Trailering an Excavator w/ Harvester Head

[BrianGrenier]

I could use some help!

I bought a used Cat 320B with a harvester head. I need to move it a long distance (2k miles from BC to AK) and am wondering if it makes sense to gear up and DIY. I'll need a trailer to move it around here anyway:**

It may require a step deck trailer and so that is the focus of my question.

The dimensions as given by Cat are: 9.2" w, 30.9' L and 11.3 height. The auction company states the height is 12'6", the weight is given as 43,000.

It seems the weight requires a tridem trailer. The height may require a step deck or lowboy, I do not know and what is lower and I should know my safe US and Canada height clearances are (do not remember from my CDL-A with Tandems, testing, just that I should know the clearance of every overpass!)

I own a F9000, 290 hp cummins 10 sp dumptruck w/ tandems... and am thinking how I could use this equipment to pick up the 320b...maybe with a pup and a step deck or is there a pintle hitch step deck tridem?

Sure could use the help!

 

[old-iron-habit]

I have never seen a harvester moved on a step deck around here. They have always been on 2 or 3 axle low beds or double drops. Might be a bit hard to permit for over height when the machine will fit on a low bed. Your deck would have to be 2'-3" or less to be under legal height using the 11'-3" dimension if that is accurate. Does Cat list the height as the bare machine or with the woods package? The forestry cab protection can easily add the extra foot to the height.

 

[lantraxco]

Really bad idea, even if it's somehow legal to make that trip behind a dump truck, no offense. If it is actually 12'6" tall I would think you would need a lowboy, which is what you want if you're moving it around where you work. You could maybe find a tilt deck or ramp tail trailer that would work, but with that kind of weight plus the trailer, you really want to be on a fifth wheel, not a pintle hitch. Many years ago I pulled a Miller tilt with tandem duals that would handle 45,000, as long as you had 10,000 on the fifth wheel. Mind you every state/Province may have different weight limits. Some outfits set up their dumps with removable beds, pop the bed off, pin the fifth wheel on, might be something to think about. Of course 290 with a ten speed is not something I would want to be climbing mountain passes with, with a 320 on behind, and if it doesn't have a Jake brake even worse descending them. Personally I would look into getting it on a barge, seems to be the method of choice for most equipment shipping up your way. Just my $.02

 

[BrianGrenier]

I have never seen a harvester moved on a step deck around here. They have always been on 2 or 3 axle low beds or double drops. Might be a bit hard to permit for over height when the machine will fit on a low bed. Your deck would have to be 2'-3" or less to be under legal height using the 11'-3" dimension if that is accurate. Does Cat list the height as the bare machine or with the woods package? The forestry cab protection can easily add the extra foot to the height.

Thanks for helping me out here...and to answer:

About height: the 'RitchieSpecs' show the machine at 11.3". The auction site says 12.5' for height on this particular machine. It was not sold as having a riser on the uppercarriage. It may be close to a stock 320B, but the harvester head may make it sit higher. Maybe I can get a fer sure height from the site...



So, doing the math, 13'6" the max Road height, rt?

About weight: I can see equipment this size on tandems, but my looksee shows that a 43,000 lb payload plus trailer for the GVWR is over the allowed 34,000 lbs for a tandem trailer. Considering the distance, I want to be legal. I need to Google what the trailers you have mentioned.

Delete this (stupid): Wondering if what I am looking for is only found in a 5th wheel.

 

[BrianGrenier]

Really bad idea, even if it's somehow legal to make that trip behind a dump truck, no offense. If it is actually 12'6" tall I would think you would need a lowboy, which is what you want if you're moving it around where you work. You could maybe find a tilt deck or ramp tail trailer that would work, but with that kind of weight plus the trailer, you really want to be on a fifth wheel, not a pintle hitch. Many years ago I pulled a Miller tilt with tandem duals that would handle 45,000, as long as you had 10,000 on the fifth wheel. Mind you every state/Province may have different weight limits. Some outfits set up their dumps with removable beds, pop the bed off, pin the fifth wheel on, might be something to think about. Of course 290 with a ten speed is not something I would want to be climbing mountain passes with, with a 320 on behind, and if it doesn't have a Jake brake even worse descending them. Personally I would look into getting it on a barge, seems to be the method of choice for most equipment shipping up your way. Just my $.02

Thanks, great input...

 

[Deeretracks]

Only way to haul it is with a 3 axle lowboy. It's sketchy moving a standard 320 on a 3axle tilt much less a forestry machine. I doubt you could get legal with height or weight on a deck over tilt. I wouldn't be surprised if it was well over 43,000lbs depending on options.

 

[BrianGrenier]

Only way to haul it is with a 3 axle lowboy. It's sketchy moving a standard 320 on a 3axle tilt much less a forestry machine. I doubt you could get legal with height or weight on a deck over tilt. I wouldn't be surprised if it was well over 43,000lbs depending on options.

OK, I think I got what I need here and there will be no DIY with my current equipment.

 

[old-iron-habit]

OK, I think I got what I need here and there will be no DIY with my current equipment.

I think you are making a smart move. Good luck and
post some pictures of it working when you get it home.

 

[BrianGrenier]

About the machine here at home: This is the Best chainsaw I have ever owned! Air Conditioning , radio, comfy seat...I've been getting the hang of it, the dangle head swing is a trick to stop, or control... I am felling and debarking trees then processing 16" log lengths.

Picture a big smile on my face.

About transport - it went from BC to the Tacoma to Anchorage roll on roll off ship - they wouldn't have taken it if they knew it had snow cleats; it tore up some of their deck; It cleared Customs in WA, then on a Eager Beaver self-lifting tandem lowboy to my place. It wasn't clear at first that it could fit on the lowboy; it wouldn't fit with the boom extended; it would be too high and long...the way to do it was to get the head rolled into the machine between the tracks, then the height of the boom was manageable. It was still about 13'H and about 11'W and 27L. Weight was greater than expected at about 60k. This cab and boom are quite tall...

 

[lantraxco]

Congrats! I don't know about your particular head, but some of those setups have frictions to slow down the gyrations?

 

[BrianGrenier]

The question begged some googling!

This BBC offering looks like fun:
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophen...ds-crash-course-with-a-dangle-head-processor/

He states: “This might be the most dangerous thing I’ve operated to date,” he said while learning to operate one of the vehicles. The poetically-named dangle head processor “was the most complicated thing I’ve ever used,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “It was fiendish.”