Rule of thumb for backing on the trailer.

BarnyardEngineering

Well-known Member
Location
Rochester, NY
For driving on the trailer, the rule of thumb is to center the rear wheels of a tractor over the trailer axles.

Obviously if you did that backing on, you would be dangerously tail-heavy, if the tractor even fit on the trailer.

Roughly where do you park the tractor when you back on? I've hauled my Super H backed-on but it's so light that it doesn't really matter where I put it as long as it's mostly ahead of the axles.

Thinking of trading my old deckover for a new super-wide lowboy with drive-on fenders. Obviously for the tractors that won't fit between the fenders, I'll have to back them on with the wheels ahead of the fenders.
 

Bumper or goose????

I hook up and measure hitch height, load till I get a couple inches of drop then you can fine tune things.

My M on my goose has the front wheels just short of the dovetail to keep from overloading the truck when backed on.
 
(quoted from post at 13:15:29 07/10/18) Bumper pull. Would like a gooseneck, but I also have a small slide-in camper in the truck sometimes when I'm towing.

Same basic theory, just easier to overload the truck.

The rear is the heavy part so maybe start with the wheels over front axle and weigh it out or look at having some squat on the truck.

Most important to have tongue weight hence the measurements I take so I know I have tongue weight.
 
When I hauled my '51 Farmall M with Stan-Hoist loader, bumper pull 12,500# capacity Corn-Pro trailer, no
fluid or wheel weights on back of tractor, the rear wheels were just starting between the fenders on the
trailer. Guy who stored the tractor and we loaded outside his Morton building told me where a nice 80 ft
long platform scale was in town and I axled out my truck & trailer. He had hauled livestock for many
years, and knew it was important how things were loaded. I had about 700-800# on the hitch, rest of the
tractor weight on the trailer axles. Towed like a dream! When I pulled out of the guy's yard I knew I
was heavy on the hitch, moved the tractor back 5-6 inches when I got to my Brother-in-Law's where I
parked for the night.

Back when I drove semi we very seldom got to Live Load, always drop and hook to a different trailer you
didn't see loaded. Always best to weigh your wagon, make sure your loaded properly on all your axles.
 
Depends on trailer length, axle
placement and what you are hauling.
I would start by putting enough
weight on truck to make it squat
about the same as it does when
pulling on. Then fine adjust from
there if needed. Too little weight
on truck and the tail will try and
wag the dog. Too much is a horrible
rough ride and possible too light on
steer axle. In other words: trial and
error
 

I think that your rule of thumb calls for a very broad thumb. I do like Kevin and watch for the drop of the back of the truck. You may want to cut a stick and make two marks on it that you can see from the tractor seat and lean it against the back of the truck.
 
I try to estimate where the center of gravity is on the tractor and then try to put the center of gravity a little ahead of the last trailer axle. Adjust from there to get the desired tongue weight. Most bare 2WD tractors carry around 1/3 of their weight on the front axle, so the CG is around 1/3 of the distance between the axles ahead of the rear axle. It helps for me to make a mental note of where the CG works out to be: center of pulley, back of clutch housing, under the fuel cap, etc.
 
It all depends on the tractor and the trailer. I haul an allis wd and can put the front tires on the dovetail or the hitch against the crossbar on the gooseneck and it pulls well. I also at times back the allis on as far forward as it will go and back a farmall 300 on for tractor pulls and it works well.
 
I was told when up on the trailer go till the bumper of the tow vehicle drops approx. 3" which I have been doing for a lot of years hauling our 7500# pulling tractor. It works great for anything I haul with our 14K lb deckover.
 
I have a 25 ft gooseneck, a 20 ft gooseneck and a 18 ft bumper pull. I rarely haul just one tractor. I pull the front one on and back the rear one on any of the trailers. I always load the heavy tractor on front and the light one in the rear, pump the air bags on the truck up to 40 psi. and roll out. Never had a problem.
 
(quoted from post at 08:59:49 07/13/18) I have a 25 ft gooseneck, a 20 ft gooseneck and a 18 ft bumper pull. I rarely haul just one tractor. I pull the front one on and back the rear one on any of the trailers. I always load the heavy tractor on front and the light one in the rear, pump the air bags on the truck up to 40 psi. and roll out. Never had a problem.

Welding man, I have a tendem dual 28 ft trailer. that I haul behind my F350 SRW. I haul a Ford 9000 and a Ford 960. Should I load the heavy one on the front?
 
(quoted from post at 18:42:29 07/13/18)
(quoted from post at 08:59:49 07/13/18) I have a 25 ft gooseneck, a 20 ft gooseneck and a 18 ft bumper pull. I rarely haul just one tractor. I pull the front one on and back the rear one on any of the trailers. I always load the heavy tractor on front and the light one in the rear, pump the air bags on the truck up to 40 psi. and roll out. Never had a problem.

Welding man, I have a tendem dual 28 ft trailer. that I haul behind my F350 SRW. I haul a Ford 9000 and a Ford 960. Should I load the heavy one on the front?

I'm curious how this works as well? I wind up tongue heavy and trailer swaying when I try it but i back both on
 
What does the 9000 Weigh? I haul my Cockshutt 570 weighted up to 10,000# and 8N on the rear of my 25 footer with no problem. As I said, I have air bags on the truck. The extra 3 feet on your trailer could get you a little tongue heavy if you load too far forward. I like tongue weight. I don't like the tail wagging the dog and I have a 2WD truck, I need the traction.
 
(quoted from post at 05:35:04 07/14/18) What does the 9000 Weigh? I haul my Cockshutt 570 weighted up to 10,000# and 8N on the rear of my 25 footer with no problem. As I said, I have air bags on the truck. The extra 3 feet on your trailer could get you a little tongue heavy if you load too far forward. I like tongue weight. I don't like the tail wagging the dog and I have a 2WD truck, I need the traction.

My 9000 weighs 11,500. For a long time I thought that I needed the tongue weight and needed to avoid the "tail wagging the dog effect". Then I found that it depended on the type of trailer and where your trailer axles are. My trailer has the axles under the back so that is where my weight needs to be. The smaller tractor, at 4,000 lbs at the front supplies plenty of weight on the front for both handling and traction. There is no "tail wagging the dog effect because there is virtually no weight behind the trailer axles This scenario is the same as most 18 wheel tractor trailers.
 
(quoted from post at 04:10:41 07/16/18) The same, I watch the back of the truck and get it to where it is the same level as with no trailer.

Rex, I need a little tongue weight so I pull ahead (or back up as the case may be) until I have the back 2-3 inches lower than with no trailer.
 
Centering the rear wheels of tractor driven on does not work on all 3 trailers I have had. Could not even get tractor that far forward. Best setting is rear wheels a little back of rear trailer axle. And I do have to run the load leveling hitch. To try that centering rear wheels over trailer axle would make front end of trailer so overloaded the springs on truck would be bottomed out. Even with heavy duty springs. You can tell if properly balasnced if when you pull tractor on it changes the balance point from heavy on back to heavy on front and possible 6" or so forward of the balance point is proper. I see so many trucks pulling a trailer on road with the front wheels hardly touching ground and trailer hitch about draging. I don't see how they make it to their destination without wrecking. You need some weight transfered to front wheels of truck and putting axle of tractor over trailer axle you cannot get that.
 
(quoted from post at 10:58:30 07/16/18) Centering the rear wheels of tractor driven on does not work on all 3 trailers I have had. Could not even get tractor that far forward. [b:b92e2ce2a8]Best setting is rear wheels a little back of rear trailer axle.[/b:b92e2ce2a8] And I do have to run the load leveling hitch. To try that centering rear wheels over trailer axle would make front end of trailer so overloaded the springs on truck would be bottomed out. Even with heavy duty springs. You can tell if properly balasnced if when you pull tractor on it changes the balance point from heavy on back to heavy on front and possible 6" or so forward of the balance point is proper. I see so many trucks pulling a trailer on road with the front wheels hardly touching ground and trailer hitch about draging. I don't see how they make it to their destination without wrecking. You need some weight transfered to front wheels of truck and putting axle of tractor over trailer axle you cannot get that.

Umm.....I think you might have missed the title of thread as it is about loading a tractor back end first on the trailer.
 
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This combo results in 2800 pounds of tongue weight and weighs about 24,000 pounds all together. Three front weight bracket is about 6 inches from the rear hitch of the farmall
 

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