Backhoe loading advice

[George2615]

One of my trailers is a gooseneck 20+4 dual axle w/ single wheels. The gooseneck puts several hundred pounds in the truck bed just hooking up. My rule of thumb is when loading I park it on the trailer when I get about a 2" drop of the trucks bumper. I see from your pics the previous owner installed stops through the deck. That probably works great for a tractor w/ loader. Based on the pic thats about the same spot I load my tractor up to. A dozer will be a lot heavier than a tractor and may require a further setback so more weight is over the trailer wheels.

 

[Nat]

George's advice is pretty much what I would say. Before loading lower the jack till it is 3 inches off the ground then load and mark the spot on trailer where the front bucket is when the jack just clears the ground. All things being equal it will pull the same every time you load it if you load it in the same spot everytime. HTH,later, Nat

 

[JoshJ]

Hi bailey-

Just real quick-

If you get past the drive-on with the backhoe, dont forget about unloading. If you are backing off and have to make a quick stop for whatever reason, you might be going head over tincups again.

Backing on puts the weight farther from the point of rotation (the downhill wheels) Plus the bucket would stop any tipping if it did happen (a rare occassion I think)

Good luck, be careful

 

[bailey_trey]

Well, I've gotten the hoe partly fixed. The transmission is doing considerably better. After a lot of talking around several maintenance sheds, I have been advised to not dig into the tranny. They recommended flushing the fluid several times and changing the filter. If that doesn’t correct the problem take it to a repair shop and let a transmission technician handle it.

So I’ve done half of my flushing and the transmission is holding much better than before. It's also not whining like it did before. I’m going to drive it for a couple of days and then flush again. I’m trying to get rid of some REALLY thick fluid. I would bet that in the past some 90 weight gear oil was put in that transmission by mistake. (No it wasn’t me.) But the fluid came out very slowly even after I had run the tractor to preheat the fluid.

I’m going to go through this tranny cleaning exercise. Then to test, I’m going use log chain and chain the hoe to a big tree. I’ll then put the tractor in 1st gear and drive away from the tree. Once the chain is tight I'll continue running the RPM up to about 2500. I’m thinking the tractor should eventually just spin the back tires. That’s the kind of pulling power I get from my tractors, and would think that I’m not going to break anything with this test.

Will this hydraulic transmission be OK with this? If you run the front-end loader into a big pile of dirt it stops the tractor. Would stopping the tractor in this manner be about the same stress on the transmission?

Trey

 

[Builder]

Nat mentioned something in his post before that really caught my attention. He said, "I have always loaded by driving on because it is hard to get the right amount of weight on the truck when backing on." How do you know the right amount of weight? Should I go to a set of scales weight the truck before and after hitching up?

Here is a picture of my trailer. When I bought it the guy said he had installed the up-right 'stops' through the deck. He said he hauled a dozer and used the 'stops' to mark his 'balanced' position.

Could I get a couple of comments on load balancing? How much weight should be on a truck?

Thanks,
Trey

Well, the first thing you need to tell us is what truck you have, what its' GCWR is, what the hitch capacity on your truck is and what the tongue weight or PIN weight is.

Your trailer is a 5th wheel or gooseneck, right? Let's say it's a 10 ton trailer or 20,000lbs. If your backhoe weighs 14,000lbs and your trailer is less than 6,000 lbs empty, then you're OK since your trailer total weight is under 20,000 lbs.

Next, check your truck. What truck is it? What is the GCWR? Let's say it's 30,000lbs. If your trailer is 20,000 lbs loaded, then the truck would have to weigh 10,000lbs or less to be legal.

The way a 5th wheel works is just like weight in the bed of the truck. If your maximum weight in the bed is 4,000lbs, then that's your maximum 5th wheel weight. If it's a rear mounted pintle hitch, then you're limited by the capacity of the truck or the hitch, whichever is lower.

USUALLY, the rule of thumb is that the tongue weight, or Pin weight is 15-20% of the total loaded trailer weight. So if you have a 20,000lb trailer, max tongue weight would be ~4,000lbs. If you have your machine too far forward, it will be overloaded for tongue weight. If it's too far backward, it will cause a loss of control to the rear tires since they'll be pulled up off the ground by an *** loaded trailer.

Best thing to do is to get all the facts then bring them here. You'll need a class A CDL to pull that trailer & backhoe for sure.

 

[KYErik]

bailey trey- I assume you have the case-o-matic torque converter on your machine (I have an old case 530 backhoe with the caseomatic) Do you have a clutch pressure gauge on your dash? Does the needle stay in the green zone? Changing the filter will help bring up the pressure- I always have better pressure when the fluid is cold than when it gets hot. Pulling on a stationary tree with a chain is no different than running into a dirt pile- just ease the chain tight.

 

[toolaholic]

great forum! question please. I see dump trucks with the B.H. in the bed.
how do they load? 2 steel or allum ramps? am about to buy a case 580.
i.ll use this seldom. can i load with 2 ramps i fab? I 'm a welder . any design ideas? my dump is higher than a trailer. ford 8000. thank's tool

 

[EddieWalker]

You saw what????

A backhoe loaded on a trailer is on the high side of things, but in the back of a dumptruck, it would hit every bridge and overpass in the country.

Are you sure you saw a backhoe in a dumptruck bed??

Eddie

 

[toolaholic]

I've moved around the country, and it'a always interisting in the differences.

I am a gen. contr. in n. calif. and hauling in the truck bed is done ,but not commen . diesal ,on weld talk loads like this. dump bed 15 degrees, set front bucket in dump bed,
down on bucket ,tires come up ,stabilizers down. now push on with hoe bucket. hope to pick a case 580 at auction in 2 weeks. I'm as lucky as your dad! I work with my son also. be well tool

 

[john_bud]

You saw what????

A backhoe loaded on a trailer is on the high side of things, but in the back of a dumptruck, it would hit every bridge and overpass in the country.

Are you sure you saw a backhoe in a dumptruck bed??

Eddie

Yeah, we had a guy hauling a BH here couple years ago. He backed onto the trailer and had the boom up too high. Took out power and phone lines at 3-4 intersections (kept going) and went under I94 and broke one of the concrete "I" beams on the overpass. He cracked one other and was wedged in and couldn't get out. I'm pretty sure he would have run away if he could. Total cost was around a $million IIRC. (ouch)

Isn't max height on federal highways 13'6"?

jb