Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ......I have my doubts an officer would pull someone over with a compact tractor, but chaining it down would eliminate that possibility...)</font>

One of the things I was worried about was being pulled over for some violation or other - some of which I was aware of, but undoubtedly there were more I wasn't. I only saw one police car in a small town along the way, and he was busy with something. Some days you are lucky.

 

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...It's easy to second guess someone, but did you think or try backing the tractor onto the trailer? That would certainly have changed your load, maybe too much. I also thought about putting the quick-attach bucket on the front of the trailer and then disconnect from it and drive forward a few more inches with the loader arms. That might have got you 6" more. Also, the boom cylinder on the backhoe looks to be extended some. Do NH loaders not have a lock for the boom? Did the boom bleed down that much in transit? "Enquiring minds" want to know. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Hope your pickup holds up after this little ordeal. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif )</font>

I had several ideas for improving the load including removing buckets and wheel weights. I could have gotten all of them in the truck (420 lbs for wheel weights that were behind the tandem axles, 470 lb !!! for the SS loader bucket, 86 lbs for the BH bucket), and I wondered about backing on. The backhoe has a swing lock pin, a boom lock and stabilizer locks. To lock the boom you raise it up full, engage the lock, and then let it down slightly to rest on the lock. All the locks were in place. I haven't yet tested to see how long it takes for the boom to bleed down. I did put about 4 hours on the backhoe yesterday evening digging a trench. Now that was fun.

My pickup is 6 years old with only 50k miles. This is the second time I have abused the clutch to the point of smelling it burn (reverse gear is too high, so I have to slip the clutch when backing up, and with a heavy load up hill it's torture). I should probably plan on replacing the clutch.

 

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( ...I didn't see any rear tiedowns. I just know you had some. Sometimes those rental trailers can be real treats to tow to say the least! /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gifAlso sounds like a bigger truck and trailer are in your mind... I'm not trying to be critical, just reflecting on the thoughts you put in my head. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Very nice machine, I'm very BLUE with envy for that hoe. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif If you need it broke in, I'll drive over and put it on my TC. I've got some pretty big stumps to pull out this week!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
)</font>

I had a front and rear chain (the ones permanently attached to the trailer). I had my own chains and binders in the truck, but did not have the presence of mind to put them on. I guess I was so worried about load distribution it never occurred to me that a chain might fail.

I'd like to have a bigger truck and a suitable trailer, except for few details. One, I blew the new truck budget on the tractor. Two, where are gas prices headed? And three, if I have a way to transport the tractor, there are several people who will want me to bring it over to do some work for them. I'll probably do it eventually, but not until I get tired of working on my own place!

 

[Sonoma]

Why didn't you just put the truck on the trailer and tow it with the tractor? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Cliff_Johns]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Why didn't you just put the truck on the trailer and tow it with the tractor? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif )</font>

Hey, that's pretty good. Thinking outside the box.

Cliff

 

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Why didn't you just put the truck on the trailer and tow it with the tractor? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif )</font>

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Hey, that's pretty good. Thinking outside the box.

Cliff )</font>

The psychological damage to the truck would have been worse than any clutch or brake destruction. But if I'd been up for a 5 or 6 hour road trip driving the tractor home, I could have gotten a ride to the dealer, and wouldn't have needed the truck or trailer. Of course if I'd done that, I never would have told anyone!

 

[slowzuki]

We used to use a mid 80's F150, inline 6, 4 spd manual at a farm I worked at to pull stacked loads of hay bales back about 20 km's. There were 3 big up/down hills and the old valves would be rattling at the engine was lugged down so bad.

The wagons held 220 bales which weighed 40-50 lbs. The wagon weighed almost 1000 lbs. That puts us over 10,000 lbs with no brakes. The truck would get loaded with 50 bales for ballast before the ride making the truck weigh in at about 6000 lbs.

Definately not smart, but was done for 30 years, 10-15 loads a year.

 

[Bowhunter]

Congrats on a beautiful tractor chatcher. I'm glad to hear you got it home safely.

 

[PineRidge]

Chuck great looking rig you have there.

From the second that I saw your first picture I hoped that your trip home wasn't going to turn into a nightmare. I'm really glad that it all turned out well and think that Jim summed it up when he said you'll look back on the trip years from now and smile.

Work smart out there on your new rig. It will do a lot of things on your property to save you loads and loads of work.

I wish I could be there with you the first time that you take the BH off and put it back on. It's a real learning experience, believe me. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[chatcher]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Chuck great looking rig you have there.

From the second that I saw your first picture I hoped that your trip home wasn't going to turn into a nightmare. I'm really glad that it all turned out well and think that Jim summed it up when he said you'll look back on the trip years from now and smile.

Work smart out there on your new rig. It will do a lot of things on your property to save you loads and loads of work.

I wish I could be there with you the first time that you take the BH off and put it back on. It's a real learning experience, believe me. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )</font>

I got in a few hours this evening and was trying out removing trees by the brute force method. These were what we call swamp willows, really worthless trees, 8 or 10 inches diameter, growing in all sorts of odd shapes in a mucky area. I was knocking them down and wrestling them out with the loader. I had a scare putting one on the burn pile - I raised the loader up a little too high and almost had a tree in my lap. I got it down quickly enough but knocked a bucket hydraulic fitting loose and it started dripping pretty badly. Luckily I was able to tighten it back up (after a long walk to get tools). I'm sure I will be more careful next time.

I need to take the hoe off soon - there are a lot of things I need to do with other attachments. But the thing is, I keep finding more work for the backhoe. I really didn't realize how badly I needed it. I'm sure taking it off will be interesting.