Bought Tractor!! / Trailer Question

[Anonymous Poster]

Wow Chris... that is real cheap...

I don't own a trailer, but that would be the way to go... cheaper than plates, insurance, and maintenance and buying one, {I mostly borrow my friends... and I guess that's still cheaper than $15...sorta.../w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif}

 

[Climber]

Terry,

Good idea... I'll check the rental places. I'll also search old posts for the best way to load. I've never had to load/unload before.

Thanks again,

--Chris

 

[Jeff396]

When I got my tractor I was considering renting a u-haul. The one I came up with was the 12 x 6 open trailer. I think it was under $30.00 for the day. Go out to the uhaul site and you can see a picture of it. The tractor will fit but the ramp in the back is short. I wasn't sure if the mmm would clear in the full up position. You might have to back up to a curb or small hill if it doesn't. Tie downs on all of the u-hauls are a joke. I recently rented an enclosed trailer to move a motorcycle in. The loops on the floor were very light duty and I wouldn't trust them with anything heavier than a small motercycle. The open trailer on the other hand had rails around the top that I figured I would tie the tractor down to. Not sure this was a good idea though. Maybe the tie downs are beefier on the larger trailers but doubtful. I guess these trailers are really primarily for household moving. A thought would be to contact Carver Equipment. When I was working out delivery options with them they had apparently just added a u-haul to their transport fleet. Maybe they could help you with some info. My tractor eventually came delivered on a roll back truck.

Jeff

2001 B7500HSD, LA302 fel, 60"mmm, grass catcher

 

[fractal]

Climber

What size truck do you own?

I have had a bunch of sales critters tell me that I can hook 5000 pounds to the bumper hitch of a 1/2 ton pickup. Well, maybe they can, but I ain't gonna do it. People who seem to know what they are talking about recommend a 1 ton for a b7200 (not much smaller than what you got). I might give it a go with a half ton for 'around town, not too fast, not too many hills', but the thought of having a tractor/trailor weighing more than the pickup pushing me down a steep hill is enough to give one nightmares.

Check with around with the local towing companies. You might find one with a tilt-bed who is 'hungry'. They aught to be able to pick her up for less than you would pay to rent a truck and trailer and chains and ....

 

[scruffy]

Another thought on the rental, is to check Ryder. They will rent the car trailer w/o the truck, and from the ones I've seen, much nicer trailers.

 

[Egon]

Climber:
The tractor and mower shouldn't weigh over a 2000#. A 3/4 ton will haul that easily. Mine has hauled 4000# of bricks with no problems. I'm quite sure a 1/2 would haul the tractor to.
You would probably have to remove the MMM to load up the tractor because of the fender wells. The mower should fit vertically in front of the tractor or flat behind the tractor with the tailgate down.[ take off the grass deflector shield.] The nylon type tie down straps with a ratchet on should hold everything in place and not damage the p/u box. Use chocks on the tractor tires. Also inflate the truck tires to maximum pressure they are rated for.
If possible try and load it all so you can leave the tailgate up.
If overloads bother you check the rating on your truck for Gross vehicle weight and then make your decision. My truck weighs in at 6500# and has a gross capacity of 8800# legally.
Egon

 

[Jeff396]

Just curious...how exactly do you load a tractor into the back of a pickup? When I got my tractor loading it into the back of my 1 ton never evern occured to me. I was having trouble enough trying to figure out how to unload it from the flat bed trailer it was going to be delivered on originally.

John Miller, I have never heard of a u-haul place which won't rent a trailer separately. Have you seen how many are driving down the highway not being towed by uhaul trucks lately? You probably went to one of those places where your only requirement to get a franchise is to prove you are breathing...and I think they are pretty flexible on that too/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. I got burned on a truck once that I think was built around WWII at one of those places. They actually told me, with a straight face mind you, that when I parked the truck to use the rock behind the seat to keep it from rolling/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif. Now I make sure I am going to one of the main company rental places where that is all they do. Maybe this isn't what happened to you, but it sure sounds fishy!

Jeff

2001 B7500HSD, LA302 fel, 60"mmm, grass catcher

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Hi Jeff,

My buddy was out of town using his larger trailer {that I needed to borrow that weekend...} I stopped at 2 different U-Haul places and they both basically said the same thing... I got home and called another on the phone... and they said the same thing.

One guy said the odometer on their truck was used to calculate mileage costs in addition to the basic rental rents for truck and trailer... /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

{I asked him why don't they use the trailer axle meter...No reply...}

That was about 3 years ago... maybe they changed the policy locally... /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[Kelvin]

The B7300 is the replacement for the B7100 and they are nearly identical in size. I loaned my B7100 with scraper blade to a friend of mine and rather than me pick it up with my trailer he brought it home in the back of his long bed 3/4 ton pickup truck. My tractor did not have the mid-mower on it at the time.

Will that work for the B7300? Probably not. Here's why. First of all, the 54" mid mower won't fit between the wheel wells of a pickup truck. Second, my B7100 had AG tires on it at the time; I'm assuming that his B7300 will have turf tires on it which are much wider and probably won't fit between the wheel wells. I know that when I put turf tires on my B7100 it has a wider stance and the front tires will not fit onto a trailer that is 4' wide. I'm convinced that my B7100 will fit onto the same trailer with the AG tires on; I just haven't bothered to swap the tires to find out.

Pickup Truck Size: I don't know what size pickup Climber has, but I would recommend at least having trailer brakes installed for that trip. If I remember correctly, there will be several mountains crossed between point PA and NC. Twice. And I would much rather prefer renting a trailer one-way rather than dragging an empty trailer down to NC. The fuel savings alone may pay for the additional charge for one-way rental, if there is any.

Trailer Width: The mid-mower is the limiting factor for the trailer width. With the mower off, you should be able to load the tractor on a trailer that has a minimum width of 4-1/2 feet. I don't know what the overall width of a 54" mid-mower is, but I know that a standard 6-1/2 wide trailer will work.

Trailer Length & Number of Axles: I'm guessing that a minimum length of 8 feet should be enough unless you remove the mower and load it separately on the trailer. Based on common guidance from this board, utilize a trailer that has dual axles. This offers more stability on the road, and more importantly, more stability if a trailer tire blowout occurs.

Kelvin

 

[Jeff396]

I just rented an 8' enclosed while moving recently. I wonder if the difference is that mine was a one way which makes the mileage obvious. I have never rented a trailer to be returned at the same place I picked it up....still seems odd./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

Jeff