New Trailer

[johnday]

Tom; Bird is definetly in the ballpark on balancing the load, thats what I do myself and I have no problems with sway or anything else. Make sure your brakes are correctly adjusted and leave a little extra room behind the guy in front of you.
And you probably have the practicing NASCAR wannabe's as we have here, so that is another end you have to watch as well as your sides. Even with all that to remember, it will still take you a little longer to stop. Just stay cool out in the free-for-all, watch your speed, and you should be fine, especially if you take the loader off to reduce the weight. Your obviously concerned about safety, and that is a good thing!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

BTW, once you get the load balanced, paint a stripe on the trailer bed for reference when you load your usual load. That way you won't have to guess about the tongue weight that much /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Jackrabbit_Slim]

Nice rig. You'll have to forgive me for not knowing how to post this link properly. Computer illiterate. At any rate, I found this link somewhere on this site, checked with a friend who's an engineer who assured me it would indeed work, tried it out, and was within 6 pounds of my tongue weight when I double checked it at a commercial scale.

http://www.roadmaster-tow-bars.com/towing_facts_step1.html

Between this and all the help I got on TBN regarding my equalizer hitch, I'm finding towing is a pup. Best of luck.

Slim

 

[JD4610]

Tom,

You've gotten some excellent advice here, which can always be counted on. But, if I may, I'd like to offer some of my own observations:

Your truck only weighs about 4,500lbs which means your trailer outweighs you nearly two-to-one. Not a problem in itself, just something to consider while driving.

Your trailer wight of approx 8,000lbs will result in a hitch weight of 800-1200lbs (10-15%.) This will make the rear of the truck squat much more than 1.5-2" when loaded. You're probably looking at 4-5". Get a few friends to sit on the tailgate and see how much it sags with just 400-500lbs and you'll see what I mean.

Hitch weight not only makes the truck ride correctly, it's also what gives the trucks rear tires traction. Not enough weight increases the risk of jack-knifing. Not much of a concern during normal, thoughtful driving, but could become an issue during emergency maneuvers.

Also, don't forget to check tire pressure and lug nut torque before each trip on both the truck and trailer. I recently got my trailer back (after having been lent out) with a flat tire and bad rim. Luckily, the person who borrowed it was towing a relatively light load and no major mishap occured.

Congratulations and have fun,

Jay

 

[twabscs]

Jay,

Thanks for the comments. I agree and understand I'm pushing it a bit here. My first trip is to take the tractor to the dealer because of a hydraulic leak. I'm going to remove the FEL (and no implements) so I'll be hauling the TC40D by itself with an approxmiate weight of 3500 lbs. That plus the 2.5K trailer puts me at 6000 lbs for today's trip. We'll see how that goes before I attempt with the FEL and box blade.

Tonight I'll post a picture of the setup with the tractor loaded.

 

[johnday]

Tom; Just ran across these at another site I visit. Looks like they may be just the thing for that SD if whenever you go whole hog. Liked'em so much, I bought them!! /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Go to c-btr.com I can't seem to add this url for some reason /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Let me know if you have problems getting there, these mirrors are convex type that clip onto to the trailertow mirrors Ford has on the Superduty. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[Lou_B]

Your F-150 will tow your new trailer and tractor OK. You will be at a maximum load limit, but since the trailer has electric brakes, the rig will be safe.

Once you have the FEL and box blade installed, I'd find the tractor's position on the trailer that gives you the tongue weight that was suggested by Bird (800 or so). Then, measure the trailer to see if it sits level - it will probably be tilted downwards a couple of inches. On your trailer the position of the coupler is adjustable. Just remove the mounting bolts and move it up or down to get the trailer level.

My trailer has a similar coupler mounting system. I removed the ball coupler and went to a pintle ring instead. Your trailer's setup gives you this option.

Lou Braun

 

[twabscs]

John, Lou, Everyone,

Thanks for the help with the new trailer. Well, I survived the trip today. Everything went fine during the seven hour, 250 mile adventure. Took the FEL off the TC for the first time today. It only took about 10 minutes. First time driving a trailer with its own brakes - Makes a world of difference when braking!

The trip went like this: Drive 85 miles to farm with empty trailer. Load tractor and drive 45 miles to dealer. Drive back to farm with empty trailer to store in barn. Drive 85 miles back home. Here's the first pic of the tow vehicle and trailer on level ground.

 

[twabscs]

Here's a pic after I loaded the tractor. I used Bird's advice to measure the bumper and go for a ~2" drop after loading. I went with 1 3/4". As you can see from the pic, the drop in the rear end of the truck is hardly noticeable.

The trip with the tractor loaded was mostly highway. I kept the speed around 63 MPH and the truck had to fight pretty hard to make it up your average Missouri slope. Oh, and the gas mileage (not counting the trailer-free trip home) was 9 MPG. Ouch! That's an important reason to have the Diesel SD in the future.

Again, thanks everyone for your help! I wasn't satisified with my tie-down technique so I'm going to research that here at TBN so I can get that right next time, which will be soon as I'll have to trailer the tractor back from the dealer soon.

 

[Bird]

That is a fine looking rig. </font><font color="blue" class="small">( truck had to fight pretty hard to make it up your average Missouri slope )</font> Did you turn off the overdrive? I would, personally. And 9 MPG may sound bad, but how much towing are you going to do? The diesel truck would certainly be a better tow truck, but you can buy a lot of gas for what it costs to trade trucks if you aren't going to do a lot of towing.

 

[twabscs]

Bird, you're right on all counts. Won't be towing much so I shouldn't worry about the MGP. Yeah, I had the overdrive off as I remembered that from my owner's manual. I had the cruise control on (set at 63/64) and when encountering a long climb, it would downshift to 2nd (4K RPM) to keep the speed above 60. It happened maybe 5 times over 40 miles. Probably shouldn't use the cruise when towing.