Second experience roading tractor

[bdhsfz6]

I road my tractors 2 or 3 times a year while doing work for others or getting it to the dealer. I usually won't attempt it for trips more than 5 miles or so. It was more of a problem with my smaller tractors but less so with the 50+ HP machines I have now.

In addition to lights & SMV emblem, I plan my route to avoid busy roads if possible. Sometimes, this means going a mile or so out of the way. When possible, I also have someone follow me in a vehicle with flashers on. I used to do this for my FIL twice a year when he took his combine 25 miles to fields he leased.

Luckily, this is farm country and drivers are used to seeing tractors on the road.

 

[chim]

Hay Dude, you're lucky with the pole placement. Here's one near my house.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hay Dude, you're lucky with the pole placement. Here's one near my house.View attachment 4121042

Yeah, but are you running 12’ wide equipment? lol

I have some poles to get around that are even closer than your photo. Stay tuned-I’ll photo them. You won’t believe it. Chunks of wood taken out of the poles from truck & equipment strikes.

Here’s my drive from one field to another today. There’s no room for an oncoming car.
I have a 12’ wide mower and if I had to guess, the road might be 16’ wide???

 

[Gregster613]

Yeah, but are you running 12’ wide equipment? lol

I have some poles to get around that are even closer than your photo. Stay tuned-I’ll photo them. You won’t believe it. Chunks of wood taken out of the poles from truck & equipment strikes.

Here’s my drive from one field to another today. There’s no room for an oncoming car.
I have a 12’ wide mower and if I had to guess, the road might be 16’ wide???

View attachment 4124300

That phone pole just ahead looks as close as the one in Chim's picture! You've really no room for options!

 

[Hay Dude]

What’s kinda funny (again, picking on women drivers here, sorry) is they will stop, not only in the middle of the road and squeeze their steering wheel tight, but for the strangest reason, seemingly almost always across from a TP or a tree leaving a bottleneck for farmers to drive through.
We farmers talk about this all the time.
Around my area, the cops have ZERO sympathy for truckers or farmers. As long as you are driving the larger truck or equipment, and you come in contact with a smaller car, it’s going to be your fault.

 

[RayIN]

My tractor has full lighting, but I don't use the turn signals, they kinda look like brake lights. I use hand signals, but even then some drivers don't have a clue.
We've had a large influx of people building houses that lived in the city, that think the county road is their personal driveway.
I was turning left into my driveway one sunny day and some small red car honked his horn at me because he had to slow down or hit the tractor broadside.
To be fair, Indiana law says if a county road is not posted otherwise, the speed limit is 50 MPH.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

A couple times each year, I run the 2+ miles...uphill, about a 600 foot change in elevation...with my B2301, HST to move wood, pull a rock...whatever. At full throttle, petal to the metal, it makes the trip in about 14 minutes. Coming home, it's lighter on the throttle, but a minute or two less.

 

[Tinhack]

I use hand signals, but even then some drivers don't have a clue.

I was turning left into my driveway one sunny day and some small red car honked his horn at me because he had to slow down or hit the tractor broadside.

Most younger folks have no idea what hand signals are. I think they believe you're flashing Gang Signs at them.

I cut the grass along both of my bordering roads. One is a state route the other is a county route. I don't have turn signals but I do use the flashers. I also have a SMV triangle on the back. If I'm close to the roadway and see someone coming up behind me, I'll stop to keep from throwing trash at their vehicle.

If I'm roading, I have to remember to lock my brake pedals together. Stomping on one of those will flip the tractor above creep speed.

 

[JimR]

I posted several years ago about my first experience roading my tractor. It was unnerving. I didn't account for how underpowered the machine was, trying to climb hills at a speed that motorists behind me might find a little more tolerable.

Yesterday I roaded it to a job my son-in-law was doing, 2.1 miles away. The goals included helping dig a trench, moving a big concrete well cover, and pulling a concrete ring out of the ground. Trying to be ready for anything, in addition to FEL bucket I brought my FEL forks and my 3pt counterweight, and chains and sledges and digging bars etc etc. With the rears filled, all this weighs a good 5,000 lbs, and the motor is only 25 horsepower. By way of comparison, my not-very-racy station wagon weighs 3,500 lbs and has a 182 hp motor, so the tractor should have a small fraction of the pep the station wagon has. We are talking seriously weak performance on the road. For ground engagement it's a fine little tractor, but it's amazing how going, say, 35 mph in a car really sucks up the power.

In top gear (12th) this tractor can do about 14 mph, but with only a slight uphill grade it grinds to a stall. I've driven this route countless times, but there were some uphill grades small enough I'd never noticed them, and the tractor couldn't climb them. I kept having to stop, choose a gear from 9 to 12 that I thought would work, and go up the hill. 9th gear worked on the worst climbs.

But it worked. I don't see doing it often, or far. People drive too fast on these narrow curving hilly country roads. However in the intervening years I had looked up the worst grades, and measured the grade on my driveway so I could compare, and I had some idea how tall a gear would work in each of the worst spots. I do have lights, including flashers, a well placed SMV placard, and insurance. I tried hard to drive safely, accounting for all the issues I could think of.

I completely get why bigger farm tractors that sometimes pull trailers on the road have to be so powerful.

The solution is to get a trailer to haul your tractor around. My 45hp Kioti hydro weighs in around 5000 and slows down on pulling grades also. At least you have 12 speeds to play with.. I only have 3.

 

[dodge man]

Several years ago not to far from my house a farmer sawed off a power pole near our house. It turned out it was my brother in law. It was near the road, a sort of blind downhill corner and a car came along and he moved over.

 

[CoyPatton]

My old tractor is I believe 24 hp. For working it is a great compact tractor, fits places my buddy’s slightly larger 40hp will not. While it is a pain to strap it down on the trailer, I rarely “road” my tractor even for short distances—people drive way to fast, and with hills, even with lights and added flashers, I have had that pucker factor many times when “roading” my tractor even for the short distance of less than 2 miles. About my limit for “roading”. Not sure of my top speed gear, but with hills involved, it is a mute point—high range high gear will not pull the hills.

 

[MT Kioti]

25 HP is a respectable size that allows you to do most small acreage tasks comfortably. Keep in mind that horsepower ratings for cars and trucks is measured completely differently than for tractors. Your tractor could probably pull a car out of the ditch, but your car couldn't pull your tractor out.

 

[white cloud]

I have about a mile and a half on the road to get to one of our tracts. It's never been something that I am comfortable with. Most drivers are doing a decent job but it only takes one idiot.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

Last weekend in Ohio on a State Hwy ... I pulled over in the grass as far as I dared and slowed down, so did he ... We both waved with our whole hand!

The county road I live on is paved, but no paint, less than 20' wide ... State speed limit is 60 MPH! A few corners I need most of the whole road, glad when the leaves fall so I can see around the corners, I pull a 53' trailer behind me .... Idiots are all over the country!

 

[TugHillDog]

My tractor has full lighting, but I don't use the turn signals, they kinda look like brake lights. I use hand signals, but even then some drivers don't have a clue.
We've had a large influx of people building houses that lived in the city, that think the county road is their personal driveway.
I was turning left into my driveway one sunny day and some small red car honked his horn at me because he had to slow down or hit the tractor broadside.
To be fair, Indiana law says if a county road is not posted otherwise, the speed limit is 50 MPH.

In today's society, hand signals are a foreign language. but then, so is courtesy and road respect. And we *ALL* know the short-cut hand signals given to tractor operator on the road by impatient drivers.

 

[TugHillDog]

Around here in the spring and fall a traffic jam is two tractors or combines meeting on the township or county roads. Combines with duals are around 13 - 14 ft wide. Articulating 4 WD with duals are 15 - 17 ft wide. Most township roads are 16 - 18 ft so someone or both go in the ditch to pass. I have had citidiots challenge me when moving through narrow area with guard rails on both sides. I am at 16 1/2 ft, 570 HP, approx 70,000 lbs with implements so should be visible with flashing lights front and rear. Country folk pull off and wave with there whole hand while citidiots wave with one finger.

Farthest fields are around 15 miles from home so really don’t think much about driving from field to field. Been doing for 50+ years.

citidiots! Thank you - my new favorite word!!

 

[jdmeth]

The trouble with roading a big tractor is usually you are hooked to a large implement. Trying to get down a two lane road with heavy trafic with mail boxes and road signs every few hundred feet is a nightmare with a 20 ft wide harrow on the back.

 

[Bentrim]

In 67 I drove a combine for a custom cutter, it was about 13' wide, with about a 13mph top speed. Interseting with people trying to pass with you taking up most of the road. I wanted to turn left and watched a pickup climb the guy wire on a power pole. State roads were usually OK. Some of the township roads, well it became a challenge to pass a car coming the opposite direction. Then in 68 stepped up to a bigger machine that was about 15' wide. One time went thru a small town with cars parked on both sides with inches to spare.
Left that job after 20 years and went to work for a mobile home park owner. You want to have fun? try moving a 70' long 14' wide home down a public highway. Everyone pulls over at the narrowest place for you to pass. Usually between two poles, or a culvert and a building, etc.
Over the years there have been four tractors locally that have been hit by a car or truck. One was mowing along 83 and was hit by a truck, didn't see it but the said there was no part of the tractor that one man couldn't pickup by themselves. Another there was an older farmer hit on his JD 2010 he lived and the tractor was repaired. Another was a JD towing an empty gravity box and attempting to turn left into a field, knocked the back wheel off the tractor. Again another tractor turning left while hauling a turd hearse and knocked the front axle out of the tractor.

As for SMV signs it is interesting how the popo will stop a tractor or equipment if one is not showing but can never see them when they are used to mark driveways. A few years ago a local borough installed them on top of speed limit signs. I wrote them and advised them it was a illegal use. They wrote back the chief checked it out and it was OK. Well I got some information about the legal use and they cryed "but it cost a lot of money to put they up". Guess they did so checking and found it was an illegal use and painted over them and eventually the disappeared.

When it was safe I would pull over and allow the traffic behind me pass, it was better than having an impatient driver try to pass me.

Since many farms are now growing houses the problem has only gotten worse.

Be safe, be careful there are a lot of impatient, know it all drivers out there that own the road, especially your half.

 

[oldpilot]

I posted several years ago about my first experience roading my tractor. It was unnerving. I didn't account for how underpowered the machine was, trying to climb hills at a speed that motorists behind me might find a little more tolerable.

Yesterday I roaded it to a job my son-in-law was doing, 2.1 miles away. The goals included helping dig a trench, moving a big concrete well cover, and pulling a concrete ring out of the ground. Trying to be ready for anything, in addition to FEL bucket I brought my FEL forks and my 3pt counterweight, and chains and sledges and digging bars etc etc. With the rears filled, all this weighs a good 5,000 lbs, and the motor is only 25 horsepower. By way of comparison, my not-very-racy station wagon weighs 3,500 lbs and has a 182 hp motor, so the tractor should have a small fraction of the pep the station wagon has. We are talking seriously weak performance on the road. For ground engagement it's a fine little tractor, but it's amazing how going, say, 35 mph in a car really sucks up the power.

In top gear (12th) this tractor can do about 14 mph, but with only a slight uphill grade it grinds to a stall. I've driven this route countless times, but there were some uphill grades small enough I'd never noticed them, and the tractor couldn't climb them. I kept having to stop, choose a gear from 9 to 12 that I thought would work, and go up the hill. 9th gear worked on the worst climbs.

But it worked. I don't see doing it often, or far. People drive too fast on these narrow curving hilly country roads. However in the intervening years I had looked up the worst grades, and measured the grade on my driveway so I could compare, and I had some idea how tall a gear would work in each of the worst spots. I do have lights, including flashers, a well placed SMV placard, and insurance. I tried hard to drive safely, accounting for all the issues I could think of.

I completely get why bigger farm tractors that sometimes pull trailers on the road have to be so powerful.

A friend and I decided to raise a Holstein steer for beef. He had a barn and I had a one-acre paddock in a field, so he kept Roger during the winter and I grazed the beast during the green months. We lived two miles apart, and we walked him between his stall and his pasture in spring and fall, with a Volkswagen kamper following behind with its emergency flashers on. Now THAT was a holdup for traffic on the hills!

 

[grsthegreat]

Im use to seeing farm equipment running down rural roads, i can understand they have to move between fields.

But last week i came upon a track driven skid steer driving down a rural lake side road with a skidder head attached. Doing maybe 4 MPH. I was maybe 30th car behind. No way for him to pull over, unless he likes water.

I was PISSED. At some point, you need to get a trailer.