Hard to tell from the pic but it appears to be a 311c on a tandem axel single wheel gooseneck trailer behind a gas crew cab single wheel chevy truck. Granted a 311 isnt a big machine, but I always figured a 307 would be getting a little sketchy on a rig like this..... Of course its out in the Bakken oil field (go figure) Thoughts? This seems absolutely rediculous to me.....
Your link is no good. At leat on my end:beatsme
Had to read the dirrections, famous last resort
That's one of them there light weight 311's...... Legality issues aside, it really doesn't look that bad.
I dunno, 28000 lbs+ behind a 3/4 ton is pretty sketchy to me. His transmission and brakes must love him.
Holly crap batman, I can't believe that truck can even have enough frontend weight to make a turn. I would like to move that thing around a parkinglot just to see what it was like.
It doesnt look horrible, but I've got that truck and I've hauled that size hoe around quite abit. Putting them together never crossed my mind, especially on a trailer that light
And on a wet day too. It is just more evidence for one of my pet theories: You can get away with a lot for a little while, if you're too stupid to know you can't. On edit: That could be a "multi-max" type trailer, with 4 little short axles and 8 tires. I have one w/ four 6,000 lb axles that is rated to carry 24,000 lbs payload, and handles it very well.... :tong behind my CH Mack tractors.
That's gotta be an accident looking for a place to happen, and most certainly a major infringement of the pick-up manufacturers GWL. He might get away with it if he's running on flat rural land, short-distance haul, with little to no traffic, and keeping the speed down to 40mph - but if I saw him on an Interstate going h*ll-for-leather and mixing it with heavy traffic, I'd be giving him a wide berth. You'd just have to ask him, about how his insurance company would stand behind him, if the unthinkable happened.
Maybe the rest of this guys equipment is in use at the time and a job needs done and he's answering the call. Maybe one of you called him and said hey dude, I really need this job done right now and I'm in a hole, if there is any way for you to get that hoe here and finish this job I would greatly appreciate it. He might be well aware that this is far too heavy and he is taking it super easy 30 to 40 mph, flashers on. Probably not, he's more than likely under the impression that if it fits it goes. But I bet everyone of you uses your tools, no matter the size, beyond it's design capacity. I know I do.
Fair enough. And if you're on your site, and you break something, or get hurt, it's on you. The difference here is that he's out sharing the highway with other drivers, and if he loses control of his "tools" it could very well involve injury to somebody else, that hasn't agreed to accept the risk of being around him when he does.
No way those axles on that trailer are rated for 14K apiece. Lucky if they're 7K. Tires won't go far. And well said, digger242j.
I suppose this guy is just traveling short distance with this rig, otherwise, i can't understand that he didn't crossed the way of a police patrol without being pulled off for a check....
Gotta move it in the rain to keep the tires cool! They could be duals though, although the wheels look funny.
In the Bakken this time of year you need 4 wheel drive just to go down the county roads empty. I have an F-350 and 24,000 lb. gooseneck, and even putting a 17,000lb. backhoe on it is more than I like to do. Our 287C plus attachments puts us @ 30,000 lbs. gross, and it handles it very well, but it just would not be safe with a 311 on it in my opinion.
No, they are definitely not duals - I've seen enough to know the difference. Those are most likely 15" wheels, probably either 215 or 225/75R15's - lucky to have a max capacity of 3000lbs per tire/wheel,probably less. I'd bet a weeks paycheck on it.
Absolutely Disagree when it comes to roading equipment. Costs extra to be legit, but I don't want something going wrong and it being my fault over a couple $$. Wish more people would do it because it might be my kids or family out there.
Well said goel!
Digger I'm not saying he is doing it right or fair or lawfully. Being a bad guy is being a bad guy, no matter how you shake it, but look back to the old days, when about this kind of thing was the norm. All I'm saying is that there are very few poeple left in the world that have the stones to get a job done no matter what. One thing I'm also seeing here is nothing else besides a couple pump on a store that has new hours. Having "hours" would indicate rural. Makes me think of home, almost the exact same view, from the gas station door. I can leave this store at home and drive at least 44 miles and never meet another car. Would be different to me if he was driving on an interstate in Los Angeles.
The page I pulled this pic of off had a few more details about it, But its out around Watford City ND, which if you havnt been there is about as far from rural as you can get these days. Traffic is unreal out there and dangerous as it is with out guys doing stupid stuff like this. This isn't a little out of line to get a job done, in my eyes this is complete stupidity. Stones is knowing what your doing and not putting someone else at risk. This guy must of never seen an axel snap off at the hub or a gooseneck bent, or the tube break. I've seen all three on a trailer like that (14k gooseneck) that wasnt hauling nearly that much weight. The attitude of "getting it done no matter what" is what gets people hurt or tears things up needlessly. If this guy does what hes doing enough, he'll wear that truck and trailer out in short order, when he could have have a rig that would haul that legally or safely for 20 grand, or just hired it done, and he's running the risk of killing someone by doing what he's doing. No way its worth it
I agree Silveroddo, while the Bakken is a rural setting, traffic around Watford, Newtown, Stanley and Williston is anything but rural driving.
I'm glad you got it all figured out silverrodo. Thanks for opening my eyes and shedding light on my cold heart. Maybe now I will have better judgement. How come the "details" were not included in the first post. All I seen was a picture and a "look at this idiot statement". And watford city says it has a population of a mere 1700 people. I bet we could get a lot farther from rural. But I digress, this guy is stupid for making it work, and I am ashamed of myself for taking his side. Thankfully there are law abiding folk like yourself With common sense and courtesy to let us know.
Just so you know Coondog, I can't remember the exact numbers, but something like 10000 trucks a day go through Watford City. Man camps have sprung up all over the place, and it is a very busy little town now. A developer there was building a huge indoor RV park, and trailer spaces were going for $1,000 per month if you could even find one. One of the truck stops in Stanley was reported to be selling $1,000,000 of fuel per week last year. It seems to have calmed down now just a bit, but it is still a hopping place. McDonald's and KFC had adds on their sign boards offering $15 per hour for starting employment, numerous entrepeneurs have opened up makeshift restaurants comprising of a camp trailer converted to all kitchen with a plywood covered seating area for the patrons. Having said all that I completely understand the "making do with what you have" concept, but in that area there are not even quiet little country roads anymore as the oil industry trucks are everywhere servicing the wells. This time of year as the frost is coming out it is not uncommon to see semis stuck in the middle of the county roads. The municipalities are struggling to keep up with infrastructure improvements, but the oil has to leave the wells or shut ins are necessary. Having said all that, I was pleasantly surprised at the patience and cooperation displayed by the folks driving trucks around there. Trucks pulling out of side roads on to the highways is constantly occuring, and the drivers accept that you may have to slowdown a bit allowing other trucks to pick up speed. In general people worked with each other fairly well.
Oh I quite understand, all the same things are happening here, I said much earlier he is nt doing it fair or legal or safely, what I am getting at is he is doing it. I'm sure some of you are old enough to remember, I am not, but I have heard stories, of how poeple in the older days make due with what they got. I.e., using equipment beyond design capacity. That was my whole point. Yes, if it continues to happen he will probably have an accident, maybe it will involve innocent ppl, however that is all speculation. We are looking at a photo. In the photo, he appears to be in a RURAL area. Maybe it was taken before the local oil boom occurred, judging from the open field across the street. And all the other empty gas pumps. Merely speculating on a photo, but no matter what you do you are stupid to some poeple. That is kind of the point of my last point.
Yeah kind of like that saying: Drive it like you stole it!
Sarcasm aside I grew up around a "make it work" mentality and got to fix more than a few of those Eff Ups. I've also been around enough of the "make it work" mentality to see guys almost get killed doing stuff they knew better than to do in the first place. (especially out there) Given my experience with trucks and trailers of that size and excavators of that size I guess I was appauled at the idea regardless of the locality, hence details on the location seemed irrelevant. The only reason I posted it was when I saw it I couldnt believe it. Its kinda like that picture of a KIA in the menards parking lot that they stacked sheetrock on the roof of untill the front wheels came off the ground and the rear strut towers broke. In my eyes I don't know how the neck hasnt snapped or bent on that trailer, a leaf spring hasnt broken, or an axel spindle hasn't twisted off while cornering. A 20k trailer maybe, a cheap 14k trailer. No way man. You can only push things so far. BTW once upon a time we had a D7F and a 590 JD we couldnt legally haul. Do you know what we did? Called a guy with a lowboy.
Holy COW!!! My jaw dropped when I saw that picture. So Silverodo if you saw that then I can't say it's photo shopped. That would make a great photo shop picture to post on forums to get everyone worked up. The reason people should get worked up is because that is beyond stupid and selfish. That setup could easily take lives. I pull a 312 everyday and my truck and trailer just barely out wiegh the 312 and I'm constantly on edge. Just crazy that he did that.
My eyesight might be bad, even with glasses, but I can't see any chains holding that on either, did anyone else see chains and binders on that machine? As for making it work, I"ll pass on this one, its about as stupid as farmers pulling a 5-600 bushel gravity box loaded with their diesel pickup around me, but I hear all the time, I've got a duramax or powerstoke, it'll pull anything, to which I add, yea, but can it stop that load on a dime too. I didn't have a camera when another local contractor came through town with his 3/4 ton duramax and a 311 loaded on his tilt bed skid steer trailer, and not one chain or binder on it either.
For clarification sake I didnt personally see it, I found it on another page thats strictly stuff like this out in the Bakken oil fields, which is an interest of mine after working out there for 6 months and seeing how stuff is out there. It seems to be a cell phone picture so it was hard to get it zoomed to where a guy can pick out any real details, but and a few other guys said they had been stuck behind it and i know where the gas station it was taken at is so I'm pretty certain its th real deal, time of year was correct when it was posted, etc. Anyone thats hauled that size machine behind a dump truck knows the feeling if you hit a good enough bump and get the trailer to sway a little. Might not seem like a lot of weight on paper, but in application you better be paying attention.
It gets pretty grainy when you zoom it in but I think I can make out chain binders dirrectly to the tracks on the front right side, and possibly a chain across the bucket and maybe the off side chain on the left side of the pic, but its hard to tell because of the resolution. I know quite a few guys that arent afraid to haul tracked equipment around without chains, a guy used to hear about someone loosing an excavator that way on a short move between jobs, but its been about 10 years since I've heard of it happening locally, word kinda gets around. I've never done it, but had to discuss the matter with the little brother when he wanted to move the dozer a few miles unchained, up down and around on the county road. Odds are nothing would of happened but my lucks never been that good so I try not to push it . I see a guy hauling a 307 around here pretty consistantly on a tag trailer behind his ford diesel lately. seems to do it, but I'd like to see what the hitch looks like, not sure how far I would trust a 10 year old factory reciever hitch thats been subject to MN winters and was probably originally rated for about half the wieght its currently handling
Nice photo. I really love gooseneck trailer because they're really useful for moving equipments.
There was a guy hauling and 120 up hill around a corner with no chains or binders , and the machine shifted and the excavator and trailer tipped right over. It was being towed by a four axle dump truck.luckily there were no cars in the other lane at the time. The excavator was not owned by the guy hauling it,as I know the owner of it. I'd bet he chains equipment now when he hauls it.