Horsepower for Super-B

[farming101]

So my explanation was a write off? Your 20 seconds are gone for ever, FOR EVER!

Tax planning is serious business.
Your point and Richards were valuable.
Flip side is keeping income current is valuable too, especially when it is tax efficient. I will pocket my tax paid capital expense now rather than down the road.

[Braveheart]

When you're buying a truck why limit yourself to, "only" hauling to the same old place. The right truck/trailer opens up new possibilities.

That said, even for the hauling you describe I'd go with nothing less than 475 hp. Transmission (the other critical ingredient) should be an 18 speed for those low end pulls off soft fields when needed.

Most trucks with 46,000 rears needed for super B would have something akin to what is suitable.

[TOM4CWB]

I agree with Braveheart..18sd....46000 with quadloc is the only way to go on s-bee...
Good tridem really beats s-bee.
For Tridem...We installed a posi loc ourselves in back diff on 40,000 $2500...[with a c12 anyone can fix-]400hp ... so with nice light older/under 20k$short day truck... that only weighs 14,000lbs... with good tridem... hauls 33t legal...
really Handy to dump in yard with the longer frame bridge on trailer/tridem... under 50mi... can't be better...

When you're buying a truck why limit yourself to, "only" hauling to the same old place. The right truck/trailer opens up new possibilities.

That said, even for the hauling you describe I'd go with nothing less than 475 hp. Transmission (the other critical ingredient) should be an 18 speed for those low end pulls off soft fields when needed.

Most trucks with 46,000 rears needed for super B would have something akin to what is suitable.

[Quadtrack]

I agree w Braveheart. Get 46 tears, full lockers, 18sp. A 500 hp min.
I’ve had Supers since 2000. Never split them in harvest-with the proper unload auger, fast and easy to unload. One neighbor that used to split them kinked the lead tryin to fill it and haul like that. They are not engineered to be overloaded on hopper 1 and 2 and not have the counterbalance of pup trailer.
We had a tridem too for a while. Didn’t like it-needs a longer corner, massive long tarp like a sail on windy days, and fuel use was indistinguishable from the B train. While hauling 12 T less.
My latest set are full aluminum and like them the best. Expensive trailers but get what you pay for IMO.

[helmsdale]

I agree w Braveheart. Get 46 tears, full lockers, 18sp. A 500 hp min.
I’ve had Supers since 2000. Never split them in harvest-with the proper unload auger, fast and easy to unload. One neighbor that used to split them kinked the lead tryin to fill it and haul like that. They are not engineered to be overloaded on hopper 1 and 2 and not have the counterbalance of pup trailer.
We had a tridem too for a while. Didn’t like it-needs a longer corner, massive long tarp like a sail on windy days, and fuel use was indistinguishable from the B train. While hauling 12 T less.
My latest set are full aluminum and like them the best. Expensive trailers but get what you pay for IMO.

Which breed of aluminum?

[LEP]

Ronski, we have a set of super b's , a two hopper triaxle, and a couple tandem axle trailers. At seeding and harvest we don't put the super b's into the field except to haul a load that might be going to the elevator. I have had 13spd trucks on my trains, but more hp and gears are better.

Mostly use just the triaxle and super b's to haul to the elevator from the bins after harvest. Hauling out of the same yard you get pretty much the same number of loads in the day done.

I haven't had custom trucking done for alot of years. How much are you being charged? $7-8 a tonne? If so lets say at $8 x 1500mt you pay about $12k a year in trucking. Plates on a truck pulling super b's is easily a thousand dollars more than a triaxle. More tires, lights and tarps. We use tarp savers on the triaxle which are definitely worth it. 1500mt you are looking at 36 loads on a super b, 47 on a triaxle or 58 on a tandem axle. Even if you are in line for two hours every trip that is only 24 more hours a year.

Personally I think a tandem or triaxle trailer wouldn't be too much of a handicap and much cheaper to buy and license.

[Quadtrack]

Which breed of aluminum?

Doepker Legacy.

[farmaholic]

Wilson aluminum tridem 2 hopper trailer.
2009, T600 Kenworth(daycab)
ISX 485
4way lockers
18 speed
it is a light truck like Tom4___ says, a bit over 14,000.
only one fuel tank and that isn't enough if you're hauling "all" day a long distance.
The truck definitely isn't anything fancy! Clean and in good shape, over 600K kms.

All white truck and trailer, not easily seen in FOG!!!!

And yup, the trailer is a high sided bugger, quite the sail in cross winds.

Simple unit, didn't deck the trailer out in excess lights(bought it new off the lot, not special ordered), I need to be seen but not in a way that says, "look at me".

Good luck with your search, so many options. Too bad farming never paid good enough that we didn't have to settle for the Trucking Industries hand-me-downs. I don't know many farms that are big enough, or can afford, a brand new highway tractor to use solely on the farm. Like anything else, these things(new ones) need to be rolling to pay for themselves.

[blackpowder]

1500 tonnes doesn't need overthinking.
Short hauls. Only 50 trips.
My old 300+ Mack would do if necessary.
Used trains always have had commercial use. Used steel are half shot for their price.
Take your time and find a good used aluminum tandem trailer. The truck can be a throwaway if can't afford better.
Just my opinion.

[helmsdale]

Doepker Legacy.

Like the open end for cleaning and working on. Quite like the non-rigid joints of the legacy. If you've ever stood on the bridge of a super when its loaded and pulling out of an approach, or just moving on uneven ground, its bloody amazing that the rigid welds on most trailers dont crack out more often considering the flex involved in everything. Really like that they've gone to one piece end slopes. Less opportunity for water and salt to get in.

All that aside, I despise the horsepower penalty, and therefore the fuel penalty on open ends in a cross wind. Pulled with a guy on the same fleet when I was commerical hauling. Me pulling open ended doepkers, him pulling a set of wilsons. I could out pull him handily on a normal day, but in a bad cross wind it was like he had an additional 75-100hp rather than the other way around. Fuel consumption was par on a normal day, .5 to as high as a full 1mpg on a windy day. Smooth sides of the legacy could help alot though as well with no corrugations to constantly be dragging in the wind.

Anybody here pulled both a legacy and a wilson or lode king enclosed? Any difference in a cross wind?