steering on hay wagon running gears
- Thread starter audiski86
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sweettractors
Advertiser
I've never had the huevos to even think about 50+ w/ a hay wagon.
We do that all the time with hay and tobacco. Of course, that is with a 1 ton 4x4 truck with 4x4 kicked it and a loaded aux 100 gal fuel tank and toolbox in the back bed. Ken Sweet
3BPercherons
Silver Member
I suppose next you'll be bragging that you can accurately back a hay wagon into a tight spot. :laughing:
sweettractors
Advertiser
Only when I hook it to my front bumper. Ken Sweet
3BPercherons
Silver Member
sweettractors
Advertiser
Can't everyone parallel park a hay wagon?
Sure, I can: First unhook from the tractor and then get the 4 big guys that helped load the hay, push the wagon while I guide it in the parking spot. Ken Sweet
3BPercherons
Silver Member
Can't everyone parallel park a hay wagon?
My feeble mind can't comprehend the complex geometry required to figure out which way to turn my wheels to make the front wheels on the wagon turn in the direction required in order for the back wheels to go where they need to.
So I came up with a simple solution - I always volunteer to pull the gooseneck loads. :laughing:
OP
audiski86
Member
Well I can pick up the tongue and move it side to side - there is NO play between tongue and wheels! I was surprised at how tight it was compared to when I picked up one of my neighbors that seem to track good. The wheels are toe slightly in and I was going to adjust a little more and of course was not able to turn the end ball joints on the threads of the rod connecting the two wheels to the tongue. PB blaster didn't work, heating it up didn't work, I was just going to bend the long rod if I tried anymore so I let it be. I believe that the tongue is slightly out of straight along with the pipe connecting the front and rear which probably causes the very small amount of side-to-side tracking that I get. When I get some more time maybe in the fall I might try again and heat it some more but it is going to bother me that I couldn't adjust it to at least test it. For now I with wire brush the paint on the threads and keep hitting it with pb blaster.
The 'weave mode' in your "wagon steering" wagons has several contributing factors, but the principle ones are front AND rear toe alignment and tire properties. Folks generally don't put the best tires on these rigs (and seldom check the pressures), but the best tires are radials running at their highest rated tire pressure. This is because the tires have a restoring self aligning moment ('twisting force') when the axle turns. This moment takes some time/distance to act on the axle, and this delay causes the chassis to weave. So, higher pressure lowers the self aligning moment, radials have less self aligning moment characteristic than bias tires and the speed at which the weave tends to start goes up. Another thing I've observed is the beam connecting the rear axle to the front gets bent downward from overloading the wagon. This increases the net caster alignment of the front axles and caster generates higher self aligning moment (which adds to the problem).