Simnut

.....have to get the loading JUST right! lol I may have to go to my equalizer hitch with this.....I'm JUST at 5000lbs with the trailer and tractor setup. My truck is settled a bit ...went down about 1" in the rear. It's not AS off level as this picture makes it look as I had to angle my camera to get rid of the sun. Tomorrow I will take a measure of the front wheel well to see the effect on the front end.




What I've done since I took this picture was move the tractor ahead enough to rest the bucket on the trailer frame, which allowed me to swing the backhoe back inline with the tractor. I also moved the spare 18" bucket to the front of the truck box to spread some of the weight to my front axle and removed the rails on the trailer.



N





No...I'm not that young. That's my youngest playing around with the new hoe. He is taking out an old maple stump. Tomorrow I start a 2 day trenching project for a customer. Yea..I'm retired and starting a small venture. But.....this is just for my enjoyment. My lovely wife loves the money part.

Deerchaser

Your hitch is rated at 500 pound tongue weight and 5000 pounds trailer weight without a WDH.

VigII

Do you have enough room to make a tight corners without the bucket clipping the corners of the truck bed?

I'm curious how tight this configuration gets when making corner swings, especially when backing in. I have a smaller sized TLB (GC2310) and a 6 x 10 low profile tandem axle dump trailer that the TLB would fit on if I did the same with the bucket. I also thought of backing on and with the hoe curled over the tongue. The tractor's center of gravity should be fairly centered over the tandem axles either way.

Norotso

Your numbers are based on a class III hitch while I'm pretty sure all F150 area equipped with a class IV which is rated at 10k-1k TW

Deerchaser

No sir, crawl under and look for yourself.

Norotso

I know my truck is equipped with a class IV from factory

jp360cj

But it's only rated for 500/5000 without a WDH. It's printed on the sticker on the bottom of the hitch.

Deerchaser

What he said. Black sticker on the hitch frame.

Simnut

It looks deceiving , doesn't it? I can almost jackknife the rig before the bucket touches the truck. I did a couple of tests having my wife watch closely for approaching contact..and I was surprised as she kept telling me to turn tighter...and tighter...etc. I'll try to get a picture of it today for you to show what I mean. I am quite sure there is no corner in this city that I can't make with it the way it is.



edit to add: My first test will be the driveway I need to pull into for the job I'm doing today. It's more than a 90degree corner going against me , if you know what I mean.




I have also thought about backing onto the trailer which may make my adjusting weight a bit easier....but that hoe weighs in at 1200lbs and I'm not sure if that won't put too much weight up front. I may also make an aluminum stand for the bucket to rest on during traveling so the bucket is above the box..making sure of no contact.



There are a few things I can do yet to lose weight. I can remove the calcium in the rear tires (which isn't needed as much now with the hoe on it). My rep said that would remove 400 lbs from the tractor weight. It would be nice to have it for when the hoe is taken off...but I could always make a 3 point weight setup to gain more traction. I also have to keep in mind that the Kioti has a 1200 lb lift capacity on the loader....weight on the back becomes important. I'll run the machine with the hoe for a while and see if it's a real pain in the .......well...you know what. If not, I'll just keep it on and get rid of the calcium.

Simnut

The hitch is rated as norotso stated. The receiver is rated at the same...so it is capable of the weight. I do know that over 5000 lbs requires a WDH as far as our DOT decrees. But..hopefully...I can get just under that weight. The trailer tracks true when the weight is distributed properly...aka....proper tongue weight.