Trailer loading plan..

[streamin]

Do yourself a favor like I did years ago, best investment is a tongue scale. Amazon for $128 by Sherline. I started with a 20ft trailer with 7K axles towing 1500 miles twice a year with an F250. Towed well but once I had it loaded a bit off and it was so nerve racking and dangerous. With that scale I get it right every time. A couple years later I wasn't making that trip anymore so I sold that trailer. I bought a 16ft for other things mostly but wanted to have it big enough for a local tow with the tractor if needed. It was ok but with the bucket on the deck I could not get quite the balance I needed so I had to bring the bucket up over the front pipe. I just wasn't happy so a year later I sold it and bought an 18 ft with 7K axles. But My tractor is 50hp and bigger so that is what works for me.... buy the scale!

 

[Longhorn24]

I totally agree with Scootr and streamin. You must live in a very gentle area without any drivers which will cut you off trying to get ahead of the "slow" truck and loaded trailer or any other impatient or rude driver and your tires, brakes or what ever will never fail you. The load stop is critical as well as more straps of chains to hold down your load under even a mild 2-3 G force impact or emergency stop. As for checking weight make sure your not exceeding the total gross combined weight rating vehicle weight as shown on you driver's door data plate. A no expense way to check your weight is to go to a scrape yard or landfill and then keep the receipt with a picture of the system on the scale. I never had anyone charge me for checking. Any LEO (Law enforcement Officer) would have every right to pull you over suspecting an over weight condition. It would be to your benefit to be able to show that your within the GCRW. If your not your insurance will not cover you and you could end up in a terrible legal battle as well. I used to be young, good looking and smart, now at 79 I am still good looking, no longer young and a lot wiser from all my mistakes, car, truck and helicopter crashes (only one was my fault, car). Thus ends the lesson. P.S. Recommend larger trailer with load stop.

• GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating): The maximum weight of your fully loaded vehicle and trailer combined.

Loaded Tow Vehicle + Fuel + Passengers + Cargo + Loaded Trailer Weight Only exceed this knowing it will be at your own risk!

scootr​

 

[rxk9394]

First off good on you for asking the question to start with. Nobody's born knowing this "stuff" and when it comes to trailers and hauling you cannot be safe enough.

One question I didn't see answered was whether you had fluid filled rear tires or not. As mentioned already you do not want the trailer tail heavy. Search for "Tongue weight safety demonstration" on Youtube and in 1.5 minutes you will understand why.

What I would do is mount the bush-hog on the tractor, use the f/e loader to put the box blade as far forward on the trailer as possible, drive the tractor on the trailer with the f/e raised to go over the box-blade and if needed even curl it down to rest on the trailer tongue trying to get most of the weight forward of the trailer axles.

Last thought on straps vs chains. Regardless of which you use, always have a fail-safe so that if one of them breaks, there is still something holding that load from coming off or coming into the rear of the truck in an emergency situation. The older I get, the more I embrace the concept of a fail-safe in so much of what I do...

Stay safe, take care, and best of luck.

 

[Ken1234]

I may have missed the point here but it sounds like you want to move the tractor, with rear tires filled with ballast, have a FEL and a bush hog in one trip. I have had to do this over a 37 mile distance. I called a local towing company who had the appropriate skid bed, drove it on, they 'tied' it down and in an hour it was at its destination and unloaded. I just told them the tractor weight, bush hog weight and total length (about 24 feet) and they came with their 28 foot truck, charged $150 and I was done.

Take care and let us know how it turned out - Ken

 

[Bentrim]

From someone that worked for a dealer and hauled all kinds of farm machinery on trailers. I see some good recommendations listed here, but here are my recommendations.
1. use a chain on the BACK of the tractor. Why? You can stop faster than you can pull out, If you would get in an accident (hopefully not your fault) you want the tractor to stay put and not end up in the cab with you. Be sure you hook the rear chain to a solid part of the tractor and trailer.
2 Tongue weight. Be sure the tongue has some weight on it. You never want the trailer to "steer" the truck. Yes the rear of the truck should look loaded.
3. When tying down a tractor loader do not tie the loader or an attached implement instead of the tractor, tie only the tractor pulling one frontward and one rearward, even if you use one chain on each side, on each end. The loader does not need to be tied down it is mounted on the tractor, The bucket can also be left "in the air" it does not need to rest on something.
4 The boss would get very upset if I ran a chain over the middle of the tractor or over someplace that would scratch the paint, if it was very noticeable. Either find a spot under the tractor or hooks that are well attached to the tractor.
5 Be sure all implements are tied down so they can't move.

When I hauled a tractor even big ones (100 to 150 horse) I tried to balance the load so the back wheels of the tractor usually centered over the last axle of the trailer, smaller tractors usually centered between to over the rear axle.

I have hauled lots of machinery hauled, none ever fell off.

Most of all Check your load often, drive like you want to get there in one piece, and be careful.

Have a wonderful day

 

[hslogger]

From someone that worked for a dealer and hauled all kinds of farm machinery on trailers. I see some good recommendations listed here, but here are my recommendations.
1. use a chain on the BACK of the tractor. Why? You can stop faster than you can pull out, If you would get in an accident (hopefully not your fault) you want the tractor to stay put and not end up in the cab with you. Be sure you hook the rear chain to a solid part of the tractor and trailer.
2 Tongue weight. Be sure the tongue has some weight on it. You never want the trailer to "steer" the truck. Yes the rear of the truck should look loaded.
3. When tying down a tractor loader do not tie the loader or an attached implement instead of the tractor, tie only the tractor pulling one frontward and one rearward, even if you use one chain on each side, on each end. The loader does not need to be tied down it is mounted on the tractor, The bucket can also be left "in the air" it does not need to rest on something.
4 The boss would get very upset if I ran a chain over the middle of the tractor or over someplace that would scratch the paint, if it was very noticeable. Either find a spot under the tractor or hooks that are well attached to the tractor.
5 Be sure all implements are tied down so they can't move.

When I hauled a tractor even big ones (100 to 150 horse) I tried to balance the load so the back wheels of the tractor usually centered over the last axle of the trailer, smaller tractors usually centered between to over the rear axle.

I have hauled lots of machinery hauled, none ever fell off.

Most of all Check your load often, drive like you want to get there in one piece, and be careful.

Have a wonderful day

TennnnnnFourrrrr!

 

[ljjhouser]

From Bentrim:---Most of all Check your load often, drive like you want to get there in one piece, and be careful.

This is one thing that I always forget to mention but is very important. It seems that no matter how tight straps or chains (especially chains) are when you leave, 20-30 miles you will find them a little loose for comfort and need to re -tighten. I use chains and binders and always re adjust binders as I start a trip.

 

[RadarTech]

4 meters or 13 ft.

that’s what I was thinking..

Mine is 18 ft with a 2 ft dovetail.

Thanks!

 

[kenbgbill]

Hey folks—
I’m finally going to me moving the equipment on a regular basis…
New property is 25-30 miles down the road so I’ve bought a nice 16+2 trailer.
6k load rating for my L3400, did the math and it should be less than 5k with that I plan to move regularly..

But I do have a few thoughts I want to ask questions about…

The plan is to put the bushhog on the front 5 ft of the trailer- then raise the loader up, drive the tractor forward until the front tires hit the bushhog… and then lower the loader on some kind of wood base that will allow it to rest on top of the bushhog with a beam wider than the bushhog.

Does anyone do this?
I’ve vaguely remember seeing some setups like this on the road.. but now that I’m doing it I can’t seem to find those examples….


Thanks
Jim

I have a Kubota BX 25D and it take every bit of my 16’ trailer. If you can afford it, I’d suggest going 18’ with at least 7k load or 10k axels. Nobody ever said they wished their trailer was smaller! My $.02.

 

[kenbgbill]

I have a Kubota BX 25D and it take every bit of my 16’ trailer. If you can afford it, I’d suggest going 18’ with at least 7k load or 10k axels. Nobody ever said they wished their trailer was smaller! My $.02.