F250 options

[StanInCalif]

I think you want the camper package, which gives you front and rear sway bars and rear overloads, at no expense of ride quality. Also, a club cab results in a longer wheelbase, which greatly enhances stability when towing. BTW- if you tell them you want to order it, you will usually get the fleet salesman, who is typically the most knowlegeable. This is how it was three years ago, when I bought mine- I'm assuming it hasn't changed appreciably.

 

[Boone]

One of the guys I work with runs a F250, he had a skidsteer trailer loaded with a NH skidsteer on the factory receiver hitch. Used this setup for his flatwork business. One day he was towing down a county highway and the bolts from the receiver hitch pulled through the frame and dropped the loaded trailer onto the highway along with the receiver hitch. No injuries or damage but a surprise for him.

 

[cowboydoc]

What year pickup was this? Did you actually see the frame broke? There is virtually no way even if you tryed to do it that you could pull all the bolts through the frame. I find this pretty hard to believe and would have to see it. There is something else that happened here. For one the hitch is setup so that the bolts would have to come out from the side. There is virtually no way to pull a bolt through the frame as there is no force laterally, the force is all parallel. I suppose it would be remotely possible that the bolts would be sheared, but high unlikely. There is no way you could pull the bolts through the frame though. This isn't a cheap hitch put on there.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue"> the bolts from the receiver hitch pulled through the frame </font>
Yikes /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif. Unless the bolts sheared, how could this have happened? I'm not questioning that this is what your friend told you but it's hard to see how this could happen. If the bolts were not Grade 8, and were just regular hardware store bolts, I could see them shearing, but otherwise I'm /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif. To pull through the frame, you'd think this would happen over time and there'd be symptoms of the hitch being loose long before it broke. On the other hand, bolts shearing could happen fast.

 

[Boone]

Pulling through the frame was his exact words, I understand what you and the Doc mean about forces applied. People just don't always say things correctly. I didn't see this happen but he had no reason to make up a story like this.

 

[bgott]

I can see this happening if the bolts worked loose over time and wallowed the frame holes out. The guy would have had to ignore a whole lot of bangin' and clangin' and a funny pullin' trailer for quite a while. But that wouldn't be the first time that's happened.

 

[SageBrush]

I think my whole frame would bend before my bolts sheared or pulled through and I have seen bent frames on CTD dodges from people thinking their truck was a Kenworth or Mack. I have heard of fifth wheel hitches pull through the holes do to improper size drill bits...To Large. Same thing?

How heavy was the NH Skid Steer? Some are up there in weight. An average size NH skid steer runs 7K to 8K wet. The big models are around 7800 with a heavy duty bucket. Plus filled / foamed tires or tracks over the tires could push it higher. The bare loader plus the trailer weight could easily put 1000 pounds on the hitch, probably more with tools, fuel, ice water a few bags of ready mix..........

A F-250 Superduty can't handle most skid steers with out spring bars or a class 5 hitch. The hitch was probably rated for 600 pounds, maybe 800 pounds vertical. A small goose neck and a F-250 can handel the load. Just because the truck can pull the weight dosen't mean that the hitch can carry the weight without a load distibition device. Now if you have a Reese Titan, then you'll be stylin...but will probably still have too much weight on the back axel, but at least the hitch will stay on the truck. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

If I put a 7K bobcat on a 6 ton trailer, I would exceed the limits of a Class 4 hitch on any truck without a weight distribution set up. Around town, I would get a dually with a Class 5 hitch which should be able to handel 1000 to 1200 pound tongue loads and 10K trailers with out exceeding the load ratings of the hitch. With a F-250, you could quickly put to much weight on the rear axel without a proper spring bar hitch. Because most people will have cargo or tools in the bed. If you overload a hitch enough times it will break something, sooner or later. A dually could handle the tag trailer weight much better with less wear on the rear tires and springs of a SRW. Any thing over 8K really works a Class 4 reciever hitch hard and most manuals will require a weight distribution device on trailers over 3 to 5 thousand pounds. Over 10K trailers should always be goose neck, unless you have a big truck like a F-550 or larger with a pintel hitch.

I looked on th NH web site and a 42 to 52 hp Skid Steer weighs about 5500 pounds with standard bucket. A 67 hp one is over 7000, thats about the size I'm acustomed too. Add some fuel trailer weight some dirt a HD tooth bucket..... Thats why I used a F-650. No worry's.

 

[cowboydoc]

Shoot my wifes Expedition has a factory tow rating of 9k. The 250 and 350 are I believe 11 or 12k. A person would have no problem hauling a full-size skidsteer with gear with a 250. My skidsteer weighs 6500 pounds and I have a 14k trailer and my back end barely squatted with the 250 I sold last year. The F-250's also do come with a Class V reciever hitch.

 

[JATO_RaT]

The 3/4 ton (whatever that means) trucks are the primary vehicles used around here to haul skidsteers to the job. They are heavy machines, feeling even more so if your using a old non turbo IDI diesel like mine. I've done it many times knowing it was easy and safe. The rental yards allow you to take them with a 3/4 ton and up. The Ditch Witch riding trenchers will give the old trucks a run too, so much so that any chance to use my brother in laws Dodge 3500 to pull it I did. The Cummins did fine, certainly better then my non turbo, but the spin I had heard about nothing slowing it down just did not pan out, it slows down, at least the one right out of the box.