Backing up a Gen Trailer

[Smokeydog]

Hitch on FEL or front guard.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I don't always think my tractors are always the best to back trailers into narrow doors. No mirrors to see the edge of the trailer in respect to the door edges. Much rather use the pickup with its mirrors. Now if my tractors had mirrors, but would probably knock them off in the woods. Jon

If you're interested, here's a cheap & easy way to add tractor mirrors:

Make a pair of brackets from a piece of 3" angle iron and buy a cheap pair of mirrors off a Jeep Wrangler. I bought them on eBay for $40:

Pair Black Manual Right +Left Side View Door Mirrors For 97-02 Jeep Wrangler TJ | eBay

<li> </li> <li>Features</li> <li> <ul> <li>Fits Left + Right Side Mirror</li> <li>100% brand new packed in original package.</li> <li>Plug & Play. Easy direct bolt-on installation</li> <li>Attachment Method: Bolt On</li> <li>Black Mirror</li> <li>Provides better and wider...

www.ebay.com

Then bolt them to the FEL support frame:

The mirrors articulate and fold inward for woods work. They can also be removed easily if necessary.
They are cheap enough and readily available so it's no big deal if they get broken.

 

[LouNY]

Neat... but also seems like an awful expensive way to run a portable generator while racking up unnecessary hours on a tractor. I paid over $40k for my tractor, and if history is any indicator, I'll sell it as a clean low-hours machine 20 years later for about the same dollar amount I paid... albeit in depreciated dollars. But I could source a stationary power plant for that generator for $2k, in fact maybe even under $1k with enough patience and hunting.

Most weekend warriors are putting ~100 hours per year on their tractors. But running a generator just 4 days per year would double that usage. Needs may vary, we don't get yearly 4-day outages here on our sparse side of suburbia, but I do average at least 50 hours per year on generator. I know from reading this forum that many posters are seeing much more frequent or extended outages.

Not criticizing, though. The guy who came up with that rig may have had a very low-hours need for a very high-horsepower generator, and for that this might be the ideal solution. But that's probably a less common scenario, than those looking to backfeed a house for semi-frequent outages.

I've had my 25KW pto generator for going on 30 years, still works great, good clean power and any tractor with a 540 pto can run it. It has gotten several hundreds of hours over the years including a few week long outages. I certainly have not worried about the number of hours I've put on a tractor, that is why I have them.

 

[WinterDeere]

I've had my 25KW pto generator for going on 30 years, still works great, good clean power and any tractor with a 540 pto can run it. It has gotten several hundreds of hours over the years including a few week long outages. I certainly have not worried about the number of hours I've put on a tractor, that is why I have them.

That's fine. I sometimes choose convenience or reliability over cost, too! Different strokes for different folks.

 

[two_bit_score]

Neat... but also seems like an awful expensive way to run a portable generator while racking up unnecessary hours on a tractor.

They can’t ALL be garage queens. LOL

 

[LouNY]

That's fine. I sometimes choose convenience or reliability over cost, too! Different strokes for different folks.

Not sure how to read this.
A fixed auto-start would be very convenient,
If an 1800 rpm diesel powered unit should be very reliable also.
cost well let's see; $12,500 with no enclosure or fuel tank.
I can get reliable 2wd tractors for under $5000 day in and day out.

 

[LD48750]

Skid steer solution (temporary ?). You guys have some great ideas and plenty of experience. Big problem with backing in, beside direction control, is the loader arc out front. Slight steering corrections swing the loader wide -- and the barn door is narrow. Real easy to get wedged up weird. So I got a length of 5/16 tow chain, attached to rear corners of the gen trailer and looped around 3-pt hardware. This locks the trailer into position laterally. creating a single unit. Backing up skids the trailer wheels sideways if necessary. Trailer and gen are relatively lightweight so no serious harm to tires in that short barn distance.

Big problem with front steering-in is the need to unhitch and then rehitch the tongue and tumbler bar each time. Not fun in a dark barn at 17 deg Fahrenheit.

Sounds like you came up with a good workable solution.
Others that sounded good were , forks on the 3pt pick up gen. trailer all hooked up or mount gen on a 3 pt platform rather then the trailer.

Enjoy your power when others are out.

 

[WinterDeere]

Not sure how to read this.
A fixed auto-start would be very convenient,
If an 1800 rpm diesel powered unit should be very reliable also.
cost well let's see; $12,500 with no enclosure or fuel tank.
I can get reliable 2wd tractors for under $5000 day in and day out.
View attachment 839081

Good point on the cheap tractors. I was writing from my perspective of only wanting to store one tractor, that being a more expensive one. Like I said, different strokes for different folks! There was no offense intended in that, just meant everyone's situation calls for different solutions.

 

[Sonny580]

Mount it on a 3-pt. platform and junk the trailer! Would make it much handier!

 

[bdhsfz6]

Bolt heavy duty casters to a pallet and mount the generator on it. Move it with the forks and roll it around where you want. Makes it easy to hook up the PTO shaft.

Make sure the pallet is wide enough to keep the generator torque from flipping it under load, and use casters with brakes to keep it from moving around.