You "Road" Your Tractor?

[Hay Dude]

I got DOT’d on Monday. Cops pulled me over while running home with empty trailer. Said “you DOT numbers are not on your truck”. Now this is a 25 year old cop with probably perfect vision compared to my much older eyes.
I told him to look again. Then he saw them. But rather than just let me be on my way, he checked for every document, ran my license, registration & insurance and went over my truck & trailer as if I was running drugs up from Guadalajara or something. Wasted 1+ hour of my time, all for nothing.

And we wonder why so many people don’t like cops.

 

[MoKelly]

I got DOT’d on Monday. Cops pulled me over while running home with empty trailer. Said “you DOT numbers are not on your truck”. Now this is a 25 year old cop with probably perfect vision compared to my much older eyes.
I told him to look again. Then he saw them. But rather than just let me be on my way, he checked for every document, ran my license, registration & insurance and went over my truck & trailer as if I was running drugs up from Guadalajara or something. Wasted 1+ hour of my time, all for nothing.

And we wonder why so many people don’t like cops.

Yep! One thing I learned as I got older was that admitting mistakes is a virtue. He should have said sorry - my mistake - have a good rest of your day.

I’m afraid too many folks fail to admit mistakes.

But - at 25 - I must admit I hadn’t learned the lesson yet.

 

[JethroB]

A nearby large produce farmer (3000+ acres) told me they keep a stock of mailboxes and posts on hand. They run JD 8R series tractors with wide implements mostly and road them a lot to various farms they own or lease. Taking out mailboxes and trash carts are frequent events.

Come around a curve to meet a six row cotton picker, particularly at night, and there is no doubt who ‘owns’ the road. They get their share of mailboxes too I’m sure.
Seriously though they are very good at pulling over. Way of life around here Oct-Dec.

 

[cannuck]

I help my best bud to produce alfalfa for his horses (usually around 24). Our big tractor was a 7490 M-F (that never worked right from day 1) and a 120HP smaller M-F (can't remember model #). He would run them back and fourth from home (where we produce most hay) to the horses (about 20 miles) a couple times a year. Well, when it came time to cut and bale, as usual the 7490 crapped out on day 1 - so dealer lent him a 500 series Fendt. He liked it so much, traded the 10 YO Massey's (got darn near what he originally paid for them!!!!). He also likes driving it so much he has even used it to run 5 miles into town on an errand and 20 miles over to my place to lift and move a car! That thing cruises over 30mph and is a comfy as a new pickup.

Our farm is 4.5 miles from house in town, so once I finally get new-to-me 1445V running (operator ran it without coolant) I will be driving it back and fourth a few times as heated shop is in town. I road my all terrain crane (Galion 125) once in a while as I figure the tires will rot long before I wear them out.

 

[bigtiller]

I got DOT’d on Monday. Cops pulled me over while running home with empty trailer. Said “you DOT numbers are not on your truck”. Now this is a 25 year old cop with probably perfect vision compared to my much older eyes.
I told him to look again. Then he saw them. But rather than just let me be on my way, he checked for every document, ran my license, registration & insurance and went over my truck & trailer as if I was running drugs up from Guadalajara or something. Wasted 1+ hour of my time, all for nothing.

And we wonder why so many people don’t like cops.

I got DOT'd once delivering propane.

The guy actually stood on the running board, opened my door, grabbed my seatbelt and gave it a big tug. When he found it was fastened, he told ME how lucky I was.

Then he gave me the same run-around as you.

 

[azbinder]

I got DOT’d on Monday. Cops pulled me over while running home with empty trailer. Said “you DOT numbers are not on your truck”. Now this is a 25 year old cop with probably perfect vision compared to my much older eyes.
I told him to look again. Then he saw them. But rather than just let me be on my way, he checked for every document, ran my license, registration & insurance and went over my truck & trailer as if I was running drugs up from Guadalajara or something. Wasted 1+ hour of my time, all for nothing.
and asked where
And we wonder why so many people don’t like cops.

I was driving down Deer Valley Rd in Phoenix a few years ago in a company F250 with 18' trailer. Saw a motorcycle offices sitting at the curb on a side street watching traffic. Sure enough, he chose me as his next "victim". Lit me up so I pulled over and he pulled up next to the door and asked where my DOT numbers were. I point the bright white lettering on the black box on the bed of the truck. He said "OK, just checking, didn't see them." Actually, I had just put them on two days before.

 

[Intolerantrwj]

Some do and some don't.

I have to admit that roading my tractors to a place up to 40 miles away is probably easier, less time consuming, and safer than driving a big tractor and shredder up on a deckover gooseneck trailer and trailering it to the place.

By the time I hook up the trailer, chain it all down, drive to the destination, take the chains off, and back it off the trailer, and get going, I find it easier to just drive it down the road.

Tractors today can run faster than you want to run one. I know both mine will run about 30mph, but I seldom exceed 22 mph or so.

So I can be at a destination 40 miles away in less than 2 hours drive time. Might get there a tad quicker with trailering it, but trailering is much more work. Besides, a casual drive down a farm road is good for the soul.. Turn the A/C and stereo on and enjoy the ride.

How do you get your tractor from one place to the next?

Apparently you haven't visited a Ag Tire Shop lately .... highly likely ' The Joe Prices ' will cause you to re-think the trailer-loading time efforts.

 

[rockinbbar]

Apparently you haven't visited a Ag Tire Shop lately .... highly likely ' The Joe Prices ' will cause you to re-think the trailer-loading time efforts.

Some tires last much better than others if you are on the road with them some. Inflation PSI has a lot to do with tires lasting longer as well.

The tractor I traded in a few months ago was about 10 years old and still had the factory rears, and I had put one set of fronts on it in 10 years.

Last time I was in the regular tire shop to put 8 good trailer tires on my deckover gooseneck wasn't cheap either.

By looking at your tractor list, I doubt you make a living with your tractors, or have much need to move them from one location to the next in an expedient manner... I don't have lawn mowers with max speeds of 6mph. I have sophisticated, high horsepower tractors that don't have a mower deck underneath, but run large batwing cutters.

How about you do what works for you, and I'll do what works for me? Lest one assume just how ignorant I may or may not be about the best ways to transport my equipment that I puts hundreds of hours on annually, or how much time I may have spent in an Ag Tire Shop...

 

[Zete]

It's only 14.5 miles between my farm and shop, my 8000#+ tractor can do it in about an hour at around 15mph. But after a couple of close calls with maniac drivers on HWY 277, I trailer mine

 

[pecans]

I look forward to roading a tractor. I have 5 that go into my mechanic once per year for a good going over. We often do this together. Good for my learning. My mechanic points out two things. 1. It is best to always let a tractor get up to operating temperature every time you turn it on to avoid internal build ups. 2. It is good to run a tractor at a high percentage of its capabilities to help it burn out and blow out build ups. There are of course other considerations. If you are renting your tractor by the hour, it can real expensive real quick. You need to not exceed your front end's ability to steer safely. You need a friendly constituency along the route. You don't want to get run over, inflame people who do not know where their food comes from, or be a true hazard to others. A side benefit is a slow ride past your countryside. Good for thinking and learning.

 

[IndyIan]

I do a little bit down the side roads, but never on the highway. Too many city people, or big trucks in a hurry. Even with a seat belt and a roll bar, a tractor my size will be broken in pieces if hit by a texter in an average size vehicle hits it going highway speed. We lost a good community guy that way a few years ago and he was on a 8-9000lb tractor.

 

[C79]

I have only roaded mine a limited amount but I felt like there was no better way to travel. My longest run was only 13 miles out to our gun club to move stone and regrade the driveways and the 13 miles back. Had a blast!

 

[Hay Dude]

A little “tractor roading” on Christmas Eve

 

[aircommuter]

It all depends on how far. Typically when I was in business moving was from my construction yard to a jobsite which usually needed at minimum 3 pieces of equipment. One likely was a steel track machine and a pad foot compactor. So the answer would be no.

 

[FixAll]

Some do and some don't.

I have to admit that roading my tractors to a place up to 40 miles away is probably easier, less time consuming, and safer than driving a big tractor and shredder up on a deckover gooseneck trailer and trailering it to the place.

By the time I hook up the trailer, chain it all down, drive to the destination, take the chains off, and back it off the trailer, and get going, I find it easier to just drive it down the road.

Tractors today can run faster than you want to run one. I know both mine will run about 30mph, but I seldom exceed 22 mph or so.

So I can be at a destination 40 miles away in less than 2 hours drive time. Might get there a tad quicker with trailering it, but trailering is much more work. Besides, a casual drive down a farm road is good for the soul.. Turn the A/C and stereo on and enjoy the ride.

How do you get your tractor from one place to the next?

40 miles on pavement is a lot of wear to put on costly tractor tires.
Where I am (Massachusetts) I will put it on a trailer and haul it if I am going more than 1/2 a mile, at that I am risking a traffic ticket for operating an unregistered motor vehicle on a public way. During a "snow emergency" I can probably get away with driving it 10 or 20 miles if needed, but I still don't think I would try going more than 1 mile.

 

[rockinbbar]

40 miles on pavement is a lot of wear to put on costly tractor tires.
Where I am (Massachusetts) I will put it on a trailer and haul it if I am going more than 1/2 a mile, at that I am risking a traffic ticket for operating an unregistered motor vehicle on a public way. During a "snow emergency" I can probably get away with driving it 10 or 20 miles if needed, but I still don't think I would try going more than 1 mile.

Yeah, like I said in the Op, some do and some don't.

You have to take in account what type tractor you have, how far to move it, what's going with it? You also have to consider your local roads, laws, and how many times a year you move it...

For me, I move bigger tractors and cutters that require a 40ft deckover gooseneck and at least a 1 ton pickup to pull it.

For my decision to drive a tractor from project to project has to do with all the above, and not really seeing a need to trailer my equipment from project to project when I may have 40-50 projects in a summer's time frame that I plan in advance for, and go from one to the next closest one...and so on.

Here's my old "small tractor" and cutter sitting on that 40' gooseneck. As you can see, even my smaller tractor isn't a 30hp sub compact with a 5' cutter you can load on about any 16' utility trailer.

For those of you warning me about tire wear... Yeah, I know. In the past 10 years I spent about $800 on two fronts that needed replacing on one of 3 tractors that accumulated over 5000 hours combined.

Now, my CTL gets trailered everywhere, but I use a 20' trailer for that. But it doesn't run 25mph down the highway either..

 

[Tpondel]

Have a Deere 3033R that I occasionally need to drive 3 miles away to cut a field. I actually enjoy the feeling of driving a tractor on country roads. Turn on the A/C, crank up the Sirius radio and away I go.

 

[Alan46]

I can’t stand trailers and I don’t like running tractors on the road for more than a mile or two. This is what I do if I need to go further than that: View attachment 838478

Can you show a picture of your ramps
And how you hook them to the bed please?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I can’t stand trailers and I don’t like running tractors on the road for more than a mile or two. This is what I do if I need to go further than that: View attachment 838478

Cubs don't weigh much, biggest I've put in the back of my truck is an A Farmall, they are quite a bit heavier than a Cub.

SR

 

[SwingOak]

I've made hay at properties up to 15 miles away, and with my 50 hp tractor which runs at best 12mph, that takes a long time. So I would drop my truck off in advance, drive the tractor there pulling the haybine to mow, then haul the rest of the equipment back & forth with my truck and leave the tractor there, swapping out equipment each trip. Final trip home was with the tractor and the baler.

Next farthest field was 9 miles away. That meant over 8 hours of road time to make hay over a 3 day period. And yeah, asphalt eats up front tires fast.

The 75 hp tractor has a road speed of 23-24 mph, so I'm more willing to haul equipment with just the tractor and have done contract tedding up to 8 miles away.

For my land in the UP, I load up and trailer everything there and back because I'm not driving my tractor on the road 200 miles each way.