I have a 977L, weight about 48,000. Could it be transported on a trailer like this (minus the dolly)? I would only be hauling it a few miles at a time, from one of my farms to the other, almost always on gravel roads, often hilly. Second part of the question, would the tractor need to be a tandem axle or could a single axle do the job?
I would say MAYBE, depends if the trailer is rated to carry the 24 ton load, and the tractor can be a single axle IF the tongue weight does not exceed the rated capacity of the tractor
The trailer should be fine as long as there's nothing wrong with it and it has good brakes. A real single axle tractor will have no problem with it, but you won't be legal, and your tire life will suck if you do any moving over 45mph and 15-20 miles. When I say "real" I mean a class 8 tractor, 35,000 lb GVWR, not a medium duty with a fifthwheel.
Trailer will work fine . Looks like an old Phelan , at least 25 ton and possibly 35 . I would go with a standard day cab tandem tractor .
I have no idea if this particular trailer is for sale, it's just one I drive past often and was thinking that it looked about right. I seem to see similar ones on consignment auctions fairly often.
You would be much better served finding a tandem axle regardless. A single axle will be WAYYYY overloaded. with a 46K load youre going to near 80 combined.
Saw an add for a similar trailer the other day. It said 14' "well". Would that be from where the front set of wheels peek through to where the frame turns up toward the hitch?
Yup. The "useable" area between the gooseneck and the first axle. Andrew
Make sure when you buy that the Gooseneck is long enough for the fifth wheel pin to reach the fifth wheel and still let you turn. Some of them old lowboys had short goosenecks to match the trucks of the day.
Yes, good point. I went to look at a lowbed and thought it looked awful short. I measured and then went home and checked my truck. Turns out that I wouldn't even have been able to hook up to it when straight! Andrew