Stamey

My partner is down in the Chatanooga area, with my 96 2500, trying to bring back a chipper we just bought. He cannot tow it any faster than 50 because the chipper/trailer begins wagging all over the road, as if he didn't have enough tongue weight. I gotta figure it has enough tongue weight because they would have to consider that in designing the chipper, and the diesel engine is mounted forward of the axle.
The seller, bringing it from New Orleans, had a tire blow out on him in Mississippi and got 2 new tires put on this morning. The new tires are 16.5" Load range E, which I am told is 3100 lbs @80 psi. The chipper, I am not sure of the weight, but the seller guessed it to be around 6800 lbs. Gee, I guess he bought the wrong tires, huh? But I'll bet he was taking whatever he could get, to get rid of the chipper, and besides, 16.5 tires are hard to find anyway.
The chipper has a pintle hitch on it. We bought an adjustable-height pintle for the truck, the one with the 2 5/16 ball on it also, and that's what we are pulling it with.
We are not sure of the tire inflation right now because it was measured hot, and it seems to be at 80 psi, so my best bet, right now, is the tires are under-inflated but we cannot verify that until it's cold.
He just called and told me he has arrived at his stopping point for the night, finally. He said he could get up to 65 a few times, when the road was perfectly smooth. When the road gets rough though, he said it is all over the place.
The chipper does have shocks on it, but their condition is unknown. I suppose he can check that tomorrow morning.

Any ideas appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris
If this works, here's a pic of it:

Totallyrad

Chris, there are allot of things to consider. Tire pressure on both the chipper and the tow vehicle. Are the wheel bearing adjusted properly on the chipper? You're pulling with a pintle, if the tongue weight is light, it will wander. The chipper needs to be level or slightly nose down. If it's nose up, it will whip around. You might also need to weight down the truck a little. Adding some sand to the bed will compress the suspension a little and might settle it down. This is only a short term fix, just to get it back. If the chipper does weigh 6800, it's close to the weight of the truck and may push it around a little. Any or all of these things added together will cause a small problem to grow into a big one. In the short term, tell him to just slow down and get there.

Alwaysworking

maybe the track width of the chipper verses the truck verses the worn in ruts in the road, i had that problem the trailer kept climbing the ruts.

DodgeCowboy

not in oregon we could not possibly have ruts on our freeways. But ya thats a possibility its going from rut to rut.

LFD2037

Best bet like totallyrad said is make sure @ worst the tongue is level but for this situation a little lower, like an inch or 2, will be best. If it's nose high that thing will go nuts. What did he end up giving for it? It looks like a nice unit.

4x4Freak

I wouldnt count on it having too much weight on the tongue. My friend has an old chipper and I could pick up the front of it by myself. It's very heavy too. It would push his CC LB F350 around pretty good. You might try what was already suggested and also strap some weight to the tongue.

2006Mega

check to see how the tailer axle u bolts are, they could be loose allowing the axle to wander around.

Stamey

The pics are not pics of the actual unit, they are pics of that model, to give you an idea of what I am dealing with. It was about 10K.

Chris

Rough-n-Ready

You stated above that the previous tower had a tire blow out. Was the wheel checked out properly? If the wheel was damaged or bent slightly, that could cause a whole lot of unstability at higher speeds. Have a tire shop throw it on a spin balancer, if it is bent, even slightly, it will be very evident.

I am assuming that the chipper pulled fine before, of course. Is it possible that this is the reason it was sold?

Hvytrkmech

As previously stated, the tongue weight and the actual weight are the major culprits. My buddy has a tree business with several chippers, the lightest one being 8k, (gas powered), the other ones are diesel and weigh in at 10k. They tow very well behind his Internationals, but when he put them behind his one tons he had the same problem. Two of his chippers have adjustable tongues, they actually slide in and out, and the pintle ring moves up and down. We set the ring so that it is at the second from the top slot which seemed to be the best for all the trucks. When they go behind a one ton he pulls the tongue out to max length, appx a 3' increase, he stated that it worked well, however his highway trips are limited to 30 miles max.

Tim

Stamey

Well, so far the tires were at 74 psi, one wheel hub was loose, and he found the inner bearing dry and scored, seal popped out, so he has obtained a replacement for both bearings on that side.
I relayed the info you guys have suggested about the tongue height and he's going to try that.
Another thing we have been thinking about is mounting a ball on the tongue, if we can find one of those that bolts to the pintle plate (I have seen them before), to see if tightening the connection there will help. He is going to sdo the other repairs first though, as he will probably have to go up to Nashville to find this ball coupler.

Thanks,
Chris

HOHN

I think Northern Tool carries those pintle-mount ball plates.

Another culprit at work here is the short length of the chipper tongue. If the tongue were a little longer, it will help settle it down.

It sounds like you've got the basics fixed.

I'd think seriously about replacing those 16.5" wheels for 16s-- better tire choice and reliability.

jmo

Raspy

If everything checks out as far as the wheels are concerned, I think, just to get it home I'd pull the big funnel off the back of it to get rid of that weight behind the axle. A drop hitch might help a bit too.

A short wide trailer with weight behind the axle (even with some tongue weight) can be very unstable.

John

junkman1946

Most chippers that Ive seen are not designed to be towed long distances at high speeds. Quite a few are solid axle with no springs. Frank

Stamey

Talk to my partner a while ago. He said it is towing much better now, with the tire pressure at 82 psi, and the wheel hubs tight. Apparently he whooped up on a couple of Powerjokes up a mountain during his test drive. He said they were towing what looked like lighter loads than the chipper, and challenged him. I asked if either had the headlights on the bottom, and one did. That means my "farm truck" whooped a twin-turbo Powerjoke while towing 7K. My partner said that the guy in the PS kept looking at him then his speedometer, then my partner, as he passed him.
Man, that must be hard on a guy, to buy a 50K truck and get outrun by a scratched, dented, dirty old Dodge Ram while towing. I almost feel bad for him.
So, back to the chipper. He said that it gets a little squirrelly when you get up to 70-80 mph, tested while walking the PS. We were already reckoning what you said, Junkman, that they just aren't designed to be pulled that fast.
I might have to put racing stripes and slicks on it now, though.

Thanks to all for the ideas,
Chris