roxynoodle
Veteran Member
I was thinking unicycle or perhaps one of the kiddie toys like a big wheel. The 2 year old down the road has one that looks like a JD tractor. Do you think he will cry if I borrow it?
Ballast New truck: weights, towing capacity
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daTeacha
Veteran Member
A big wheel is front wheel drive and plastic. What you want is one of those manly old METAL pedal tractors with narrow front and rear wheel drive. We just happen to have one (A JD at that!) my son might sell for a year's tuition to Ohio State. He used to ride it a lot, baling hay as fast as any Amishman and his team of horses, but it's in good shape. After he outgrew it, we had to get a real tractor and the work rate went down considerably since it was so big, strong, and heavy in comparison to the pedal tractor/kid combination.
roxynoodle said:
My daughter has one of the plastic, John Deere electric tractors with the little dump trailer. I have no idea why I had not thought sooner about making an adapter to use it to pull my 3 horse slant with giant dressing room. It MUST do better than my Cummins 4wd.
roxynoodle
Veteran Member
Undoubtedly! And it will use a heckuva lot less fuel!
Highbeam
Super Member
Cripes, I go tractoring for a few days and you all get carried away. Am I to believe that you folks will utilize every bit of the rating on a 3/4 ton but then dismiss the ratings on half ton trucks as bogus? I know there are engineers and CYA people who came up with the numbers on that rating sticker for every truck so I assume it is correct whether the axle is semi or full floating.
If rating stickers are only good on your truck then what am I supposed to use for my girly half ton?
If rating stickers are only good on your truck then what am I supposed to use for my girly half ton?
roxynoodle
Veteran Member
I'll bet ya a dozen donuts that Bob's scooter can out tow your girly truck.
Highbeam
Super Member
It's looking that way isn't it?
jayhaitch
Silver Member
The best load I ever got in a vehicle (let me re-phrase that.....) 1978 Ford Fiesta. 1.6 litres of bowl-in-piston 66 hp! And the torque! 3 guys, 6'4" one in the back seat, camping stuff jammed to the ceiling, literally. Over 115 km/h: front end float. Boy, power steering at high speeds, manual steering at low speeds. An inverse speed sensitive power steering 
On a percentage basis my old Fiesta beats a 1 ton dually in load capacity to curb weight ratio any day
Except maybe the plastic John Deere.
On a percentage basis my old Fiesta beats a 1 ton dually in load capacity to curb weight ratio any day
Except maybe the plastic John Deere.
Farmwithjunk
Super Member
This thread started leaning a tad to the nutty direction, but it has a serious side. I started a thread in the trailer and towing forum recently covering a conversation I had with an aquaintance who's a Kentucky State Vehicle Enforcement Officer. ("DOT COP" on state level) He was telling me about rumblings with-in his dept. about further restrictions on towing, PRIMARILY involving gooseneck trailers and 3/4 ton trucks. There may well be more restrictions in the future involving light duty trucks and trailers, both commercial and NON commercial, stemming from the common prctice of overloading and even loading right up to the absolute limits of light weight trucks and trailers. They figure people tend to "give 'em and inch and they'll take a mile" when hauling occasionally. To provide a saftey net of sorts, the thinking is to require light duty trucks to limit trailered loads to a maximum of 75% of combined GVWR. Light duty would include anything 1-ton or lighter.
It was an "off the record" discussion about a subject that ISN'T a law, nor even a proposed law YET. But things may be headed that way soon. Bottom line is, it ISN'T considered safe practice to haul right to the ounce what a light truck can haul. 99.9% of the time you can get away with that. It's that .1% of the time when you don't have enough brakes for a panic situation, or not enough tires for a pothole in the highway, or dozens of other situations that folks get into that have the powers that be concerned.
Sure, the odds may be fairly good nothing will happen. But I don't appreciate someone else betting THEIR life, but risking MY life because it looks like a "safe bet". Trucks and trailers are "rated" when in new condition. Throw a few thousand miles on that 1/2 ton pick-up and car trailer, and it might not still be in NEW condition. Haul a load that's 100% of it's rating, and you may just be in for a real suprise. Add to the fact that a great many of these truck/trailer combo's are being driven by inexperienced or limited experience drivers, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Personally, I try to limit my cargo to something 20% to 25% UNDER the maximum my truck and trailer is rated for. That requires a more expensive rig than I could "get by with". So be it. It only takes one disasterous towing incident to wipe out everything I've spent a lifetime working towards. That disaster could well be SOMEONE ELSES disaster that takes me or you down with them.
It was an "off the record" discussion about a subject that ISN'T a law, nor even a proposed law YET. But things may be headed that way soon. Bottom line is, it ISN'T considered safe practice to haul right to the ounce what a light truck can haul. 99.9% of the time you can get away with that. It's that .1% of the time when you don't have enough brakes for a panic situation, or not enough tires for a pothole in the highway, or dozens of other situations that folks get into that have the powers that be concerned.
Sure, the odds may be fairly good nothing will happen. But I don't appreciate someone else betting THEIR life, but risking MY life because it looks like a "safe bet". Trucks and trailers are "rated" when in new condition. Throw a few thousand miles on that 1/2 ton pick-up and car trailer, and it might not still be in NEW condition. Haul a load that's 100% of it's rating, and you may just be in for a real suprise. Add to the fact that a great many of these truck/trailer combo's are being driven by inexperienced or limited experience drivers, and you have a recipe for disaster.
Personally, I try to limit my cargo to something 20% to 25% UNDER the maximum my truck and trailer is rated for. That requires a more expensive rig than I could "get by with". So be it. It only takes one disasterous towing incident to wipe out everything I've spent a lifetime working towards. That disaster could well be SOMEONE ELSES disaster that takes me or you down with them.
Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
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Not only can I out tow his girly truck with my scooter, but I can do it with his tractor strapped to my handlebarsroxynoodle said:
As I am involved in a commercial fleet and also have my own towing that I do, I can tell you that I am glad to see the Indiana DOT cops all over the roads pulling people over lately. It seems like they are as common as fleas on a junkyard dog around here and that is a good thing. I totally agree with you that you should have equipment that exceeds your needs, it is safe and sane.farmwithjunk said:
I constantly see people suggest outright dangerous activity on TBN, and while you may get away with it, you may also have an accident and kill yourself (at which point I will nominate that person for a Darwin Award), or worse yet, you may kill an innocent person when your truck/trailer/load collides with them.
It never ceases to amaze me that people continue to push the envelope of "stupid" and then justify their actions.
