Trailer as a bridge

[General Lee]

I have a bridge I made from a trailer, 12 foot long I believe. I hastely installed it about 15 years and it's still performing. I cut the axles off, laid it over the creek, staked 2x4's in the ground at the 4 corners and tied them into the wood floor. To my surprise it's still holding up. Drive my Kubota L4400 over it and of course lighter stuff, side by side, smaller tractor, ATV...

 

[Rockbadchild]

I have a bridge I made from a trailer, 12 foot long I believe. I hastely installed it about 15 years and it's still performing. I cut the axles off, laid it over the creek, staked 2x4's in the ground at the 4 corners and tied them into the wood floor. To my surprise it's still holding up. Drive my Kubota L4400 over it and of course lighter stuff, side by side, smaller tractor, ATV...

I guess they are not all the same, I have one from the brand townhouse and once all the wood was off it is obvious that it's not strong enough for a bridge so I will do a dock with it.... ''eventually''

 

[51allis]

mmm these mobile home frame are not too solid, enough for a side by side but that's pretty much it plus you still have to put a deck on it.

The frame that is on this mobile home is 10" high x 3" flange @3/16" thick, if I would DOUBLE meaning 2 sections together for each tire side (left and right) with a maximum span of maybe 10 to 12 ft. I'm sure it would hold my XR4046 with loader. The nice thing about it being a 70 ft frame...I can get LOTS of sections out of it, I could even make it 3 sections on each tire side as long as the ends are supported securely...

 

[alexbennet]

Using a flatbed trailer as a bridge can work for a SxS, but a 6,000 lb tractor is a different story. Most trailer frames aren't designed to support that much concentrated weight over a 10-foot open span without the axles underneath. You’ll need to set it on solid concrete footings so the banks don't crumble under the weight

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Using a flatbed trailer as a bridge can work for a SxS, but a 6,000 lb tractor is a different story. Most trailer frames aren't designed to support that much concentrated weight over a 10-foot open span without the axles underneath.

When a trailer is made to carry some 60,000 lbs. despite having it's axles in the far back and the front being supported by the OTR tractor towing it, chances as that a 6,000 lb. tractor won't overstress it. As evidenced by several photos posted earlier.

Of course, while nowhere near as common, small flatbeds from Rural King and the like are a different story. So just like picking a tractor that is correctly sized for the job, a trailer used as a bridge should also be.

There's a lot of different ones to choose from, and no reason to use something meant to carry only 10,000 to 15,000 lbs.