BX24 - Lifting BH with FEL?

[Harry c]

Kubota lists the bare BX 24 tractor at 1,542 lbs. and at 2,245 lbs with the BH and FEL. Make sure it fits on the trailer with reasonable weight distribution. 10% of gross weight on the tongue is usually recommended. If the trailer weighs less than 750 lbs. you aren't even over your 3,000 GVW. Check the load capacity of your tires (molded into the sidewall) and make sure they're properly inflated. Tie the thing down tight with chains and binders. One chain on the front of the frame at the grill guard, another on the swing pivot of the BH. Lower the BH and the FEL onto the trailer bed. Tie the outriggers up to keep them from possibly dropping and sticking outside your trailer unless the trailer is wide enough to let you lower them. Put the boom lock pin in to keep the BH from swinging. Put the tractor in 4wd and set the parking brake. If you don't have good chains and load binders, GET SOME!

 

[escavader]

So ,why not buy another axle kit with brakes and add it to your trailer?

 

[KeithInSpace]

If you survive to tell the story...shear (sic) stupidity and carelessness.

Not that I want this to turn into one of "those threads", but how is it that I am staring down the barrel of certain death? By my calculation, my tractor WITH BACKHOE will weigh about 2,500#, well within the weigh carrying capabilities of my trailer. I have a particular way I position the tractor to make sure I have sufficient, but not excessive, tongue weight, and I use chains.

The points I made in this thread are a matter of observation and preference. And I concede that my first post is probably a little stronger than I intended. I towed my tractor (with FEL and BB...about 2,000#) over 400 miles recently and I would not do THAT again. It is not my preference to use my single axle trailer, but I will for going the extremely short distance in and out of town. Call me careless toward safety? You haven't seen the get-up I wear every time I use my chainsaw. I look like a freakin' anorexic pumpkin...Stihl safety shirt, safety chaps, jeans underneath, steel toe boots, hard hat, face shield, ear protection, Stihl chainsaw gloves, and kevlar underwear. Not much skin showing.

I would appreciate it if you, sir, consider your comments more closely before firing off a post like this. You inferred I was careless once and STUPID twice. And further inferred that I have no care for anyone else on the road. All for wanting to put a properly secured object in my trailer for 7 miles that puts the gross weight 500# UNDER what my trailer is rated for? Unfortunately, I take comments such as these personally.

I will politely offer that, contrary to your post, I don't feel I am "stupid". That is a special word that should be used judiciously in conversation and rarely toward another person.

Save your strong rhetoric for the drunks. And for IDIOTS like the attached. I don't think my sins fall in quite the same category.

 

[Tom_H]

....stupidity...stupidity....

Each member is entitled to an opinion. Disagreement and urging of caution are acceptable, but IMHO, this is crossing a line into incivility. This is a tack that will not change the other person's mind or foster informed discussion between members. I know I haven't always been the most polite citizen, but I hope that I have improved in the way I converse on the board. Rather than using words like "stupidity", you might achieve more success in asking whether the trailer is within legal regulations, and by quoting statistics. Reasoned discussions can result in forming friendships; attacks do not. I now try to ask myself before I write something, "If I were standing toe to toe with this other man, face to face, looking eye to eye, are these the words I would say out loud to his face, or am I writing it because it's easy to hide behind the faceless computer screen?"

 

[KeithInSpace]

Rather than looking for a synonym to "stupid" for simply the second useage, perhaps the thought here is to lighten the tone a little to an opinion rather than speaking down to others for being such retarded fools as to attempt something so idiotic as I offered.

Ahhh. I'm done. Always productive conversations, Mr. Kubotafan. Issue is put to bed. Always appreciate everyone's input.

Polite counterpoint: While there is some truth in your thought (if it ain't safe, it ain't safe), flying down the interstate at 70 MPH with tractor trailers blowing by you is VERY different than puttering at 35 in stop/go traffic in town then 50 MPH for 3 miles to my turn. And in the same breath, towing said rig with your Ford Equinox cute-ute is VERY different than with your (my) Ford Expedition with the 9,000# tow package and optional gearing. Or the original poster's HD truck. Many variables. The original poster's 25 miles is starting to be a pretty good distance out.

If I'm 500# to the good (including trailer weight), I'll give it a shot and feel OK about it.

This thread was started by two questions: 1) Can I tow my rig 25 miles on my 3,500# capacity single axle trailer and 2) If that's a bad idea, can I lift my BH into the bed of my HD truck.

1) Probably, technically, yes, but you need to be aware that there are risks and there are safer/better ways...like a dual axle trailer that gives you more "sidewall" to combat sway.

2) No. Not unless you have forklifts on both ends of your trip.

 

[Tom_H]

....perhaps the thought here is to lighten the tone a little to an opinion rather than speaking down to others....

I have to agree KubotaFan. Though improved, the tone still sounds condescending.

 

[HomeBrew2]

I used to think I was completely screwed up, till I joined TBN. I wasn't necessarily wrong with my prior self-evaluation but, now I know I'm not alone Life is good.

 

[Berniep]

Not for nothin but.. (now where did I pick up that phrase?)
If you go tooling around with your backhoe on and your fel off, be aware that the bx is a wheelie machine. So picking up the fel with the backhoe is probably not gonna work.

 

[Stef]

KeithInSpace, thanks for the pictures... now I know what "stupidity" really means. Wow, I've never seen a setup so dangerous in my life so far. Wow, what a moron. Did he killed someone? Is he still alive?... is he in jail (I guess a level of stupidity like that is probably criminal)?

Ohhhh... my number of posts is at 666... hmmm, sounds evil

 

[KeithInSpace]

Did he killed someone? Is he still alive?

Believe me...not someone I would consort with. Even if I had any idea who it was, I would never admit it.

Actually, I lifted these pictures out of the "Safety" section (I think) of this forum a few days ago. I just wanted to highlight what "stupidity" was IMHO. I think the guy in the pictures qualifies. In that particular thread where the pictures were found, the real winners were the doweled support under the tailgate and the weak little S-hooks and chains supplamenting the OEM cables on either side. Ya...those will make a difference!

As I said, just wanted to show what unsafe REALLY meant.

Stef, better make another post. Can't stay at 666 too long...might burn yourself on the grill or something.