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Trailering Reality Check

L

LarryBud

Member
I'm searching the sales pages for a tractor ( about 50 hp ).

I've been thinking I'd retrieve it once purchased with my truck and trailer. I have a 18', 7000 lb car hauler ( with operational brakes ) with a load capacity of 5100 lbs. My F150 rates out as able to haul 7200 lbs. The trailer is 2600 lbs, so, I should be able to haul a 4600 lb tractor. Many I'm looking at will be under this benchmark.

Now, if there a mower, wheel weights, loader, blade, etc. this will be a issue. Also, I have 82" between the wheel wells. This may be a problem depending on the model. Do I prepared the spin the rear wheels in to fit the trailer?

I'd really like to be able to make a cash offer and haul away the merchandise. Things will get complicated if I need to pay for it and later have a transport company come pick it up. I don't see a good way to execute this this plan.

Am I missing something here or just overthinking things? How have others gotten the machine home?
 
(quoted from post at 10:05:21 12/14/22) I think you are overthinking this a bit.
Click to expand...

Likely I am. I can't help myself. Buy it, put it on the trailer and drive home should be the process.
 
My thoughts Larry, A tractor with 15.5x?? even in as tight as they will go, probably wont go between your fenders. 13.6x?? will just
make it with zero to spare on most. Are you overthinking this, I say no, by thinking everything thru, you eliminate problems and
catastrophes. I would rather be a worry wart than encountering problems. The YT DOT will school you on tractor tie down and hauling.
Go easy, take your time and enjoy your tractor. BTW, are you searching for a project or a turnkey operation?? Where approx in the country are you?? gobble
 
(quoted from post at 10:54:16 12/14/22) My thoughts Larry, A tractor with 15.5x?? even in as tight as they will go, probably wont go between your fenders. 13.6x?? will just
make it with zero to spare on most. Are you overthinking this, I say no, by thinking everything thru, you eliminate problems and
catastrophes. I would rather be a worry wart than encountering problems. The YT DOT will school you on tractor tie down and hauling.
Go easy, take your time and enjoy your tractor. BTW, are you searching for a project or a turnkey operation?? Where approx in the country are you?? gobble
Click to expand...

I'm in Western MO. I'll tolerate a little fixing up but I'm not set up for HD shop work. I'd say closer to turnkey but I can mess with the easy repairs. It will be a designated mower with the hopes of finding a 7' rotary mower to air up with it.
 
It pays to think about it. Beats ruining your equipment. Pickups are expensive, as well as trailers.

Trailer GVW, minus transfer (amt of load transferred to the truck hitch), and minus tare weight(weight of empty trailer) should tell you what you can haul.

Example: your specs might vary
Trailer weight 2500#
Transfer to hitch via tongue 700#
Weight rating of trailer 7000#
You can carry something around 5200# if the weight is properly distributed.

mvphoto100367.jpg


mvphoto100368.jpg


I built the trailer using a 7000# suspension/running gear. It weighs 2400# empty. I also built my hitch, which will carry in excess of 1000# tongue weight. This gives a fairly wide safety margin............BUT I NEVER OVERLOAD MY EQUIPMENT. I religiously adhere to my specs.

My axle centering on the trailer transfers off 12% to the hitch. A bit high for a bumper pull trailer.........but remember....I fabricate my own stuff to my specs. I have a heavy duty hitch built on the azz end of my F350.

Your only other consideration is the width between your fenders. Sucks to get something, and find out it doesn't fit.

Take care, and HAPPY TRAILERING (wave)
 
I've hauled both my 1550 Olivers on my trailer with 80 inches between the fenders no problem they both have 15.5 X 38 tires.I'd get the seller to measure the wheel width before I went.
 
I have a late MF 65 diesel and an early 165 gas. They are both rated at 50 PTO horsepower. They have 14.9x28 tires set at 60 inches center to center. The overall width is about 73 inches. I have no idea what they weigh. The back tires are loaded on both. The 165 is probably a little heavier because the back wheels have cast centers.
 
Depends on how far you have to haul it. If close by and back roads you can fudge a lot on the weight.
If really close I have driven them home before. Make sure you can get it narrowed up enough to fit your
trailer. Many times rust will prevent you from being able to move the wheels.
 
I bought some stuff at an auction 60 miles away. Went back with a trailer, used the tractor I bought to load stuff on the trailer.

Came back with the pickup and just drove the tractor home.

Just didnt feel like putting the tractor on my car trailer...... much the same boat as you are in, I think the 5200 tractor was a little bit much for my trailer. Especially with
the rear tires filled.

Paul
 
(quoted from post at 09:50:39 12/14/22) I'm searching the sales pages for a tractor ( about 50 hp ).

I've been thinking I'd retrieve it once purchased with my truck and trailer. I have a 18', 7000 lb car hauler ( with operational brakes ) with a load capacity of 5100 lbs. My F150 rates out as able to haul 7200 lbs. The trailer is 2600 lbs, so, I should be able to haul a 4600 lb tractor. Many I'm looking at will be under this benchmark.

Now, if there a mower, wheel weights, loader, blade, etc. this will be a issue. Also, I have 82" between the wheel wells. This may be a problem depending on the model. Do I prepared the spin the rear wheels in to fit the trailer?

I'd really like to be able to make a cash offer and haul away the merchandise. Things will get complicated if I need to pay for it and later have a transport company come pick it up. I don't see a good way to execute this this plan.

Am I missing something here or just overthinking things? How have others gotten the machine home?
Click to expand...

I once owned a trailer pretty much like you have described. A Farmall H fit on that trailer with absolutely no issues, but a few years later I found that a Farmall M would NOT fit in between the trailer fenders, so If you are looking at a tractor in the 50 horsepower range, unless it is of the compact class, it will probably NOT fit on your trailer.
 
Here are some obvious solutions to your problem:

1. Limit your search to tractors that will fit on the trailer.

2. Make a friend who has a bigger trailer and truck you can borrow if it won't fit on yours.

3. Get a bigger trailer, and truck, of your own so you're not limited.

I would not count on being able to slide the wheels in, especially the front wheels on a wide front tractor. They have likely been where they are for many decades and will not move easily.
 
Not a whole lot we can do. U need the rear tire
measurement. U give no make or model tractor. Nothing
hard, as that trailer will haul any 50 h p tractor. Big deal if
ur over a few hundred lbs. u sure not going to wreck
anything. Just balance the load.
 
BTW............ I know there's fabricators here I guess.

A little tip on tongues.

mvphoto100369.jpg
You can get better jackknife performance by designing your tongue with a better angle. The weld-on couplers are 60* IIRC..........they don't work well IMHO. I can get a better angle by making a channel that utilizes an adjustable Bulldog coupler. This has saved my butt in tight situations.

Far as hitches go. I'm totally the opposite in the way I think about hitches, as opposed to some of the DIY bumpers I see out there on the road. I blow a gasket when I see someone with a front bumper that weighs more than the truck.

mvphoto100370.jpg
You can't go wrong with a heavy built hitch. The pin-on design is so I can swap out to an eye style attachment for hauling a fertilizer spreader. Anyways.......use your steel where it's necessary. Overbuilding/underbuilding is a deadly sin. LOL

I had an online dispute concerning the safety of a swiveling tie down ratchet I made for my Great Dane float. ROFLMAO

mvphoto100371.jpg
I practice what I preach. The weight is in the usable USABLE part of the bumper. Not stylish, but what I need for a truck that sees the service it sees. Relatively light tubing (3/16 wall), but attention paid to mounting detail on the D rings (same as the hitch in prior pic...mounting D rings to a pad instead of directly to the tubing).

I don't believe I won/lost the dispute. Typical internet pizzing match. :D

I'll get outta here before I mess the thread up.
 
Heres a question that this post made me think of. If you put the blade, weights and other items in the
pickup bed is your trailer hauling weight reduced or unchanged?
 
My 7k landscape trailer could not haul many tractors, too
narrow. I overloaded the 7k trailer and bent the front axle.
I was going to purchase a Farmall H or M don't remember. My
trailer was too narrow.

I purchased a 14k implement trailer. I think I can haul 82
inches wide loads. 82 is the space between fenders.

I now have little need for an implement trailer.
I wish I had bought a 10k trailer tilt trailer.
Smaller wheels, weighs less, and it would pull better than my
14k.
 
(quoted from post at 12:35:29 12/14/22) Heres a question that this post made me think of. If you put the blade, weights and other items in the
pickup bed is your trailer hauling weight reduced or unchanged?
Click to expand...

Unchanged with respect to the trailer..........possibly some change when it comes to the truck capacity. Trailer weight + stuff in the bed of the truck, also some consideration of the rear axle rating on the truck.
 
(quoted from post at 12:45:55 12/14/22)
(quoted from post at 12:35:29 12/14/22) Heres a question that this post made me think of. If you put the blade, weights and other items in the
pickup bed is your trailer hauling weight reduced or unchanged?
Click to expand...

Unchanged with respect to the trailer..........possibly some change when it comes to the truck capacity. Trailer weight + stuff in the bed of the truck, also some consideration of the rear axle rating on the truck.
Click to expand...

Now you're getting into combined GVWR. Combined rating of the truck, and trailer, combined. Crazy stuff huh?
 
How often are you going to be hauling? I moved a Farmall 350 with loader, wheel weights and fluid filled rear tires on a 6000 pound car trailer pulling it with a 1985 F150 with passenger rated tires on
both the trailer and the pickup. I hauled it 75 miles at 35-40 mph. Not something I would ever repeat but still safer than the old couple I got stuck behind at McDonalds today at lunch. They literally
couldn't find their way out of the parking lot.


The other thing to remember is you can DRIVE THE TRACTOR several miles on the road to use it where you need it. Anything 15 miles or less usually gets driven with my machines.
 
A little Ford 3000 or 3600 weighs in well under the 5000 pound mark even with a loader.

Go to tractor data look up weights and dimensions of some that you are interested in.


https://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/index.html
 
(quoted from post at 12:50:39 12/14/22)
Do I prepared the spin the rear wheels in to fit the trailer?
Am I missing somethitng here .....
Click to expand...

Boy if I had a dollar every time it was [b:e29f381627][i:e29f381627]easy[/i:e29f381627][/b:e29f381627] to change rear wheel width, offsite, without access to my shop, well I could probably be well on my way to buying a wider trailer
 


My first trailer was a car hauler type. It was not long before I replaced it with an equipment hauler type.
 

Many great replies and few questions to me.

1) I haven't settled on a unit yet. I really like the idea of having the cash in my pocket, negotiate the best deal I can and driving off with the prize. If I can't haul it off... I guess I pay for it and then arrange for a shipper. Not good as who knows what will happen once I leave with my tractor at a strangers place. If I offer to settle up later, that's a less than optimal deal but possible I guess.

2) I'd love to find one in driving range and I think I'd extend that to much of a days drive but things are spread out pretty good in my country.

3) I guess spinning the wheels down is not reasonable. I've never done it but know it's possible.

I think I'll search for one close by or, that will fit in my trailer, as close as possible and try to slip home on back roads. Let's what I can find.
 
When it comes to whether or not a tractor fits on a trailer it is entirely dependent on the wheel tread setting and tire width. Virtually all row-crop tractors have a minimum tread
setting of 60 inches and in this position, even with 18.4 tires, the overall width across the tires would be less than 80 inches, regardless of the physical size or power of the tractor.
Not a lot of room to spare so if the tires are set any wider you'd be in trouble. Also, if the tractor you're looking at has wider-than-usual tires it could push the overall width beyond
you trailer's capacity even in the narrowest position.
 
Hire it hauled. The little bit you save is not worth the risk of trying to do it on the edge of being safe and legal.
 
Youre on the edge. I have hauled a MF 65 diesel on a car hauler, it was a little too much. I wouldnt want to trailer my Farm All 400 on a car hauler. I saw a guy try to haul a 1800 Oliver gas on a car hauler. Bent both axels at both ends until tires rubbed, destroyed the tires. That Oliver was field ready. A loader and weights can add a lot of weight. Make sure to get weight on the truck.
 
(quoted from post at 06:00:45 12/15/22) Youre on the edge. I have hauled a MF 65 diesel on a car hauler, it was a little too much. I wouldnt want to trailer my Farm All 400 on a car hauler. I saw a guy try to haul a 1800 Oliver gas on a car hauler. Bent both axels at both ends until tires rubbed, destroyed the tires. That Oliver was field ready. A loader and weights can add a lot of weight. Make sure to get weight on the truck.
Click to expand...


That guy was lucky that he was stopped by rubbing tires before he could run over a young couple with their kids in the car.
 
Sold a ford 6600 last week. It was 83.5 inches wide and the 7k trailer they guy showed up with loaded it barely. I though weight wise he was a bit over and especially the D rated tires. But it did load, and was able to correctly load the truck and off they went.
 
I recently purchased a MF 275 with three-point hitch backhoe 15-20 miles from home the drive home was very pleasant. I drove a 1945 JD B home about 15 miles a number of years back. Took most of a Saturday as it had been shipped on steel and converted to cutoffs, 4 MPH. I wished I had never sold that tractor; hand start no power lift.
 
Hauling the tractor on a low deck trailer isn't that much of an issue
I hauled a New Holland 3930 from Birmingham, Al back to my place west of Fort Knox, Ky with a 1500 Chevy and bumper hitch car trailer
The tractors rear tires were wider than the trailers fenders so I took some 6x6 blocks and 2x6 boards to build a small platform beside the fenders
Drove the tractor on with the back tires resting on the 2x6's that were level with the tops of the fenders
Yes the tractor set high in the back but I was able to position it for proper weight balance and had no issues hauling it home

Your 18 ft trailer will be the issue if the tractor has a loader or implement attached
With a loader and bucket you probably wont get the tractor far enough on the trailer for proper weight balance making it to heavy on the back (this is really bad), backing it on will put to much weight on the tongue
With a rotary mower when you get the load balanced the mowing will probably be hanging off the back of the trailer a couple of ft or more, plus the tractor and mower will be really pushing the weight capacity of that trailer

My figures are with hauling a tractor the size and weight of that 3930 I hauled which is equal to a 65/later 4000 Ford
If the tractor is a smaller size in the 35-40 hp range you have a little more leadway

This post was edited by Destroked 450 on 12/15/2022 at 11:02 am.
 
It's not an exact science. The wheels aren't necessarily going to fall off if you go 1lb over the ratings. If the wheels fall off if you're anywhere near the ratings, either above or below, you've got bigger problems.

It's going to be about your confidence in your equipment, your confidence in your ability to drive for the conditions, and your ability to recognize a sketchy situation.

The legal aspect is really secondary to the whole discussion. As you are not commercial you are not bound to the same laws as commercial vehicles. You won't get the same scrutiny. If you look good you are good. Manufacturer's GVWR ratings are not enforceable by law in the lower 48 unless things have changed recently. It's all about what you've registered the trailer for, which is USUALLY the GVWR, but not always. Still, the odds of you being pulled over and weighed with an F150 pulling a car trailer are slim to none.
 
(quoted from post at 12:45:17 12/15/22) It's not an exact science. The wheels aren't necessarily going to fall off if you go 1lb over the ratings. If the wheels fall off if you're anywhere near the ratings, either above or below, you've got bigger problems.

It's going to be about your confidence in your equipment, your confidence in your ability to drive for the conditions, and your ability to recognize a sketchy situation.

The legal aspect is really secondary to the whole discussion. As you are not commercial you are not bound to the same laws as commercial vehicles. You won't get the same scrutiny. If you look good you are good. Manufacturer's GVWR ratings are not enforceable by law in the lower 48 unless things have changed recently. It's all about what you've registered the trailer for, which is USUALLY the GVWR, but not always. Still, the odds of you being pulled over and weighed with an F150 pulling a car trailer are slim to none.
Click to expand...


Barnyard, WHO SAYS SAFETY IS SECONDARY??? The DOT is out there trying to keep the motoring public safe and truckers out of jail. When newbies come on here asking about trailering it is your and my duty as experienced truckers to see that they are not told only that their truck has enough power to pull the load but also that they need enough brakes to stop it in an unpredictable surprise situation, and that the wheels are strong enough to not fall apart come apart. Ignorance may be bliss and may give you false confidence but it won't keep you out of a wreck.
 

Yes, checking TractorData can give one an idea of the weight. However, one needs to know how the machine is really equipped, not just use the lowest numbers shown on TractorData. A little 3000 fully ballasted and having the heaviest factory loader would be 7994 pounds by TractorData information and a similarly equipped 3600 is shown as 7885 pounds. Those are over double the shipping weights and almost double the bare operating weights of both.
 
I had a 21 foot low deck equipment trailer 82" wide with two 7000lbs Dexter brake axles. I bought my own trailer after renting equipment trailers from various rental places. Everytime they only had trailers with two 5200lbs axles. I figure my New Holland with loader and rotary weighs 11,500 lbs with loaded tires. The rental trailers had E rated tires, and long story short the trailers swayed violently.
My trailer is 14,000lbs gvw brakes on both 7000lbs axles with G rated tires which I believe is 14ply? It doesn't sway and stays straight. Over loaded trailers are dangerous. Over loaded tires are dangerous. In my experience an equipment trailer with more load capacity than the equipment is the way to go. Best of luck.
 
I have a 18 foot + 2 foot dove tail20 ft 7,000
gross. The 20 ft is a nice length but it is just too
light. The idiot at the rock quarry loaded me to
24,000 gross when I asked for 2 ton. When I pulled
onto the hwy the twist caused the rear axle to bend.
It is 1 mile to the house. I am looking for a deck
over bumper pull maybe 24 to 30 ft,12.000 to 14,000.
If I get 20 years out of the next one, the grand sons
can argue over it. I bought it to haul a Super C and
the mowers,now I need to haul my 656!
 
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