My Kioti-Hauler is Down for the Count

[JoelD]

The other thing that contributed to over confidence is the 4:10 gearing in the truck, the thing can pull a house if I can get traction, that probably did not help matters in the long run. I'll sell the truck after I re-bolt the bumper. Will make someone a great plow truck, pushes the 8 foot fisher like nothing. The truck drives excellent, I've driven to work a couple of times (the Hancock Tower in Boston), tight in parking garage but drives real nice. Just not big enough for what I need it to do, the killer is, I put less than 2000 miles per year on the big truck, Dozer and Kioti are personal use and only tow around on the odd occasion that family or friends need a hand. I just had new radiator, tranny hoses, etc. installed last year.

 

[MikeD74T]

Just not big enough for what I need it to do, the killer is, I put less than 2000 miles per year on the big truck, Dozer and Kioti are personal use and only tow around on the odd occasion that family or friends need a hand. I just had new radiator, tranny hoses, etc. installed last year.

This isn't the end of the world. Nobody got hurt & you're much wiser. So just fix it, pick the road & traffic conditions for your moves - shift the odds back into your favor. Now you know the risk & can plan accordingly. Someday you might have to just say "no, can't do it right now". MikeD74T

 

[JoelD]

Hey Mike, you hit the nail on the head, not good at the "no, can't do it right now". Gotta work on that one. I think would be a good stress reducer to. No injuries in the key for sure.

 

[crabjoe]

I'm surprised that happened to your hitch. Something had to be wrong with the install.

I've got a 3/4 ton Dodge and I pull a 13000lb boat setup with the factory hitch. I've never had a problem doing it and I know some that pull even more then me.

My buddy has a 1 Ton Superduty and he'll pull 2 skidsteers on trailer with the factory hitch.

I just want to point out that there is usally only one difference between a 3/4 and 1 ton truck. That difference is usually just the rear spring pack. On one ton vehicles, they usually add an additional helper spring. Frame, hitch and powertrain are identical. Also at times, a 3/4 ton is rated to tow more then a 1 ton. This usually happens because of the weight difference. Those extra springs and at times, an extra set of wheels with the dually.

 

[JoelD]

Good point, I understand my truck actually has the 1 ton spring set up. I need to figure out how to fix, what happened is the bolts holding the bumper hitch set up to the frame actually pulled out of the frame's holes. I think it was corosion that ultimately did the damage. Again, I do think I may have been pulling more than the truck was rated to pull, would be interesting to see technically, on paper what it is rated to pull. My problem is getting the hole areas figured out on the frame as they are bent down and now hard to get the frame of the hitch flush with the frame of the truck. The washers were dust and therefore provided nothing to hold the bolt in the frames.

 

[bearhawk]

Take the truck over to Whites Welding in Hampton, NH and have them weld the hitch to the frame.

They are a bunch of smart guys and will fix it up for you.

It did look like you might have been loaded a little (ok a lot) heavy on the tongue. That could have been the primary cause of the hitch failure.

 

[JoelD]

No way around that one, I've definitely not got any good excuses left. Peer pressure?

Joel

 

[Spider]

Excuse my ignorance, when you are refering to 3/4 & 1 ton trucks, are your refering to payload weight of the truck or something else?

Looking at the design of the trailer, there is a fair bit of force put on the tow hitch before any load is added. I would be interested what the nose weight is and how much it exceeded (if at all) the the rated weight.

 

[RexB]

That's the proverbial Bummer, Joel. Glad it was in the drive and your 'dozer was close to haul it back. How much does your trailer weigh? It looks like a beast and may be extra weight that you don't need to haul your tractor or nearly 6-ton JD350. I'm using a flatbed, steel I-Beams, Goodyear HD F-load tires tandem axle, that weighs just 2,010 pounds, a 2 15/16" ball hitch with anti-sway bar. Type IV hitch bolted to the twin I-beam frame with Grade #8 bolts, nuts and washers. It hauls the 12,000 pound JD350 (with a rake and 20K winch attached) rarely, close distances, and 40mph max. The CK30 TLB (5,800 lbs) pulls real easy long distances at highway speeds.

Twice I've towed it loaded with steel and building materials, distributed evenly on the trailer to get a +10% tongue weight, scale weight 14,400 pounds for 1,020 mile round trips. Interstate and winding hill roads.

Towed by a 1995 F-350 4WD with a 460cid and 4:10 differentials. The truck is 7,200lb scale weight, during those heavy hauls also had another 1000lbs on the bed, so my trailer weights were a little over the limit but very handleable. We never break the padded safety margins right? Us and the professional truckers both, lol. Trailer brakes with a manual controller are a must, esp to keep those kinds of loads from 'pushing' the truck going downhill.

Just an idea, if the trailer adds too much extra weight. Though the pintle hitch was a good idea hauling the dozer.

You're doing a heckuva' lot of building there, and Post Pics of your new truck

 

[JoelD]

Believe it or not, with the tri-axle, unloaded the tongue is neutral, zero weight, I need to jump up and down on the trailer to engage the pintal hitch. I loaded the trailer so that the truck squated probably 3-4 inches. Which I figured gave me good load on the truck. The problem was backing up my driveway, the angle is such that the tongue of the trailer loaded way more than I anticipated. My truck handled the pull no problem, also got the 4:10's. I pulled up some nasty hills and never needed to resort to L4. But when backing up my drive, that tongue must've gotten super heavy and ripped the bolts right out of the frame rails (was not in L4 at that point either). I use the truck maybe 1000-2000 miles per year, total. One poster had a good suggestion of having the hitch professionally welded in place. That should buy me more time. I also had a whole lot of weight on the trailer. Two skids at approximately 3200Lbs a piece and one skid at 5500 or so and then another 500 plus pounds of random block. It sure felt a whole lot heavier than towing the dozer.