
Some of you have been following the thread on my search for a backhoe, so I thought I would fill you in. I ended up buying a Ford 555B. A friend of mine and I went to get it today with his F-9000 tri-axle dump and 20 ton Hudson trailer. We were about 1/2 way there( about 15 miles), when the trailer came lose. The safety chains did their job and the trailer stayed with the truck. It has a 40 ton pintle hitch, the one that has the 2 bolt flange and a big nut on the back. He had done a walk around before he picked me up but couldn't have seen it then. The shank broke off where it goes into the flange. We went to the parts center and got a new hitch and 1 glad hand that got cut, and were back on the road in an hour or so. We got the hoe home without any more problems. I hate to think what could have happened if we were on a 2 lane road, and met any oncoming traffic, as it happened we were on I-85 in the right hand lane and no one beside us.
It's home now, but raining so I'll wait a few days to work with it any. I think I'll also post on the safety board, if we had taken the hitch off and inspected it any cracks or breaks would have been easy to see and it would only take a minute or so to remove the big nut and the hitch would come right out.
Later, Nat
Some of you have been following the thread on my search for a backhoe, so I thought I would fill you in. I ended up buying a Ford 555B. A friend of mine and I went to get it today with his F-9000 tri-axle dump and 20 ton Hudson trailer. We were about 1/2 way there( about 15 miles), when the trailer came lose. The safety chains did their job and the trailer stayed with the truck. It has a 40 ton pintle hitch, the one that has the 2 bolt flange and a big nut on the back. He had done a walk around before he picked me up but couldn't have seen it then. The shank broke off where it goes into the flange. We went to the parts center and got a new hitch and 1 glad hand that got cut, and were back on the road in an hour or so. We got the hoe home without any more problems. I hate to think what could have happened if we were on a 2 lane road, and met any oncoming traffic, as it happened we were on I-85 in the right hand lane and no one beside us.
It's home now, but raining so I'll wait a few days to work with it any. I think I'll also post on the safety board, if we had taken the hitch off and inspected it any cracks or breaks would have been easy to see and it would only take a minute or so to remove the big nut and the hitch would come right out.
Later, Nat