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Seen in SE PA - can this be legal ??

D

Deere Mark

Member
Lancaster county PA. Wish I had my camera at the time. An Amishman, two mules, a fore-cart, and three empty hay wagons. Pulled onto a busy two-lane road and made two right-angle turns in heavy traffic. Very brave or foolish.
Recently saw twice in one day a tractor with a manure tanker and the manure pump (makes for a very long load)(probably a contractor moving from one farm to the next job) traveling on very busy two lane roads.
What ever happened to "one-tractor-one wagon" as in the old days. Don't know what the laws regarding the number of towed implements are.
Would this be allowed by the cops in your area?
 

I avoid busy roads and turn down ground that would require me to go any distance on busy roads, But when I go out to bale hay I frequently have a wagon behind the baler, and anybody with a tow behind chopper is going to have their high dump wagon behind the chopper. That said, what the Amish farmer was described as doing was not very smart.
 
They have no say on the matter in this area(for now). With the current communist regime that will likely be coming to an end soon. (Am I cynical?) There are no width, weight, or length restrictions. As long as you don't go over the centre line, you're good for width. When I say no weight restrictions, I mean that, whether towed by a tractor or truck. Weight restrictions on roads and bridges don't apply. I've towed 100ft of empty thrower racks. With safety chains, it's 100% legal. I ain't going to make that trip 4 times instead of 1.
 
I don't know what the rules are but I do know the Amish have a lot of right away in that part of the world.
 
we'll do two wagons around here with no complaints. Never tried three.

But - you know, if I had to make the trip back and forth by horse, I can envision hooking three up and seeing how it goes.
 
I have never heard of one tractor, one wagon. We always pulled a wagon to the field behind the chopper or baler. We always pulled two loaded gravity boxes to the elevator, sometimes three loaded gravities. The law never stopped us or any of our neighbors that did the same thing. And being on a state road, we saw our share of the law go by.
 
Not much different than the pusher motor home pulling a crew cab F350 with a boat behind it on RTE 30 last year
 
Just like recreational vehicles farmers have strong lobbyist that allow them to have lax rules on the road.
Even if they push these rules and exceed them they are seldom questioned until a accident happens and lawyers get involved.

Every state has its own rules on using implements of husbandry on state roads.
But the ones I know of limit length to three vehicles and no more than 100 feet long.
 
I believe here in Mn. we can be up to 100 ft. if towed by tractor. No matter how many imps. or wagons as long as you have control of the "train"
 
Can't speak to the local law but I do not know how safety minded they are and question the judgement at times. There has been fatalities here in the Finger Lakes with the Amish and old order Mennonites. I don't like to tell other people how to go about their business but I think some schooling would be of a help. Of course that is not to say that they are the only ones as you still hear about kids riding in loader buckets and playing right next to a running forage blower on other farms. Regardless of who you are take a minute to think it through with the hope each person has the mental capability to see potentially poor judgement.
 
Lots of farmers here pull 3 smaller and 2 large gravity wagons behind a tractor. We are limited to 2 empty and 1 loaded behind pickups tho and they watch thsy close. When I was small my dad did a lot of custom silo filling. He left the farm lots of times with the chopper, 3 wagons, and a long hopper blower behind our 830 case. I was always in awe when I saw that.
 
Had a neighbor saving trips moving to a farm 10 miles away. He pulled a baler and three hayracks behind his Farmall 560 and his old IH pickup with a tow bar behind the last rack so he had something to drive home. Then to avoid an extra trip he hooked his bale elevator to a front hitch on the 560 and pushed it the full 10 miles. I guess he didn't know about the 100 foot rule.
 
I honestly don't even know what the law is here in Michigan anymore. I know way back when we were in high school,a neighbor kid got a ticket for pulling four empty gravity wagons with a tractor,and they were small ones too. Just recently,an auctioneer here was saying that he got a ticket for pulling two empty ones behind his pickup. Said one was supposedly the limit,the ticket was for an illegal hitch.
 
Anytime they go out on some of those roads (like US30) they take a big risk with the traffic, so might as well do it big, I guess.
 
Foolishly many years ago I pulled three hay wagons loaded with alfalfa down a busy two lane. Vowed to never do that again. Very tricky turning down the lane to the dairy I was working for.
 
I thought 2 hitch pins was the max on tractors as well, full or empty. As you say on pickups, 1 loaded or 2 empty.

The scary looking rigs are the pickup, jumbo camper, and boat behind that. The camper is not supposed to be a bumper hitch, and the boat is supposed to be small enough to be single axle trailer, but I've seen it all different ways. Those rigs get long, and driven by folks with a simple license. It just looks scary.

Paul
 
In my neck of the woods we don't have the heavy traffic and very few three wagon hitches behind a tractor. What we do have is farmers pulling two big wagons with a good sized tractor. The whole shebang weighs 110,000 pounds or a little more. I see the read outs on the elevator scales. A trucker would be crucified if he was caught weighing that much.
 
I saw a farmer moving a combine yesterday on a very busy 2 lane state road that was mostly curves, double lines, no passing. He didn't remove the head. Took up both lanes. When he went buy on coming cars had to get off the road because mail boxes were along the road, not enough room for him to pull off road. He did find places to get off for semis. Is that legal, lazy or just stupid not removing the head? I was in no hurry, so I stayed far behind for 7 miles before I turned off.
 
I NC Missouri, a neighbor got ticketed for pulling a hay wagon behind a pickup - EMPTY. He was told that "Implements of Husbandry" did not include pickups and cars. If he were pull it with a horse or tractor, he would have been legal. It cost him near $200.....
 

Geo, In my view we are all required to get as narrow as possible for transporting on a road, farmers included. Running a combine down the road with the head on is like pulling a disk down the road with the wings down.
 
Being from Lancaster County I can say that I dont hear too much about people getting tickets. The only real issue is guys running after dark without lights. I think the Cops dont even know how to inforce the laws, so unless its an OBVIOUS issue like unsecured loads, or lighting, you are pretty much good to go...
Amish with horses pulling who knows what is a normal thing...
The mennonites use their tractors as if there were cars/trucks. They hook trailers to them and drive all over the place. I have even seen them load household goods onto the trailers when they were moving.Or a steel wheel tractor pulling a trailer with lawnchairs on it. People in the lawn chairs and canoes piled on the trailer. Heading down to the river for a little fishing....

The main issue becomes when there is an accident and someone gets hurt/killed. Then its the letter of the law....
 
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