Grain drill hauling

Might be buying an end-wheel grain drill for the farm, if I can figure out how to get it home.

Towing a 12' wide grain drill 150 miles at 25MPH just doesn't seem like a great idea to me.

I've got a 16' long, 101" wide 7-ton deckover flatbed trailer.

Questions are:

1. How do I load the d**n thing?
2. Even sideways it's going to be over 9' wide, and it doesn't look like the tongue can be removed easily. Now what?

Hauling one can be a challenge . And towing it that far is almost out of the question. Myself i have hauled many grain drills . The way i use to haul them was standing up , if it had a walk board on the back i would remove it and the brackets and place a couple old tires under the box with the tongue pointing to the sky. , If it had press wheels i would either remove or block it up so the press wheels were not touching and chain to the axles and chain the tongue up. Hauling a grain drill with out doing any damage is a feet in rigging and creative thinking . Loading was not and issue along with unloading as at both ends there were loaders with boom poles . So if your buying one off a farm and they do not have a loader that can reach high enough to lift it by the tongue you have your work cut out.

I think loading it is probably the least of my worries now that I think about it.

My trailer has removable ramps that hook over the rub rail, and could be hung anywhere on the trailer. I bet if I pulled up alongside a ridge or put one side into a shallow ditch, I could back the thing right on sideways.

The problem is that tongue sticking way out. These things are 9-10' long with the tongue.

I'll have to look into standing it on end. However, looking at the parts book for the drill, it looks like the tongue may be easier to unbolt than I thought.

That is why i would stand them up with the tongue sticking towards the sky . Taking off the walk board was only a few bolts and like i said about a drill that press wheels blocking up under the box was easier . when you were hauling as much equipment as i did easier was better . Sometimes it was just my 28 foot goose neck and sometimes it was a 50 foot step deck . You learned how to BUILD a load an load it so not to damage what you were loading and hauling . As if you damaged a piece it came out of YOUR pocket . So the less unbolting the less time loading and the less time putting it back together when i got to where i was going . just like buying gravity boxes . we use to remove the box from the gear then pull the tires off the gear remove the tongue and pull the coupling poles then stack three or four boxes inside each other and put the gears in the top box then the coupling poles wet on the deck along with the tongues and stack the tires and wheels where ever they would fit on the load . a small set of torches was a good investment along with a good half inch drive air wrench in the semi's . With the one tone it was all hand work.

Hauled a 12 ft JD 8300 about that distance; have pulled a lot of over-width farm equipment, but didn't even consider it with the drill. We usta haul an older (same width) JD drill every time we moved it; just back the (farm) trailer down in a side ditch and use some 2 x 12s as ramps, but that was on local roads. For the 8300, I carried a full set of wrenches and unbolted the tongue; only took a few minutes to make it 'legal'. Bought it from a dealer and pulled beside his loading platform; borrowed one of his tractors to back it onto the trailer.

I hauled one home a few years ago on my goose neck. I backed it on from the passenger side, parked it a little kiddy cross, took a piece off the tongue, tied it down and came home. It was a little over on both sides, but didn't bother any.

Well if all fails, trailer it home. Long trip but not that bad, especially if taking back roads or wide 2 lanes (4 lanes are even better...lol!!!)I always re-grease, sometimes open up the axles and redo the bearings before I get onto the road, also carry a couple of spare tires on their own rims, tools, air compressor with me. The things I buy are OLD/ antique or USED, so having rebuilt hubs will pay off in the long run.
BTW, if you haul in Kansas, be sure to check with 1206SWMO, he knows ALL the back roads and alleys.....!!
If you have a swather trailer, it might fit the "right way" and no unbolting is needed.
Good luck and keep us posted!! Ralph in OK.

I pulled a 20x8 5100 IH drill nearly 150 miles home with no
problems..It was over 14 ft wide..To start with some of it
was on some pretty narrow roads..Then we hit hiway
13,then I-44,and finally 71...I ran 55 mph with absolutely
no problems...It didnt bounce,sway,or anything..It had real
good tires plus I had a spare with me...Most of the trip was
on 4 lane roads where I could run on the shoulder.That
made it much easier..

On I-44 came up on a Hipo writing someone a ticket..While
I was stopped waiting for traffic to clear he came back to
me...He just wanted to see if I had an escort running
behind me which I did with a strobe light...He said have a
safe trip..

The other alternative is to put your trailer in the ditch and
back it on the trailer....9 ft wide is no problem if you hang
it off the right side,dont cross a scale, and stay off major
roads..


I pulled a 24 ft IH 4500 field culivator home 70 miles with
no problems..It was 16 ft wide..Again I had an escort
behind me..He once had to cut off an old lady that was
going to pass me just as we were coming up to a narrow
bridge..

Wow, on I-44.... I guess you were going above the minimum speed....lol.
Thanks for the input.

i worked for a machinery dealership and we built a
ladder that we would roll the drill on than pull it
up sideways than chain it down flag the toung and put
it in the wind

UPDATE: We did it.

Dad found a nice IH drill about 120 miles from home for a decent price, and we brought it home yesterday.

The drill was about 9-1/2' front to back. We backed it on my trailer sideways, chained it down, and hit the road.

We used Dad's truck because it has Ag plates, and I made him drive so if there were any agricultural loopholes, we'd be completely covered. You got a farmer hauling his own farm equipment with his own agricultural vehicle... Can't get any more "farm" than that.

Only saw one law officer the whole way home, a county Sheriff deputy. He didn't even blink when he saw us.

He says next time we're using my dually.