Ford 3000 + Silverado 1500?

Dchilds

Member
Can a 3000 be safely towed with a half ton Chevy Silverado? I have a 2008 2wd with the 5.3. I would be hauling a '75 3000 and brush hog on non-incline type roads in Texas. The tires are currently ballasted but I'll probably be replacing them and don't have plans to re ballast.

The trailer would be of the "car hauler" variety with tandem 3500# axles and brakes. It's 16' with a 2' dovetail = 18' total. Has heavy metal ramps.

Interested in you alls feedback.
 
With the tires ballasted a Ford 3000 tractor will weigh in around 6,100 lbs. + bush hog. Your trailer most likely will weigh about 2,000 +
putting you at at around 8,000 + lbs. Two 3,500 lb. axle trailer is rated 7,000 gross. You could get away with it running back roads.
 
I see similar setups as that quite
frequently. Just be mindful of what
your doing and doing it with. Pay
attention and be careful. Don't try
to run 75 mph with it.
 

A 16 foot trailer is not long enough. You will not be able to get the tractor and mower positioned correctly to balance the load. You will have too much weight on the truck, or too little, and an unbalanced load can get very interesting (and dangerous) very quickly at highway speeds.
 
(quoted from post at 06:20:03 11/28/16)
A 16 foot trailer is not long enough. You will not be able to get the tractor and mower positioned correctly to balance the load. You will have too much weight on the truck, or too little, and an unbalanced load can get very interesting (and dangerous) very quickly at highway speeds.

It's technically 18' of wood. 2' is just dovetailed for easier loading.
 
(quoted from post at 17:19:46 11/26/16)
The trailer would be of the "car hauler" variety with tandem 3500# axles and brakes. It's 16' with a 2' dovetail = 18' total. Has heavy metal ramps.

Interested in you alls feedback.

Brakes on 2 wheels or on all 4???
 
I have to vote no. As D Beatty calculated you will have over 8000 pounds on a trailer rated for 7000 pounds. Not to say I have not done it, but I would not now.
 
(quoted from post at 06:29:16 11/28/16)
(quoted from post at 06:20:03 11/28/16)
A 16 foot trailer is not long enough. You will not be able to get the tractor and mower positioned correctly to balance the load. You will have too much weight on the truck, or too little, and an unbalanced load can get very interesting (and dangerous) very quickly at highway speeds.

It's technically 18' of wood. 2' is just dovetailed for easier loading.

But the 2 feet of dovetail cannot be used for carrying weight. Essentially, you have a 16' trailer.
 
He would not have anything setting on dovetail. Tractor will take up 10 1/2 foot of floor and that leaves 5 1/2 foot for mower. You could set
mower on floor of trailer and let the tail of mower hang out over dovetail. Dovetail can carry weight just find out the limits of dovetail.
The big problem might be to much weight on tongue of trailer and truck.
 
(quoted from post at 16:49:00 11/28/16) He would not have anything setting on dovetail. Tractor will take up 10 1/2 foot of floor and that leaves 5 1/2 foot for mower. You could set
mower on floor of trailer and let the tail of mower hang out over dovetail. Dovetail can carry weight just find out the limits of dovetail.
The big problem might be to much weight on tongue of trailer and truck.

As a point of clarification, I haven't bought the car hauler yet. I was eying the one I mentioned in my post but it has since sold. I'm open to a true 18' trailer.

No one has said anything about pulling this type of rig with the half ton truck that I have. I take that as a positive since getting a trailer is less painful than a new truck.

Another thing - the tractor is really only going to take a couple of trips a year. Once in the spring from house to farm, again in the early winter from farm to house for maintenance/repairs. The brush hog and any other accumulated implements will not ever leave the farm so it's really just the tractor being transported.
 
(quoted from post at 11:36:41 11/29/16)
(quoted from post at 16:49:00 11/28/16) He would not have anything setting on dovetail. Tractor will take up 10 1/2 foot of floor and that leaves 5 1/2 foot for mower. You could set
mower on floor of trailer and let the tail of mower hang out over dovetail. Dovetail can carry weight just find out the limits of dovetail.
The big problem might be to much weight on tongue of trailer and truck.


No one has said anything about pulling this type of rig with the half ton truck that I have. I take that as a positive since getting a trailer is less painful than a new truck.

So is the truck rated for your proposed loads?
 
(quoted from post at 08:56:47 11/29/16)
(quoted from post at 11:36:41 11/29/16)
(quoted from post at 16:49:00 11/28/16) He would not have anything setting on dovetail. Tractor will take up 10 1/2 foot of floor and that leaves 5 1/2 foot for mower. You could set
mower on floor of trailer and let the tail of mower hang out over dovetail. Dovetail can carry weight just find out the limits of dovetail.
The big problem might be to much weight on tongue of trailer and truck.


No one has said anything about pulling this type of rig with the half ton truck that I have. I take that as a positive since getting a trailer is less painful than a new truck.

So is the truck rated for your proposed loads?

I've found that it's rated for 6,600lbs. There seems to be some variation in that number, though.

Is NOT ballasting the tires a dumb idea? Using a 6' tandem disc is probably the hardest work this tractor will see in the typically dryish soil.
 
Your truck's receiver is only rated to 500lbs of tongue weight and 5000lbs of trailer weight without a weight distributing hitch. It is likely your trailer will be 8000lbs with over 1000lbs of tongue weight.

At best you will be maxxed out, but more than likely you will be exceeding multiple ratings on the truck.

I'm not going to say you can or can't tow it. I'll leave that decision up to you. Just be aware of all the factors. My only thought on the situation is the shorter the distance and the slower the speeds, the more you can "get away with."
 
The shipping weight was 3,700 lbs, and ballasted they could weigh 6,910 lbs. He said it was ballasted and had bush hog on it.
 
Can it do it ? yea. Should you? I've done worse. When I first got into pulling, I used to haul my 1950 Farmall H that weighed 3800# with no one on it, with about 2700# of weights on a 7000gvw trailer. Trailer had to weight 1500#.
So that was just about 8000# on a trailer that shouldn't have a loaded weight over 7000# and the icing on the cake is that it had no working brakes.

And I would haul it with my Ram 2500 that had a camper in the bed that probably exceeded the payload by 1000lbs.
I've since smartened up. Luckily nothing ever happened.

If you had to move the tractor short distances across flat roads I would do it. But I suggest you either get a 10,000gvw trailer or don't go far.
The chevy should be fine if you have a 10,000 gvw trailer and a weight distributing hitch.
 
The dry weight is around 3,700lbs. and fluid to tires ( 13.6X 26) that's another 800 lbs.= 4,500 lbs.. The Bush Hog will add another 800 to 900 lbs. putting it in around 5,300 lbs.. We had several in neighbor and they all added rear wheel weight. I never said it weighed 6,900 lbs I said it could weigh between 3,700 lbs. and 6,900 lbs. and hitch on 2 wheel drive 1/2 ton pickup truck is not rated heavy enough for tractor-bush hog and trailer that size.
 

The Chevy 1500, Ford F150, etc. are very nice for general use, grocery getter vehicles, but if you want a truck that is a truck, and will tow a decent load, you need to move on up to the 3/4 ton, 2500, F250 trucks.
 
You will be in good shape especially if ya
don't get in a hurry and having trailer
breaks you shouldn't have an issue at all.
I hauled my H FARMALL with my 97 1500. No I
wouldn't wanna do it much but if I had a
trailer with breaks it would be a different
story. And surely that H weighs more than
your 3000. And your newer 5.3 with a
factory tow/haul package with outpull my
old 350. You probably have all disc breaks
on your truck which will also stop better.
I know they went back to drum on the back
breaks but don't know what year exactly.
 
(quoted from post at 09:39:37 12/08/16) You will be in good shape especially if ya
don't get in a hurry and having trailer
breaks you shouldn't have an issue at all.
I hauled my H FARMALL with my 97 1500. No I
wouldn't wanna do it much but if I had a
trailer with breaks it would be a different
story. And surely that H weighs more than
your 3000. And your newer 5.3 with a
factory tow/haul package with outpull my
old 350. You probably have all disc breaks
on your truck which will also stop better.
I know they went back to drum on the back
breaks but don't know what year exactly.

Shipping weight of a bare bones Farmall H is under 3,200 pounds.
 
I looked it up on tractor data.com and a
3000 is 3700 and H is 3850 but I do
understand shipping weight is different.i
honestly didn't think those 2 tractors were
that close in weight. I figured an H would
be quite a bit heavier.
 

Is the distance too far to drive
You could waste an hour loading and unloading. Or drive 12 miles in the same time
 

I hauled a 3930 with loaded tires, roll bar, steel canopy and a extra 400lb in weights from Birmingham, Al to north central Ky, 420 miles with a 2001 Z71 1500.
Had it on a 16ft goose neck 6000lb car trailer but that put the tongue weight over the truck axle for better weight distribution and I had added some overload springs to the rear suspension.

Truck handled it fine but 1500's have a light trans (4L60E in mine) that don't hold up well to towing heavy loads.
I'd look for a 18-20ft 7-9000lb trailer, add some helper springs and a good hitch, then take the fluid out of the rear tires.
Also if you don't have a trailer brake controller, get one.
 
Go with air bags instead of helper springs. You can drop air pressure when not pulling load and truck ride like normal.
 

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