Hauling tractor for the first time, tell me what I'm doing wrong

[AWSubie]

Before you get your binders figured out make sure you have adequate tongue weight (about 500 pounds will do). With your mower on the back it doesn't look to me that you have a lot of tongue weight. I just recently had a bad experience with sway because I got in a hurry and did not make sure I had my load forward enough.

 

[vvanders]

Before you get your binders figured out make sure you have adequate tongue weight (about 500 pounds will do). With your mower on the back it doesn't look to me that you have a lot of tongue weight. I just recently had a bad experience with sway because I got in a hurry and did not make sure I had my load forward enough.

Oh yeah, totally. Used the bathroom scale trick, I initially had it much more forward(bucket just over front edge) but was showing 800lbs+ before I backed off so I wouldn't break the scale. Assuming I measured everything right I should have ~700lbs on the tongue.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Looks pretty good. I always ratchet down the binders till the tires squat some. Non-ratchet binders I wrap the bitter end of the chain around the handle to assure it doesn't open up. General principle of tying down loads is the assure the trailer and the load are one solid mass with no movement between pieces. Always put wood dunnage between metal parts to prevent sliding; especially tracked equipment.

Ron

 

[Quickster2]

You want your chains to pull more or less straight out of the pocket. As others have said drop the hook into the pocket and come up one side or the other to hook into the top of the pocket. That way you will most likely never lose contact between the chain hook and the pocket. Truck and Tow website is a good resource and has many accessories to make your trips safer.

 

[bigtiller]

Your nylon straps need some attention. If they are touching anything, they will chafe and it won't take long for them to fail. You can protect the problem area with heavy carpet strips or something similar, as long as the strap doesn't develop enough slack for the carpet to fall away. A twist in the strap is a good thing, it helps prevent the strap from vibrating in the wind.

 

[4get gto]

A twist in the strap is a good thing, it helps prevent the strap from vibrating in the wind.

Never thought of it that way.They do get flopping in the wind. Does make sense. Had twist in straps before just never on purpose!

 

[vvanders]

Happy to report that tractor made it to the new property in a completely uneventful manner.

No problems towing with the EcoDiesel(19 MPG up, 25 back w/ empty trailer!), only thing I noticed was a slight vibration, maybe ~3Hz that seemed to come and go every 2 miles or so. Thottle, uphill, downhill or turning didn't seem to change it so I'm just assuming it was road surface(there's a section of I-5 south of seattle that'll rattle your teeth if you have just the right wheelbase).

All the straps held well, checked 2-3 times along the drive at various rest stops and hubs were not overly warm, overall pretty happy with the setup. Also having undone/redone the binders many times they go on much faster now.

Cheers for all the feedback, definitely appreciated and hope it helps anyone in the future.

 

[vvanders]

Your nylon straps need some attention. If they are touching anything, they will chafe and it won't take long for them to fail. You can protect the problem area with heavy carpet strips or something similar, as long as the strap doesn't develop enough slack for the carpet to fall away. A twist in the strap is a good thing, it helps prevent the strap from vibrating in the wind.

Hard to see in the photo but we had a spare pool noodle that we cut apart and put under the straps that worked well. I made sure to have twists in the straps for sure and didn't see any vibration from looking at them in the mirrors while on the highway.

 

[AWSubie]

Good to hear your trip was safe. The new property looks beautiful.

 

[John Fitzgerald]

What mountains are in the background?