Owning a new(er) tractor that's too heavy to haul with your pickup?

[jkahan]

I was always being asked to do offsite dozer work or to loan out my D3.

The simple answer is I own nothing to haul it and a few who asked even checked learning it might cost them $400 to $500 each way quickly put a stop to the asks.

Over the last 40 years - virtually all of my logger and heavy equipment friends have quit hauling their own equipment - most of them (the ones still alive and kicking) simply hire transport companies.

 

[redman135]

You wil spend 10's of thousands upgradeing your pickup and getting a trailer vs several hundred$ for dealer shift. You said you are not planning to do contracting, and intend to stay on farm. your money, your choice.

 

[jkahan]

I was always being asked to do offsite dozer work or to loan out my D3.

The simple answer is I own nothing to haul it and a few who asked even checked learning it might cost them $400 to $500 each way quickly put a stop to the asks.

Sorry for the repeat replies - your post reminded me of my friend who was happy to loan out his heavy equipment - he charged $125,000 for the first hour.

 

[Doug Vee]

I was always being asked to do offsite dozer work or to loan out my D3.

The simple answer is I own nothing to haul it and a few who asked even checked learning it might cost them $400 to $500 each way quickly put a stop to the asks.

I was going to bring this subject up, but you beat me to it.

My L48 is too heavy for my flatbed. I brought it home with a rented tilt deck. I was lamenting the fact that I had no way to haul it with my brother in law one day. He pointed out that it is a great excuse for not loaning out the machine. I have since not worried about not having a trailer to haul it.

If needed, I can rent the tilt deck, but no one else wants to spend money to borrow something.

Doug

 

[JRH02]

Around here the State DOT would be looking for your pickup and trailer, better have your CDL or be ready to spend a bunch of money fighting the tickets, after getting a CDL licensed driver to come get your trailer.

Once upon a time in a different place I had a great freebie from a friend: bridge deck slabs. He was the construction superintendent of the project. Just bring my pickup (1996 Dodge 1t dually with a flatbed) and he'd loan me a 3 axle construction trailer and load it. He put 5 slabs on it with a track hoe. The first warning was using the bridge bypass and the trailer axles began to sink and my rig could only spin. Me hooked up a crawler and drug me out and up to the highway. As I was tying the slabs down he said farewell and left. My next warning was pulling it up the grade. 2wd and it spun as there as a little debris on the highway. 4wd and more spinning. 4wd low range and with more slow spinning and I got it to clear asphalt and continued slowly. By the time I got to the top of the grade the pickup was darn near overheated and I didn't dare stop. At the top I got it cooled down and started out again. I had farm plates for 13 tons total and I'm pretty sure the trailer was that. I didn't exceed 20mph and still almost lost it twice but hitting the trailer brakes hard stopped the wagging. I only had 4 miles of highway and 1.5 of gravel to get home. I didn't use the pickup brakes the rest of the way home.

I learned a real lesson that day about hauling a heavy load. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I learned a real lesson that day about hauling a heavy load. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Sounds like it wasn't so much the weight as too little tongue weight.