What's the largest excavator you pull with a pickup truck?

Looks pretty good stormdodger, again its not getting it rolling but knowing how long it takes to stop, newer trucks like yours with four wheel discs and abs do a good job, give it a try stopping from 40kmh on a good road with the trailer brakes disconnected, this will give you a good idea of the stopping distances. If it will bring it to road speed and feel stable that's fine, just keep in mind your stopping distance is 2x or 3x usual and if you find yourself using the high boost brake options, check your trailer brake lining often. Another point is the trailer brakes are manual adjust and will need adjustment every thousand miles or so to keep them optimal.

stormdodger said:

too much?

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Yup.

I see that the new 2015 Ford pickups have a 40,000 GCVW and something like 32,500 tow rating. I may not be to the exact pound, but they had to top the 30,000 tow rating that Dodge came out with for their 3500 diesel pickups. It sounds to me like having the right license, right trailer (with the right brakes) and right tie down equipment is going to be the most important question. When it comes to pickup trucks being able to pull the compact excavators, that isn't going to be the issue. Those other items I mentioned are. Unless, of course, you are trying to pull that weight with a single rear wheel pickup.

Allgood said:

I see that the new 2015 Ford pickups have a 40,000 GCVW and something like 32,500 tow rating. I may not be to the exact pound, but they had to top the 30,000 tow rating that Dodge came out with for their 3500 diesel pickups. It sounds to me like having the right license, right trailer (with the right brakes) and right tie down equipment is going to be the most important question. When it comes to pickup trucks being able to pull the compact excavators, that isn't going to be the issue. Those other items I mentioned are. Unless, of course, you are trying to pull that weight with a single rear wheel pickup.

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FORD Diesel Trucks Suck ! the only thing worse than a diesel Ford truck is , well nothing....

pafarmer said:

FORD Diesel Trucks Suck ! the only thing worse than a diesel Ford truck is , well nothing....

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Care to elaborate?

The 7.3's were great engines, the 6.0's were plagued with problems, no experience with 6.4's and the 6.7 has been a great engine so far. That's my personal experience.:cool2

I have owned several- 7.3's, several- 6.0's and currently have a 6.7 in my truck. Still own a 2001 7.3 I bought new.

CM1995 said:

Care to elaborate?

The 7.3's were great engines, the 6.0's were plagued with problems, no experience with 6.4's and the 6.7 has been a great engine so far. That's my personal experience.:cool2

I have owned several- 7.3's, several- 6.0's and currently have a 6.7 in my truck. Still own a 2001 7.3 I bought new.

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Agreed. The 7.3 was an awesome motor ! No disagreement there....it's been all down hill in flames since though....Ford stuck my 6.0 straight up my ass and I will never buy a FORD anything ever again. I just bought a brand new 2015 Chevy 2500 Duramax HD and it's pretty hard to beat in terms of a modern diesel..great motor and hooked to the Allison tranny makes it's a truly great package. Quiet, powerful, loaded with great options....averaging 21.1 miles per gallon driving in the hills of Pa...Best diesel on the road today IMHO.....

My 2012 6.7 is great, quiet, smooth and more power than I know what to do with... I agree the 7.3 is a great motor, so far no problems with my hot rod, But I do feel like comparing trucks is a total personal preference, I go with best value for my money, and the sales and service staff that is going to give me the best treatment. IMHO All brand new 1 ton trucks are over designed, and bulky looking. What happened to square hoods and real metal? On another note I really like the power windows in my truck, and the heated mirrors.

Allgood said:

I see that the new 2015 Ford pickups have a 40,000 GCVW and something like 32,500 tow rating.

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Thats only for the F450's. I know they call it a pickup but is it really? I'm not so sure myself..... They have 19.5's with 4.30 gears, they require commercial registration and insurance like a regular truck. Dont get me wrong I would love to have one, but I'm not completely convinced its a "pickup".

While were kinda on the subject, how do these auto manufactures get away with this false advertisement?
We see this


Then we look at the ratings from the manufacture here http://www.fleet.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/15PrelimFLRVTTgde_Apr17.pdf

Maybe its just me but I don't see a SRW truck in sight rated for more than 16,500 lbs. I would be shocked if the load pictured was less than 20k. So what gives?

pafarmer said:

FORD Diesel Trucks Suck ! the only thing worse than a diesel Ford truck is , well nothing....

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Well I will just consider the source of that statement and write it off.
I have a un-chipped '08 6.4 dually 4 x 4 and it pulls anything I have, anywhere, anytime, with barely an effort.

In Washington state you will need a CDL to be over 25,999 GCW if you have a business. If you get caught getting paid for dirt work and hauling without a CDL it could get very expensive. And ugly.

pafarmer said:

I just bought a brand new 2015 Chevy 2500 Duramax HD and it's pretty hard to beat in terms of a modern diesel..great motor and hooked to the Allison tranny makes it's a truly great package. Quiet, powerful, loaded with great options....averaging 21.1 miles per gallon driving in the hills of Pa...Best diesel on the road today IMHO.....

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You may be delighted to know that the Duramax engine is a Japanese Isuzu. But then you probably already knew that.

I prefer Reliability,

the 5.9 mechanical injected cummins, or the 7.3 IDI IH, just one hot 12v wire, either mated with a Nv4500, the 6.34 creeper, not the common 5.61.

I'd gamble the aluminum 5600s or zf5/6s,

Point being, no computer, manual gearbox. Odb2 and auto shifting is nice, until they stop being fancy or automatic, respectively.



Sent from my rooted HTC Supersonic using Tapatalk 2 Pro

LT-x7 said:

While were kinda on the subject, how do these auto manufactures get away with this false advertisement?
We see this
View attachment 119475

Then we look at the ratings from the manufacture here http://www.fleet.ford.com/resources/ford/general/pdf/towingguides/15PrelimFLRVTTgde_Apr17.pdf

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I think it has to do solely with marketing - the folks in the marketing dept. aren't verifying it with the engineers. Remember the old truck commercial, I forget which brand, where it carried 1 competitor crossways on the bed and pulled the other one up a rocky incline? That was priceless..

Then there was the one that showed the icebreaker ship of about 30,000 ton displacement getting stuck in the ice, a crane swings out, lowers a F350 overboard, they hook a hawser to the bumper hitch, and the pickup takes off like it's nothing, pulling the icebreaker like it's a bass boat,.

That combo might be legal depending on how much weight is on the trailer itself. You can legally register the truck higher than the manufacturers gvwr. Trailer might be 5k machine is 14k so gross 19k behind an f350 isn't impossible.

90plow said:

That combo might be legal depending on how much weight is on the trailer itself. You can legally register the truck higher than the manufacturers gvwr. Trailer might be 5k machine is 14k so gross 19k behind an f350 isn't impossible.

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You mean you can register it for a higher gross Combined weight, right? I was under the impression the GVWR of the truck was non negotiable and the GCWR was more of a guideline since its not on the door tag. Legally they don't care what your dragging as long as the pickup doesn't have to much weight on it.

My point was the manufacture rates it to tow 16.5k (best case scenario), meaning the don't recommend you tow more than that. Then they show it towing a 20k.

My personal works truck i have used are as follows:
1996 chevy 1500 4x4
1997 ford f350 4x4 drw single cab
2004 ford f350 4x4 drw extended cab
2006 ford f250 4x4 srw extended cab
1999 ford f550 4x4 drw single cab
2002 ford f550 4x4 drw crew cab
1970 ford f600 drw single cab
1997 ford fseries (f700). Single cab
Etc

I currently have a 10k, 14k, 10 ton, and 20 ton tag among others.

I move buildings and heavy machinery very often. I have broken pintle hooks and several trailer tongues. I have almost been wrecked several times by loads. Here are my thoughts. Load placement runs hand in hand with braking power. I recently towed a building package on a 14 k trailer to Va.using a f550 i could not drive faster than 60 due to improper tongue weight. Almost all factory work trucks especially ford come with inferior draw bars and hitches. I have meet several people that have beat the hitch straight off the frame on long distance hauls pulling campers.

Staying under a class 5 truck for hauling the f550 is king of the road. Good gearing , braking and strong frame it has.

I have pulled 20,000lbs + with an f250 sw it will
Do it. I only do it in emergency breaks downs or such. The manufacture ratings are a scam and a bunch of lyes, They are for marketing and general guides. Some times they are way too much to be safe. The only effective and safe way to move weight is with a tow vehicle that has more weight than the load and/or the load is putting weight on the tow vehicle by tongue weight or it is balanced over several axle points. The heaver the truck the safer it is. The more weight you can put on the rear axles the safer you are. Of course. Your tow rig and setup is only truly tested in failures. Lossing tires, axles, and trailer brakes have happened to me. Wet roads hard stopping and too much speed will wreck you.

It is very easy to get used to pulling to much then failure occurs. If it happens to you at the wrong time you will die. Single rear wheel trucks losing a tire pulling a load at speed will kill you. 14k trailer have axles that sit above the ubolts. Over load the axles and the bolts break and the axle will come loose

Emergency procedures will kill you in an overloaded rig. Do not play. If you can cruise along at slow speeds you are fine. 40 mph or more and the risk goes up quick.

If you want to see how tuff your truck is try driving it with out the trailer brakes, see how well it does not stop. Then think of what will happen under hard braking and they go out.
My f250 got 13k on the last set of brakes front and rear.

I have moved into tandem axle haulers and bigger trucks but it seems the bigger the truck the more you put on it and big is never big enough. My tandem dump
Has scaled at out 86k, way over weight and it will break something.

To me an f550 pulling ten tons is good. i would go more if it was a short slow trip. It feels safe and seems to handle failures ok. Having the proper weight on the rear axle is important. The older f550 to me are better than the new. Also Ford ran a lot of scams with their f450s recently putting on smaller wheels and taking away the beef. Then the next year putting back on better parts due to customer concerns.

They have also done that with the f550s here and there to. The trucks with the dana 135 rears running 4.88s are brutes. The auto trans are all crap and the 110 rear axles are not as good as the 135s. The new weight ratings are beyond me. It seems that in the old days they were more worried about keeping the number under the cdl regs even tho the trucks will do more. You can put 10 k on the bed of a f550.

Personally i think f550s should have air brakes standard and front and rear locking diffs, heavy push bumpers, manuel zf-7 trans and 7.3 motors beefed with more bigger forged parts with 100 extra ponies. Zf 7 is my new trans patent basically a zf 6 with another higher gear for highway speeds.
Problem is the average guy is not ready for that kind of hauler. And ford does not want a work truck that will last more than 200k. They need repeat business. Thats why the zf-6 is being phased out. It is heavy duty and almost impossible to break.

As to the excavator my f550 pulls a tb145 (11,000 lbs plus trailer weight) great and it is safe. My 250 does it also but you can tell it is over loaded with a bumper pull.

F250 feels good to about 9k plus trailer.
F350 is about the same maybe 1500 lbs more.

The trucks are sensitive to where the load sits on the trailer. Goose necks feel safer
But i prefer bumper pulls.

Nice write-up Georgia Iron...
My Dodge 2500 v-10 is rated to tow 13.6k pds., but I wouldn't do it for any long trips. Mostly, I do short hilly and windy trips (West Coast Mountain country). My 14k trailer with an 8k excavator was my limit (total weight ~12.5k). Getting tongue weight just right was always my concern. A few inches forward or aft with excavator on trailer made a big difference in towing experience...too much tongue weight and the front felt squirrely. Too little and the back end of truck was not happy.
Accidentally had trailer loaded with near 6tons of fill, and truck had issues with pulling it up a steep hill...in 4L, it didn't feel like I had a load. No idea why it took me a while to figure out that one...thereafter, 2H for flat and straight, 4H and 2nd gear for downhills, and 4L for steep uphills.

A wee bit off topic - loading and unloading was my pucker moments. Finding a flat and hard surface to unload was primary...wheels chocked and jacks on end of trailer (welded some on) made it tolerable. All the stories I've heard in my hood regarding excavator/skidsteer disasters were during the loading or unloading process. Since there is few flat areas around here, folks would load/unload excavators on slopes. What would happen is while the excavator is perched on end of trailer, the tongue would lift rear truck tires off ground, thereby losing truck brakes, and the whole kit would go for a ride down a hill. Some ended badly, especially if hill was a long one.

Slow and steady wins the race. Also helps to have a little weight in truck box...

I had a similar experience once too melli. Unloading an 853 Bobcat off a bumper pull trailer attached to a flatbed dump F350. I was late teens at the time and still green as hell. The truck was parked headed downhill in a subdivision, I didn't chock the wheels.

As I crested the rear end of the trailer, the trailer had a small section of beaver tail and then ramps, the rear of the 350 came off the ground and away the whole kit and caboodle started heading down the hill. All I could do was get the skid off the trailer as fast as possible and catch the ramps with the bucket teeth, luckily when I got the machine off the rear end of the truck came back in contact with pavement and stopped.

It was quite a butt puckering experience.

CM1995 said:

I had a similar experience once too melli. Unloading an 853 Bobcat off a bumper pull trailer attached to a flatbed dump F350. I was late teens at the time and still green as hell. The truck was parked headed downhill in a subdivision, I didn't chock the wheels.

As I crested the rear end of the trailer, the trailer had a small section of beaver tail and then ramps, the rear of the 350 came off the ground and away the whole kit and caboodle started heading down the hill. All I could do was get the skid off the trailer as fast as possible and catch the ramps with the bucket teeth, luckily when I got the machine off the rear end of the truck came back in contact with pavement and stopped.

It was quite a butt puckering experience.

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Doh! Good save. My local trucking guy ended up in the hospital over a similar incident...says it was so quick he didn't have time to react (Has a nice head gash scar to remember it by). A neighbor got a skid rental, and in a rush to load before closing time, had everything pointed downhill at rental shop. The whole kit made it onto the highway (right angle approach)...luckily, up here, it is a quiet hwy.

Still can't get that youtube vid of a guy down south who launched his truck and trailer in the green space between a divided hwy out of my head...it was hilarious looking...can't stop giggling. Apparently, the guy ended up ok. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX6iXVKs4XM