Wheelbase of hay wagon in relation to backing.

draftx · Apr 30, 2015

I am worlds worst when it comes to backing a hay wagon. Are the longer wheel based ones easier or harder to back. This summer I am going to use the frontend loader and hope to make it faster.

wvfarmboy · Apr 30, 2015

shorter the harder to back. ever try to bach a hay rake with dolly wheels?

paul · Apr 30, 2015

Longer is better.

Tight good tongue helps a lot.

Follow the back wheels, sight along the side of the trailer for aiming, not so much on the front wheels, and start turning the other way long before you need to.

I back my bale basket with baler on tractor up around the silo.... That's a real treat....

Paul

Traditional Farmer · Apr 30, 2015

You have to watch the front steering of the wagon and don't over compensate if the back starts to go 'off course'.Its easier to back at a slight angle than going straight back because then you can see exactly where the wagon is headed.Once you get the hang of it you can back a wagon into a space you can't pull into.

hd6gtom · Apr 30, 2015

It doesn't make any difference, take it out on the back 40 and practice. You will get the hang of it.

Mike(NEOhio) · Apr 30, 2015

I find longer ones are easier and I do a lot better if nobody is there to watch.

D beatty · Apr 30, 2015

I have a hitch on the front of my 450 that I use for backing wagons up no matter what there length. You don't have to twist your neck around to see where your going.

Tx Jim · Apr 30, 2015

(quoted from post at 15:53:43 04/30/15) It doesn't make any difference,

I disagree longer wheelbase & longer tongue is easier to back. I agree practice makes it easier but that applies to everything in life.

PJH · Apr 30, 2015

Front hitch is the answer.

I admire anyone who can back a hay wagon in a predictable manner.

When I was in high school, I was helping an old guy pick up hay, and a nasty storm cloud was building in the southwest. We scrambled and got the last of the bales on the wagon and lit out for the barn. When we stopped, the old man jumped off of the tractor and ordered me on it to back into the alley of his old hay barn. Big rain drops, strange tractor, manual steering and a strange wagon with sloppy running gear, I hit the hole perfect the first time. Never been able to do it since. Funny thing was, he told everybody in the neighborhood that I was the best wagon backer in the county. Yeah, and I'm an astronaut too.

Jeff M NY · Apr 30, 2015

Yes those are fun. If I ever have to back one of those up, I unhook it and push it backward by hand. Thank God they roll easy.

JD630-2520 · Apr 30, 2015

Practice makes perfect. I have backed a hay wagon with power steering and w/o power steering and foot clutch and hand clutch. It helps to see the front tires of the wagon and being at an angle also helps. Backing a wagon is almost like chess, think one step ahead.

notjustair · Apr 30, 2015

Speaking of dolly wheels, the 750 no-till drill with dolly wheels is a real treat. I had to back it a mile down the road once. I was not happy.

A front hitch or a small vehicle is the key. Also, don't let it get out of hand. Stop every few turns and back up (if pushing it in) to get the wheels straight on the wagon and vehicle. Don't over correct and use a tricycle tractor. They really can do wonders with a wagon. I hate backing four wheel wagons, but I have seven of them between hay wagons and gravity carts. It gets easier but I still dread it.

JMS/.MN · Apr 30, 2015

Longer is easier....just compare a gravity box to an 18 foot hay wagon. Geometry is in your favor with longer. Key is not letting it get too far out of line...many small corrections. I"ve had plenty of experience, backing chopper boxes behind the chopper on field corners, as well as hooking loaded ones together in the field. TG for extendable hitches. Skidloader with a hole in the bucket works well for backing anything. I even made a 5 foot long hitch pin so I can pin them without leaving the seat.

pcsaw · May 1, 2015

Get a crawler makes it easy as eating pie

Charlie M · May 1, 2015

When I was younger I could back up anything - trucks using mirrors into tight corners, hay wagons using a tractor with a wide front end, all of it. Now in my old age its a tough job - neck doesn't have the flexibility for turning and backing, eye sight isn't what it used to be. New pickups and cars are almost impossible with the rounded of back ends and the way mirrors are. Backing up does require some practice. Unfortunately there are people that can't go forward very well either.

Leroy · May 1, 2015

I don't think the wheel base makes any difference. You take the same wagon with it set as a short wheel base and try it then change to a long wheel base and keep the front axle the same place under the bed just moving the back axle and I do not think you will find any differences. Where most of you would be getting the difference is with one brand against a different one and the style of steering each has. The geometery in there is more important than the wheelbase. I know a fifth wheel style steering will back different than a auto guide steering. It comes from the pivit point for the toung in middle of axle or several inches in front.

Shetland Sheepdog · May 1, 2015

I I find that the distance from rear axle to drawbar pin makes a big difference because it makes a difference in how much you need to steer the vehicle to move the wagon tongue from side to side to steer the wagon. Easiest with front hitch on tractor, a li'l more difficult with rear drawbar on tractor, hardest with trailer hitch on pickup!

Ken Macfarlane · May 1, 2015

Lot easier than backing a wagon behind a square baler I'll tell ya.

DLMKA · May 1, 2015

I don't know about wheelbase but having good, tight gear and tongue help a LOT. I used to be able to do it a bit as a kid on a farm. We moved to the city and never had to back one for 20+ years until I bought my own little place. I think the neighbor across the road gets enjoyment of watching me work at getting gravity boxes backed into the shed, probably some chuckles too.

I am getting better though.

I have a tarp over the top of the gravity box to keep weather and chickens out of it (full of corn for feed) and that tarp hangs down the sides and I can't see the back wheels. If I take the tarp off so I can see what's going on I do a lot better.

Traditional Farmer · May 1, 2015

You see better with a front hitch but you can't work the wagon tongue nearly as quick and as much as you can backing up.

D beatty · May 1, 2015

I can back wagon into where I want them to go but I can do it faster with wagon hocked on the front of tractor because I can see where I'am going and I can swing that tongue back and forth fast than what the drawbar will.

Hay maker2 · May 3, 2015

The shorter the distance between the front and rear wheels of the wagon will result in a faster responce time of how the wagon moves. Either way its not to hard it the wagon in not worn out. In which I mean the wagon toung. If you pick the toung up and move it from side to side, how far can you move it before the wheels actually turn? Also, if you make a front hitch on the tractor you will not regret it. Not only can you see what you are doing alot easier, but the responce time (from when you turn the tractor wheels) is night and day faster.

Tom from Ontario · May 4, 2015

Take it slow and as said, many small moves. I hate front hitches, you've got to have someone else there to get hooked and unhooked, plus if you have a big wagon on a hill, it shoves the front of the tractor around, and parking brakes don't work for beans holding a tractor backwards.

ASG · May 4, 2015

Backing a rack behind a baler isn't all that bad if you have a hydraulic tongue as it give you more motion.

ASG · May 4, 2015

Leroy is mostly right. The brand of wagon makes more difference than the length of the wheel base. The shorter the wheel base the quicker the wagon will change angle to the tractor; after you get too long, it is difficult to manuever around objects and sticks out further into the alleyway in the shed. Most nights when I finish bailing I back all of the racks into the shed. Hook onto rack, pull in front of shed (door in endwall), back around corner through doorway and into corner in back perpendicular to sidewall. Much easier to back around a corner since you can see where the tail of the wagon is going.

I would agree that it is easier to see with a hitch on the front and would work if close to shed door. 7th forward gets across the yard a lot faster than 2 reverse in a 3020. I might be biased since backing the wagon in is second nature for me, I just need the OWMBO to whatch so that I do not back into something. Personally, X ray vision would be more beneficial than the front hitch.

Nate V. IA · May 6, 2015

That happened to me this weekend, some stranger stopped to help me hook two barge wagons together. I backed right up to it with him watching, he made a comment about how good a job I did, I replied "sometimes I even impress myself." I have to be able to see the front tires on the wagon or it'll take me all day to back one in the shed.

shunkfarm · May 7, 2015

I seen my Grandad back two wagons hooked together into the barn before. This was using the front hitch on a Row Crop tractor.

I was embarrassed trying to back a 4 wheel manure spreader into the barn and tight against one wall while he was watching! I was not quite a teen yet in my defense. :lol:
J

Wheelbase of hay wagon in relation to backing.

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Well-known Member

Well-known Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads