trucking a tractor / what are the issues?

[monkeybreath]

After comparing the tractor prices you all are getting everywhere else - even for brands other than the big 3 - ($3 to 5 thousand more here for same set ups) and after exhausting all reasonable possibilities here -I started to look at other options and am actively working on putting together a deal to buy out of state and will have to arrange for the tractor to be brought here. (I just can't bring myself to pay that much more here for what they sell for so much less elsewhere) Anyway, I am going to start looking for firms willing to bring me a tractor. Does anyone know what I will need to be concerned about beyond insurance, reputation, . . . what should I be concerned about ? Are there firms which just haul tractors ? Also, are there any issues crossing into another state ? I would think not as some of the on-line dealers ship to other states. This is not an on-line dealer. I am aware I need to have a way to unload it at this end - ramps or another truck or whatever.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

One approach.......

Assuming you have a pickup or large SUV, and you are buying a not too heavy tractor, why not do it yourself?

My guess is you will pay maybe $2-3 a mile, so that will add up quickly, and their might be load/unload charges. 20 years ago, I needed a 7,000 pound tractor moved 150 miles. The first quote I got was $3/mile. When I found a truck deadheading my way (it was a dealer pickup, he dropped it to $1.50 a mile.

If you can haul it yourself, the regs should not hinder you. Arizona/California are intense about bringing weeds/bugs into the state, so the unit must be super clean. A car wash should fix that.

Assuming a smaller tractor, I'd get a solid tandem axle trailer, with new rubber, and two new spares. Good brakes, good chains and binders. Then go SLOW (not over 55 loaded). Take your time and enjoy the trip.

My guess is you can haul it yourself and end up with a trailer, or pay someone to do it, and have nothing.

If experience is a concern. see if you can "ride along" with a local farm dealer on a delivery and/or watch him load/tie down a load. It's not that tough to do it right. I used to haul stuff all over the western US/Canada with a pickup and gooseneck trailer.

Everyone has an opinion on how to tie stuff down, but the veterans can show you ways that work. Check the load every time you stop. Check the tires every 100 miles. Check the brakes BEFORE you start down a step hill! Enjoy.

Hope this helps.
Ron

 

[Chief]

I went and picked up my 4410 out of state. Saved me $1.50 per mile delivery to and from. I used my 14' Ja-Mar trailer and lifted the loader up in the air over the pickup bed. I had to remove the mmm and get that separately as it was too wide to load on mounted on the tractor. Was not that bad at all to pull but then again I have a Cummins HO Dodge pickup. Many tractor dealers sell trailers, see if they will make you a deal on a 18 - 20 tandem trailer along with your tractor and implements. Then just drive to the dealer and pick up the entire shooting match. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif You will need a trailer with a tractor anyway. Good luck. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[monkeybreath]

Re: One approach.......

Hmmmmm, never thought about that - and I was thinking I might not get a trailer right away. One problem, I got rid of my F250 diesel two years ago and now have a 6 cyl Ford Ranger - too light - especially because I have to haul it over the Grapevine - for those of you not familiar with California, that, is a real bear for trucks. I will look into this and other options, maybe renting a large pickup, or whatever - will have to compare what I will save that way. The tractor will weigh about 3500 lbs without the FEL - I am not certain what that will add. I can get the other implements here. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Slamfire]

Re: One approach.......

Well I'd sure want to avoid the Grapevine trailerin' a tractor, have you checked the road through Tehachapi? Seems to me its four lanes all the way. Maybe you could rent a flatbed truck. You might want to check with CARB before buying out of state, you might run afoul of some obscure regulation.

 

[monkeybreath]

Re: One approach.......

Tehapachi would work - embarassed I didn't figure that one out. I called CARB and looked on Internet to see if I could find out if there would be any problems in that regard. None found so far, but CARB has not called back. I want to be very sure I have covered everything before I go and get it.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

3500 #s!

Heck, my pickup weights more than that.

Agree not to try it with your current truck. I sold a 4000# Ford Tractor, FEL, and some imiplements and the dork that bought it showed up with a mini-pickup and tandem axle trailer. One of the tires on the trailer was FLAT when he got to my place empty. He was WAY OVERLOADED. Fortunately, he only had to go 50 miles. I guess he made it.

Another idea: See if you can find an owner / operator with a car hauling truck. Tilt bed and all, he could haul your tractor/FEL easily. For a long haul, he might cut you a deal. And he shoujld know how to tie stuff down.

As an afterthought to my eariler post, you might see if you can buy "Trip Insurance" to cover your $$$$ while in transit, especially if you do it yourself, like on a rented truck/trailer.

 

[rozett]

I found the CUT that I was looking for on-line and the dealer was experienced with interstate shipping.

I bought a one-year old Cub Cadet from a JD dealer in Alabama and saved plenty. The dealer arranged for shipping from there to New Hampshire at a cost of only $1000 (about 4000 pounds). I figure it would have cost me that much to pick it up myself. It was shipped via a standard freight truck (actually several) and the only restriction was that I needed to provide a loading dock for unloading. I used a nearby farm for that and they didn't even charge me.

 

[rancar]

Re: One approach.......

Ron...

If you can find a reputable dealer out of state that will give you a good deal on the tractor you are looking for, then they should also have a rolloff that would be able to transport that tractor and implements to your location for a minimal fee (eg, certain price per mile). If dealers transport the tractor, they'll send a skilled technician who'll unload the tractor and run through basic operational stuff after delivery. Only assumptions I'm working with here is you are likely thinking of shopping over the CA. state line in Nevada and Oregon. Dealers in Washington, Idaho, Utah, or Arizona and any further distant state will likely ship your tractor through long haul trucking or freight transporters and you'll likely pay a much higher transport fee and you may have to do your own unloading. You'll have to run the numbers......determine your cost savings on the tractor purchase and see how much it's offset by the transport fees you'll be paying.

...Bob

 

[stnickstoys]

Many of my customers don't want to pay to have someone haul their tractors and go rent a flat U haul car hauler traier. Seems to be a very well made aluminum trailer and really easy to get a tractor on and off, just need a tow vehicle. Best thing is towing only one direction. Pick it up near the town you are buying the tractor in, load it up and tow it home. Any trailer problems and they come to help you out with another one. That's pretty big if you are traveling some distance. Another option could be to rent a U haul or Budget truck and haul it that way. Just an idea,
Nick

 

[Anonymous Poster]

One issue with one way rentals.

A lot of times there's a HUGE drop off charge to go one way. But it depends on where you are wanting to
drop it. They can tell you that up front.

I've always towed empty as the price to pull it both ways has always been cheaper than for me to drop it.

An empty trailer doesn't consume much gas on the outbound trip.

Enjoy!
Ron

 

[WVBill]

Re: One approach.......

A couple of years ago my Father-in-law gave me his Kubota B6100. Only catch was I had to go pick it up from his house in Thousand Oaks and bring it back here to West Virginia.

I drove my RAM 1500 from WV to CA. I bought a 16 foot 7K GVW trailer from Carson Trailer (picked it up at the factory in Carson, but they have a dealer in Lancaster), loaded up the trailer and headed back. From Thousand Oaks we took 14 up through Palmdale and Lancaster to Mojave and then 58 over to Barstow to pick up Interstate 40. Pretty easy drive. The RAM handled it fine - even up the hill on 40 from Barstow to Flagstaff.

I made it all the way across the country with no tags on the trailer. I couldn't register it or get temp tags in CA 'cause I'm not a CA resident so I just kept the bill-of-sale handy.

The trailering was no problem but I don't think I want to do a 3-day coast-to-coast "Cannonball Run" again. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Bottom line, is that picking it up yourself is do-able.

 

[SageBrush]

Re: One approach.......

The dealer you buy from should have a "Hot Shot" service to refer you to...

If it was me and I only had a Ranger, I would visit my local Hertz, Budget or Penske commercial equipment rental store. Out here Hertz will rent trucks from a one ton dump to a tractor trailer rig... I rent trucks from a heavy equipment store, they usually have the F-650 trucks with 16' flat bed dumps which hauls a bare CUT just fine. Make sure you can get it one way.. Thats what I have done when I needed to haul something to big for my half ton.

But keep in mind the total cost, if the price is close, let some one else do all the work /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It all depends how much time you have and what its worth, I ended paying a little more for my latest tractor, because the hauling part would have cost me more. Not to mention the trouble of putting it on a trailer and hauling it...for me about 140 miles. I did buy out of state /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif I needed it for a job in Alabama, so it worked out rather well.

Light trucks in general:
Right now my personal truck is a Ram 1500 (sold the F-650), I would think twice before trying to haul my L4330/loader and the cutter very far. Any thing over 6k really makes my truck struggle. Remember you'll need a weight distribution set up on a half ton or smaller if you don't want to overload your rear axel to the point of breaking. All my truck will handle on the tonge is about 600 pounds and then its nose high. I can do 5K or so with out the spring bars according to my towing manual, same with my Dad's F-150. Some will say they haul 8K with their F-150 with nothing more than the ball hitch... not safe. Not worth the risk to me and not legal. My little 1500 4X4 is rated for 7400 lbs I think.....when properly equipped. That does not include any thing in the cab like power windows etc... just a stripped truck with a 175 pound driver. Probably dosen't even include a full tank of gas /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif With my truck, anything over 6K and I'm over loaded.... And if I wreck while overloaded because of some dummy in front of me, guess who's at fault?

One correction, my Dad's F-150 (03 model) can tow up to 3K without the weight distribution device. According to his manual.

 

[WVBill]

Re: One approach.......

Absolutely agree.

My little B6100 weighs in at somewhere around 1500 lbs. Add another 1000 for the trailer and 500 for the tiller & box blade and I was probably right around 3,000 lbs - less than half the max rating for my RAM 1500.

 

[SageBrush]

Re: One approach.......

Thats about what my haulmark trailer weighs with an ATV and a dirt bike. Its a good load on my 1500 when I run up to the riding area in WV. Those mountains make me want the cummins 2500 version.

 

[jimg]

I looked into buying out of state and the dealer (Corriher) I was considering had interstate shipping experience. His prices were very reasonable I thought - from NC to NH was about $700 for a tractor w/ loader, snow blower, tiller, box scraper and finish mower. I believe he would locate truckers w/o a load headed in the necessary direction and contract a price. On the other end it was your responsibility to unload. Some trucks had ramps and others didnt. However, I was told that the trucker would 'work w/ you' to get it unloaded. In my case there were a couple businesses very close w/ loading docks and they were willing (for a small fee) to let me use them. jimg

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Here in Colorado, I was in a similar situation to yours. Local dealers not competitive and limited availability of suitable used tractors/too expen$ive. I ended up buying a used JD790 (2000 model w/250 hrs) w/FEL & brush hog in Texas via ebay. Had it checked out by a local JD dealer ($80) before completing the deal. Picked it up with my Chevy Silverado and a 14' tandem trailer (put the brush hog in the pickup truck bed using the FEL). About 1060 miles each way. Total cost for fuel/hotel about $350 + food and alot of driving. I'm very pleased with the tractor and saved significant $ to buy additional attachments. Agree w/RonR good truck-trailer (appropriate to the total tractor/attachment weight)/tires/brakes/chains are essential.

 

[higgy]

Why not rent a u-haul car transport trailer one way. Cheap don't need to own and can get insurance from them. They have trailers in several load capacities, you can even rent the truck from them. Fly in drive out. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[WVBill]

When I made my cross-country run for my tractor I checked into U-haul. Three problems: 1) they only had car hauler trailers with the two "rails" on either side - not a full deck - and my tractor's wheelbase isn't wide enough. 2) U-haul required that I show them the car I was going to haul on their trailer before they would rent it to me. 3) the one-way rental came within a hundred dollars of what it cost me to buy a new trailer in California.

 

[higgy]

Wow, things have changed, or we are more relaxed in Idaho. I have never been asked to show the car that I was hauling.

The last hauler that I did rent from u-haul was a flat bead type. They may have changed to stop this type of stuff.... who knows. As liability laws change, so do our choices and ability todo things. Good idea to give major $$ for spilling coffee on yourself.