|
|
West Central, IA | How many 3x4 or 4x4 bales fit on a 48 ft. flat semi trailer?
What about a single drop deck trailer - 48 or 50 ft?
Which is a better bale for shipping purposes - 3x4 or 4x4?
thanks |
|
| |
|
Central Iowa | 3x4 are better for shipping purposes because you can go 3 high and be 9ft tall and still legal. 4x4 while nice for having fewer bales to pick up u can only go 2 high on the trailer getting only 8 foot of height. But this all really doesn't matter if you have a good baler and can make the bales heavy enough to get 80,000 on the truck. Buyers and shippers will really like you if you can consitently get the trucks right at 80.000. We like our 3x3 for this reason with the smaller bale we can always get the truck pretty much right on that 80,000 mark even with a light tractor and aluminum trailer with room to spare makeing for some big loads. |
|
| |
|
Northwest iowa | Depends how you load the 3x4s. An easy load on a 53' step is 39 bales. If you need more you can turn the bottom row on edge and gain 4 or 5 depending on how you load the upper deck. You also can go 4 high if you need to with straw and get up to 49 bales on a 53'. Your count will also vary with bale length, as a little bit shorter bale will allow you to turn one set sideways and still fit the same number lengthwise if needed to best utilize the trailer. 4x4's are pretty simple, 2 high and thats it, although you can slice them in half to go higher if needed. |
|
| |
|
| At one point we had both a 3x4 and a couple of 4x4 balers. Once on the truck there wasn't much difference actually height wise between the two. We also always flipped our 4x4s string out so that they stacked better. I'd go with 4x4s. 30% less bales to pick up.
Nathan |
|
| |
|
Alberta, Canada | When we first looked into big squares I only wanted a 4x4.
But because I wanted to do silage bales, a 4x4 was out of the question. Over the years I've come to find that the 3x4's are the perfect size for us.
We handle three 3x4s at a time, so that's 288 cubic feet at a time as opposed to 256 cubic feet (two 4x4s). May not seem like much, but it adds up, 3 at a time on and off the truck, 6 high into the stack, fed out from the stack 2 at a time.
I can't imagine dealing with 3x3s. Not only are they tedious, they're unstable.
When height restrictions are not an issue, we can run a 4th row of 3x4s on the highboy.
Edited by JoshA 10/23/2009 21:17
 (DSCF3919 (Large).jpg)
Attachments
----------------
 DSCF3919 (Large).jpg (49KB - 509 downloads)
|
|
| |
|
NECO | 48' flat will get you 24 4x4x8 bales 53' flat will get you 28 I'll assume a 50 footer you could get 26 if you put two crossways on the truck. You can get away with it on a 48' but you better have a long WB truck, you'll overhang a bit on each end |
|
| |
3x4 or 4x4 square bales on a trailer
