New trailer for tractor hauling

[jdonovan]

Current need:
I've recently gotten a new machine that is 22' long, about 8500lbs, 84" wide. Current truck can pull 14k, but I am considering a new(to me) duallie that should handle up in the 17-18k range.

My current 20' / 12000lb trailer is ok on weight, but isn't going to handle the length well, so its time to look for a new trailer.

I think I want deck over, as getting 84" between the wheel wells on most low-decks is going to be tough. I've found a few 86-88" trailers but would like to have a bit of extra room so I don't bend the fenders.

With a 22' machine, I'm thinking I need to be looking at something in the 26-28' length range so I have room to haul some implements, as well as the ability to shift the load forward/back to get the tongue/axle loads correct.

I've always had bumper pull but the local trailer dealers are suggesting I look into gooseneck trailers as I get to the higher weights.

With the high deck of a deck-over, I'm finding that almost all the trailers have beaver tails. This seems like quite a bit of wasted space that I can't really put any of the load onto. Anyone have experience with hydraulic tilt decks at this trailer size?

 

[CompactTractorFan]

First Off, I would get a gooseneck for that size...

As for the dovetail...For example, if you look at PJ Trailer's "tail options" you will see that the standard opton is slide-in ramps without a dovetail. You can also get flip-up ramps with a "pop-up dovetail" to get some more "deck space"...

 

[CompactTractorFan]

First Off, I would get a gooseneck for that size...

As for the dovetail...For example, if you look at PJ Trailer's "tail options" you will see that the standard opton is slide-in ramps without a dovetail. You can also get flip-up ramps with a "pop-up dovetail" to get some more "deck space"...

Almost forgot the link:

PJ Trailers - Classic Flatdeck with Singles (FS)

 

[jdonovan]

the standard opton is slide-in ramps without a dovetail. You can also get flip-up ramps with a "pop-up dovetail" to get some more "deck space"...

I've got some concerns about how heavy the ramps would be. Most trailers you have to slide them out, then lift them up to hook onto the rear edge of the trailer, and adjust for width.

I'd imagine to get a 15-20 degree load angle would make for a long and heavy ramp if it could support 8-10 thousand pounds.

Flip up + dovetail + popup sounds more interesting.

 

[dmiletich]

My tractor and disk is 22' long and they weigh 12,000 together. I have a New Holland crawler tractor. I presently have a 25' Walton trailer that I have had for about 6 months. It is rated at 20,000 pounds and is a great trailer. It is a deck over trailer that is 102" wide. It is a ramp trailer and not a tilt bed. I am going to be selling it and buying a hydro electric tilt. The reason why I am going to a tilt is because I am always loading and unloading in hilly areas and with a ramp trailer you have to be real careful you block the rear of the trailer up so when you unload you do not end up lifting the rear tires of your truck off the ground. It has happened to me a couple of time and believe me it is a scary situation. For one thing when you set your emergency brake on your truck, it only locks your rear truck brakes. Even using wheel chocks on the trailer I have been on a couple of helpless feeling situations and very dangerous. I have to unload or load on a slight slope and on dry grass and the wheel chocks do not hold. I have decided to go with a tilt trailer and the reason for hydroelectric tilt is because with 22' of equipment going up the trailer, the trailer starts to tilt before my pull behind disk with no wheels is on the trailer. When buying a trailer you cannot believe the different things you have to think about.

 

[Fordman1981]

My tractor and disk is 22' long and they weigh 12,000 together. I have a New Holland crawler tractor. I presently have a 25' Walton trailer that I have had for about 6 months. It is rated at 20,000 pounds and is a great trailer. It is a deck over trailer that is 102" wide. It is a ramp trailer and not a tilt bed. I am going to be selling it and buying a hydro electric tilt. The reason why I am going to a tilt is because I am always loading and unloading in hilly areas and with a ramp trailer you have to be real careful you block the rear of the trailer up so when you unload you do not end up lifting the rear tires of your truck off the ground. It has happened to me a couple of time and believe me it is a scary situation. For one thing when you set your emergency brake on your truck, it only locks your rear truck brakes. Even using wheel chocks on the trailer I have been on a couple of helpless feeling situations and very dangerous. I have to unload or load on a slight slope and on dry grass and the wheel chocks do not hold. I have decided to go with a tilt trailer and the reason for hydroelectric tilt is because with 22' of equipment going up the trailer, the trailer starts to tilt before my pull behind disk with no wheels is on the trailer. When buying a trailer you cannot believe the different things you have to think about.

Does you trailer not have stops on the ramps of your trailer? I remember an old light weight trailer my dad had growing up that didn't have ramp stops on the bottom and i took a good 50' ride or so on half on the trailer half off but the trailer i have now when u put the ramps down it has framing that is barely off the ground so when you unload the trailer doesn't have a chance to lift the tongue of the truck tires off the ground.

 

[dmiletich]

No, the ramps do not have stops but there is a small outrigger on each side of the trailer that you have to manually set. If you forget to set these, or if your outriggers are not down to the ground and you do not block them, that is when the problem comes in. I was unloading my tractor and it happened to me, so here I am, on my tractor backing off the trailer. All of a sudden my truck and trailer starts sliding backwards and hits a steeper downslope. I am going backwards about 15 mph and completely helpless. I cross the road and luckily slam into a bank behind me. I measured it out and I went about 125 feet backwards before coming to a sudden stop. I bent up my wheel bracket on one side of my flail mower, ruined a trailer ramp, and my crawler tractor that weighs about 10,000 pounds, bounced sideways and was half hanging off the trailer. It was not a pretty sight and luckily I did not get hurt. The first time this happened to me was I was facing slightly downhill and my truck and trailer slid downhill over 100 feet also. Not a fun ride.

 

[wrenchturner]

Just had thought about the runaway trailer due to lifting the rear wheel on the tow vehicle. When on a hill I will just pull the trailer break away brake pin to lock the trailer axles. (reminder to self - put pin back in before leaving)

 

[trailbuilder]

Is anyone using the hydraulic dove tail like the one PJ Trailers offers? It is a 10 foot.

 

[jdonovan]

Looked into them on PJ and Mortiz.

The powered ones add considerable weight. If I was getting into CDL range then getting a trailer with dual 10k, or even 15k axles would make the extra weight of a hydro-dove a non-issue.

The other minus, is the dove needs to be about 10' due to loading angle. That means you have 12-ish feet of your bed behind the rear most axle. Unless you've got a load that is really light to the rear you might find that you can't balance properly that extra length might not be too useful for anything other than 'sailboat fuel'.