Ramps for loading tractor on truck bed

[bspeedy]

Trying to get a JD X740 garden tractor onto a high trailer which is about the same height as a 4x4 truck using ramps is scary. Slip off there is nothing to do but lay down and die under the thing. I stopped transporting my garden tractor because of that. But I have a monster gooseneck trailer for an emergency. No ramps for me.

Loading would indeed be scary. Not recommended. The cost of damage to you and your equipment from a small mistake would be huge. Car hauler would do the trick. Sell your 5x8 if you don't use it much and get a car hauler for 1500 bucks or so.

 

[hawkeye08]

An alternative would be to built a loading "dock" at each location. Make sure it is plenty wide and packed properly. It will still be top heavy. I remember as a teenager hauling a tractor on the farm truck. It was not fun, even slow (65 miles at 25mph is not fun even when it is not top heavy). The frame was pretty much on the bump stops, tires rubbing on bottom of bed, any bump would result in nice puff of smoke from tire on bottom of bed. It was what we had and we made do, not recommended in today's environment.

 

[4570Man]

The only problem I see is loading it and the bed being too short. A long enough ramp would solve the loading issue. Removing the loader would mostly solve the too short issue. There's plenty of light duty rollbacks on a 1 ton truck. The weight and deck height will be fine.

 

[4570Man]

An alternative would be to built a loading "dock" at each location. Make sure it is plenty wide and packed properly. It will still be top heavy. I remember as a teenager hauling a tractor on the farm truck. It was not fun, even slow (65 miles at 25mph is not fun even when it is not top heavy). The frame was pretty much on the bump stops, tires rubbing on bottom of bed, any bump would result in nice puff of smoke from tire on bottom of bed. It was what we had and we made do, not recommended in today's environment.

Why didn't you just drive the tractor?

 

[MossRoad]

I think at this point that owning a trailer is out of the question. I am unwilling to devote the time and money to property taxes, insurance, and maintenance on one more set of wheels. If necessary, I guess I would rent a trailer when I need it, or would be willing to transport it without the front end loader. at the current moment, I have no need to transport it whatsoever. I do transport my John Deere 455 riding mower in this way and it works quite well. I just don't want to be in a position where someday I will need to take it to the dealer for repairs or do some box blading at a rental property and will not have the ability to move it. It did occur to me after posting that I do have a 5 x 8 high side equipment trailer with a 5000 pound axle on it. This might be able to move the tractor if I can put the front end loader down on the tongue.

I'm sure some of you can relate. I am coming out of a period of time where I just bought too much stuff. Anything that I only used a couple times a year I am selling and will be renting in the future. The stuff I do use I am repairing or replacing such that it is in very good condition.

I have a 1500# machine that fits in the bed of my pickup truck. I bought ramps from the factory, and I removed the tailgate from my bed. Then I pinned the ramps onto the bumper and I was able to back it right up into the bed of the truck with an implement on the FEL arms and off I went.

With that said, its a scary ride up steep ramps into the bed of a pickup. I imaging your flat bed is pretty high as well. So you'll either need to get long ramps to make the angle less steep, or find a hill or berm to park up against to lessen the angle of the ramps.

After a while I decided to bite the bullet and get an 18' car hauler trailer with diamond plated steel deck and ramps. Its a LOT lower than a truck bed, much safer to load and I can haul so much more than just my machine. We ditched the truck and towed it with a 3/4 ton van for a while (as we had kids and family to transport and vacation with). After the van wore out, we went with a Suburban. Works great! I can haul 8 people or a stack of plywood or tow the tractor, or bring logs home on the trailer, rocks, mulch, building materials, etc.... The trailer was about $2000. It's a 7000# trailer and weighs 1500#, so it has a 5500# working load. That's well within what your tractor and loader weight. You're looking at $1500 ramps that are good for only one thing, while a car hauler trailer comes with ramps, can haul your tractor with loader and possibly an implement or two as well in a much safer fashion to boot!

I think our plates and taxes are less than $100 per year. You might not even need insurance on the trailer if its not for commercial work. It may be covered under the tow vehicle.

Best to run the numbers by your insurance agent and license bureau and see what the actual cost of ownership of a trailer VS ramps comes out to be.

Good luck in your search. Not too many people are going to see it your way.

I know when we had a large tractor (8000#), and it broke, I hired a towing company with a rollback to haul it to the shop. It was about $75 for the trip. I also had them tow it home when I no longer needed it on our remote property. Again, $75.00.

 

[MossRoad]

Why didn't you just drive the tractor?

65 miles??

 

[4570Man]

65 miles??

Well, he said he drove the truck at 25 mph. Usually the purpose of hauling equipment is to be safer and faster. It sounds like he accomplished neither.

 

[MossRoad]

2.5 hours by scary truck or maybe 5 hours by tractor. Either way sounds no fun. :laughing:

 

[4570Man]

At a 15 mph hour average it would take 4.3 hours by tractor, but he saved time loading and unloading. Not to mention the likely dangerous loading process and extreme amount of abuse to the truck.

 

[aczlan]

I am looking for some advice here. I have a f350 dually with 12' flatbed. I would like to be able to move my tractor occasionally, but do not want to own a trailer. I have enough load capacity and room on the truck bed that I have little use for a trailer except for this. The tractor is a l3400 kubota. The truck weighs 7000# empty and has a 13000# gvwr.
My buddy pointed me towards some pin on ramps, they look pretty safe. Pricey, but I definitely want to be safe. Looks like it will run close to $1500 to get them shipped and installed on my truck bed. Does anybody move tractors this way that can offer any advice?

Tractors, no, but some people move off road trucks that way, here is a thread where someone added a removable dovetail to his flatbed semi to fit his buggy on it and make loading easier/safer: Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum - View Single Post - Project Pete

An alternative would be to built a loading "dock" at each location. Make sure it is plenty wide and packed properly. It will still be top heavy. I remember as a teenager hauling a tractor on the farm truck. It was not fun, even slow (65 miles at 25mph is not fun even when it is not top heavy). The frame was pretty much on the bump stops, tires rubbing on bottom of bed, any bump would result in nice puff of smoke from tire on bottom of bed. It was what we had and we made do, not recommended in today's environment.

True, but a L3400 is 2600#, adding a loader and loaded tires would make it 4500#(ish?). That should be doable with a F350 (a 2000 350 chassis cab has a 9700# rear axle).

The trick will be getting enough weight on the front. The tractor will probbaly need to be backed on if it has loaded rear wheels or there will be too much weight behind the rear axle.

Aaron Z