Fun with loaded hay trailer on the side of the interstate

I picked up another load of hay today. Loading is quick with the grapple - we put 150 bales on my 18' trailer. The hay is about 30 miles from home.

They on the way home BANG a tire blew out on I-75. Yikes. A piece of tread with steel belts came off and jammed behind the wheel preventing the tire from turning while I was finding a place to pull over. Smoke and noise, exciting! I eventually got the trailer far enough off the road for safety and set out my emergency warning triangles (don't leave home without some!) and started working on the tire. Fortunately, I had just checked the spare this morning and had a working jack.

The trailer has dual axles or the story would have been quite different. After two hours of working on uneven ground I was rolling again, made it home, and it was all over except for the unloading and stacking. A good workout for an old guy! I think tomorrow morning I'll get four new trailer tires plus one for the spare. Then go for another load.

The grapple puts 10 bales on the trailer with each grab. SO much better than loading by hand! If my friend gives up hay production some day I'll be in trouble.

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JKJ

Sounds exciting, glad that you got home safe and sound.

John, I bucked hay for a contractor one summer in my early teens. The contractor contracted with farmers from the field to stacked in the barn. It was a long summer!!!!

Glad you were able to handle the tire situation without any additional problems!

I keep a 20 ton short bottle jack, and a cordless 1/2" drive impact driver in the toolbox on the truck, as well as an assortment of short pieces of 2x. That impact driver saves a lot of sweat. I was amazed the first time I ever used that driver. I think it's up to 750 ft./lb. on, and 1150 off, so it would spin those lug nuts off like nothing.

Also, I always had a helper go with me when we were hauling hay, just in case we had trouble.

It's always a good feeling when it's in the barn. Hope you have no more trouble!

You were lucky nothing caught on fire. I remember going down highway fifty from lake Tahoe with hay truck ahead of us by 1/2 mile or more we could smell the hay smoldering for miles. Eventually they pulled over after they saw the smoke haze in the mirror.
Bil l

Yikes! Glad you were able to get back on the road safe and sound.

We recently had a event like that while the toy hauler was fully loaded and a tire blew in a busy 70 mph stretch. It shredded the fender in the process and there was not much shoulder to pull off to. LOML and I set up our folding traffic cones, retrieved the shredded fender, and went to change the tire. Much to my surprise, the jack was not in the truck. It had apparently been pulled out during a serious cleaning spree and not put back. Oh this is going to be fun. Much later, after trying many tools and trailer jacks and anything of use in the RV, the tire was swapped out and we were on the road. We had called a tire shop 2 exits away when it first happened to see if they had tires in stock, so they knew we were coming. We didn't mess around. We had all new better load range tires & wheels installed including the spare. The next stop we made was to pick up a bottle jack. It didn't matter there were several bottle jacks already at home in the shop.

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Originally Posted by Tom M King

Also, I always had a helper go with me when we were hauling hay, just in case we had trouble.

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Great, I'll call you to go along for the next load, thanks! :) Probably tomorrow. Got the new tires today. Rewiring the brakes tonight.

JKJ

Haven't seen bales of hay like that since who knows when. Everything seems to be the big round bales here in Minnesota, and even in Sweden earlier this summer.

I wouldn't mind, as long as you're pulling with more than a 3/4 ton gas burner. Back when that was the largest truck we had, when we went after a load of hay out of the field-always in the hottest time of the year possible, I had to run the heater to help get rid of the excess engine heat. The first trip in the diesel dually, when we got back home, Pam said, "It didn't feel like we'd been on a long trip."

On the trailer that runs load range E's, I don't wear the tires out completely on the truck, and then they pull time on that trailer. We also shredded the non-big name tires that came on that trailer. I've never had a flat with Michelins on the trailer that had already run a 100k on the truck, while the next set is headed to the next 100k.

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Originally Posted by Tom M King

I wouldn't mind, as long as you're pulling with more than a 3/4 ton gas burner.

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I use a '99 Dodge diesel, 5-speed manual. So far it has pulled bobcat, hay, and loads of logs up every grade without complaining. I use one of two gooseneck trailers for everything but moderate loads of building materials.

I put Hercules load range E tires on the trailer + spare yesterday and rewired the brakes. Part of the shredded tire tread had ripped out the brake wiring which made me "limp" home with the load.

JKJ

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Originally Posted by Pat Barry

Haven't seen bales of hay like that since who knows when. Everything seems to be the big round bales here in Minnesota, and even in Sweden earlier this summer.

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People with Horses, donkeys, goats, and llamas here want square bales they can lift and move by hand. Cattle farms here all use round bales.

I can feed round bales to the horses in the covered "hay hut" but for me it's easier to store and handle small square bales.

JKJ

Very good advice from Tom King above.

I've been in the hay business for almost 20 years, and haul it a lot. On my primary trailers I'm running load range G tires, and when loaded keep them at max recommended inflation.

On the less frequently used trailers I follow the same method as Tom; ie changing tires a little early on my haul trucks (typically Michelin 16" load range E tires) and cycling the tires onto one of the trailers.

The best way to prevent blow-outs is to buy high quality tires (either LT or ST) and keep them at maximum recommended inflation. Running low tire pressures with a maximum load will always result in a blow out due to the high tire heat.

Personally I have had nothing but bad experiences with Carlyle trailer tires. They are speed rated (typically 60 mph) and IMO not made for routine high capacity loads. Maxiss has giving me very good service, as have Michelin LTX and Goodyear Marathon's.

I'm estimating that you had around 2,500 lbs of loading per tire with your 150 bales of hay - maybe higher. Lower if you have dual tandem axles.

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Originally Posted by Scott T Smith

I'm estimating that you had around 2,500 lbs of loading per tire with your 150 bales of hay - maybe higher. Lower if you have dual tandem axles.

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Based on the actual weight of one bale I had about 6000 lbs of hay, or 1500 lbs per tire plus trailer weight. Haven't weighed this trailer yet - it's an 18' goose neck flat bed. I can lift one side easily with the tips of forks on my tractor so I estimate less than 1000 lbs per side. I'll pull it onto the scales first chance I get. In fact, I need to weigh all three of my big trailers.

The new tires are load range E (I think) with max inflation listed at 90 psi.

JKJ

My 20 foot gooseneck with 7,000 lb axles weighs 3880. I only know that because of weigh out after taking an old tin roof to the recycler's. I knew what the truck weighed. 1200 lb. of old Terne tin roof brought $38.45, but we had to do something with it.

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Originally Posted by Tom M King

My 20 foot gooseneck with 7,000 lb axles weighs 3880.

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My 20 footer weighs similar.