advice needed on trailer for hauling small square bales

[Robert_in_NY]

The load really won't shift as much as it just need to be contained. So yes the trailer side would be plenty strong.

Rob, IMO an enclosed trailer would be the best way to go. Especially if you are selling high end hay to discerning buyers. Nothing will tick off your buyer faster then showing up with a load of soggy hay.

I think I would skip the ramp door.

Why would you skip the ramp door? I like the idea of the enclosed trailer as yeah, its a pain to load and unload but then again so is a utility trailer. The advantages that I see is that once its in there you don't have to strap it, tarp it or worry about watching it while traveling. Its in there and secure.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Wouldnt a gooseneck be more suitable for dual purpose like this? have you considered hiring companies like ABF to make the trip?

A gooseneck would be more suitable if I go with a 30' flatbed trailer. The enclosed trailer would be more useful as a bumper pull as it can be pulled behind both of the trucks without having to buy new hitches. Plus we don't lose any space in the bed so in theory I can go with a bed full of hay if I know there is no risk of rain or I can have tools, materials luggage or what ever I need/want back there. The bumper pull would also be good as my father always has tools in the back of the truck and a gooseneck would cause a lot of problems for him to try and haul it and carry extra tools in the truck.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Loading and unloading an enclosed trailer is going to involve lots of manual labor. I haul 120 bales on my 20' GN Big Tex pipe top. It's stacked 4 bales high. My hay dealer loads it in 15 minutes, 10 bales at a time with an accumulator. It takes me 2 hours to unload it at home and stack it inthe barn. But I am old and slow and need to walk the next day.

We can load a stock trailer with over 100 bales in about an hour with just two guys. If I am tossing from a loft it is more work but if I am tossing from ground level then I can toss the bales in the trailer a good distance eliminating a lot of walking back and forth from the guy inside the trailer stacking.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Only problem with dual use stuff is sometimes it's a pain to make the swap. My experience is with dragsters and enclosed trailers. You don't want your tools and gear bouncing off your car during transit so everything gets bolted down and "prettied up". It would take a day to strip and another day to reconfigure.
Once put together and organized, they are wonderful mobile facilities. Drop down ramp doors are IMO, the better way to go. Wheeling things in and out is tons easier than manhandling it. Barn doors can be a pain in tighter areas and when people aren't paying attention they can be difficult to repair.

I agree but I don't see myself making a lot of trips down south with hay every year. This year is like a couple years ago where I have way too much hay and not enough local buyers. My excess hay went to Florida a couple years ago but that was a relative of a friend that was coming up here to help his relatives move and he wanted to haul something home to make some extra money.

So it would mainly be left to use with construction in which its ideally going to be used to store ladders, saws, long stock like trim, siding and other items like the aluminum trim brake, coil stock and other such things so nothing that would be bolted or anchored to the sides or floors. It would be a mobile garage to keep materials secure and water tight instead of having to haul things back and forth and load/unload if it threatens to rain. So if I needed to use the trailer I would just unload it (15-20 minutes of work).

 

[flusher]

We can load a stock trailer with over 100 bales in about an hour with just two guys. If I am tossing from a loft it is more work but if I am tossing from ground level then I can toss the bales in the trailer a good distance eliminating a lot of walking back and forth from the guy inside the trailer stacking.

I'd tarp the load.

AND check the trailer drums, brakes, bearings, tires, etc thoroughly before loading up and heading out. Last thing you want is a breakdown on the road that will cause you to unload in order to get the problem fixed.

Good luck

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I don't know but I wonder about the regulations. It sounds commercial interstate commerce to me, which might mean inspections, weigh stations, CDL, etc.

Consider that you can load higher on an open bed than an enclosed one. You also have more flexibility with an open trailer, you don't end up with space that you can't quite fit a bale into (it always goes over the side a little bit). I see a lot of open trucks and trailers here hauling hay from Ohio to Kentucky. They just cover with a tarp if they are concerned about rain.

Ken

The downside of the open trailer is that I really don't use our current trailer much at all. In fact, our friends and family use it most. Right now I have a 1 ton excavator on it (my grandfathers machine) that I can actually haul in the back of the truck. Were replacing our current dump trailer with a new low profile one with ramps that will replace the 16' utility trailer as well. We will lose a couple feet of length but for what we usually haul it won't make any difference. So I would love a 30' gooseneck utility trailer but I really don't have much use for it. I don't haul my equipment very often and if I do I don't need a 30' trailer to do it with. So it would be a very limited use item and not something I can justify just yet. If I could haul hay and make money doing that then it might be a different story but an enclosed trailer seems to be more suitable for that in my situation at least.

The trailers I started looking at are 8.5' wide inside and I should be able to stack tightly in there. I also looked at the height inside and it would leave a gap for the last bale but I can go taller by 6" increments. I would look at going 12" higher then a standard trailer so that I could stack 6 tiers inside easily. The rough numbers from doing the calculations in my head come up like this, a 24' trailer is actually 25.5 feet inside (at least thats the specs listed for the brand I looked at). I can get 35 bales per tier and if I go 6 tiers inside that is 210 bales in an enclosed trailer that will still allow me to stack 30-40 in the bed of the truck so I can go with 240-250 bales without any struggle.

So in theory, if I can make the trip with my utility trailer to get a feel for my expenses and such and find out if I can make money doing this then I will look into buying a custom built trailer that would be ideal for my use here.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I'd tarp the load.

AND check the trailer drums, brakes, bearings, tires, etc thoroughly before loading up and heading out. Last thing you want is a breakdown on the road that will cause you to unload in order to get the problem fixed.

Good luck

Any time I take the utility trailer I have my spare tire, blocks and tools for making any repairs and I always have a 8 ton bottle jack in the truck (its useful for lifting fully loaded hay wagons when the tire goes down). I will inspect the trailer and make any repairs/adjustments before hand. I will check the weather and decide if I will tarp the load before or just bring a tarp with me. I would think tarping the load first would help hold the stack more secure but then again it also hides the load so if something shifts it isn't as easy to see or to fix.

Thanks

 

[trailbuilder]

We hauled 235 bales on the 24 foot gooseneck last night. It was close to GVW and overwidth a few inches (yopu could not see the traffic behind with mirrors full extended. This was 14 rows of bales 6 high. (3,3,3,2.5,2,1) and then the gooseneck deck full. One strap is all it took down the center....not DOT code. It was easy to load and unload.

I used to pull a 24 foot car hauler. It had a V nose and it was real handy for construction projections, It had Etrack inside so it was easy to make quick shelves and benches. We also hauled snow groomers inside out of the winter weather. I sold it after a few years, it was too wind resistant; but nice to have the cargo out of the weather and out of sight. Maybe for a long haul like you have it would be good, just a bit more time loading unloading.

 

[slowzuki]

I used my 27 ft trailer for the first time hauling some hay. Its a flat deck bumper pull. I holds 54 bales per layer. We only put 4 layers on it because it was only a 1/2 ton pulling it (9000 lbs + trailer weight). It was actually pretty handy, backs well etc. With a fully loaded trailer and a cut down transport tarp I'd consider using it for delivery. My superduty has a long power tailgate that lets me get 90 bales on the truck easily. 90 + 350 ish on the trailer isn't bad, getting a little into CDL though. A van transport trailer is what 600 bales?

 

[radioman]

It sounds like you got it planned out. I think you made many good points as you seem to have a good feel for what you are doing and want to do. I dont see any forseable issues with what you are doing and future plans.


I only can offer advice from this point on. I suggest mapping out your route and check gasbuddy.com for diesel prices on the way down and pick the closest, cheaper prices on the way down. maybe install the app on the smartphone like I did. If you encounter rain and need to tarp down, ( you may already know this but saying it anyways) bring a few rolls of duct tape. After strapping down the tarp, use duct tape to prevent tarp from flapping or moving too much in the highway winds so the tarp can be used again. I had to do that with my 16 ft trailer when moving stuff from PA to NY.