Fifth Wheel Trailer - Hauling grain

The two earlier threads about grain trucks got me thinking about if there are practical alternatives to six wheel or ten wheel trucks? I don't currently need 1000 bushel per load capacity but would not want to be stuck with just a 300 bushel box on a flat deck. Not going to do something right away but at the same time my hauler is getting up there in years and who knows what two or three years will bring. Might have to do the tractor and wagon thing but NY has a lot of reckless fools on the road I would have to share the highway with. It's about seven miles to the two nearest elevators.

My 10 wheel truck will probably last as long as I do. But it's awfully noisy, and I occasionally think about how I would replace it.
I guess it depends on several factors- my health, physical and financial! regulations, etc.
Straight trucks are so expensive I have thought about a single axle tractor(with an extended cab) and a single axle hopper.
But it's down a ways on the list, so only time will tell.

Terrible wind here today. How about you?

Yep. But not as bad as predicted. No damage, just little branches down.
Plowed some on my last field Sat. AM, and today PM. If it isn't too hard, maybe I can finish in the AM.

European style grain haulage, These tipping trailers are built in England. Since Ferguson put the hydraulic ram into a trailer and made it tip way back in the late 40s(2nd photo) we have always hauled grain and other materials with trailers behind tractors and notice where the axles are, this is for traction to help the tractors pull them out of our sometimes very muddy fields....especially when harvesting root crops in winter time.In fact the Redrock trailers made in Northern Ireland have the wheels right at the back> Some farmers that emigrated to USA from here actually took trailers with them as they could not find similar in America....Maybe there could be a niche market????
Sam

A straight truck (10 wheeler or twelve) is more expensive to setup- box & hoist, tag axle, but a fifth wheel plate will require a CDL.

You could use a large gooseneck dump trailer, or there are some hopper style goosenecks built. They look kinda like a gravity wagon turned sideways. The gate is at the center of the back.

We had a Howle (iirc) brand gooseneck grain trailer way back when; it had a 400 bu grain bed on dual tandems with a battery-powered hydraulic hoist; pulled it with a '82 one ton Dodge w/a 360 and 4-speed. It worked great; there were several of the trailers around 'here' in the '80s, but I haven't seen one in years; most farmers have gone to trailer trucks and haul to the river instead of to local elevators.

We have a gooseneck grain trailer. It just has 14000lb. axles but will haul 300 bu plus. 16 ft bed and hoist. So we haul 18000 load not counting the trailer. We have lights and brakes, but count it as a farm trailer and don"t liscense it. It is about 12 miles to the elevator. Also is pretty hard on a pickup. You need to be careful. Pulls good but never go over 40 mph loaded.

Several years ago a couple of purpose built 500 bu gooseneck trailers sold at an Ill auction. Farm trucks are getting a lot more unwanted attention so I might regret not making more effort to get at least one. The alternative big wagons are very spendy. In Ill you don't need to a trailer license for the initial haul from field to either home storage or elevator. But requires a license if you reload and deliver at a later date. I haul everything directly to the elevator so a license wouldn't be required. Know a part time farmer that used a 350 bu gooseneck without a license for many years.

Scale 1000 bu of what

NY 986: If you are talking about a goose neck trailer behind a pickup then I would say look at some thing else. If you think about 300-400 bushels behind a pickup truck that is severely over loading it. 300 bushels of corn is 16800 lbs. Then add the truck and trailer you very well could be over the 26,000 lbs mark. That gets you into the DOT sights. Plus they are real hard on pickup towing them. The ones with hoists where very popular around here in the mid 1970s. That only lasted a few years as guys found out they where tearing the pickups up.

A straight truck can be fine if you just have one that is in good shape. The age is not as much a factor as condition. Many of the older mid-sixties trucks look great and stop well. Just make sure the frames are not rotted out with salt.

Like I stated below the cost involved with owning any kind of truck/trailer for yourself is going to keep getting higher. The rules to be on the road more strict.

I would either have on farm storage that allows shipping out after harvest or buy the mid sized gravity wagons. Those under 400 bushels are not selling for that high of money. Then just have enough to load a semi with. You can hire it hauled in a semi much cheaper than you can do it yourself if you figure all of your costs.

So you can have 1200-1500 bushels of wagons for just about what a good straight truck would cost that would haul 300-400 bushels. Just use them as a grain bin on wheels.

Your harvest would go faster as they would hold 2-3 times what a straight truck or goose neck trailer would hold. Plus you are not waiting in line to unload the truck.

I did that for a few years using a Donahue 16 ft electric hoist gooseneck trailer, hauling 300-350 bu.

You will need a HD 1 ton pickup, perferably a manual trans dualy.
I used a HD single wheel 3/4 ton 4x4, 4.10 and wore out and tore up a lot of U joints and springs. Also tended to run the auto trans very hot inspite of auxiallary cooler.

Back when grain hauling goosenecks were the rage the local elevator told the owners to plumb a hydraulic fitting into their trailers so the elevator could plug in their hydraulic hose to raise the box when the battery powered pump on the trailer fails. Farmers also were finding out the hard way a pickup is not built to do the job of a real truck. That's why I never call a pickup a 'truck'.Jim

NY 986,even 20 yrs ago we figured out that a Used OTR Semi and a used Grain trailer was a boat load cheaper than buying a New tandem axle Chevy C-65 or C-70, BB 366 w/ 5 & 2 and a 22 ft Midwest bed with 18 inch hi-risers, W/ Dual 10 ton hoist.
Depending on the Tractor, $20K would put you in a pretty nice rig. Haul somewhere in the 1000 bu range. We found that our 38 ft Tempte was equal to 2 tandems! we had 2 Chevy tandems like I described above the addition of the semi basically gave gave us 4 trucks while only adding 1 more truck to tag and upkeep!
$8 to $12 K for the tractor 8 to 12 for a trailer.
Our Semi became a necessary evil of our place, used it pretty regular hauling grain during harvest, jockey cattle around onto wheat pasture.
Catch a load here and there for a neighbor
As we move up from 24 ft head to 30 on the combine The Semi bought us a lot of breathing room as far a getting the next truck in the field to the Elevator Especially when you have about a 20 mile haul 1-way to the elevator.
If you could find a good Chevy C-65, C-70, 366/427 with either a 13 speed, 5 & 4, or the old 5 & 2 set up as a tractor that would get the job done with Medium Duty and minimal $ spent. Hope this helps/
Later,
John A.

Harvest storage is adequate unless I get into a lot of corn that needs drying from 22 percent on down. The big issue is my neighbor who I work with is getting up there in years so I figure I need to plan for the day he can no longer truck my grain. Working the numbers on letting the elevator truck versus delivering myself can run upwards of 50 cents a bushel depending on the destination. Granted I can not deliver for no cost but 50 cents seems a bit high. The availability of trucks is also an issue as I can not load a semi in twenty minutes or less with my current set-up which most truckers insist on. Also, it is getting kind of cutthroat around here with other farmers doing hauling as they want to starve out their competition or can not be trusted to not remove a few bushels before the load reaches the destination.

98 ton chevy pickup 454 auto. 400 bu goose neck to town many times a year and plowes snow sence new no problems yet 220,000 miles.