Advice needed for road travel while pulling a trailer

[kiotiken]

Good Luck.

Run a chain from the drawbar to the top of your 3 point hitch.
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It is the law here (and a good idea) that the safety chains must be crossed under the tongue.

I just noticed the safety chains not crossed when I posted the pic, my neighbour put them on when I picked the trailer up last night. I was going to weld a bracket onto the top of the hitch receiver to run a chain down to the draw bar, but forgot to do it when I built it. It's too late now, I have to much on the go tonight, but I will rig something up to run between the top link pin and the draw bar.

 

[LD1]

If you go for it, chain the hitch down like has been mentioned.

IF you planning on loading 5k, and making a judgment call on the rest.....and if only 1k or 2k left, Personally I would put it on the trailer. 7k on a 7k trailer, (while slightly overloaded) isnt going to hurt a thing going 16 miles @ 15 miles per hour... And IMO would be far safer than on the loader. Weight on that loader will take weight off of your best braking tires...

I think people here are beeing TOO cautious. Now I dont know just how steep this hill is, but towing 7k souldnt be an issue for a tractor that likely weighs 6k with the loader and loaded tires.

Heck, I tow this 3 miles all the time...And I would venture it to weigh in the 6k ball park, and my tractor is half of yours, and never do I feel like it is controling me.

 

[kiotiken]

this is why I am on tbn the people here will help you in any way and not incourage you to put your life and other people in danger. now listen to them please

Believe me, I am. I will not be putting my life or anybody elses in danger. I don't consider driving a tractor on the road a reckless thing to do (it's done all the time around here) and I have no intention of pushing the tractor or trailer past a safe limit.

The truth is, there's only one piece of stone I really really want for a table. I have several other projects in mind, but they're projects that I would never do if I didn't fall into a boat load of granite. Because of that, this isn't worth spending tons of money on. I'll take what I can safely move and figure out how to handle the rest once I determine how much there is.

 

[kiotiken]

If you go for it, chain the hitch down like has been mentioned.

IF you planning on loading 5k, and making a judgment call on the rest.....and if only 1k or 2k left, Personally I would put it on the trailer. 7k on a 7k trailer, (while slightly overloaded) isnt going to hurt a thing going 16 miles @ 15 miles per hour... And IMO would be far safer than on the loader. Weight on that loader will take weight off of your best braking tires...

I think people here are beeing TOO cautious. Now I dont know just how steep this hill is, but towing 7k souldnt be an issue for a tractor that likely weighs 6k with the loader and loaded tires.

Heck, I tow this 3 miles all the time...And I would venture it to weigh in the 6k ball park, and my tractor is half of yours, and never do I feel like it is controling me.

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Wow, thanks, it's really good to here some real world experience. I guess you have a point that the trailer is designed to weigh 7000# and driven at 60 mph so a total of 9000# @ 16 mph shouldn't be an issue. Still, it's not my trailer, and by no means new, I'm nervous overloading it and since I haven't been able to get a tow rating for my tractor, unsure how much is safe on the tractor side, especially pulling from the 3pt.

I am going to avoid the hill so it's almost perfectly level road the entire way. It's actually shorter (who knew) but a 2 or even 3 lane road most of the way. I'll be leaving at 5am if all goes to plan so hopefully the drunks are safely in bed by then and I have the road mostly to myself. The advantage is I can stay in a lane without blocking traffic. The disadvantage is the posted limit is 80 KM/H (50 MPH) and most people do 100 KM/H during the day. I have a smv sign on my tractor and I'm putting another on the end of the trailer. I'll have the rear work lights on as well as my hazards. I sure would feel better with a set up like 4shorts!

 

[LD1]

FWIW, I think my manual list my tow rating at a whoping 2400# or something. Given your tractor, I'd say if it does have a rating, I'd guess 4k-5k ish.

 

[Xfaxman]

Be sure to air up the trailer tires to the pressure listed on the sidewall.

 

[kiotiken]

I just got off the phone with my dealer. He said he'd have no concern what so ever with 3.5 ton. I then mentioned that I'd be drawing from the 3pt instead of the draw bar and he immediately said that was a bad idea because there's no down force as you guys have pointed out. I told him I was planning on loading a little front heavy and using a chain from the pin to the draw bar. He advises against loading too front heavy but agrees with the chain. He laughed and said "goodness no, you wont hurt it" when I asked about it being to much weight to pull from the 3pt, he was only concerned about it flying up.

I also asked about adding a couple thousand pounds to the loader (just to get his take). He said no, it's way to much, 700-800# is fine and will be helpful to keep enough weight on the front for steering.

So I asked the most extreme case, pretty much taking it all in one shot and he had no concern for the tractors ability to handle it (other than to much weight on the loader). The reality is, I'm not planing on loading it as heavy as I let on, so that gives me some extra confidence. He is also the one signing off on warranty claims, so that makes me feel better. I was clear I wanted to get his opinion on what was abuse and what was normal use and he had no issues with my plan.

 

[MotorSeven]

I don't think you will be unsafe or hurt anything with the current plan. I just like the $100 rent a truck plan better because I'm frugal but lazy and that would get it done quicker and easier. I've been known to push the envelope a bit too

 

[joshuabardwell]

For me, the hour plus drive each way, on a three lane highway, would be the kicker. But good on ya.

 

[powerpace]

Rent a truck......

It will be much safer and quicker.