|
QUESTION:I'm wanting to get a trailer heavy enough to pull a Backhoe. Right now I
need to use if for moving my household items, forklift, and machinery. I
have an old 1/2 ton truck, 4WD, manual transmission, thought it might be
enough to get me moved, I'm only moving 4 to 5 miles away. In the future I
plan to sell my truck and get a 3/4 ton or 1 ton, whatever it takes to be
able to pull a backhoe. The longest pull of the backhoe will probably be to
get it home from wherever I buy it. The other use of the truck/trailer
would be to go to sales and load machinery, drive the forklift on the
trailer and head home. Plus I thought I might be able to get some odd jobs
moving machinery for others.
Anyway, how much does something like a Case 580 weight?
Would I need a gooseneck trailer or ?
What size of truck would be the smallest recommended for pulling the trailer
& backhoe around locally (<10 mile trips)?
Also, what kind of licensing fees are there on this kind of equipment?
Do equipment rental places rent trailers that can move a Backhoe?
Would such a trailer usually be equipped with the 6 pin or 7 pin trailer
connectors?
I would like a trailer that could attach to the rear of the truck so that I
can use the truck bed for hauling, at least on lighter loads. If I could
buy one trailer that would attach to the rear of the truck and still be
heavy enough to pull a backhoe or my forklift, that would be perfect. I
just thought if I buy a backhoe, a trailer to move it would enable me to get
some jobs for it on the side.
ANSWER: My paperwork shows an average Case 580 to be around 13,500 pounds. Add to
that for extend-a-hoe and 4-in1 buckets.
Inexperienced people with backhoes have made life terrible for those that do
it for a living and have insurance. You don't even want to have that on
someone elses property without proper insurance and god forbid you try to dig
anywhere without proper notifications and insurance.
Now for trailering duty a light duty truck and that includes 1 ton trucks
just aren't up to the task of moving around heavy equiptment. People use them
and they usually pull fairly well but stopping power is next to nothing.
Backhoe and trailer will weight around 20,000-22,000 pounds and you want to
pull that with a 7000 pound truck, not a good idea. Electric brakes are not
fool proof and the towing vehicle must be able to stop the trailer and load.
I own a 2554 International (Navistar) truck DTA466 diesel, allison automatic,
air brakes, and a 10' dump bed. This truck has a GVW of 35,500lbs and the
truck itself weights around 15,500 lbs empty(thats after I took off 2500lbs of
plow and spreader equiptment). I routinely pull my 12 ton tag trailer with a
17,500+ lbs John Deere 450C track loader on it. Total weight of trailer and
equiptment comes up to right at 24,000lbs. This trailer has 4 axles under it,
they are short axles with two side by side and front to back, pretty much like
a low-boy is set up. All axles have brakes on them. This is about the minimum
trailer I could use to pull this setup. I used to have a 1965 IH 1600 gas
engine manual shift and it was all it wanted to do to pull the track loader.
Otherwise it had the beefiness to handle the weight of the trailer.
As far as on the side work. I don't know where you are located but here in
illinois there is so little work for the regulars they are doing smaller jobs
for what people were getting the "after dark" operators to do them for. We
have had several industries close down and it would seem every other tom dick
and harry went out and bought a backhoe, bobcat, or small dump truck with their
severance pay. They run over each other trying to do a job for free. I don't
think I will ever own a skid-steer, they are just not enough of a piece of
equiptment to justify the cost of a good-not wore out one. They are ok in tight
places, but then again I can turn circles in just about the same size as some
of the larger skid-steers. They don't do well loading heavy rock or dirt into a
high sided truck, ask anyone who has turned one over. With my track loader I
could dig under, lift a full bucket AND a skid-steer and dump them into your
truck all in one breath. It also does well in lifting heavy metal working
equiptment too.
|
|
|
|
