How much in wagon can be safely pulled?

I have 1 large tractor (JD 4630) and 1 small (Massey 255) and 3 wagons-1 wagon is 300bu, 2 are 225 bu and am trying to figure out the best-and safe-way for this fall.

Thanks

Paul Butler

2.) Don't forget to have safety chains in place between tractor and wagon or between wagons in case the hitch pin or king pin on the wagon breaks loose.

Assume the worst that can happen, and be prepared for it, especially if you are driving into town. If this is your first time driving into town, make a dry run empty, so you get a feel for sight lines, stopping points, turns, etc.

As most of the others said, this is not about what you can pull, but rather what you can safely stop.

We started farming with a too-light-in-the-butt Ford 9N. There were times when the little Ford went a-skatin' down a snotty grade with a load. I've also had similar experiences with Ferguson 35s and a Ferguson 202. Using these tractors with marginal downhill hold-back ability during my formative years was good training and experience albeit a bit risky.

I remember when I was 12 years old, Dad and I were helpng a neighbor make hay. We had two very full wagon loads ready to take back to the neighbor's barn--a trip of about 3 miles. I was told to get the neighbor's Ferguson 35 Diesel (how I loved that little tractor!) hooked up to one wagon. The neighbor was pondering hooking up two wagons to me, but was hesitant about doing that because of the size of the 35, me being only 12. Dad told him to "hitch 'em up. He'll get 'em there!"

Off I went. The 35's Perkins mill was up to the task. I had a couple of hills (on a paved road) to negotiate, but the little 35 hammered up them no problem using second-hi on the gear selection.

When I got to the neighbor's drive, I got real nervous about what lay before me: I had forgotten this drive was downhill, narrow and covered with gravel. Well, using the lessons Dad beat into my head, I geared down to first-hi, eased off the throttle and absolutely stayed off the brakes. The wagons pushed the little Ferguson a bit on the marbley stones, but I made it to port with little problem. Keep the drive wheels turning forward is the key.

Bigger or newer wagons are required to have hyd brakes, so your JD can handle anything it can get moving. See folks in my hilly area come in with 2 600bu wagons behind a similar sized front wheel assist tractor all the time.

I assume you do not have brakes on the wagons. Your JD would be able to handle any pair 'here' just fine, assuming your brakes are working.

The little tractor can handle one of the smaller wagons.

Now, if you have a _good_ wagon running gear, I would hook up one smaller wagon to the little tractor, and the other smaller wagon, followed by the bigger wagon, to the JD.

There is _some_ danger of jackknifing the small wagon in a sandwich between your tractor & the big wagon, but your sizes are fairly close so this _should_ work for you. But do consider the jacknife issue & proceed with caution.

The advantage of putting the slightly smaller wagon first is you can still see the rear wagon as well, watch for whipping or flat tires etc.

Always fill the front wogon first, you don't want a light empty front wagon with a full heavy one behind... Again, for wagons 50% difference in size or so, then you _must_ put the big one next to the tractor, the little one at the end. But it is hard to know what that hind little wagon is doing.

--->Paul

I got to agree with Paul as he"s given sound advice. Were not talking OTR trucking where were running posted speed but under 20mph slow speed pulling. There"s a huge difference!

I haul 20,000lbs of water trailer with my 8000lb pick-up at 15mph on sand roads and I"m well with-in my GVWR. I also pull a 13000lb RV at road speed (75mph) and I"m with-in my GVWR.

99% of the time I never touch a brake unless I come to a complete stop and thats with making several 90º corners with no brakes on the water trailer. Why? I use gears and engine RPM to control and slow down the load and only use the brakes for a complete stop.

I"ve always used the rule for trailers without brakes, what ever gear you can start from a dead stop in, is the highest gear you can safely pull that load. This allows the engine RPM and gearing to control the trailer load.

I also did some research on Arizona DOT rules awhile back and to be legal, my tractor needs turn signals and stop/tail lites after dark, and my water trailer needs two brake axles, one at over 3000lbs and two at over 6000lbs.

No where do they mention anything about a slow speed triangle but yet the local county mounty reconizes the tri-angle as a proper replacement for trailer lites.

T_Bone

I pull 200 bu with a pickup, but not on the big hills.

A tractor is a little different to me - it has a slow max speed, good engine braking, & so on. Not saying I would be compfortable with the 1200 bu deal, but it doesn't scare me as much as the 400 bu wobbling behind a pickup.

--->Paul

I used to pull a 10 ton New Idea tandem manure spreader with a JD 620 once in a while. Stupid, but I survived. Three quarters of a load on relatively flat ground. I would say that the spreader out-weighed the 620 by a factor of at least three. I wouldn't attempt such a thing anymore. As G-Man stated, too much liability and juries ready to award just about any ridiculous amount.

We don't have many hills but there are a couple small one.

The massey only weighs problably 7000 lb or so, so even one of the small wagons would be overdoing it. Maybe I will hook it to one of them and just not overload the wagon.

The 4630 is over #20,000 and has hydraulic brakes so the two wagons behind it don't worry me too much.

Yep, all lights working on all tractors and new SMV emblems on all wagons.

Thanks again!

Paul Butler

I have seen some new 500 and 600 bu wagons with them but not my oldies.