Hey jFire,

Cat fever goes like this: first you buy the 4, then the D-2 comes along. The D-4 proves to be a dependable kitty. You talk yourself into owning both:D . The the fever steps it up a couple of degrees. By the time ya know it, you have to find a new place to store the Cat 660:D -glen

Hi All,

<span style="font-family:Verdana">Thanks again for </span><span style="font-family:Verdana">ALL</span><span style="font-family:Verdana"> of your comments and suggestions</span>! I found all of them to be very helpful weather they are about the D46U or how to get it home!!! THANKS!

Providing it hasn't already found a new home, I am going to make the guy and offer tonight or tomorrow and see what happens! I'm still trying to find someone with a bobtail truck that can help me get it home fairly cheap and safely! Yes, KJM over $17 a mile is steep even for a full sized lowboy 18 wheeler, however last month another driver hit my wife's Honda in the Bay Area and AAA towing dispatch said after the first 5 miles it was "$10 per mile or WHATEVER the driver asks for"!!! (How do you spell robery by tow truck?) Needless to say I hitched up the Dodge and went and got her with our then two week old 20' equipment trailer and brought the vehicle back the 100 miles to a "known" local body shop! (It worked so well that the wife even said later that it was a good idea to buy the trailer!) Maybe I should call AAA to see if moving yellow Kitty's are covered under their roadside service!? LOL

If my offer isn't good enough for the owner, I'll make sure and post all of his contact info. so someone else can try to give the 6U Kitty a good home! I'll keep everyone updated here once I know more!

John

Sounds to me like you need to buy the tractor and trade the trailer:D
Good luck with the negotiations.

Perhaps the owner would store until you can take
Ol Magnet's advice.
Some of the other boards offer a Transportation section I suspect a ride would come for a lot less than 17 dollars

For only 44 miles I'd just load 'er up and go. Take it slow and easy, keep your eyes way ahead and see how it goes. It would be a nice trial trip, and if for some reason you decide it's not working out, you've saved $17 for every mile you made!
I crossed the scrap yard scales the other day with my 2001 Ram 2500 at almost 19,000 lb, the trip went easy as cake.

Regarding your D4, to find something that age in that good a shape is pretty rare, you should RUN NOT WALK to get it. If by some miracle something better comes along you can always sell it for what you paid or more.

CS

&quot;carlsharp&quot; wrote:

For only 44 miles I'd just load 'er up and go. Take it slow and easy, keep your eyes way ahead and see how it goes. It would be a nice trial trip, and if for some reason you decide it's not working out, you've saved $17 for every mile you made!
I crossed the scrap yard scales the other day with my 2001 Ram 2500 at almost 19,000 lb, the trip went easy as cake.


CS

CS,

Well said. I am certainly considering it as I have crossed our County landfill scales recently in my 03 Cummins Dodge at 17,570 pounds with 6,140 lbs. being tree stumps in my friend's 12' Hyd. dump trailer. No big deal!

Now, the D4 is a little different as it is in the Serra Nevada foothills at about 2,100 feet elevation with some good but windy & narrowing roads. I'm still trying to find other hauling possibilities for a reasonable price as I'm not doing the $750 option with a big lowboy. I figure once I can get the Cat into our flatland (at home) my trailer won't be that bad, especially once the homemade ROPS is off. At least then it will not only be a smidgen lighter but "look lower" too!

That said, I have to make the offer and buy the Kitty first! Today, I have to get the wife's Honda out of the body shop - then its "Cat time"!

John

<span style="font-family:Arial">PS: I did have a real bad hauling experience when I bought my new John Deere 1050 in 1985. The (dumb) tractor salesman talked me into loading it differently (than I was doing) on the rented two axle trailer with a surge brakes! My son and I were on I-5 coming downhill over a big bridge over the Sacramento River. Well, had I not accelerated to 70+, the ever increasing fishtailing would have gone from squealing the full sized Bronco tires across both S/B lanes to a full rollover with injuries or worse! As it turned out, God and my (passed-on) Dad must have gotten the Angeles to help us out! I pulled over after the slope bottomed out with shot nerves, a slightly shifted tractor, and no other problems except nightmares ever since about how I could have hurt my son! (Robert just turned 30 this week! )</span>
<span style="font-family:Arial">SURGE BRAKES ARE DANGEROUS - I DON'T EVEN WALK NEAR THEM ANYMORE! (I also suggest to stay clear of salesman, especially ones giving loading directions!) </span>

I don't want to be offering someone else's services, but Maybe MikeMC or Garlic Pete or some of the others hauling tractors around there for the big show coming up could haul it for you for a lot less than you have been quoted. Sounds like your close to Woodland if its just in the right direction.
Jim

The going rate around here for a lowboy, with gross less than 80,000 (non permit) is around 115 hour, portal to portal. I am sure it is more in CA than PA due to addtional fuel costs, etc. Carriers that move equipment localy really never quote it by the mile due to several reasons. Loading and unloading time (which involves breaking the trailer in two), travel time to and from their portal. The mileage between point A and B is often the shortest part of the trip with more time spent unloading and loading, and driving to point A and home from point B.

<span style="font-family:Arial">Well, I finally got a chance to call the owner this evening to make my offer. During the day, while at work, I saw the for-sale listing on Craigslist was gone, so I thought he may have sold the D4 since I was there on Tuesday evening. Well.... that was NOT the case and we agree over the phone on a price that ended up a little higher than I wanted and a little lower than he wanted. Since we both had to stretch to meet in the middle - I guess it can't be too bad a deal!!!</span>
<span style="font-family:Arial"></span>
<span style="font-family:Arial">After that I called a different neighbor who is a retired trucker and his wife (she was his dispatcher) is going to see what she can do to get something (bobtail?) cheaper than my other neighbor quoted me for the full sized Lowboy. She even mentioned something about "finally getting those mounds of dirt flattened out in their pasture" and I quickly responded with "that could be arranged for a little help with in getting Kitty home"! Wow I've already got requests for work (barter) and don’t even have the equipment yet! How funny! LOL </span>
<span style="font-family:Arial"> </span>
<span style="font-family:Arial">I guess I'm getting closer to being a bona fide ACMOC Member. No champagne though, until I get the D4 on home soil! One step at a time I guess! </span>
<span style="font-family:Arial"></span>
<span style="font-family:Arial">Once home and after some test loading on my own trailer, if successful, is it too late to be an exhibitor at BSOT in TWO WEEKS? I've been planning on attending even without anything to "show & tell" </span>
<span style="font-family:Arial"></span>
<span style="font-family:Arial">John</span>
<span style="font-family:Arial"></span>
<span style="font-family:Arial">PS: Thanks again for everyone's input, and sometimes your very funny contributions!</span>

A nice clean D2 is very manageable. I move my D2 around on an old apple plowing trailer built back in the 1960's from Watsonville, (designed for the D2-D4) and it handles it quite well.

I'm planning on recovering an abandoned D4 soon. And I've been looking at the difference to trailer. Mostly just size, weight etc.

I've come to the conclusion that the D2 is better for the "small kine" one man operation. Just a lot more manageable, to me anyway.

There's lots of nice D2's around.

Anyway, good luck. It does look like a nice D4. I'll agree with Old Magnet on the value.