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Unwise to drive telehandler 1-2 miles...slowly??!!

lrd3

New Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2019
Messages
2
Location
South Florida
is is unwise to drive my 2002 Skytrak 8042 the 2 miles back from my mechanics shop
to save $300 for a lowboy tow??!!
Thanks, Dietz
 

RZucker

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Jul 7, 2013
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Wherever I end up
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Mechanic/welder
is is unwise to drive my 2002 Skytrak 8042 the 2 miles back from my mechanics shop
to save $300 for a lowboy tow??!!
Thanks, Dietz
I have a customer with a New Holland and a JCB that drive them all over the place (4-5 miles) at wide open in high gear. They do eat tires doing that.
 

CM1995

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Jan 21, 2007
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13,378
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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
Welcome to the Forums Ird3!

I drover my 1998 Gradall 534C about 15 miles back in the early 2000's from a job site back to my yard because I didn't want to pay the lowboy either.:D

Still have the machine to this day and ran it on the yard. Just watch your temp. gauges and be careful.

What did your mechanic say?
 

crane operator

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Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,324
Location
sw missouri
I'm driving two rental telehandlers about twice that far tomorrow, because I can't get the lowboys any closer.

I worked on a powerhouse project years back, and I'm sure I drove over 4 miles a day in telehandlers back and forth to the laydown yards.
 

John Shipp

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Mar 5, 2015
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643
Location
England
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forestry contracting
AFAIK, telehandlers such as jcb have T/C and 4 speeds, don't get so hot on the road and have good top speed. The other kind is like the Merlo we use, is hydrostatic with only a high and low speed, this generates a lot of heat to get any kind of road speed. Couple miles would be fine unless mountains, 10-20 miles sets the warning buzzers off pretty quickly and you end up pulled over a few times for quite a long while, waiting for them to go off.
 

sfrs4

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Jul 22, 2013
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697
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Great Britian
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parts admin
in the UK telehandlers are the staple farm tool and are often driven long distances 10+ miles between farms with trailers fully loaded and a teenager driving with their foot to the floor, don't get many problems with them. This time of year this is a common sight around here upload_2019-7-25_8-49-36.jpeg
 

Delmer

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Jan 3, 2013
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8,891
Location
WI
AFAIK, telehandlers such as jcb have T/C and 4 speeds, don't get so hot on the road and have good top speed. The other kind is like the Merlo we use, is hydrostatic with only a high and low speed, this generates a lot of heat to get any kind of road speed. Couple miles would be fine unless mountains, 10-20 miles sets the warning buzzers off pretty quickly and you end up pulled over a few times for quite a long while, waiting for them to go off.

Good point, that skytrak has a torque converter, right? I'd use full throttle, or within a couple hundred RPM of full throttle, the torque converter will slip less that way, and that slippage is where most of the heat comes from.
 

MarshallPowerGen

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Nov 26, 2017
Messages
449
Location
Northwestern USA
Occupation
Generator Technician & Equipment Mechanic
It'll do just fine. Use your hazards/turn signals and pull over for faster moving traffic and you'll be doing better than 90% of the drivers you'll be sharing the road with.
 

hosspuller

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Joined
Aug 27, 2014
Messages
1,872
Location
North Carolina
Years ago, I moved some farm equipment about 50 miles … At first light Sunday morning. If I was on the same roads Monday at 8 am, I'd be on the afternoon TV news as a traffic accident.


What type of roads ? Florida's minimum speed limit on Interstate Highways is 50 mph (80 km/h) in 70 mph zones. In 55 mph, and 65 mph urban interstate zones, the minimum is 40 mph (64 km/h).

No minimum on other roads BUT...

THEN THERE IS … Florida Title XXIII Chapter 316 STATE UNIFORM TRAFFIC CONTROL 316.183 (5) No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with law.

Pulling over & Letting traffic pass you sounds like a good idea.

skytrak Speed - Maximum Travel 19 mph / 30.58 km/h
 

kshansen

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Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,165
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Not a telehandler but many years ago I helped move a 988 87A Cat frontend loader from our shop to it's home quarry that is an 85 mile trip! Forget the reason but we had no truck with trailer available and they absolutely had to have the machine back at the quarry the next morning! Forget if we took I-81 or US-11 north.

But either way we pulled in to the plant just a little too late as no-one was there and the gate was locked. Well as luck would have it I was using the service truck as the follow car and a quick look at the gate we saw that it was a simple job to unbolt a couple hinges and swing it open. Got it open pulled loader in by office and bolted gate back together and managed to get away before any cops showed up!

Guess our boss got a phone call in the morning from plant super wondering how the loader got there, what with the gate being locked!

I do have to think that long a drive was not good for the tires as they were very warm by the time we parked it.
 

Raildudes dad

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Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
411
Location
Grand Rapids MI
My office overlooks the freeway. Back in the day when scrapers were THE earth moving machines before the excavators and off road trucks, it was not uncommon for a fleet of scrapers to run the expressway to a new job site. Pilot car or truck in the rear with the entire entourage running the right hand lane thru the metro area. I believe they can still get a permit to do it but seeing scrapers on a job sight is a pretty rare sight any more. One contractor near my house has 3 big Terex's that he used to use doing mass site grading with. I bet it has been well over 15 years since they have moved. The green paint is slowly turning to rust color, the weeds and brush are slowly taking over around them. I'm a member of an Industrial heritage Society and have though about asking for 1 to be donated for display.
 

JD8875

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2010
Messages
314
Location
Harrisonville, Missouri
I rented one a few years ago and drove it about 2 miles across town. Just be sure you check the steering switch. When I pulled out onto the road from the lot it was set to crab steer. That got kind of interesting.

John
 

RZucker

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Jul 7, 2013
Messages
4,077
Location
Wherever I end up
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Mechanic/welder
Not a telehandler but many years ago I helped move a 988 87A Cat frontend loader from our shop to it's home quarry that is an 85 mile trip! Forget the reason but we had no truck with trailer available and they absolutely had to have the machine back at the quarry the next morning! Forget if we took I-81 or US-11 north.

But either way we pulled in to the plant just a little too late as no-one was there and the gate was locked. Well as luck would have it I was using the service truck as the follow car and a quick look at the gate we saw that it was a simple job to unbolt a couple hinges and swing it open. Got it open pulled loader in by office and bolted gate back together and managed to get away before any cops showed up!

Guess our boss got a phone call in the morning from plant super wondering how the loader got there, what with the gate being locked!

I do have to think that long a drive was not good for the tires as they were very warm by the time we parked it.

I know of a 992B that was roaded nearly 150 miles to save on dismantling to haul it. They took it easy for 3 days to get it home, they had pilot cars... but no permits. I still don't know how nobody ended up in jail.
 

sled dog

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2014
Messages
342
Location
Hartdford City, In.
My office overlooks the freeway. Back in the day when scrapers were THE earth moving machines before the excavators and off road trucks, it was not uncommon for a fleet of scrapers to run the expressway to a new job site. Pilot car or truck in the rear with the entire entourage running the right hand lane thru the metro area. I believe they can still get a permit to do it but seeing scrapers on a job sight is a pretty rare sight any more. One contractor near my house has 3 big Terex's that he used to use doing mass site grading with. I bet it has been well over 15 years since they have moved. The green paint is slowly turning to rust color, the weeds and brush are slowly taking over around them. I'm a member of an Industrial heritage Society and have though about asking for 1 to be donated for display.
Raildude, I worked a job long ago where a contractor from your area, L.W. Edison, flew operators up from Ft. Wayne, In., and roaded a fleet of TS-24s back down. That's how we did it back then.
 

Raildudes dad

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Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
411
Location
Grand Rapids MI
LW Edison, wow, a name from the past. :cool:. I was 10-11 when they (earthwork) and LW Lamb (bridges) constructed I-196 thru town. I would spend all day every nice day on my bike exploring about 10 mile of new freeway under construction. I told my dad I wanted to run that equipment when I grew up. He said no, go get a civil engineering degree from MI Tech and you can tell them what to do. I did and do:D. Graduated in 1968 from MI Tech and now have worked for our local county highway for 47 years. I tell people I have never had a job. I get paid for what i did for fun all summer as a kid.:cool::cool:
 
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