Reduce Your Farm's Operating Costs By Towing Your Tractor
Farm tractors are powerful machines built for plowing and hauling heavy loads, but they have terrible fuel economies. According to Farm Show, diesel tractors get only 6.5 to 7 miles per gallon. With this gas mileage, it's expensive to drive a tractor even a short distance from a barn to a field. If run a farm and have a diesel tractor, towing your tractor to fields with a fuel-efficient truck can help you reduce your farm's operating expenses. Here's how to tow a tractor safely.
Make Sure Your Truck Can Tow
First, you need to check your truck's towing capacity. Tractors can be heavy -- sometimes much heavier than campers, boats and jet skis. Therefore, some trucks and SUVs made for personal use may not be up for towing a trailer, even if they are capable of towing a small recreational camper, boat or jet ski.
You can make sure your truck is able to tow your tractor by looking up your tractor's weight and your truck's maximum towing capacity in their respective owner's manuals. If the maximum towing capacity of your truck is greater than your tractor's weight, you're ready to hitch up a trailer. If it's not, you'll need to borrow a truck or purchase a new one with a greater towing capacity.
Make Sure Your Truck's Hitch is the Right Size
When connecting a trailer for your tractor to your truck, you should confirm that the trailer's coupler and truck's hitch are the same size. Hitches come in several different sizes.
Even if the difference in size is small, you shouldn't tow a trailer that isn't a perfect fit for your truck's hitch. If the trailer's coupler is slightly larger than your truck's ball, the coupler could slip off the hitch when you go over a bump (which you will if you're driving to a field). The trailer could become disconnected from the truck.
To make sure your trailer's coupler and truck's hitch are the same size, look for a marking on them that details each one's size. If they're too rusty to see any markings, measure each with a tape measure.
Once you know your truck is able to tow your trailer's weight and the sizes match, you're all set to tow your tractor to your fields. Hook up the trailer, put the tractor on it, and go to work. You won't see huge savings immediately, but every time you go to plow, fertilize or harvest a field, you'll be saving money on diesel fuel. For more information, contact companies like Gervais Towing & Recovery.
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