You can't tow a Bobcat with a Ranger!

[Ranger X3]

Hi All,
I went to the local equipment rental store and asked about daily rates for the Bobcat excavator. He started with "There will have to be a delivery fee, that thing weights around 3 tons." I mentioned the Ranger can tow 7500 pounds, and he replied "you can't tow a Bobcat with a Ranger, your brakes will never handle it". I don't remember reading about the brakes being a concern. Thoughts, your experience?

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[Bob902]

Bobcat plus trailer, you are pushing the limits of the truck.

 

[Ranger X3]

Awesome, that slipped my mind.

 

[Frenchy]

Find out the exact weight of tue Trailer and the Bobcat. Chances are it will be over the maximum towing capacity. If it is then you are out of luck.

 

[JDowns]

I couldn’t tow my CAT 259D3 even with a trailer. At 8950lbs I’d be slightly overweight.

A friend of mine up here has a 299D3 and tows with a 16,000lbs gooseneck. Towing that kind of weight with a bumper pull is just a nightmare.

 

[NOVA_Ranger]

LMAO. I suppose you can do anything, once.

 

[BassRanger]

Shouldn't be towing that weight with ANY truck without trailer brakes, but yes likely a dual 5000/7500lb axle equipment hauler plus excavator would likely put you well over towing cap and close to or over GCWR.

 

[Bluestem]

I couldn’t tow my CAT 259D3 even with a trailer. At 8950lbs I’d be slightly overweight.

A friend of mine up here has a 299D3 and tows with a 16,000lbs gooseneck. Towing that kind of weight with a bumper pull is just a nightmare.

It's fun convincing the higherups that you need a 22,000lb gooseneck and a 2 ton truck to haul around a 299d3 with a brush mulcher on it. It's really amazing how much new equipment weighs these days. The next step is making them understand it would be much safer and easier on all the equipment to get something with airbrakes.

 

[DonB]

At least once in everyone's life they should be pushed through a redlight by their trailer simply because their truck wasn't equipped to stop it.
Best teachable moment ever. And yeah, happened to me about 30 years back.

 

[Jedadiah]

At least once in everyone's life they should be pushed through a redlight by their trailer simply because their truck wasn't equipped to stop it.
Best teachable moment ever. And yeah, happened to me about 30 years back.

I definitely want to pass on this kinda teachable moment. Sounds utterly terrifying.

I put brakes on my small trailers. It wasn't hard or expensive to do and I'd rather the truck's brakes not have to do any extra work at all.

I haven't rented any "large" equipment to pull with my Ranger, but am curious. Do the trailers at rental places usually have brakes? Electric? Surge? I've rented a few tow-behind augers, but they didn't even have lights and aren't heavy enough to need brakes with any tow vehicle.

 

[DonB]

I definitely want to pass on this kinda teachable moment. Sounds utterly terrifying.

I put brakes on my small trailers. It wasn't hard or expensive to do and I'd rather the truck's brakes not have to do any extra work at all.

I haven't rented any "large" equipment to pull with my Ranger, but am curious. Do the trailers at rental places usually have brakes? Electric? Surge? I've rented a few tow-behind augers, but they didn't even have lights and aren't heavy enough to need brakes with any tow vehicle.

Well I guess I won't bother you with the story about the minefield.

 

[OFC Ranger]

I remember renting a dump trailer for Home Depot to haul crush run for my garage pad. One of the oddest feeling brake systems I had ever felt. I think they call these "surge brakes"?

It brakes more or less by momentum and some sort of pneumatic cylinder. It felt kind of like when you were a kid riding in a bumper car at the fair and someone following behind you periodically bumping your rear. Very weird.

 

[BassRanger]

I haven't rented any "large" equipment to pull with my Ranger, but am curious. Do the trailers at rental places usually have brakes? Electric? Surge? I've rented a few tow-behind augers, but they didn't even have lights and aren't heavy enough to need brakes with any tow vehicle.

Most equipment haulers rental trailers I've seen have surge brakes. There is only one state in the country where you can legally tow over 5k lbs without trailer brakes. There's no excuse for any legitimate heavy duty rental company with equipment haulers without trailer brakes. I can understand them not wanting to hitch up the trailer due to the actual weight of the trailer, but I don't know why brakes would even come up.

 

[Aonarch]

Most equipment haulers rental trailers I've seen have surge brakes. There is only one state in the country where you can legally tow over 5k lbs without trailer brakes. There's no excuse for any legitimate heavy duty rental company with equipment haulers without trailer brakes. I can understand them not wanting to hitch up the trailer due to the actual weight of the trailer, but I don't know why brakes would even come up.

Agreed, their trailers better have functioning brakes.

 

[DonB]

i got those experiences on the farm during hay season, with a woefully undersized tractor and a gargantuan hay wagon loaded 3 or 4 levels higher than it should.
those were the days.

And you, like I, learned quite a bit in that moment.

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