So here's the deal:

as many of you know there is a dought going on here in the midwest. our normal hay supplier cannot fill our order because his hay field only produced half of what we need. so we are about 20 tons short of what we need for the winter. no one in the area has anything they can sell.

so i spent all day calling around and found someone that has 900-950lbs round bales, but he is 170+miles away. We have commited to buy 40 round bales from him, and now we have to get them home.

the plan is to borrow Uncle Dave's 24ft tandem-duel gooseneck and make the drive 2 or 3 times out to get them.

the trailer is 6k empty, and has two 10k lbs axles. so the plan is to put between 13 and 15 round bales on the trailer for the return trip. (a friend might help us haul them with his chevy, but we wont worry about him ... i just hope he can keep up lol)

so the total weight loaded on the trailer will be between 12,300 and 14,200 plus the dead weight of the trailer. which brings the total between 18k and 20k.

our weapon of choice is the wife's 2004 SD F250 V10, auto with 3.73's with about 25,000 miles on the clock. admittedly, this is not ideal. i realize we are going to be almost twice the tow-rating for our setup, but it is what we have, and we have no choice ... this has to happen.

so the real question is, what should i do to make the trip as seamless as possible. the plan is for an oil change this week (needs it anyway). we've got a decent trailer brake controller (Tekonesha Envoy), tires are in good shape with no dry rot and plenty of tread. i will check all the fluids and air the tires up to 80psi rear and 50-60psi front.

other than that, the plan is to just go slow and try to keep it as safe as possible.

anything i'm missing?

 

Central States Alfalfa

 

any idea if they contract for hire?

not sure i could afford to pay for a semi to drive from yankton to highmore to pickup a load, then deliver it to our place. that would be about 385 miles. how much do they get per mile? i've never checked.

 

Semi will be at least $4-$5 a loaded mile. We haul just that kind of stuff on our 24' tandem dually all the time, weight won't be an issue. I run 75-80 rear and 70 front but the truck also has a diesel so a lot more nose weight.. Used to use a '93 IDI to pull with, lot nicer with the Superduties. Bales two wide on the bottom with a single row down the middle on top can be strapped with two straps length wise, sometimes need to cross if they want to walk off. Assuming the bales are solid of course.

These were pretty much exactly the weight you are talking:

 

I'm not sure about the transport costs, but know they will always have hay. I've goose and pheasant hunted with owner and can tell it's a top notch operation. They do a lot of local business as well as over seas business.

 

That V10 is gonna SCREAM but she will get you home.

 

you will likely wish you had a taller gearing... but it'll get there.

 

if i could change one thing about the truck it would be the gears.

we've had 10k-12k on and it still feels plenty strong at those levels, but i think 4.10's would have been a better choice. i guess when you buy them used, you have to compromise some.

i guess i'm keeping my expectations on a pretty even keel. i expect it to work on the hills, and not be able to hold speed. but i can be patient when i need to be

galaxie ... your load is almost exactly what we normally see when her uncle delivers it. we are stuck getting round bales, but we are happy to have found anything. we normally get all 3x3x8 squares ... MUCH easier to handle in every way.

the way you described the load is exactly what i had in mind. 2 rows of 5 on the bottom, then one row of 3 or 4 on top. had not thought about strapping length wise, good thought, i'll see if i can find some straps long enough. otherwise, i was just going to strap the front and rear row top and bottom.

thanks to everyone for the input!

any other thoughts?

 

Let it rev and the V10 will do it. Give yourself plenty of stopping distance. Keep it at 55 unless you have room left for an oil tanker back there too, please post your fuel mileage when youre done.
Personally, I'd air up your fronts to 70psi. Double check that the PO didn't swap out tires to less than Load E rated, at 25k it probably has the factory tires on it but err on the side of caution.
Have a safe trip!

 

air all tires to max cold psi, I think I would opt for a tranny flush too.

Keep your speed at no more than 65 mph. Most trailer tires are ST which has a 65 mph max rating.

Running a little slower will help to keep the trans and engine cooler.

Lots of stops for fuel. When fueling don't shut it down. Everything will be pretty warm under the hood.

 

thanks for the tips and good wishes. I'm a little afraid of tracking MPG's on this deal but i'm sure i'll do it anyway ... i'm ****(itical) like that.... just wired that way i guess. so i'll post up what i get.

the tires are the factory BFG' Rugged Trail TA LRE, front, back and spare. Not too worried about tires or the overall condition of the truck mechanically, i guess. She got the truck in December of 04 with 10,500 miles on the clock. since then it has only seen another 15,000 (all towing, but mostly a 4horse stock trailer with 2-4 bodies onboard) and has never had to really work hard a day in it's life. When parked it has always been inside, in the shed for a while but in the new garage now.

i'll consider running the fronts a little higer than the door sticker suggests as well. My only concern with running them up at the max is i'm afraid of getting the fronts over-inflated and losing some steering stability. i'll have the spare at 80psi before i hook up.

i envision my speed hitting 55mph going down hill, but i plan on running as slow as reasonably possible. Sometimes they pull better with more speed and more RPM, so we'll play it by ear.

stoping is always a concern, but i'm betting i can lean on the trailer brakes pretty heavy. try to let them do as much of the work as possible.

Senix:
good idea with the tranny flush. I'll check the fluid level and condition before i decide for sure. but if it looks good, i think i'll just wait until i get done with this trip, then opt for a flush with full synthetic. this was always the plan, but i was going to wait until 30k... might do it a tad bit earlier.

but if it looks dark, i'll get it done this week before I go.

thanks to everyone for the help and encouragement so far.

i'm all ears if there is anthing else that comes to mind from anyone.

 

Good luck. Get pics. It isn't ideal, but she'll do it. used to see loads like this all the time back home with OBS F2/350 and 460's. They handled it easily. Just take her slow

 

I have an 04' 6.8l with 3.73s. I would not pull 18k-20k lbs with it for 170miles. The 3.73 gears suck all around in the gas trucks and they are not ideal for pulling even close to that kind of weight. The 3.73s in a gasser are mall crawler gears really.

If you have no other choice but to use that truck go slow and make sure everything is in top notch shape. (especially brakes) I would highly recommend spending the $400 on an SCT X3 tuner with Tow tunes from 5 star. Let him know you will be pulling very heavy with it so he adjust the tune accordingly. I hope the roads you plan to tow on are flat and straight. Be safe.

 

As far as I know, Central States only has alfalfa and if the bales the OP is getting only weigh 950lbs, they're likely a grass mix of some sort - definitely not alfalfa. I think CSAC does have a yard in SD though.

To the OP, as everyone else has said, it will do it but I wouldn't want to do it every day. Double and triple check the trailer brakes. It might be a good excuse to invest in some air bags too, that much pin weight will probably sag your springs pretty good.

Or heck, use your '79, it probably has heavier springs and it has better gears...though you might need a trans afterwards and you'll probably be calculating gallons per mile instead of mpg.

 

Only other thing that really comes to mind is your tires. I know they're the factory tires and only have 25k on them, but mileage is not the problem here.....age is. Just check them really well for any signs of dry rot and cracking. Same thing with the trailer tires.

You might also think about an extra spare for both the truck and trailer and a heavy enough jack to use in the event of a flat or blowout.