I just stumbled upon this thread, thanks to the search function, good timing. I loaded my new L 3301 for the first time yesterday onto my 12' dump trailer. It has the ramps (12" wide x 5' long, making for a pretty decent approach angle but a need to keep it centered up pretty good) stowed out of sight underneath, and it's real easy to slide them out. You never pick the full weight of them, about as simple as it gets. I gave some thought as to "seat belt or not", when driving up the first time, then forgot all about it anyway and just took it slow and easy, no problem. I have yet to back it down however! I may end up fabbing some wider 16" ramps, that would require a total redo of the storage area underneath but that is doable. Or, I may make 2 more ramps 4" wide and lay them along side the current ones, but then I'd have to find a place to haul them, above the fenders would work. Best to just suck it up and use the current ones as is and be careful, I'll get a better feel for it after a few more times.
I have not yet read all the threads on this subject, but right now I am assuming you guys are using your dump bed trailers for also hauling your tractors?
I too went with the dump bed type after looking at all kinds of car haulers and tilt beds. The people I sold my old B 2105 to had a tilt bed and man was it easy to load! But it's a one trick pony....the dump (10,000 GVW in my case, about 6500 payload) function opens up endless opportunities. I paid 6K for it, brand new, from a local trailer outfit that has used my crane service in the past twice, so I wanted to give them my business. It has the single ram, I didn't even know about the scissor type, oh well, seems to work fine. But, as a test I let it down after raising it a few inches, with the tractor loaded, and it comes down way too fast, with a bang. So, I'll do the same thing I did on the dump bed I made for my 1 ton truck, put a valve in the return line so I can control the rate of descent when loaded, it's a nice feature to have though it may be little used.
My "plan", such as it is, is to carry the tractor with the loader arms resting on the front sideboard, today I am bolting a wood wear pad down on the sideboard top rail to protect it and the arms. The tractor frame will be chained on 4 corners to the built in bed hooks of the trailer, and I'll also throw a strap binder around the loader arms. I may or may not take off the bucket first, and carry it in the truck bed, so far I seem to have plenty of room between it and my truck's lumber rack. In this pic I still had the snow blower on, and you can see it stick outs the rear, I figure to simply bungee or tie the doors up tight against any protruding implement and put a red flag on it. Maybe a slow moving vehicle triangle for good measure! Around these parts farm related equipment gets a lot of leeway from LEO, I stay on secondary roads, and doubt I'll have any issues. With NO implement on the rear, I'll be able to close the doors. In any event, my short trips with this setup will all be on secondary roads at about 45 MPH.
Obviously I could have gotten a bigger tractor, but I like doing more with less, and I also keep all my stuff inside and out of the weather, (and drifting snow, if I leave anything out in the winter, forget about it until spring) and the overall 17' length will nicely fit in a pre determined area I have in an outbuilding. I like the way the center of gravity of the tractor is over the center of gravity of the trailer in this picture, it eyeballs "about right". The 3 ton+ payload is also more then adequate for my needs. My take on the rear stabilizers it has is not to avoid stressing the frame when loading (it should be able to take that just fine, if not we have a problem) but to enable loading to take place when the trailer is not hooked up to a vehicle. That's what my trailer sales guy said anyway, and how I plan to use it. I won't be messing them normally, when hooked up.
The side boards are robust enough, that I can see in a pinch that if I have a weird, bulky that is, type load, like the big solar arrays I weld up and deliver (a sideline biz), that are 10' by 20' long but only about 1100 lbs., I may just set them on the (padded/wear protected) sideboard top rails, we'll see. Right now I have a custom trailer just for that use, but I could get rid of it if the new trailer worked out for that purpose. I'll post again after I get a bit more experience with it, I have a safe (as in an old iron safe, not as in not dangerous) moving job in town to do next week, and that will be my first for real use of the whole new tractor transport concept. It has to be fairly hassle free to be practical, we'll see.
