Prior to moving our cows to the new farm we had to move our equipment there so we could work. The new farm is only about 5 miles away so there was debate on how we’d move the backhoe. Should we just drive it over? Should we load it on our heavy duty trailer? Would the new truck even haul that much weight? Whenever you see an ad for a dually, it’s always something like this.
So this truck of mine is supposed to pull a tractor. Should be ok right? I mean, they wouldn’t show pictures in an ad that you can’t do in real life, right?
Yeah right. I look up the specs on the John Deere 310SJ and it turns out that it weighs about 17,000 pounds. The trailer I am using weighs about 8,000 pounds. The John Deere Gator weighs about 1000 pounds. The truck itself weighs a bit more than 7000 pounds. That gives me a total combined gross vehicle weight of 33,000-34,000 pounds which is right at the published limit for this truck. Should be interesting.
So Miguel and I play Tetris with the backhoe, the Gator, the forks, etc. until we finally get everything to fit and the weight distributed correctly. We then get out the 47 chains and binders and start binding things in place. After a few false starts (mainly by me) we get everything bound down in the correct positions and secure. We pull around the barn and are going to make the final preps when Miguel points out that his side of the trailer is looking a little low. Sure enough one of the tires looks sad.
We pull back around the barn and put air in the tire. We can’t really run it to a set pressure because it’s already so loaded but we can pump it up some. Hmm, this isn’t working. What about the inside tire? Air goes into it, and right back out through the hole in it.
Sigh
We grab the patch kit and try to patch the hole. Turns out the hole is actually a gash and we can’t patch it. Some head scratching ensues and we decide to unbind everything, put all the 47 chains and binders away, unload the backhoe, unload the Gator, and drive the backhoe to the farm.
Then the next day I get to drive the trailer and have the tire patched, which cost $30 but a lot less than a new tire.
Just another day on the farm.