Dove tail option help

[Slippy]

I have a 1/2 ton pick up rated to pull 10, 300 lbs. I use leveling bars. I am looking to upgrade my 18ft straight bed 12,000lb trailer to a deckover so I can haul equipment that will not fit between the wheel wells and to haul 4x5 bales of hay.

With my current tailer, it is ofter tricky to positon the equipment that will fit on it so as to not get too much tounge weight. There is not that much room left after I put the equipment on to move it back and forth, but seems to be enough.

Here is my question: would I be better off with a 16 or 18 foot trailer with a fixed 4 ft dove tail, or go with a 16 ft tailer and 5 ft dove tail with center lift dove tail? To be clear about what I mean by center lift, it is the type where the ramps fold up all the way to form a wedge on the dove tail that makes the tire tracks under the ramps on the dove tail level with the trailer. Then you pop up a steel bed in between that make the entire dove tail leve with the flat bed of the trailer. This gives you essentially a 21ft flat bed trailer after loading anything that need to be driven on, or before if you are loading from the side, such as for hay. See link:

Dove Tail options

I have a dump truck I can hook up for the real heavy loads, but for stuff 8-9k and smaller I would like to use the more economical 1/2 ton truck. Like loading hay.

Really though, I am interested to know wheather the pop up dove tail is worth the extra money and is that functional. What I thought was it would give me more room to adjust the load to keep my tounge weight in the correct place. There is not that much difference in the cost of a 16 to 18ft fixed 4ft dove tail. Also, the 16ft with 5ft pop up dove tail is only about $300 more than the 18ft w/ 4th dove tail fixed.

Anyone have any experience with these trailers, thoughts, ideas.
Thanks.

 

[John Deere 3520]

personaly Ive never seen a center lift dovetail.. we have a 20ft deck over with a 4ft dovetail i belive and it works good for us. the adjustable one seems a good idea, it seems like that would work best for you with hauling hay if you only have a 1/2ton and dont want a huge trailer.

 

[coobie]

I have a 1/2 ton pick up rated to pull 10, 300 lbs. I use leveling bars. I am looking to upgrade my 18ft straight bed 12,000lb trailer to a deckover so I can haul equipment that will not fit between the wheel wells and to haul 4x5 bales of hay.

With my current tailer, it is ofter tricky to positon the equipment that will fit on it so as to not get too much tounge weight. There is not that much room left after I put the equipment on to move it back and forth, but seems to be enough.

Here is my question: would I be better off with a 16 or 18 foot trailer with a fixed 4 ft dove tail, or go with a 16 ft tailer and 5 ft dove tail with center lift dove tail? To be clear about what I mean by center lift, it is the type where the ramps fold up all the way to form a wedge on the dove tail that makes the tire tracks under the ramps on the dove tail level with the trailer. Then you pop up a steel bed in between that make the entire dove tail leve with the flat bed of the trailer. This gives you essentially a 21ft flat bed trailer after loading anything that need to be driven on, or before if you are loading from the side, such as for hay. See link:

Dove Tail options

I have a dump truck I can hook up for the real heavy loads, but for stuff 8-9k and smaller I would like to use the more economical 1/2 ton truck. Like loading hay.

Really though, I am interested to know wheather the pop up dove tail is worth the extra money and is that functional. What I thought was it would give me more room to adjust the load to keep my tounge weight in the correct place. There is not that much difference in the cost of a 16 to 18ft fixed 4ft dove tail. Also, the 16ft with 5ft pop up dove tail is only about $300 more than the 18ft w/ 4th dove tail fixed.

Anyone have any experience with these trailers, thoughts, ideas.
Thanks.

Slippy,I have a(20ft) PJ trailer with a dovetail.IMHO it is easier to load equipment verses the straight style trailers.coobie

 

[Slippy]

When you say 20 ft with 4ft dove tail, is that a total of 24ft trailer? Are your dove tails fixed with the ramps stored in a vertical position? Do you have situations where you need that extra 4ft and can't use it effectively because it is sloped?

 

[wallace]

Let me add my 2 cents, I am a trailer dealer and I am specing out a new trailer for my need also.
My past experiance with selling trailers is stay away from a 4 foot bevertail on a deck over trailer.
First of all if you are looking at fold over level deck ramps remeber that the ramps will only be 4 feet long or should we say as long as the bevertail, which will make a very steep angle to load and unload. (very dangerous)
I would get the 5 foot beavertail especially if you have a TLB tractor to load.
One other thing...I think you are cutting your self short with such a short deck length, having a longer deck will allow you to move the load around more, just keep in mind the longer the deck the more the trailer will weigh.
Pop up beaver tail...some like em so don't.
My opinion is unless you can get a combo ramp, that's a ramp that will lie flat on the deck and or stand up behind you, it is almost waisted space.
In my business I need the room so if the equipment has to be loaded far enough for the ramps to lie on the deck to me that's waisted space.
If you are not hauling multiable units then they should work fine for you.

 

[coobie]

When you say 20 ft with 4ft dove tail, is that a total of 24ft trailer? Are your dove tails fixed with the ramps stored in a vertical position? Do you have situations where you need that extra 4ft and can't use it effectively because it is sloped?

My trailer is 20 ft total with ramps that stay up off the deck,held by chains.

 

[Slippy]

The trailers with the fold up ramps that make a flat platform have 5ft dove tails with 5ft ramps. The fixed dove tails are 4 foot dove tails with 5ft ramps that are stored vertically. So in your experience, which do you think works better, or which way do you think you will go? With a 5ft beaver tail and 5ft ramps that give you 10 foot of slope over a 32" rise, which is not bad, I don't think.

If the ramps lay flat on the deck, you can back the load up on to the ramps if necessary. Of course, you still lose the footage, because you can only back up what you can get on with ramps down. They do make the option of being able to lay the ramps flat or a bar to hold them verticle.

When you say too short, do you mean 16, 18 or both? Are you suggesting 20 ft, with beaver tail?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Remember you will not be able to use the 5' of dove tail for equipment hauling in most cases so if the trailer is 20' overall you really only have 15' of deck. That is the main reason I don't care for a dove tail trailer and prefer flat deck trailers. But to each their own, that's why they make them both ways.

Chris

 

[John Deere 3520]

When you say 20 ft with 4ft dove tail, is that a total of 24ft trailer? Are your dove tails fixed with the ramps stored in a vertical position? Do you have situations where you need that extra 4ft and can't use it effectively because it is sloped?

yea pretty much ours is a 20ft flat deck then 4ft of beavertail or dovetail what ever you want to call it.. I wouldnt buy a trailer with out a dove on it makes loading and unloading alot safer..

 

[BarryinMN]

If you do the math is it really worth it? My old 18' (16'+2') bobcat trailer is 2000 lbs, the deckover replacement is a PJ 21' flat deck + 3' beavertail empty weight 4100 lbs. A popup beavertail adds even more weight & not sure it's enough flat area to make a difference.

The second part is the axle location on a deckover is noticeably further back than a bobcat trailer - you have a lot more deck area but also much easier to weigh down that 1/2 ton till it's bumper is dragging.

One option is a tilt trailer - by design they kick forward the axles to accomodate tilting mechanism. The tare weight again jumps but it may be easier balancing bales.