No Need to Trailer when hauling tractor?

[RayH]

Any camper that pins a truck to the ground like that would be unsafe, and downright foolish to take to the hiways. A tractor PLUS the weight of a trailer would have the added benifit of (a) having the front wheels of the truck in a position to stop, and (b) trailer brakes . I don't care if it's 1900 lbs of duck feathers in the bed, that's not a safe load. But, tow truck operators and undertakers have to eat too, so haul on bro.

I agree that its a heavy load for that truck, I just dont see it being a danger. Look at the pics. The truck is sitting almost level. A good deal of the weight is on the front as well as the rear axle. I could see your point if the front of the truck were floating but to me, it looks like the load is well distributed. With the loader over the cab and the engine infront of the rear axle, I'd say at least 2/3 of the tractor weight is in front of the rear axle.

Anyway, theres my opinion based on the very limited information those pictures present.

 

[john_bud]

Yeah, it should be an ok load to haul. AFter all, he used the over load detectors when putting the tractor in the bed. (Tail gate cables! I'm surprised they didn't snap.)

I think the rear axle capacity is about 4200-4500#. The rear of the truck empty is probably in the 1500-1800# range. (Whole truck is 4500#). If the whole weight of the tractor was on the rear axle, it would still be under 4000#.

Oh, for a trailer with 3500 or less pounds, trailer brakes are NOT required in many states. Heck, here in WI for 3500 or less, you don't even have to register the trailer! The truck brakes are designed to handle that.

jb

 

[MrJimi]

Just wondering? did he squash his tailgate on the last picture?
Jim

 

[Birdman253]

Yeah, it should be an ok load to haul. AFter all, he used the over load detectors when putting the tractor in the bed. (Tail gate cables! I'm surprised they didn't snap.)

jb

Nobody seems to have noticed that the pallets are stacked under the tailgate. If the cables snapped, the tailgate would simply drop to the pallets, and be supported there. Would probably make for a little bit of excitement, but the tractor was not going to fall to the ground.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I agree that its a heavy load for that truck, I just dont see it being a danger. Look at the pics. The truck is sitting almost level. A good deal of the weight is on the front as well as the rear axle. I could see your point if the front of the truck were floating but to me, it looks like the load is well distributed. With the loader over the cab and the engine infront of the rear axle, I'd say at least 2/3 of the tractor weight is in front of the rear axle.

Anyway, theres my opinion based on the very limited information those pictures present.

All of my life, I've lived out in the country. Where we live now is the SHORTEST drive to work I've had in 0ver 35 years. (37 mi ea way) Most of the milage is on interstate highways or rural highways with long straight streches. My point is, I've seen a lot of miles of driving at relatively high road speeds. I've seen a few wrecks happen. I've been in 3 interstate wrecks. (lucky me, huh?) Things happen suddenly. No time to react under the best of conditions. (Then when you DO avoid what happens in front of you, someone plows you from behind. Don't ask me how I know that) The wildest wreck I ever saw was a 1/2 ton pick-up with about 25 sheets of 3/4 plywood in the back. It wasn't even a big stack. Driver had to swerve just a bit to avoid part of a chair that was in the road. He moved a couple feet to his left then started to correct back and there she went. Truck was well under weight limit. It's just that a common, ordinary on-road manuever ended up making that truck barrel roll 4 times. As he started turning back, the weight transferred. At that point he probably had 2/3rds the cargo weight on one corner of the truck. (L rear) Tire wasn't heavy enough to maintain control when it was suddenly weighted like that. It just doesn't make good sense to me to push things right to the absolute physical limits. In order to drive on a PUBLIC road, it makes sense to me to have a nice margin for error. Be that your own or another driver. (who might not know that you need extra stopping distance for example)

A BIG part of this discussion revolves around everyones definition of "SAFE". And some people see that truck as safe at 65. Some of us see it (barely) safe at 25 mph.

I just barely made it through the last wreck I was in. An overloaded truck couldn't stop at a red light. I got nailed in the drivers door. I spent 2 hours being extracated. 6 weeks in the hospital. I'm a little sensitive to the idea of loading trucks just to see if it will haul every ounce it's "rated" at.

 

[drm]

I agree that its a heavy load for that truck, I just dont see it being a danger. Look at the pics. The truck is sitting almost level. A good deal of the weight is on the front as well as the rear axle. I could see your point if the front of the truck were floating but to me, it looks like the load is well distributed. With the loader over the cab and the engine infront of the rear axle, I'd say at least 2/3 of the tractor weight is in front of the rear axle.

Anyway, theres my opinion based on the very limited information those pictures present.

I vehemently side with Farmwithjunk on this. Until recently I also traveled a good distance to work on a daily basis. Currently I put 20,000 mi/year on country and highway roads. So I have seen my fair share of unsafe, overloaded vehicles and bad drivers. I have been hit from behind several times when the driver behind me was not able to safely operate a non loaded vehicle for the conditions. I have had several near misses in highway accidents (one crossed over a 2 lane 55 mph road and struck the vehicle behind me and 2 others crossed over divided highways). I have had to quickly avoid many more. No accident is planned but why make your vehicle less likely to respond to the unexpected by overloading it?

Second and more importantly GVWR and cargo ratings are MAXIMUMS. The GVWR for a 2006 Chevy is 6,400 pounds. Subtract vehicle weight, options, driver, fuel, etc. and the cargo capacity drops to 1,600 pounds +/-. My reading of the photos indicates that the rear axles are on their bumpers or close to it.

I am a structural engineer and investigate building failures and determine the cause. I have heard many times from contractors that they do it that way all of the time. That does not mean that they have been doing it right it just means that they have been lucky.

If everything is right with the planets and nothing out of the ordinary happens the driver in the picture may get to his destination without mishap BUT it is not worth risking the lives of others because he is only a little overloaded, not going far…

 

[tractornate]

no tailgate damage, and no tiedowns, this was the second time that it was hauled this way and he had to go @30 miles no Hwy, yep the truck handled it fair!
But if one of our drivers did this i would be looking for a new driver! it can be done it was done dosent mean that i would do it! or let someone do it with one of our tractors or trucks.
I am sure that everone that has ever hauled much at some point has hauled to much for there truck!
and yes the pallets were put under the tailgate for that reason.

keep in mind that these were posted to put a smile on your face.

 

[normde2001]

Compact Yanmars were designed to be hauled in the back of pickup trucks, according to a sales brochure that I saw, the reason for the narrow rear wheels.

 

[RayH]

All of my life, I've lived out in the country. Where we live now is the SHORTEST drive to work I've had in 0ver 35 years. (37 mi ea way) Most of the milage is on interstate highways or rural highways with long straight streches. My point is, I've seen a lot of miles of driving at relatively high road speeds. I've seen a few wrecks happen. I've been in 3 interstate wrecks. (lucky me, huh?) Things happen suddenly. No time to react under the best of conditions. (Then when you DO avoid what happens in front of you, someone plows you from behind. Don't ask me how I know that) The wildest wreck I ever saw was a 1/2 ton pick-up with about 25 sheets of 3/4 plywood in the back. It wasn't even a big stack. Driver had to swerve just a bit to avoid part of a chair that was in the road. He moved a couple feet to his left then started to correct back and there she went. Truck was well under weight limit. It's just that a common, ordinary on-road manuever ended up making that truck barrel roll 4 times. As he started turning back, the weight transferred. At that point he probably had 2/3rds the cargo weight on one corner of the truck. (L rear) Tire wasn't heavy enough to maintain control when it was suddenly weighted like that. It just doesn't make good sense to me to push things right to the absolute physical limits. In order to drive on a PUBLIC road, it makes sense to me to have a nice margin for error. Be that your own or another driver. (who might not know that you need extra stopping distance for example)

I think I can trump your driving experiences. I drive for a living, generally over 400 miles a day. Ive never been in a serious accident. Being in three serious accidents hardly qualifies you to judge what is safe and what is not and is nothing to brag about.
I see plenty of accidents, an average of about one per day. Alot of them involve kids (younger than 25) who have little experience and alot of overconfidence. Almost every accident Ive seen involve people in a rush. I would much sooner share the road with 100 "overloaded" pickups than one ignorant kid who thinks hes Speedracer.
Sharing the roads safely is not about what you drive, its about how you drive it. Accidents very seldom are caused by equipment failure and are almost always caused by human error.

 

[VA_Joe]

Live and learn - experience will always the best teacher. I'm sure if the fellow found the truck to be undriveable - he would have reconsidered his options (or at least I hope). If the noticeable lack of steering combined with little or no acceleration doesn't scare the you know what out of him - I don't know what will (oh I know - no brakes).

There is a time in everyones life when they realize that maybe two trips are better than one (especially when hauling brick). Maybe this was his chance to rethink his options and buy a trailer?

Besides - with the way the trucks are being built, marketed, and registered today - you never really know the "real" capacity until you get out and try it (rated capacity does not always equal driveability and vice versa).