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Post Info TOPIC: Towing a corn picker about 80 miles


Wasn't Born Yesterday

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Towing a corn picker about 80 miles


I thought I'd start a new thread about getting my corn picker home, in hopes it might help some others. Last week I found a corn picker for a good price on Craigslist, the only problem was it was about 75 miles away by interstate. I had looked long enough to know it was a decent picker for a really good price. I started by driving my car to check it out, it looked usable so we struck a deal and in that,was I could leave the picker for a few weeks if necessary to get a way to move it lined up. I'm a public school teacher, and part time farmer, so paying a buisiness to haul the thing home wasn't really in the cards. I didn't mind the idea of spending  a little money to get it home, I just thought for about what it would cost, I could end up with a better, more mobile picker, if I spent the money on machine improvement, instead of a one and done, pay a hauler.

I took pictures of the tire size and tread, condition of the tires, and wheel bolt pattern. I also measured the outside to outside tire measurement. After looking at the pictures of the tires, I decided one was really not good and the other was questionable. Now these tires would probably have picked corn fine for several years, but going 35mph for 80 + miles was probably not going to happen. 

I called about 20 tire shops to find a somewhat reasonable priced set of 7.50 x 20 farm tires in stock. I waited till yesterday to do this, that was my first mistake, it's not a common implement tire size, so in the future, I would try to order a week ahead of time. The next thing I would do differently is I should have taken a jack, blocks and a lug wrench with me when I went to check it out and assessed the tires there, and then took them off to bring home with me. This ended up being ok, I found a tire shop a few miles from the picker and made an appointment. Make sure you tell them the size, and make sure they will do ag tires with tubes, the area I bought the picker was pretty urban and only 1 of the five shops I called would do a 20 inch farm implement tire. At home all the shops do them, was just lucky I asked. Also check and make sure it's ok to bring your own tires, 90% chance they won't have that size anyway, but some shops will only mount the tires they sell. If I would have brought them home on trip one, I could have avoided all that. After I located an bought the tires, the man at the counter realized he didn't have tubes for that size tire. So another 20 calls to every shop I could find and I locate 2 tubes an hour away and it's 3:30pm. Drive the round trip an get the tubes. Luckily my car gets about 30 mpg. So anyhow, trust me when I say just order the tires and tubes from a good local shop that does ag tires and have the rims from your scouting, buying trip, it will save you lots of time and trouble. The tires I got were American Farmer tri rib 7.50 x30, BKT makes a tire that size that's more like a multi rib implement tire and they would have been a little cheaper, but we're going to take several days to get, and I had everything set for going today.

I talked a buddy of mine, that has a newer f250, into towing it for me for McDonald's breakfast, diesal fuel, and a few rolls of hay. We met up at 6 am and headed out with tires tubes, grease gun and tools. We hitched up the picker towed it about 3-4 miles slowly to the tire shop and ate at McDonald's while they were getting the tires on. The trip home went really well. We towed on non interstates at about 35-40 mph stopped about halfway and re-greased the bearings. My final suggestions are bring an extra tube of grease, luckily I had one because we needed it, these things tow pretty good but be aware it's going to stick out significantly past the passenger side of the vehicle. Lastly an offset receiver tube or hitch would be the cats pajama, then you could trail it right behind you.

I guess my final thoughts are ; sometimes pre-planning actually works, nail down a good non interstate route ahead of time, and that with some leg work it's very doable. We got home today about 2:30 pm, that was taking it really easy, getting the tire work done, and stopping for lunch. If you made it this far I hope maybe this helps somebody avoid a few of the mistakes I made, and maybe some of the things I did that worked well will help out too. All in all I'm happy I got the picker home in one piece, I got a reliable set of tires, and now I feel like it won't be a big deal to take it up to my brothers and help him pick his few acres also. He only lives about 45 mins away, which feels like no big deal after today, all of that cost me less than hiring a guy with a deck over trailer or wide roll back to haul it. I'd love to hear other hauling methods, tips and tricks or just shared picker towing / hauling adventures.



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Wasn't Born Yesterday

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Glad you got it home without any real problems. Thanks for sharing with us.



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Wasn't Born Yesterday

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It's not something I would want to do every week, but wasn't to bad. I sure was awefully relieved when we pulled on my farm lane though!

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Wasn't Born Yesterday

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Glad you got it home OK.

When we were working on the no. 7 we fixed up I happened to have a pair of old 7.50 x 20 truck tires lying around, so we had those put on. Saved us from going through what you did and should last a long time. 8.25's would probably have fit too.

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Rich


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One of our small herd of NI 324/327s has a truck tire on it, as well. Probably wouldn't pass muster at a show, but picks just fine.

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Wasn't Born Yesterday

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I will have to keep my eye out for some 8.25 x20 truck tires so I'll have some spares. I kept the better tire and tube, the other was shot. I don't do shows, I am just a user so looks don't matter much to me. I wish I'd of known about the truck tire size to look for, I thought of using a truck tire but I just said a 7.5 by 20 and the 3 tire shops here were like we don't have anything like that. Now that I know a size I'll keep an eye out. Those tires cost me almost 1/2 as much as the picker, but it worked out well and now I got a good set in case I find a parts picker I need to tow home.

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Old Timer

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Thank you for sharing your story. A lot of good tips and pointers.

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Charlie


Wasn't Born Yesterday

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Dad used a L-O-T of truck front axles, wheels, rims, and tires on his farm equipment. Lots of old IH KB series truck parts, 7.00x20 and 7.50x20. Tires lasted and lasted, which was good because that size was hard to find even bald but sound casing tires in the 1960's. Neighbor gave Dad the OEM Heider auger wagon axle with 8.25x20 truck tires, Dad pulled the old truck axle with 7.50x20's off and less than 4-5 months later when the auger wagon was empty a spindle snapped flush with the oil seal when the auger wagon was bouncing in some frozen ruts. The old truck axle went back on later that same day. 5500-6000 pounds was our normal net load, No problem for a pair of truck tires. I pulled hundreds of loads of ground hog feed home from town and I don't even remember ever having to air up a low tire let alone fixing a flat. The water wagon was same thing, except lighter load, only 350 gallons of water, 2800#.

A used 8.25x20 truck tire should carry a picker without even being inflated!

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Getting There

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Thank you for sharing your experience. You truly gave someone else some great tips on what to do. Thanks for not being too proud to share your experience! Very valuable information....

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"If ignorance was bliss, I'd be the happiest man alive".

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