Gravity wagon size for truck.

Does anyone know the rough weight of an older 125 bushel gravity wagon? I know I should take the empty wagon and get it weighed just seeing if anyone knew here first. Looking to see if my 1500 silverado could handle it for a few trips to the elevator while my grain truck is torn down. Im figuring 60lbs per bushel for beans which gives me 7500lbs for grain alone. My owner manual says its good for 9000lbs pulling. Might be cutting it close?

It'll be fine.

It's braking that is the issue. You can pull it just fine. But just don't plan on stopping when going down a steep slope on loose gravel or something like that. If driving on pavement, you should be OK.

Not sure if you've ever pulled one of these at all. Many gravity wagons don't trail very good at higher speeds. They kind of get to fish tailing on ya. And if you don't slow down, or actually speed up, they actually get progressively worse about it. Bad enough to overturn the wagon. Just keep your speed down, and if it gets to wagging on ya at all, slow down to the point that it quits doing that. Watch for this in your mirrors.

You are right on. Pulling a loaded box with a truck I keep under 15 mph.

A pickup's rated trailer tow capacity wouldn't really apply when talking about a pulling a wagon slowly, something not more than maybe 20 mph. As others have said you're biggest problem will be braking unless your wagon has hydraulic surge brakes. But, in reality your pickup probably won't brake any less effectively than what a lot of tractors would that you see pulling gravity wagons.

What was said about the fishtailing issue is real. Dad took off with one of our smaller wagons with an auger on it empty about had the truck in the ditch and the auger got a big dent to fix in the tube. If your tongue and steering tie rods are loose either fix them or go real slow. Use a tractor if concerned. Plan on a 25 mile trip taking an hour each way plus dumping time.

It'll be just fine as long as you don't have big hills.
AaronSEIA

Speed would be limited to 15 mph, maybe 20 mph. You'd be better off to just use your tractor.

I would not worry about the tow rating of the truck. This is farm work, and the ratings don't apply to farm work.

Really the tow rating applies to "bumper pull" style trailers and takes into account highway speeds. You should not be going any faster than 20-25MPH, and this is a wagon not a trailer.

If anything you should throw several sacks of beans in the back of the truck to add at least 500lbs over the rear axles for traction and braking. These trucks are light on the rear end empty, and the wagon can push you around because there is no tongue weight.

I don't see any problem pulling that around with a half ton. I don't think you'll be going much over 25 mph anyway when loaded. I have a couple wagons that size and I pulled them around allot loaded with shelled corn with a half ton. I later mounted the wagon box onto a trailer and pulled that around allot loaded with a half ton 40-50 mph. My half tons all had the small engine in them too.

My older 125 bushel box on a 7 ton Kory gear weighs 1680 pounds empty. Filling it about level full with only factory sides typically grosses about 10,500 pounds, carrying dry, shelled corn. I use retired pickup truck tires on the gear for a little less bounce over the rough rural roads, and always keep speed at or under 25mph, as permitted by the SMV sign.

My old half ton has made many trips, and my 2500HD handles it even better. The best thing I added was a cushion hitch insert, which quiets the banging of the pin hitch.

The manufacturer's towing rating is for towing a trailer with brakes at highway speeds. Without trailer brakes the pickup brakes are only good to handle the MVWR of the pickup (6500 pounds maximum for a half ton pickup?) for the total combined weight of the pickup and the trailer (maybe 5000 pounds empty weight of pickup leaving only about 1500 pounds maximum for towing a trailer without brakes), if stability is not compromised.

Also check the angle of the wagon tongue when it is hooked to your pickup. Without wagon brakes, if the tongue angles up towards the pickup it will push up on the rear of the pickup whenever the pickup brakes are used. Likewise the tongue of a wagon will push sideways on the back of a pickup much easier than a two wheeled trailer.

Try towing the empty wagon first and also try braking through a turn to determine if you really want to add much more weight to the empty wagon.

(quoted from post at 23:38:28 12/04/22) Does anyone know the rough weight of an older 125 bushel gravity wagon? I know I should take the empty wagon and get it weighed just seeing if anyone knew here first. Looking to see if my 1500 silverado could handle it for a few trips to the elevator while my grain truck is torn down. Im figuring 60lbs per bushel for beans which gives me 7500lbs for grain alone. My owner manual says its good for 9000lbs pulling. Might be cutting it close?

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I m not a farmer, but this could kind of be compared to pickups pulling anhydrous ammonia trailers. The gravity box likely has a higher center of gravity and a shorter wheel base. The ammonia trailer, often see two of these pulled has a longer wheelbase and probably lower center of gravity, plus it s hazardous material. Just making some comparisons. Jim

(quoted from post at 07:28:36 12/05/22) Without trailer brakes the pickup brakes are only good to handle the MVWR of the pickup (6500 pounds maximum for a half ton pickup?) for the total combined weight of the pickup and the trailer

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That's ALSO at highway speeds. We're not talking about highway speeds.

The manufacturer does not provide a rating for towing a gravity box of beans down the road at 25MPH. All the ratings tell you here is, "You're on your own."

One 125 bushel wagon of beans behind a 1500 pickup is relatively low risk compared to what some farmers do.

Back in the day, I once pulled a loaded gravity wagon with a Chevy 3500 crew cab dually, and I just went a half mile across the farm because the dually was sitting there and a tractor wasn't. .

The biggest issue was traction. Even on a dirt field road, the dually spun a lot. A 4wd many have been different.

Couple things to consider.

1) A normal bumper / Reese hitch trailer has the added benefit of tounge weight to add to the rear axle. Farm wagon pivoting tounge doesn't add that weight. Some ballast in your bed will help keep the tires on the ground during braking.

2) Braking is a problem. I've pulled brake-less trailers weighing 6-8000 lbs with my 1/2 ton truck. Takes more distance to stop on pavement, for sure. On gravel, the trailer can push you sideways and jack knife the rig.

3) A normal bumper pull trailer is a rigid frame to the hitch. A farm wagon has a pivot at the front axle that, when being pushed upon (like during braking of the truck), can pivot & radically turn the trailer in the wrong direction.

Proceed cautiously.......

For years I pulled a wagon with that size bee on it behind a 1974 Chevy half ton truck with a 350 and aytomsatic. I would load the truck with about 60 bushels and put the filled wagon behind, About 10 mile one way. No problem but I had extra heavy springs un der that truck. And speed limit is 25 MPH on wagons unless licened as trailers with licence tags on each wagons. And truck would not shift into high gear untill you were over 20 MPH so needed to keep speeds between 20 and 25 MPH to stay within the law. I have seen plenty of wagons loaded full being pulled at 35+ MPH and wipping all over the road and driver not paying any atention to the wagon taking up 2 lanes of the road. Did not have the hills like some of you have, Remember trucks of that time did not have as big as trucks of today, just had factory sixe of 2:15-75x15 tires. The 70 GMC had only a 307 engine in it and did not have the extra spribgs under it and just the standard bickup bed so did not usually load that truck when pulling the wagons loaded. I have seen plentu of tractors pulling multi numbers of giant wagond that thw wagons took about more than the width of a 2 lane road. Now I very seldon see anything except semi tractor-trailer with 3 of those outfits setting on the road wating for the grain car to fill them.

I pull 7500 hundred pound travel trailer with my 2018 Silverado 1500. It handles it very well at 60mph. I believe that I can pull anything if I have traction. Use lower gears and slower speed. I used to pull 6 tons of grain with my 23hp Ford 8N. My concern with pulling the wagon is braking. (in 1958, at dummy age 15, only the left wheel brake worked on the 8N)

Keep engine rpms up by using lower gear. Watch your temperature gage. If it starts going over 200 degrees use a lower gear. The engine can handle it, the trans hates heat.

Excellent suggestion.