Moving a Cat 15 miles

[Welder Dave]

I need to move my track loader about 15-20 miles to my new property. The gravel pit said they would move it but I can't get ahold of the one of the owners I always deal with. I can get an in transit permit to move my dump truck and borrow a trailer that will haul it as a last resort.

Problem is the truck doesn't have a brake controller for electric brakes. A couple of fairly small hills on the gravel road but the paved road is relatively flat with only a slight downhill section a little before my property. It's not a busy road. I'd go slow and have someone follow me. There's only 3 stops total. I know it's not ideal but what would be the fastest I should drive if I have to do this as a last resort?

 

[MG84]

IIRC you have a 931B Cat or similar? I'd just take the tailgate off your tandem dump truck, back up to a bank and drive it on. Just have to make sure you have a way to chain it down and somewhere to unload it.

 

[John Shipp]

As far as speed I'd only go as fast as the stopping distance you have in view. Hills with no view of oncoming road users are the worst, even with trailer brakes. Will you load up your dump truck some, or go empty?

 

[donkey doctor]

You're taking one hell of a risk Dave. If there is an accident even if not your fault it will still be your fault in the eyes of the law because you shouldn't have been on the road with a truck without proper breaking equipment. Not to mention how bad you will feel if someone is injured or killed. Just my 2 cents worth of opinion. d.d.

 

[CM1995]

Is their a towing/lowboy service you can hire to move it?

We have 4-5 towing companies that have Landoll's and RGN lowboy's that only move heavy equipment. It's cheaper for me to hire it out instead of owning a lowboy.

 

[AMBMike]

Check with local excavating contractors or towing outfits. Most likely some of them move equipment for others.

 

[Welder Dave]

Appreciate the comments. I know it's big risk. If I did move it would be when there's no traffic. I'm hoping to get ahold of the gravel pit though. They said they'd move it and did earlier this year for a small job at a friend's place that's close. If I can't get ahold of the one owner I could talk to someone else there. I just don't want to annoy anyone at the gravel pit.

 

[Welder Dave]

IIRC you have a 931B Cat or similar? I'd just take the tailgate off your tandem dump truck, back up to a bank and drive it on. Just have to make sure you have a way to chain it down and somewhere to unload it.

I have a backhoe on the 931B so it would be too long.

 

[JaredV]

Put the loader bucket up on the cab guard to get it farther forward.

 

[Welder Dave]

Don't have a cab guard. I can look out the back window and see over the tailgate. Helps when backing up since I'm terrible at it. LoL The backhoe adds quite a bit of length. I'm going to keep trying to get ahold of my contact at the gravel pit. If I can't I'll talk to someone else there. I've got a loading ramp to move and it would fit on their trailer too. It's a 45 ton RGN I think it's called.

 

[cfherrman]

Install a electric brake controller on your dump truck, can't be very expensive at all

 

[BC Placer gold]

Install a electric brake controller on your dump truck, can't be very expensive at all

We had that done on our International Eagle (9200 single axle). For us a 7-way round ‘rv’ plug….

 

[MG84]

If you do install an electric brake controller I've found some work better than others with air brakes, not sure why. I'd always run the older style Tekonsha Voyager controllers or their predecessors in my pickups and hydraulic brake medium-duties. Simple and worked well. In my air brake IH 4700 and Ford LT9000 however, they caused the trailer brakes to pulse rapidly unless you manually applied them. Took them out and installed Tekonsha Prodigy P2's in both and they work great.

 

[Deere500a]

The future is here

 

[Welder Dave]

I saw the bluetooth controllers but they are pricey. I need to look at the truck and see what all it has as far as hook up for lights and stuff. Trailer shop could probably get me a good deal on a brake controller or maybe even have a used one.

I talked to one place about moving it and the guy said it was too long for their deck truck so would need a trailer for $15 more per hour at $190.00. Then he said the worst part is there is currently an 18% fuel surcharge that will likely go up to 20-22% if fuel keeps going up in price. He guessed about 4 hours. With another 5% GST on top would be close to $1000 to move it. Yikes!

 

[Deere500a]

AutoZone part store online it's $243 us

 

[Welder Dave]

I'm in Canada so add at least $100 to that.

 

[MG84]

I need to look at the truck and see what all it has as far as hook up for lights and stuff. Trailer shop could probably get me a good deal on a brake controller or maybe even have a used one.

I installed the trailer brake controller and trailer plug/wiring from scratch on my 97 LT9000, it was easy and fairly cheap. All the wiring for the trailer plug just comes off the tail lights, only need to run one 10ga wire from the brake controller to the plug, and of course wire up the controller in the cab.

 

[CM1995]

I'm in Canada so add at least $100 to that.

Damn that sucks.

 

[shopguy]

Ńo roll backs there?