When hauling a cab tractor, what's the chance a rock breaks a cab window?

[alexpops]

Seems a flatbed lumber tarp & rubber bungies would offer the protection needed & be useful for other hauling. Maybe foamboard insulation if only tractor windshield is a concern.

 

[Paystar]

When I haul my RTV cab model I load it backwards and use the factory threaded tabs on the back of the cab to bolt on a sheet of plywood.

So maybe with your tractor if you are worried, tape a couple layers of thick cardboard?

 

[2manyrocks]

Cardboard could be a practical choice if it doesn't rain. Wouldn't do it with duct tape because the sun will bake the adhesive on pretty quickly. Gaffer's tape is designed not to leave a sticky residue although I have only used it indoors and not sure if the hot sun would make it leave a mess behind anyway.

 

[Paystar]

Or just get one of those full width mudflaps for the rear of your truck like the RV'ers use.

As far as taking a rock from another vehicle going by, that is like trying to buy a winning lotto ticket. You just never know, but the odds are low.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I'm involved in hauling a cab tractor 1000 miles over interstate roads. What are the chances a rock will pick up and break a window?

Another vote for shrink wrap and bubble wrap. Make sure the doors are locked too. I run a strap from handle to handle just in case.

 

[ddbackhoe]

I now have a custom made windshield protector that I put on EVERY time I haul, no matter how far. There is a place that makes them to fit your specific tractor. If I remember correctly, they cost me about $250 each. I have 2, and I bought them several years ago.

got a picture or name of the company by chance?

 

[CH4Ohio]

I think Paystar hit on the main point above. It's more likely that a rock will come from your own vehicle if you don't have proper mudflaps or if you have duals that are likely to throw rocks. If you feel like you're properly shielded from your tow vehicle, I'd just tow it and not worry about.

I still wouldn't tailgate any muddy flatbeds hauling construction equipment or dump trucks . . . but I back off from them regardless of what I'm driving.

I hauled a tractor from Mississippi to Central Ohio and didn't even think about this. Thanks -- something else to worry about . . .

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

All of my hauls have been local and short ones. I've been fortunate so far to not get a rock strike on my cab. I did get struck by a rock on my truck windshield once, from a cement mixer truck that was coming from the oncoming side. He hit a pothole in the road as he went by me, and several hunks of dried concrete hit the front of my truck. One put a large chip in my windshield glass that started growing a crack before I could slow down and pull over. I hopped out and checked the tractor and the glass on it was fine.

Just lucky so far.

 

[John0829]

I would just haul it and not worry. Things sometimes happen when hauling equipment that cannot be helped. Years ago my company truck was being hauled on a drop deck lowboy to be used as flagger for a piece of equipment we were picking up, the glass was broken out of the pickup by something. Never did figure out what it was, there was no way it could have come off the truck pulling the lowboy unless a rock figured out how to make at least two 90 degree turns around the truck flaps and front bracing of the drop deck. As the old saying goes "Sh*# happens"

 

[Torvy]

Seems the solution(s) is cheap and easy. Only reason not to protect the glass seems to be laziness, imho. So i suppose if you are like me, cheap and lazy, it is a way to find out which you are more of. Turns out i am cheaper than i am lazy, but it is a close race.

Of course, distance and road traffic matter. You may get More hits from rocks you kick up yourself, but those coming from other traffic hit harder. They almost always seem to chip or break something. If taking shirt trips on rural blacktop, you may not catch too many.