Trailering a PT 425

[yooperdave]

Will a PT 425 + 54" front end mower fit on a 5' x 8' trailer?

Our JD 725 front end mower just barely fits, and I was wondering if I could use it to trailer a PT + mower.

The trailer on the PT webpage looked nice, but way too big and expensive for what I need.

What does a PT 425 weigh?

Thanks

Yooper Dave

 

[MossRoad]

Before we bought our 18' car hauler trailer, I frequently backed my PT425 into the rear of my full sized Chevy 1/2 ton pickup truck without the tailgate attached. With the rear hitch touching the front of the bed, there was about 6 inches of bed left between the rear edge of the bed and the front tires of the PT. If I had the bucket on the PT, it would come down and rest on the rear bumper. The mower or brush hog would hang out pretty far, but it rode well. The pickup bed is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide between the wheel wells, so my guess is it should fit on a 8' trailer. However, the weight of the PT is more towards the rear of the tractor. I think it weighs around 1300 pounds with a full tank of gas and no implements. I might be hard to get a good tongue weight and weight distribution on an 8' trailer. Also, I don't know if I'd haul my investment on a single axle trailer. Just my thoughts, hope they help.

EDIT:
Here's a link to a picture of the 18' trailer with PT425, 60" mower attached, 48" brush hog to your right and large bucket to your left. Notice that inside the large bucket are the small bucket with teeth and the pallet forks. There is also about 4' of nothing on the rear of the trailer behind the PT425, so I could have put another implement where the 60" mower is and backed the unit onto the trailer with the mower on the rear 4' of the trailer. Plent of room for expansion.

 

[yooperdave]

Hi MossRoad,

Your trailer is similar to the PT trailer on their web page.

Is the concept to bring all the attachments with wherever you go for maximum flexibility? This makes for quite a production when on the move.

What did your trailer set you back?

I was thinking of something near 6' wide x 10' or 12' long tops so I could haul the 425 and then 1 attachment.

What is the advantage of a double axle? The 425 does not seem that heavy for such a big trailer.

I plan on 10 mile trips between sites. There might be a chance of a 80 mile trip once or twice a year.

I told Scott from PT that you should get a cut of the action. You have done more to promote PT than the PT sales force. I am going to get one sometime in the near future. The sub compact tractors just did not have the manuverability (sp?) that I will need.

Thanks for the help.

Yooper Dave

 

[MossRoad]

When I first bought my PT, I only wanted to take it and one implement at a time out to some property that we own several miles away, or over to the little league or church. The pickup truck method was fine. I could take the mower, or the brush hog, or both buckets and the pallet forks, but never more than that at any given time. I budgeted $15,000.00 for a tractor. The PT and all the stuff we bought with it came in around $12,500.00. So after a year I decided to get the trailer.
<font color="blue"> Is the concept to bring all the attachments with wherever you go for maximum flexibility? This makes for quite a production when on the move.

What did your trailer set you back?
</font>
Not wherever I go, but close. I like to take the brush hog and both buckets out to our property and spend 4 hours or so out there at a time. The quick attach makes it so easy to switch implements that I can do multiple jobs in that time frame. The trailer was about $2000.00. It has brakes on both axles and will carry about 5500 pounds. It only takes me about 5 minutes to load up all of the attachments and another 10 or 15 to chain everything down and secure it.

Now what I really like is that I made some sides and a front for the front half of the trailer out of 2X12s. They go from the fenders to the front and across the front. What this allows me to do is pile about 2 tons of material from over the axles to the front and still load the PT and the large bucket over the axles and the rear of the trailer. Sooo, I can haul it out to my property, harvest some black dirt or sand, load it from the sides and/or up the ramps, and haul it all back home. Then use the ramps to drive right up on the trailer and scoop it off the trailer. Works real well. I'll take pictures of it if I ever have to do it again. Some time this week I will be bringing home 2 tons of crushed limestone and will take pics of it being unloaded.

<font color="blue">What is the advantage of a double axle? </font>
One advantage is that if you get a blowout, you can probably stop without incident. Also, our dual axles have dual brakes, so it should help to stop it faster(I don't have the brake controller hooked up yet). And it is easier to load and unload when the trailer is not hooked up to a tow vehicle, although you still have to be careful.

 

[yooperdave]

How big a truck is required to pull such a trailer?

I have a F150 4x4 off road with the 5.4 liter V8 engine with a 2" receiver hitch.

Thanks

Yooper Dave

 

[MossRoad]

I use a 3/4 ton chevy van. If I had a V8 it would be much better. The V6 strains under load, but I never tow more than a few miles. I would think a 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton pickup with a decent engine and tranny wouldn't have any problems with 5000#, but to be safe, find out what your vehicle's towing capacity is. And get a decent brake controller if the trailer has electric brakes. I'm still learning on the towing stuff. There are some pretty good discussions here on TBN. You'd have to search for them... probably in related topics or owner operating.

 

[johara1]

i think a nice tilt, single axle trailer is all you need. a 10 ft. should work, with a rating of around 3000 lb. any more you need brakes. with that truck you have it is all you need,that 5.4 will pull it in two, a ford has good brakes not like the chevy,they had a brake problem. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[iono]

From my limited experience, I would stay away from tilt-bed trailers -- I was sold on the concept until I tried it out. If you travel on anything other than pavement, the trailer bed bounces and makes a horrendous racket. Apparently the tilt mechanism requires some "play", so of course every bit of uneven terrain causes the bed to lift and fall. And of course those forces are also being delivered to your equipment. I returned the one I bought the following day and went with a fixed-bed split-tailgate model.

I was also told that on a tilt-bed it's very important to have 60% of the load ahead of the axle (probably to avoid having huge forces on the pin that holds the tilt in place during travel). That's not always convenient or easily determined.

 

[Bird]

/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gifI never had those problems with a tilt bed trailer. It sounds to me like you just had the wrong size pin locking it down. As for weight distribution, I don't see why there would be anything different about a tilt bed from any other trailer.

 

[iono]

That's interesting, Bird. As I said, my experience is limited, but the "bouncing" effect was acknowledged by the dealer (after i brought it up), and the "60% of weight ahead of the axle" is from the mfg.

The brand was Texas Bragg. Maybe there are different (and better) designs out there, so try a test drive on bumpy terrain before you buy.

<font color="blue"> It sounds to me like you just had the wrong size pin locking it down. </font>
The locking pin had no significant play in it -- the bouncing and racket was not from the pin. The dealer claimed it was the tilt hinge mechanism itself.