hauling sap with a tractor

[BreezyHill]

The full load on a incline is not as much of an issue as the half load. The surge in the tank can be a big issue. I use a 500g tank to water cattle in droughts. it is on two RR ties with a hole sawed out, for the tank feet. the tank is ratched down and will slide on a 6% slope and move when you stop. It is often better to haul a full load slowly than a half load. changing gears in a hill is where you will have an issue also.

800gallons of molasses will jerk a 20000# truck around at a light. remember that side slosh is better than fore and aft slosh. A quick turn of the wheel will stop a Fore slosh.

All bets are off if it is a round vertical storage tank on a truck. that's just crazy.... no way to control the flow in them. But that is 20 yrs of tank delivery talking. Seen the accidents and read the reports. Most tank accidents are partial loads that were driver error.

[Outdoorsman0490]

Never tried that, but I wouldn't want to find out first hand

[maplefarmer]

I have a 1000 nurse tank, like the coop uses to haul liquid fert. have a small generator mounted on front along with a 100 gal stock tank to dump buckets in. I have a jd 5310 [55 hp] tractor and when full it will handle good on the frozen ground or roads, but if the woods or the field is soft it can be too much.

[buckeye gold]

Sap and wood are two completely different loading scenarios. Logs are relatively stable compared to sap. Luke stated he had an all uphill run to the bush for a few miles, I assume going up will be empty so we are concerned with coming down, right. Stopping that load in a short distance would be one thing, but keeping it from gaining momentum over a long grade is another. Sure you can gear down, but I wouldn't torture my tractor like that if I planned on keeping it. The one variable that hasn't been discussed a lot is what kind of trailer are you hauling on and does it have breaks? Good trailer breaks will make a difference big time. Your looking at at least a trailer rated for 8 tons with duel or tri axles and I'd want a hydraulic brake system.

I know what I would do. I'd find a good used truck of at least 26,000 GVW and mount the tank on it. You will save enough time and fuel to pay for it and be a lot safer. You can find old road trucks for very reasonable prices. It doesn't have to be pretty.

What kind of tank are we talking? If it's stainless have baffles welded in it. Fifteen hundred gallons of unrestrained sap (and for some runs half loads) going down the road at speed is a scary thought to me. If you get a high center of gravity you will learn what it's like to lay that thing over. I'm not trying to scare you, I want you to be safe. Trust me I have hauled millions of gallons of water. I have also seen more than one truck or trailer totally trashed due to improper hauling, not to mention potential injury. Still if your careful about curves and gear down on hills you can safely haul in unbaffled tanks just be aware of the load shift....you'll learn after just a trip or two, water hauling has a short learning curve for most.

[BAP]

I used to haul sap with an old stainless milk tank 1500 gal mounted on a chevy c-60. It was a great rig because it was setup so a majority of the weight was carried on the rear axle. Truck would go threw mud and snow like crazy especially with a set of chains on. However, on our winding roads, you had to pay attention like crazy going into corners especially with less the absolute full load because the slosh of sap would want to put you over the bank. Hauling liquid is like no other payload. It has a mind of its own and doesn't like to change direction of movement.

[highway]

We haul sap in a Kawasaki Mule. It has a 125 gal tank in the back. When full it at the max GVW of the rig but does handle it OK. I figure 8# per gallon so about 1,000 lbs loaded full. It does have brakes at all 4 wheels though, unlike the tractor. It is always better to be cautious.

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[log cabin luke]

ok so it seems like 1550 gallons of sap is to much for a 45 hp Kubota. that's why I asked around before I went and bought a tank and everything else. to everyone that responded thankyou for all the worldly knowledge. One more question. I will be making the trailer my self. I figure seeings how it will only be used pulling sap at no more than about 5 mph up the hill I don't need leaf springs, I can just bolt the frame to the axle. Does any one see a problem with this? The road is smooth with minimal bumps

[PARKER MAPLE]

SEND IT

[BreezyHill]

Farm wagons don't have springs. So this will be no problem at all. If you want to improve on your design and haul more there is away...

Your tractor has a bucket so you have hydraulics. on a non steering axle you can ad a hydraulic brake. a single cylinder that would break a shaped smooth section of steel to the tire tread area to produce friction that will slow the rotation of the tire. If you have a lever that has a float position this would be best as you can push the lever to increase friction and if the tire would lockup you could easily push to float to quickly release the hydraulic pressure and then back to center and add a little resistance again to slow again.

I was going to do this to a wagon that I hauled round bales with but stopped renting the farm and no longer had the steep mile long descent from 50 acres of hay fields.

Good Luck!

Ben

[sugarman3]

nope,i had a trailer with a 650gal tank on it,pulled it up hill,it had no leaf springs and worked good