Moved some bales with the hay wagon

[IndyIan]

I had my far field cut and baled a month ago, so on the weekend I had some time to move them near our barn. The fastest way is to go out on the road and this is the first time I've done any real road hauling. It went pretty well, and the HST isn't too bad at pulling a load. Pulling up onto the road needed mid range and then there is a hill that probably gets to 15%, so I stayed in mid range for that too, but once over that, I went into high and went along pretty much at full pedal at 2200rpm up and down some gentle slopes.
I put 3 4x5 bales on the wagon and one on the spear so it wasn't a huge load but the boards on the wagon need to be replaced, so i didn't trust them to hold bales side by side.
The temp gauge never really moved, but i opened up the fuel lid and could feel a bit more heat blowing out at the end of a hill. I had to do 5 trips and it took over 2 hours, which included loading all the bales scattered around the field. I should have taken some pictures but forgot the camera at home.

 

[kiotiken]

Nice. I just did 100 KM of road travel (2 trips of 25 KM each way) pulling a heavy trailer (approx 9000 lbs) and it pulled better than I expected. I had it around 2600 or 2700 RPM and had a few small hills knock it way down until I eased off the pedal some, but I was always able to keep it above 2200 without moving to mid range. I'm curious why you kept it down to 2200 RPM?

Each trip home (loaded trailer) was about 1.5 hrs and I found the engine did get hot by the time I pulled into my driveway. The temp gauge never moved but it almost had that hot smell they have in the first few hours of use, almost like the paint is getting hot for the first time. My first load was much heavier than the second and I did notice a difference and I tried to go easy when I thought things were going to the warm side. It was also well over 30 C when I pulled the first load back.

 

[IndyIan]

I guess 2200 was more the minimum i let the motor get down to. Once I did try the hill in high and got a bit of that hot smell as well, so i just left it in mid range after that for the hill. Next year I will try a few more bales once I get the wagon fixed up.
You have R4's? Did you notice much vibration or wear on the fronts? Normally I get a little vibration from the R1 on the road, but nothing serious, with the bale on the front though there was alot more buzz on the steering wheel and they did lose a bit of rubber on the corners of the treads.

 

[kiotiken]

I guess 2200 was more the minimum i let the motor get down to. Once I did try the hill in high and got a bit of that hot smell as well, so i just left it in mid range after that for the hill. Next year I will try a few more bales once I get the wagon fixed up.
You have R4's? Did you notice much vibration or wear on the fronts? Normally I get a little vibration from the R1 on the road, but nothing serious, with the bale on the front though there was alot more buzz on the steering wheel and they did lose a bit of rubber on the corners of the treads.

I don't have much land (3 acres) and it's all grass so R4's are the best for my uses. I haven't noticed any wear on them yet and I do a lot of road travel. I can't say I get much vibration either, the only thing I start to get is the bouncing front to back, just like you see a lot of backhoes doing but driving with the trailer or the snowblower stops it. I took my little road trip to pick up some granite and did notice black tire marks on the pavement from loading some of the heavy pieces in the tight parking lot. Still, no visible signs of wear.

 

[IndyIan]

I actually asked my dealer if they could do R4's on the front and R1's on the back, as they are the same diameter. No go though, and probably its a good thing as I almost had the front end slide around on a muddy slope with a forkfull of manure in my pasture. The slope is enough that I only go straight up and back down, so going sideways might've been bad!
Some day I'll have a road through my property to the far field and then tire wear should slow down alot.