# farm hay wagons



## ziggy2b (Jun 24, 2013)

Anyone using hay wagons to haul wood 10 to12 ton?? 20' x 8'x16" would give you 5 full cords.uttahere2: Sell it off the wagon,Also replace the deck of wagon and side boards with cattle panel fencing to, 1 let the bark and dirt fall out the bottom. 2 Would Improve air flow around wood to dry it out. 3 Free tarp when they sell pontoon boats they remove shipping tarp.4 Can move wagon when mowing lawn. Question on 5 agriculture no plates??
Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated.Work Smarter not harder!!!!!!!!!!1


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## olyman (Jun 24, 2013)

ziggy2b said:


> Anyone using hay wagons to haul wood 10 to12 ton?? 20' x 8'x16" would give you 5 full cords.uttahere2: Sell it off the wagon,Also replace the deck of wagon and side boards with cattle panel fencing to, 1 let the bark and dirt fall out the bottom. 2 Would Improve air flow around wood to dry it out. 3 Free tarp when they sell pontoon boats they remove shipping tarp.4 Can move wagon when mowing lawn. Question on 5 agriculture no plates??
> Any other thoughts on this would be appreciated.Work Smarter not harder!!!!!!!!!!1



be careful,,to have a heavy enough running gear underneath..there were a lot of hay wagons,,that only had 6-8 ton gears underneath!!!!


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## Retired (Jun 24, 2013)

Creative thinking, but you are going to have to do a whole bunch of reinforcement to make the deck and stringers stand it.

I've got a 8x20 hayrack, with the stringers reinforced with steel. It would hold 120 bales, and strapped we could run 45 mph down the road with it. If we stacked higher it would hold more bales, of course, but would not stand up to the bouncing on the road.

So....120 60# bales is 3.6 tons. I've seen a lot of hayrack decks snap when guys tried to haul in a half load of 90# bales from trying to bail "a little wet yet". I've seen stringers snap when guys were crawling across the field overloaded...not bouncing down the road fast.

If a cord of pine is 4k and a cord of white oak is 5.6k seasoned....you are talking about a load of 10 to 14 tons. 

From experience I can tell you that it is not much fun to pick up 10 bales that fell off in the middle of a busy highway. It would be even less fun to pick up split firewood.


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## Retired (Jun 24, 2013)

Another caution: there aren't very many hayracks out there with brakes on them. It's quite a thrill when a load of hay tries to pass you going down a hill at 45 mph. And they always try.

So I'm imagining a guy with 12 tons of nice firewood on a hayrack, maybe a little heavier than that because it's pouring rain. Oh, and the load is lopsided because you sold a couple ton off that front corner before it clouded up.

You crest the hill with that Ford F150, the barn is in sight, and...whee! The fun begins!


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## Cheesecutter (Jun 24, 2013)

On a 20 ft x 8 ft wagon you could get 1.25 cord per foot deep. I didn't get how you got 5 cords unless you stack 4 feet deep. Man with no brakes and that much weight ... holy crap and the weight is up fairly high to boot. I agree it sounds good in theory, but a couple cord per load would be the limit.


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## Kevin in Ohio (Jun 24, 2013)

You can also keep your eyes peeled for an anhydrous ammonia tank gear that is used in farming. Less people using it now so the gears usually go reasonable. They are normally 10 ton gears as well. I used one axle on my splitter and this one was real nice as it had an adjustable wheel width.


















Legality wise you'd have to check with your local state. Here in Ohio it is "supposedly" illegal to go over 35MPH with a farm wagon and no plates required. Not enforced but if there is an accident you can get socked because of it. For local moving and close stuff I say it would be fine. Long distance or deliveries you'd want a gooseneck or bigger truck, preferably dump. Most people have a hard time back a wagon as well. I got used to it on the farm and did doubles as well. With that one you REALLY have to think what you're doing.


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## RiverRocket (Jun 24, 2013)

I don't know if you ever pulled a hay wagon or not, but they like to walk all over the road...there's a lot of slop in the tongue and steering.... like someone else said 35/mph is about tops...No fun when you look out the side mirror and the wagon is in the passing lane beside you...especially with a heavy load on..


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## Mike Van (Jun 24, 2013)

No brakes, no lights, harder to back up , no tongue weight- Pull one with a tractor, fine - I'd hate to be towing one with a truck an get in a wreck, odds are it'll be your fault. Traffic behind you won't be able to see the lights of the truck pulling the wagon. Just not worth the risk/liability to move a few cord of wood.


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## turbo885 (Jun 24, 2013)

Have you ever pulled a loaded hay wagon ? If you are loading it with wood better have a lot of truck in front. a 1 ton isnt going to stop it.


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## bert0168 (Jun 24, 2013)

Sounds to me that hay wagons are made just for that, HAY.


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## ziggy2b (Jun 24, 2013)

bert0168 said:


> Sounds to me that hay wagons are made just for that, HAY.



Did not know you could get everyone talking:cool2: on this subject. How about load the wagon at the house and move it to mow the lawn?? You people are Great thanks for the comments.


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## Cheesecutter (Jun 25, 2013)

As long as the stringers and gear will support the weight using hay wagons as storage will work. Its up off the ground, self contained so the piles won't tip over, and portable. I use a steel barge wagon that holds 2 cords as storage. If your floor is good I would leave it alone and lay 4-6 inch diameter logs across it to stack the wood on to get air flow. You could cross stack to promote even more airflow because of the racks height.


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## Whitespider (Jun 25, 2013)

I don't know of any hay rack that will stand up to 5 cord of firewood... even just sitting in the yard it's likely to fold up like a suitcase.
Moving it when you cut grass?? After it's been sitting for a week?? Do you have any idea how much those tires will sink in a week's time... if they don't come unglued first?? When you go to move it you're likely to just pull he front axle clean off... if ya' don't destroy the hitch and/or hitch mounting on your vehicle first!!
Seriously... I'd be hesitant putting 2 cord on most hay racks!!

As far as the legality of a hay rack and no plates...
In Iowa you can pull a farm wagon without plates, at reduced speed (don't remember exactly what that is, 35 MPH sounds right)... but *ONLY* for farming purposes!! Just pulling 10 ton of firewood on a hay rack, let alone selling it off the rack... man, if they didn't lock you up the fine would bankrupt you!!! If I were you, I'd be upgrading my liability insurance (times 10) before I even hooked onto that disaster waiting to happen!!

Holy crap man... you better rethink this.
Moving a cord-or-so, maybe a bit more, across the yard from the stacks to the house... yeah, OK.


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## GeeVee (Jun 25, 2013)

Moving. Stacked. Firewood.

Where's my popcorn?


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## Cheesecutter (Jun 25, 2013)

View attachment 301835
Here is the barge wagon I use to store dry wood. It holds just over 2 cords if I stack it in an weighs about 10000 lbs. I pulled it on the road loaded with wet black walnut for 10 miles with a 1 ton....ONCE. I only use it around the buildings now.


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## ziggy2b (Jun 26, 2013)

*Changed my mind*

How about a mobile home frame??? cut to size, should handle weight 
problem?


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## bert0168 (Jun 26, 2013)

Going to depend on the axle rating and how many there are.

If they are around 6K (typical) then your going to need to have one with three axles to even get to 9 ton.

But don't forget to add the weight of all the steel your going to need to add to bunk the logs.

Oh and how are you going to register it? :msp_confused:

Seems like alot of jackin around for mobil wood storage to be able to cut the grass.

I'd put that time and $$ into a beater 2 axle dump truck (or dump trailer) then you can move it anywhere you want, easily register it and drive it at highway speeds.


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## Whitespider (Jun 26, 2013)

ziggy2b said:


> *How about a mobile home frame??? cut to size, should handle weight
> problem?*



Yeah, there's a problem... a mobile home frame ain't built to carry anything near 10 ton, and the running gears even less.
Man, quit trying to reinvent the wheel, for what you're lookin' to do you need a single drive axle semi-tractor with a single axle low-boy, flat-bed trailer attached... good for 20 ton on most US roadways (up to 26 ton in some states). If'n ya' really wanna' go "big-time", get tandems on both the tractor and trailer... 40 ton most anywhere without special load limits.


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## ChoppyChoppy (Jun 26, 2013)

I haul 5 cords in my truck (Chevy 7000) It has an 8x20ft bed with sides about 5ft tall. It's a 10 wheeler rated to 30,000lbs load and I have a CDL to drive it.

With my pickup I haul 2 cords and I can tell for sure it's back there! I use a one ton diesel with an 18ft 12k rated trailer.


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## Cheesecutter (Jun 26, 2013)

Just wondering.... what are you going to use as a tow vehicle?


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## Whitespider (Jun 27, 2013)

Cheesecutter said:


> *Just wondering.... what are you going to use as a tow vehicle?*









:hmm3grin2orange:


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## turbo885 (Jun 27, 2013)

yep that should pull er no problem hammer down and hang on


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## Retired (Jun 27, 2013)

I'm guessing those bars out front are for the wife to stand on? To hold the front end down?:msp_thumbup:

Don't let the kid stand up there though. For safety, of course.


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