I've been trying to help Chris out by rounding up a dualie truck to go and retrieve his truck and trailer. I live in farm country with almost every other farmer owning their own cattle hauling trailers. We have contacted every person we know with a truck used for hauling cattle and farm machinery. I've found a dozen trucks but either they're single axle trucks, which we found isn't big enough, or trucks in such disrepair that if we used any of them I'd have to find another one to do a second retrieval. It's unbelievable that some of these guys haul tons of equipment and livestock with this trucks. I guess trucks are like any other piece of equipment or building on a farm, cobble it together enough to make it just work and worry about it breaking down when and where it does. Makes me a little worried when I see a farm truck coming at me when I'm going down the highway.

Instead of rat rods, I guess you could call them "cow rods", just about as safe.

 

Chris, I understand the Iowa dealer's reluctance as, what if it is determined that it isn't warranty eligible? Then they have to try to collect long distance from the dealer that did the work originally or charge you and let you deal with it. Your best solution is what you said, take it back to a dealer that you can trust. You will have a lot less stress that way.

Have you checked with Uship.com? The quote is free on their website. As there are a lot of shipments going back and forth between Iowa and IL your truck might and be able to be gathered up on the way through as part of a bigger load. It only cost me $300 to get my truck shipped from downtown Chicago to Northville, MI (SE Michigan). It would have cost me that much in diesel fuel to go over, pick it up and bring it back. They got it to me pretty quickly as I remember.

 

Perhaps "cow manure rods" is a better term.

 

USHIP? Wow, I watched some of these guys on TV (shipping wars) and I wouldn't trust any of them to haul a rusted out frame from 20 miles away.

 

That is just TV entertainment. The guy that brought my truck as you can see had a new Dodge Ram Cummins diesel, duallie pickup and a new trailer. He was very professional.

 

You have to remember Chris's truck and loaded trailer are out and both have come back. I'm not too sure how long the IA dealer is going to want to leave the trailer sit in his back lot. I am still trying to find a truck to use. Chris is working on his end.

 

My adventures just continuing. This is what I had to contend with today. My son, the farmer, thinks it's a good idea to haul 5000 gallons of manure in something soft, since the snow is mostly melted he decided a good place was in the mud in the back 40.

I guess farmers don't have to be smart, they just have to be stubborn.

 

Why in the hell wasn't he using the 4-wheel drive one to begin with? Yeah, I agree, not good. I stuck my tractor much worse ONE time. Learned my lesson.

 

The tractor he started off using is a bigger tractor, the smaller four wheel drive one, which is fairly large, is too small to handle the loaded spreader. Once he had the rig stuck he unloaded the spreader where it sat from the side shoot. We disconnect the tractor from the spreader, hooked up the four wheel drive to the big tractor and pulled it out of the mud. We then went around the back side of the spreader and hooked up the four wheel drive to the back of the spreader and had the big tractor on firmer ground. We had to pull the spreader backwards to get it free.

If he uses any other of the tractors to pull the full spreader the spreader will push the smaller tractors. He realized this the first time he took a load down the road to a farm he rents, came to make a turn at an intersection and the spreader kept going straight. He bought the used big tractor a week later.

 

SOOOOO....Does he rent the whole farm or lease the land? My parents have 1/2 their land leased to the neighbor, who grows corn behind their house. I've just never heard of renting an entire farm before and am curious.

 

He rents the acreage for planting his crops. We have 100 on our farm.

 

I think we are going to need a bigger tractor !

 

That's what he thinks but a bigger tractor is BIGGER $$$$$$$
something he doesn't have a lot of.

 

You can use your profits from the F-1's to buy him a bigger tractor, Bob.

 

Yep, Daddy should pay for the tractor . This from a man that has no kids of his own .