trailering BX25

[Baucom]

Your truck is fine, just upgrade the hitch to a class III or IV and have brakes put on your trailer if it doesn't already have them (or upgrade trailers). Remember, while a BX25 is fairly heavy for its size, it's basically an overgrown GT with a FEL and BH. So long as you have a trailer with brakes, and of sufficient size to balance your load, that Ranger will pull it fine. A half ton would be safer, of course a 3/4 ton would be safer than a half ton, and if you just put in the bed of an F450 you'd never know it was back there.

The biggest limitation I see with the setup you have now is the 5x10 trailer. It will be fine if you want to haul the BX w/o the FEL and BH (and you can probably manage to squeeze the BX, FEL & BH on there 1 way or another if you must), but a 12' is probably the minimum size to load and balance a complete BX25 and 14' would give you more options. If you watched the trailer wt. you should be able to come in around 4000-4200# loaded, which is well below the Ranger's max. towing capacity of 5600#.

 

[deerhunter1]

thanx everyone. I made a mistake on the hitch, it is a class III. I think i'm ok on weight although it is a stretch but I would like to haul it without taking the FEL and BH off. My trailer is not a dual axle or a hydraulic dump it's lust a manual dump. Someone on hear hauled with a 5X10 trailer by putting a 14" hitch extesion on and put the bucket over the front of the trailer. Any thoughts?

 

[Duffster]

thanx everyone. I made a mistake on the hitch, it is a class III. I think i'm ok on weight although it is a stretch but I would like to haul it without taking the FEL and BH off. My trailer is not a dual axle or a hydraulic dump it's lust a manual dump. Someone on hear hauled with a 5X10 trailer by putting a 14" hitch extesion on and put the bucket over the front of the trailer. Any thoughts?

I would just leave the loader high enough to clear the truck box and forget the extension.

 

[pat32rf]

As soon as you install the hitch extension you will loose some of the weight rating of the hitch. Being a single axle trailer you will also have one H of a job trying to position your tractor so the tonque load is anywhere near reasonable. You MIGHT be able to do it for short suburban hauls but I hope that I'm not sharing the road with you once you get over 30mph,,,or on wet pavement,,,, or loose gravel,,,,or on a sharp turn,,,or on a hill,,,,or when a tire blows,,,,.
Even if you could have a longer tonque installed on the trailer it would make things easier

 

[KeithInSpace]

I've hauled my BX2230 equipped with FEL and BH in a 5' x 10' single axle trailer rated for 3,500# behind my Expedition rated for 9,000#.

My issues were:
--The sidewall flex in the tires causing the trailer to 'bound' side-to-side with irregularities in the road. Very disconcerting feeling.
--To get a decent tongue balance, I loaded the rig backwards with the BH jammed against the rail to the front, bucket all the way over to one side, and the FEL bucket hanging over the rear gate. It was ugly, but it worked.
--Getting decent tie-downs was a real problem. DON'T use straps...unless you have a multitude of possible tie-down points, you'll never get a nylon strap away from an 'edge'. Use chain.
--Even on the Expedition, which has massive vented disc brakes on both ends, two piston up front, I had a difficult time stopping. I would suspect your truck would have a hard time stopping the load in a reasonable distance.

'Tis your call. Personally, I'd be pretty apprehensive. Not about the trailer, necessarilly, but with the limitations of the trailer COMBINED with the limitations of your truck...specifically the brakes. If you had brakes on the trailer, I'd feel much better about the thing.

And leave the extension at home. I cringe every time I see one...a bad joke. Whoever invented those should be shot. They're only good if you're hauling, like, a little tailgating BBQ or a couple of bikes...just dumb for any type of actual weight. If I knew you in the real world, I'd PAY you to NOT use it...

 

[Baucom]

If you're just concerned with getting the tractor home or some 1 time trip like that, then you can probably make do (barely), but it might be easier to either have it hauled, or rent a tandem axle trailer to haul it. If you're planning to haul it with any regularity then it's time to invest in another trailer a few feet longer, with tandem axles and brakes (preferably tandem brake axles). I too would forget about the hitch extension--that's just asking for problems since your load isn't likely to be anywhere near well balanced.

 

[pat32rf]

In my response I thought he HAD brakes!!!!
There is a big difference between hauling a load of firewood/gravel etc and a tractor of the same weight...

 

[Baucom]

In my response I thought he HAD brakes!!!!
There is a big difference between hauling a load of firewood/gravel etc and a tractor of the same weight...

LOL! It really is a serious issue though--the smaller the truck the more you need trailer brakes.

The Ranger has plenty of capability to pull a proper trailer with the BX on it, but without trailer brakes it'll be a very risky endeavor. Also, if you do attempt to haul it with your 5x10, check to be sure that you're not over any of your wt. ratings, including your trailer tire load ratings. I would really recommend at least renting a tandem axle with brakes.

 

[check]

Deerhunter, I would NOT try to haul that tractor without trailer brakes. (And get electric brakes, so you can control sway from inside the truck with the brake controller.) You can just swap out the axle for one with trailer brakes, and thus do not have to buy a new trailer. (They seem to have gone up in price a lot since I bought mine a couple of years ago.)

As to the extension, I see that some don't like them, but on my F150 I have had no problems, and it does solve the problem of the FEL sticking out over the front of the trailer (although I do like the idea of perhaps welding on a very solid trailer tongue extension instead, as this would be relatively cheap, keep the tongue weight closer to the tow vehicle, and reduce sway as well). However, a big F150 Supercrew is a very different vehicle than the one you have, so the relocation of the tongue weight might be more of a problem for you.

Another option, of course, is to put the FEL or BH in the bed of the truck, since they detach very quickly and easily on the BX25. (Great tractor, by the way - I have the same one.)

 

[ultrarunner]

I've hauled my BX2230 equipped with FEL and BH in a 5' x 10' single axle trailer rated for 3,500# behind my Expedition rated for 9,000#.

My issues were:
--The sidewall flex in the tires causing the trailer to 'bound' side-to-side with irregularities in the road. Very disconcerting feeling.
--To get a decent tongue balance, I loaded the rig backwards with the BH jammed against the rail to the front, bucket all the way over to one side, and the FEL bucket hanging over the rear gate. It was ugly, but it worked.
--Getting decent tie-downs was a real problem. DON'T use straps...unless you have a multitude of possible tie-down points, you'll never get a nylon strap away from an 'edge'. Use chain.
--Even on the Expedition, which has massive vented disc brakes on both ends, two piston up front, I had a difficult time stopping. I would suspect your truck would have a hard time stopping the load in a reasonable distance.

'Tis your call. Personally, I'd be pretty apprehensive. Not about the trailer, necessarily, but with the limitations of the trailer COMBINED with the limitations of your truck...specifically the brakes. If you had brakes on the trailer, I'd feel much better about the thing.

And leave the extension at home. I cringe every time I see one...a bad joke. Whoever invented those should be shot. They're only good if you're hauling, like, a little tailgating BBQ or a couple of bikes...just dumb for any type of actual weight. If I knew you in the real world, I'd PAY you to NOT use it...

I still use my 5x10 for the BX...

My trailer was built with a long "A" Frame Tongue and cradles the loader like it was make for it.

You would be much happier with 10-ply rated, Tube-Type, Non Radial Trailer Tires... no sidewall issues...

I use a Diesel Excursion that is set-up for 14k trailer... never noticed any deficiency brake wise.

The local Utility Company Tows Single Axle, 8k rated Cable Spool Trailers without brakes... I've often wondered how this is legal?