Weight distribution on trailer

I am going to haul a farmall A on a 10K 18 ft. Four wheel car hauller trailer. Truck is a silverado 1/2 ton. My question is how do I load the
tractor on the trailer to insure I get the right distribution of weight?

(quoted from post at 04:31:55 08/20/15) I am going to haul a farmall A on a 10K 18 ft. Four wheel car hauller trailer. Truck is a silverado 1/2 ton. My question is how do I load the
tractor on the trailer to insure I get the right distribution of weight?

Click to expand...

The tractor needs to be loaded facing forward. The rear wheels of the tractor should be located directly between the two trailer axles. This will give the best weight distribution and the smoothest ride.

When I was shopping for a trailer one dealer told me to position the tractor so it drops the ball connection on bumper hitch 2 inches.

rear axle of tractor centered between trailer wheels is usually right.

(quoted from post at 12:31:55 08/20/15) I am going to haul a farmall A on a 10K 18 ft. Four wheel car hauller trailer. Truck is a silverado 1/2 ton. My question is how do I load the
tractor on the trailer to insure I get the right distribution of weight?

Click to expand...

The above two recommendations are accurate. But with any load I haul, if the truck feels like its getting "thrown around" then you need to move the load forward. You want it just forward enough to not have that feeling. Too far forward will squat the poop out of your truck and probably overload your hitch.

Edit; although a Farmall A on a relatively big trailer like that is easy to get right. I once hauled a 41 Farmall A with a Henderson loader, a sickle mower and wheel weights on a 3500 gvw trailer 1 1/4th hours drive. That was a tough load....

(quoted from post at 03:21:27 08/21/15)

(quoted from post at 12:31:55 08/20/15) I am going to haul a farmall A on a 10K 18 ft. Four wheel car hauller trailer. Truck is a silverado 1/2 ton. My question is how do I load the
tractor on the trailer to insure I get the right distribution of weight?

Click to expand...

The above two recommendations are accurate. But with any load I haul, if the truck feels like its getting "thrown around" then you need to move the load forward. You want it just forward enough to not have that feeling. Too far forward will squat the poop out of your truck and probably overload your hitch.

Edit; although a Farmall A on a relatively big trailer like that is easy to get right. I once hauled a 41 Farmall A with a Henderson loader, a sickle mower and wheel weights on a 3500 gvw trailer 1 1/4th hours drive. That was a tough load....

Click to expand...

I hauled a Farmall M on a 7,000 pound car trailer. The rear wheels of the tractor would not fit between the fenders of the trailer, so I just drove the tractor on as far as it would go and then chained it down. Only had about 15 miles to travel, and quickly learned that about 25 miles per hour was fast enough. We made it, but I'll NEVER do that again. That one little episode was what convinced me to get a deck-over gooseneck and a 1 ton truck.

All these experts have given good advice. But to load a tractor on a trailer so it pulls well you need 10 to 15% of the trailer weight on the trailer hitch. Where it's positioned on the trailer deck makes no difference as long as it's on the top side of the deck. So say you have 6000# on the trailer, you need 600 to 900# on the hitch. Without knowing the details about your half ton truck you may be close to over loaded with an empty 10,000# cap. Trailer, and with a 2500-3500# tractor on the trailer you will be loaded! Make sure you have good trailer brakes and a good brake controller!

Best way to assure that is to scale your load before you start your trip. With the tractor loaded & chained down, (1)weigh steering axle of tow vehicle, (2)then weight both axles of tow vehicle, (3)then raise ball coupler or gooseneck off the truck's hitch and weigh again. (4)Then weight the entire truck, trailer, & load.

Subtract #3 from #4 to get trailer weight. Subtract #3 from #2 to get tongue weight. Tongue weight should be 10-15% of trailer weight. Move tractor and re-chain until tongue weight is between 10-15%.

Rustyfarmall way below has it right. I've hauled the exact tractor you are talking about on a 20' 10,000# trailer with my '99 Suburban. The trailer itself has enough hitch weight empty. Balance the tractor centered between axles and let the trailer do the hauling. When I load any heavier tractor, I watch my hitch and when I see it go down 1-1.5" that's where i stop. Hauled a Massey Ferguson 50 with 38" rears loaded and some wheel weights last week with it. Hauled real smooth at 55-60mph and stopped sure and straight. You won't even know that "A" is on there.

Thanks for the info, hauled the tractor 150 miles last week and all went well. Coming back empty, I could feel the back start to sway around 65 mph. Kept the speed at 60 and it pulled straight . Will be hauling an F-12 next week. Tractor is slightly lighter so I don't expect any problems.

Right or wrong, I face them forward and place the rear axle of the tractor centered of trailer axles.