What ya think ... can I tow a 2008 Baler 900 miles??

[mfreund]

I passed a round baler on 151 in Wisconsin last week. He had the spindle off of the axle, I bet he now wished he shipped it!

 

[Renze]

There's regular balloon implement tires, and there's speed-rated implement tires - balloon ones aren't so good, if you're close to rated weight. A set of takeoff pickup tires on spare wheels, a spare set of wheel bearings, and I bet you'd be fine. I've seen guys pull wheel-boom sprayers on 18.4-26 lug tires under the tank and imp. ribs on the booms from MT to Oregon before, one claims he got a speeding ticket! Balers and such aren't always weighted like a trailer, though, it might not be the nicest pulling rig around, either - a nice little deckover behind a 3/4 ton would be a fairly pleasant trip.....

The big difference between the wheel-boom sprayer and a baler is that the sprayer is empty, so hardly putting weight on the wheels. The baler is allways loaded. If you check out the truck tire rating chart, lowboy tires may take up to 50% overload at speeds less than 5mph, or 30% at less than 20mph. It has to do with the heat buildup in the carcass of the tire, the deflection of the rolling tire kneads it, which causes internal friction, which generates heat. If the tire is rated for 5000 pounds at 20mph it will be fine at 2500 pounds and 50mph, but if you run it at 5000 pounds and 50mph it will generate so much heat that a blowout is likely.