How do you tie down tractors when hauling on a trailer?

[Iplayfarmer]

Ah don't mind me. I understand. I'm just yanking your chain :laughing:

Chain :laughing: I get it.

 

[s219]

Update from the OP: got my new 16' landscape trailer on Friday -- only took a week to get it from the factory due to some lucky timing. Looks real good and tows smooth as silk. I was rained out today, but hope to load up the Kubota tomorrow and transport it over to my new property. I've got more chains and straps than I need, and will play around to see what works the best to tie the tractor down. I appreciate all the comments and suggestions here.

 

[nunyabinis]

Good for you. Have fun and put it to good use.

 

[reggiejr]

That's one heck of a comfortable work vehicle to haul the tractor around with.:laughing:
IMO If you want to haul your tractor with confidence chains and ratchet binders are the only way to go.
Straps are for lawnmowers and ATVs imho.Happy Hauling

 

[s219]

Yeah, the MDX is pretty comfortable -- I feel bad throwing chainsaws and gear in the back, and climbing in there with work clothes and dirty boots, but that's why I bought winter mats all around! So far it's been great and tows well.

My Kubota dealer sold me the trailer (and is watching my spending spree with humor -- I'm already asking about a post hole digger, chipper, and land plane). For tying down the tractor, he recommended chains to the rear drawbar shackle, a chain through the FEL cross-tube, and then a strap for the box blade. I have at least enough gear to do twice that, and will experiment to see how it goes.

I have done some calculations so I can ballpark tongue weight, and there's enough fore/aft room on the 16 footer to give me a lot of leeway.

My remaining concern is how the back of the trailer may dip when I drive on, and if that will lift the back of the vehicle too much. I'm working on some math for that right now -- looks like worst case the loading will give me -1358 lbs of tongue weight. The MDX rear axle carries about 1850 lbs empty, and there will be some push back from the front springs when the rear lifts, so at least I won't lift the back axle off the ground. But I want to think this through carefully.

I plan to chock vehicle and trailer tires when loading. If there is too much movement, I may have some stabilizer jacks welded to the back of the trailer, or even have braces welded to the tailgate (like I would have gotten with equipment hauler ramps). For now, I have some landscape timbers I can stack under the trailer if needed. If anyone has input on this stuff, I am all ears!

 

[OrangeToys]

looks like worst case the loading will give me -1358 lbs of tongue weight.

I don't think that's you tongue weight. Maybe total. My 3/4hd is rated at 500lb on the tongue with factory hitch but i upgraded it.

If your little Acura can do then I'm selling my truck...but I have my doubts.

 

[s219]

Sorry if that wasn't clear. The actual positive tongue weight when loaded up will be 400 to 450 lbs, within the 500 lb limit of the MDX.

The -1358 lbs I referred to is the upward lift (ie, negative tongue weight) that would be applied when loading the tractor on the back of the trailer. That is a worst case scenario assuming all the tractor weight sits on the back of the trailer and then levers forward to the tongue. Obviously, that exact scenario can't happen because the tractor spreads weight over the two axles and the trailer flexes on its suspension. But it's a good back of the envelope upper limit to know and easy to compute. I am calculating that to know if I need to support the back of the trailer when loading, to prevent excessive lifting of the rear of the MDX.

I made some more measurements, and am refining the calculation a bit to get a more realistic number (which will be less severe than -1358).

 

[JB4310]

Yeah way to much tongue weight, you should have 10 - 15% of the total load of trailer and cargo.
500 would be high for that package IMO.

Lifting the rear of the tow vehicle is something to be concerned with.
Some ramps have stands that touch the ground or you could use jacks on the back of the trailer. But if you do nothing else, just be sure to be on level ground and maybe chock the front tires on the tow vehicle.

Looks like a real nice trailer.

JB

 

[ditzel]

I am curious to know how various people do this -- I am looking into hauling a CUT on a 76"x14' landscape trailer (tandem axle with wood decking and rear gate). This trailer looks ideal for me, but doesn't have tiedowns, and of course with a wood deck there are no chain slots.

I know landscapers around here don't even tie their equipment down for local transport -- they drive on and set the brake.

Tie it down like its done in these pics that I took this past summer at a ATHS show in Macungie,PA.

 

[Samandothers]

S219,
I too bought a Down2Earth trailer and have really enjoyed it. I pull my tractor occasionally from Charlotte NC to SW Va. Initially I had a 18 foot 10k trailer and traded up to 20 12k. I had a situation coming home where I had my L4240 with loaded back tires, FEL, and BH and lost a trailer wheel. Could have been me not having checked and retorqued the wheels as all 6 lugs sheered off but may have been trailer size. This was late in the evening on a Sunday. I called the guy, dealer I bought it from. He was great as he was an over an hour away and just finished dinner with his wife, but came to my rescue. He brought the 20' 12k trailer with him to allow me to get the tractor home over 120 miles from the location of the issue.
The bigger trailer pulled great and handled the load much better. I told the guy I'd like to keep it and make a trade. He worked with me and I am really happy with the D2E trailer. Have not had an issue since.
Enjoy your new rig hope your new home process goes well.

 

[dstig1]

My remaining concern is how the back of the trailer may dip when I drive on, and if that will lift the back of the vehicle too much.

I plan to chock vehicle and trailer tires when loading. If there is too much movement, I may have some stabilizer jacks welded to the back of the trailer, or even have braces welded to the tailgate (like I would have gotten with equipment hauler ramps). For now, I have some landscape timbers I can stack under the trailer if needed. If anyone has input on this stuff, I am all ears!

Get a pair of basic automotive jack stands that are the right size and put them under the rear corners when loading/unloading. Make sure they are not too tall (or set too tall), because the trailer will drop when loaded of course. It is easiest to set them with the trailer loaded so you know they are too tall and risk getting them stuck. Depending on the weight of what you are loading, the tow vehicle, etc, you could actually lift the rear axle of the tow vehicle off the ground (extreme cases). Now you have a BIG problem as things will start to roll...

 

[s219]

I ran through a full on calculation of tongue weight that would occur while driving my B2920 into the trailer, with and without the box blade. You can see the results in the attached graph. It's very interesting -- start out at the nominal 160 lb of tongue weight from the empty trailer, and then it begins creeping down and goes negative as the front tractor tire rides up the tailgate ramp. That increases slightly (but still negative) as the front tire rides along the deck, and then decreases significantly as the rear tire starts riding up the ramp. Once both tires are on the deck and the tractor moves forward, tongue weight increases and eventually goes positive again. Eventually, it gets in the 400-450 lb range which is inline with 10% of the trailer+tractor weight. Note: these are all dead loads -- live loads could add to that.

So it looks like the worst I will see is about -1200 lb of tongue weight (or +1200 lb of lift if you want to think of it that way). That's not enough to lift the back of the MDX off the ground, but it's still offsetting about 2/3 of the normal rear axle load, so the rear suspension will probably be extended quite a bit (and the front will dive a bit). I think I will try to avoid this alltogether by blocking up the back of the trailer before I drive on -- leaving about 2" of space between the blocks and trailer as a first guess (can always back off and readjust blocks if they get pinched by the loaded trailer).

Once I can study the actual behavior, then I can decide if jacks make sense. I found some Fulton stabilizer jacks good for 3000lb each. They are square tube, locked with a pin, and slide within 2" tube that can be welded to the trailer frame:

Fulton Drop-Leg Stabilizer Jack with Mounting Channel - Weld-On - 20" Leg - 13" Bracket - Fulton Trailer Jack FSJ1-SJ4

Now, interestingly, you can also buy just the drop leg:

Fulton Square Drop Leg for Stabilizer Jack, 20" Long Fulton Trailer Jack FSJ40324

My trailer happens to use a 2" tube for the rearmost rail post. It carries tail light wires right now, but if I can re-route the wires, that leaves a nice long 14" tube that could hold the drop leg. I can then drill a 1/2" hole in the tube, and slide a pin in there to position the drop leg. That might end up being a pretty slick way to get it done without having to weld anything. I just need to make sure there will be enough range of motion for ground clearance when the leg is up, and support when the leg is down. The trailer has about 16" of ground clearance at the rear, so a 20" leg inside a 14" tube would eat up 6" of ground clearance at the back (leaving 10" -- not bad) and give me 4-6" of leg inside the tube when extended. Seems like it might fly.

 

[nunyabinis]

The easiest long-term solution will likely be to just weld supports to the trailer tailgate. You can see the supports in the picture of my trailer:

When the trailer is level, and on level ground, the supports are a couple inches above the ground. When loading or off-loading, the back of the trailer dips down and the supports contact the ground.



.

 

[Corm]

A couple of you folks have said you leave your tractor in neutral when it is tied down to your trailer. Why? I always leave mine in low gear, low range, and have the parking brake locked. Always seemed to me that would be best.

Corm

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Tie it down like its done in these pics that I took this past summer at a ATHS show in Macungie,PA.

What's the advantage to the strap/chain combination? It seems the strength advantage of using the chains is canceled by using those short sections of strap. Please tell me where I'm wrong.

 

[aczlan]

What's the advantage to the strap/chain combination? It seems the strength advantage of using the chains is canceled by using those short sections of strap. Please tell me where I'm wrong.

The strap is to keep the chain from messing up the paint on the tractor.
The strap is an "axle strap" and is intended to go over an axle without getting cut.

Aaron Z

 

[Johnp33]

I personally have seen a lot of equipment damaged from using a chain that is put over an area that it should not have been there.
I use a combination of straps and chain depending what I am securing. Going over a tire I definitely want a strap. To the front I use a chain, securing it to the back I normally use a strap to pull it tight then I look at the side to side.