M1070 couldn't do it, had to call up an M816 to help

We pulled our boat out today. Upper Allegheny River, 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. We used our 1994 M1070, but it quit pulling once the boat broke water. It just spun, even after deflating the tires. We went back to the shop and got one of our trusty M816's. Once hooked on front, it easily came out. I was a little surprised, but have to admit that I've never seen anything that those trucks can't do.

How much weight is that behind your M1070?

The boat weighs 66,000, we estimate the trailer at about 30,000.

Wow, we finally figured out how to make a M1070 look small!

Did you pull pull the m1070 and boat and trailer with the m816. Or did you attach the m816 directly to the trailer? If you did were you using the boom to attach to the trailer?

That's a big boat

We hooked a tow chain to the front of the M1070. It gave it just enough extra umph to get things moving again. Once we got going again, it went smoothly.

WOW that's Awesome !!

That boat is a beast. It just towers over the truck. Very nice.

That is a nice trailer too. I assume it is a custom build. The neck looks like a good fit for the M1070, not many trailers have a long enough neck to reach the 5th wheel on the HET. Also, the angle gives lots of room for articulation when the truck starts down a steep grade while the trailer is on the flat or even worse, still climbing to reach the hump the tractor just went over.

I just pulled a similar boat out with my CUCV...

Forgot to take pics though.

I'd say a bit more weight on the truck's axles would have helped. Maybe a block of concrete in the future?

You are right regarding the trailer. We made it out of salvage beams, axles, etc. The only thing new is the king pin and air brake lines and valves. I definitely studied the M1000 trailer a while before starting the design. I kept visualizing the havoc that would ensue if the gooseneck bottomed out at the top of the steep launch ramp. Now we can clean it up a little and paint it, now that we know that it'll actually work.

Marinawreckers said:

.....................................I definitely studied the M1000 trailer a while before starting the design.....

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So you do realize that during normal operation a good portion of the weight of the M1000 trailer + its payload is constantly and proportionally distributed (via hydraulics) between its three front rows of axles AND the goose-neck pressing down on the 5th wheel ??? ... which ensures enough weight on the tractor rear axles to allow optimal traction, no matter if traversing a ditch or climbing over a hump...!?

In your case... I would try at least to place the boat a few feet forward and move the axles a few feet to the rear.

From my personal experience the M1070 can pull almost THREE times what you had for combined weight; even slightly uphill, on unpaved roads! (for a while at least, until the transmission temp. starts climbing to the roof...)



G.

Yes I agree with you. Proper fifth wheel weight is crucial for the M1070 getting traction! Looking at the side view of your rig, it seems that with the boats propulsion systems putting a lot of weight aft and compounded by the forward location of the trailer axles, you must have very little weight on the M1070's rear tridems. Since the fifth wheel of the HET could almost support the whole weight of the boat, I would try to maybe move the axles farther back on the trailer. If you don't want to mess with that, due to the diminishing manovrability of the rig, you could try to put a few thousand pounds of scrap or concrete in to the very front of the trailer. I bet it would do wonders for the pulling power of the HET.....

Soni

Man, that is a huge hole in the water in which to pour money!!!!

Agree with comments above- not enough weight on drivers........

Well, look at the bright side. You could have a lot of fun (or maybe even a business) with a boat like that.

And, once you had fueled that boat up once or twice, you wouldn't even flinch when you fueled the M1070.

You are absolutely right on that fuel observation. I'd hate to admit how much fuel we burned between Pompano Beach and Pittsburgh.

That's what you call a boat? When you pulled it out of the water, my pond dropped a foot. That must be a ship.

Marinawreckers said:

You are absolutely right on that fuel observation. I'd hate to admit how much fuel we burned between Pompano Beach and Pittsburgh.

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I choked on my drink when I read "Pompano Beach to Pittsburgh", then I had to look it up. Holy Bat sh--t!

About 2,700 miles in that "boat" with almost 2,000 of those miles going against a current that probably averages 2 mph. I did a time share for a couple of years on a 48' Bayliner that would look like a little dinghy next to this. We usually cruised at about 12-15 knots. I can't remember what the fuel burn rate was, but it was a lot. Even if you kept your speed to 10 knots for fuel efficiency, that would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000-6,000 gallons minimum!

Sure would be an interesting trip though.