can liberty tow a bobcat?

brpn#1 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:32 am

ok.. i wanted to rent a bobcat or backhoe and the guy told me that I couldnt tow them. I told him i have class III hitch.. etc.. but he said no. Wierd because i rented a bobcat before and towed it w/my dads old chevy van. The trailer they have them on are dual axes.

anyone ever done it or what.. just wondering.. its $50-75 delivery charge yuck...

Tightwadsjeeper · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:02 pm

What's the weight of that Bobcat? You should be good for anything up to 5K lbs. Show the guy the rating straight out of the owners manual. (I'm assuming that you've got the 3.7L).

Luis

Edwin · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:22 pm

He said "no", as in its not possible or "no" as in he won't let you. Hell I'd tow it just because.

gundrted · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:28 pm

if you got the balance right on the trail i think could tow it. the realy issue would come with stopping. you little disk breaks would be screaming and call you bad words .........

brpn#1 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:34 pm

he said bobcat weighed 5k or 6k i cant remember but the backhoe was lighter but he said they wouldnt allow me to take it unless i had half-ton truck or something similar..

Edwin · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 1:10 pm

brpn#1 wrote:

he said bobcat weighed 5k or 6k i cant remember but the backhoe was lighter but he said they wouldnt allow me to take it unless i had half-ton truck or something similar..

That's B.S. I've pulled a Ford 3/4 ton out that was buried to the axels. I could barely tell it was there. It ad to be at least 5k. And yes, I would not tow it past 25 or30 without electric brakes whether it was a KJ or a 1/2 ton pick-em-up.

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 1:48 pm

My feeling is that the guy who rents these for a living saying "No" would probably be a good indication that you shouldn't do it. Just because you "can" do it capacity wise doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Tokyojoe · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 2:30 pm

Or he is thinking of his investment and afraid of it getting damaged.

Don't forget to add the trailer weight with the Bobcat.

gundrted · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:36 pm

with the trailer you should be around 7.5k. the lib could do it but you better be a flat road and going slow

i think the place is worried about you taking them to court if something happened. uhaul does the samething with their car trailers. i needed a flatbed a saturn back in wisc and they almost didnt give the trailer. i even had a 3/4 dodge. they said the trailer was only rated at 3k lbs and my saturn was to heavy. good god the trailer was all steel and the car came in at 3700lbs. i had to sign a waiver before i could leave .......... :shock:

JediJeeper · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:56 pm

Cacher is on the right track. The combined weight of the Bobcat and trailer may technically come in under the tow rating of the libby (which I actually doubt), but even if it does, there are a few things stacked against you.

First, wheelbase, the Liberty has a very short wheelbase and is there fore not the best suited to towing heavy loads. What happens is that when the trailer on the back sways and moves back and forth as it tracks down the road, it exerts a force at the hitch that is opposite of the direction the trailer is swaying. A shorter wheelbase vehicle succombs pretty quick to that force and is tracked off course. Then when the tow vehicle corrects itself, it causes the trailer to sway back the other way, thus causing the force re-excerted (in the opposite direction) at the hitch again. If it starts, this cycle can quickly get out of hand and almost always ends with the trailer and/or tow vehicle on it's lid. I worked at a rental shop as a teenager and I have seen this happen many times with vans, Jeeps, cars, etc.. Going very very slow is about the only counter measure that a short wheelbase vehicle can do for this.

Second, as was mentioned, the braking system on the Libby is very underdeveloped for this type of load. It is very likely that when coming to a stop sign or light, the load could push the tow vehicle right through and into the cross traffic due to the fact that the stop distance is lengthened by about double and the driver does not know. This is a very very dangerous situation. Given, trailer brakes can take care of most of this, but rental trailers seldom have trailer brakes in working order :-)

What it all boils down to is this: The liberty definitely has enough umph to pull that bobcat down the road. The control will be drastically reduced (compared to a long wheelbase vehicle) and rollovers could be of great concern. Stopping will be iffy at best and impossible in an emergency situation (ie a child runs into the street in front of you).

I would highly recommend that you do not attempt to use the Liberty to pull anything close to or over the load limit. Certainly don't do it just to "show them", especially if you have access to another more suited vehicle. If you do try it, keep it very slow, load the trailer 60/40 to the front, give yourself double to triple the stopping time, and, oh yeah, keep it slow. And if at all possible, use a long wheelbase vehicle or have it delivered.

Hope this helps,
-Adam

JediJeeper · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:06 pm

One more thing. Here is the weight information on the Bobcat skid-steer loaders. They range from about 3,000 lbs to over 8,000 lbs all by themselves. Check the weight of the model you are thinking of renting.

http://www.bobcat.com/worksaver/04bc/ssl.html

-Adam

auggy · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:05 pm

Cacher123 wrote:

My feeling is that the guy who rents these for a living saying "No" would probably be a good indication that you shouldn't do it. Just because you "can" do it capacity wise doesn't mean it's a good idea.

Unless he's looking to cash in a $75 dollar charge :wink:

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:52 pm

This is funny because my neighbor called me and said, "you have a trailer hitch. Can you bring home a Bobcat for me?" It weighs 8,000lbs with trailer!

Adam's reply: Um, NO! Pay the $75!

macgyver · **Posted:** Wed Sep 28, 2005 10:18 pm

brpn#1 wrote:

ok.. i wanted to rent a bobcat or backhoe and the guy told me that I couldnt tow them. I told him i have class III hitch.. etc.. but he said no. Wierd because i rented a bobcat before and towed it w/my dads old chevy van. The trailer they have them on are dual axes.

anyone ever done it or what.. just wondering.. its $50-75 delivery charge yuck...

Also keep in mind that a Bobcat with a weight of 5,000 lbs, with a trailer of at 2,000 lbs to haul it, (both weights are a little light BTW) will have a 700 to 800 lb minimum tounge weight to keep it safe. That's a little heavy for the KJ unibody to handle, and a class 3 hitch with out a weight distrubution hitch. Towing is a big deal if you are moving that much weight with a vehicle that is as light as a KJ. Even a 1/2 ton truck is too light duty to move that much weight. Leave the Bobcats to the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks

In CA, we see heavy toy box trailers all the time that are in accidents because some guy is towing a 10,000 lb toy box behind an overloaded 1/2 ton truck. Not safe at all. I think the guys at the rental yard are correct not to rent these trailers and tractors to KJ's and other light SUV's. Most of those rental yard flat bed trailers are at least in the 2,500 lb range empty! Even if you could pull it, stopping is another issue. Plus accidents happen all the time because the trailer will wag the dog so to speak.

WV(0)IIIIIII(0) · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:03 am

I would listen to the voice of reason on this one. Just pay for the delivery. I have hauled a heavy load before and the Libby hated it.

brpn#1 · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:08 am

thanks for the replies.. i think i am just going to pay for the delivery.

one thing I didnt mention but u probably got from my username is I am from the NC mountains. I live close to the Blue Ridge Parkway. I had thought already about it not being safe to tow the bobcat/trailer just because of the braking factor. just needed a little reassurance

you know how it is.. someone tells you ' your jeep cant pull that ' and you get all upset cause you know its a strong libby

thanks again.. i bet i save on gas alone with paying $50-75 for delivery..

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:38 pm

lol, i know what you mean, i hate it when people say stuff like that, i do it just to show them it can!

Guest · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2005 4:51 pm

Jedi & Macgyver are 100% correct.

And FWIW, comparing pulling a vehicle out of mud to traffic situations is just stupid.

Edwin · **Posted:** Thu Sep 29, 2005 8:08 pm

Hammer wrote:

Jedi & Macgyver are 100% correct.

And FWIW, comparing pulling a vehicle out of mud to traffic situations is just stupid.

Where you there? :shock:

can liberty tow a bobcat?

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