24 foot rollback ideas

[woody]

I finally bit the bullet and ordered the Rollback trailer, but there are some things I am not satisfied with so I am looking for ideas and suggestions to do to this trailer to fix some things that are not just right and to add some things that would make it more old man friendly.
I have redone the battery on the winch and plan to redo the one on the hydraulics.
I added a wireless remote to the winch.
The trailer is tongue heavy but I don't know weather to shorten the tongue, move the axles forward or move the storage box back.

 

[terryknight]

The trailer is tongue heavy but I don't know weather to shorten the tongue, move the axles forward or move the storage box back.

how about all three? though in terms of ease the reverse order would be easiest and stop when you find a balance you are happy with. what about the tires? trailer tires are always my biggest issue with trailers

 

[George2615]

I would not modify the trailer. It is a rollback trailer and I believe the manufacturer designed and built it this way for a good reason. There is a lot of weight to this trailer with all the extra parts and material required to make it roll back.
Shortening the tongue or moving the axles forward would make it less tongue heavy but how will that affect the function as a roll back. Moving the box won't make much difference. By the way, why is that big hole torched in the box. I hope it didn't come new that way. I have a tilt bed trailer that has 1100 lb.of tongue weight and it tows perfectly. If you feel tongue weight is too much for your truck beef up the suspension on the truck.

 

[roadhunter]

Invest in a good set of air bags on the rear axle and call it good.

 

[rustyshakelford]

I tend to look at things differently, if that was my trailer like I mentioned earlier, I'd convert to a class 5 pintle hitch. I would also just add a 3rd axle in front of the current ones to combat the heavy hitch. It would give you more real world capacity, not necessarily legal load but also give you some extra breaking. I think down here I could get everything needed for about $750 and to me I'd rather do that than cut 4 spring hangers and deal with getting it squared back up right

Brett

 

[woody]

Thanks for the reply, yes moving the box will probably be the easiest but if I did decide to move the axles I would have to move the box again. I don't think it would take all three to better balance the trailer on my way home I slid the bed back about a foot and it made a big difference.

 

[rustyshakelford]

Thanks for the reply, yes moving the box will probably be the easiest but if I did decide to move the axles I would have to move the box again. I don't think it would take all three to better balance the trailer on my way home I slid the bed back about a foot and it made a big difference.

Was that loaded or unloaded? I wish I knew the thought process of the builder on why he set the axles so far back?.

Brett

 

[woody]

Thanks George, looking at the other rollbacks this guy built none of them have a 12inch I-beam for a frame maybe he learnt something on the other ones I don't know. I don't believe shortening the tongue would change the rollback function but yes moving the axle might. yes the hole was there the worker cut the hole instead of unwiring the wired remote so he could pass the remote through the hole and put it in the box. I did fix that and put the wire in a rubber grommet. the tongue measures 7.5 feet from the center of the trailer to the coupling.

 

[woody]

Was that loaded or unloaded? I wish I knew the thought process of the builder on why he set the axles so far back?.

Brett

That was unloaded, I made the comment when I first seen it that it appeared to be tongue heavy and he said if I happen to load it tongue heavy to slid the bed so on my way home I remembered what he said and slid the bed.

 

[woody]

hole repair, still need to secure the cable but I would like to change the hydraulic function to wireless then I could lower the trailer from the tractor seat.

 

[aczlan]

This one should work:
INSMA DC 12V 4CH Channel 433Mhz Wireless Remote Control Switch With 2 Transimitter - - Amazon.com
Would just need to be installed in a waterproof box (preferably plastic).
That would let you run the rollback in and out as well as tilt it up and down from the remote.
I would put a "wireless enable/disable" switch in as well because anytime the receiver has power, it will be using a little to run the receiver.

Aaron Z

 

[woody]

This one should work:
INSMA DC 12V 4CH Channel 433Mhz Wireless Remote Control Switch With 2 Transimitter - - Amazon.com
Would just need to be installed in a waterproof box (preferably plastic).
That would let you run the rollback in and out as well as tilt it up and down from the remote.
I would put a "wireless enable/disable" switch in as well because anytime the receiver has power, it will be using a little to run the receiver.

Aaron Z

That is interesting could the wired remote stay wire in in case something went wrong with the wireless.

 

[aczlan]

That is interesting could the wired remote stay wire in in case something went wrong with the wireless.

Yes, both controlers would work (and I would leave it that way).
You would set the receiver to momentary on mode, then connect to the normally open contacts on the relay board (it looks like they are A and B).
If you look at your remote, it probbaly has 5 wires. Power input and then 4 momentary on buttons (switches are only on when you push the button).

So, the current wiring would be (the numbers are just to differentiate the wires, if you open the wired remote just find which color goes to which switch and use that instead of the wire numbers):
1. Switched power for Tilt Up (raise the front to put it into loading position)
2. Switched power for Tilt Down (lower the front to put it into transport position)
3. Switched power for Rollback Extend
4. Switched power for Rollback Retract
5. Power into the switches, connects to one side of all the switches

I would wire it so that B (common) is connected to the positive wire for all 4 relays.
Then hook wire 1 to block 1A, wire 2 to block 3A, wire 3 to block 2a and wire 4 to block 4a.
That way A lifts the front of the trailer, C lowers it. B extends the rollback and D retracts it.
You could also either get a 6 channel remote (vs the 4 channel I linked to), or a separate 2 channel remote to make the winch wirelessly controlled as well.
With the make/model of your winch, I could get you a wiring diagram to connect it to the remote receiver.

Aaron Z

 

[woody]

Thanks

 

[George2615]

hole repair, still need to secure the cable but I would like to change the hydraulic function to wireless then I could lower the trailer from the tractor seat. View attachment 475467

I just bought 2 of these and wired them to my dump trailer and tilt bed trailer for remote operation. They are listed for winch control but easily adapted to raise and lower dump and tilt bed. Aaron's post would give you all 4 functions for your trailer and yes you will still have use of the hard wired remote.
Amazon.com: CARCHET 5ft 12V 12 Volt Wireless Remote Control Set for Truck Jeep ATV Winch: Automotive

 

[woody]

Thanks George, Aaron I bought a wireless remote from mile marker for the winch.

 

[woody]

Was that loaded or unloaded? I wish I knew the thought process of the builder on why he set the axles so far back?.

Brett

Brett, talked to the builder and he said the axles are where he has to put them and if he moved them he could be liable if someone loaded it wrong. he also advised that he strongly did not want the tongue shortened but did agree that he had not thought about all the weight that would be in the box. so I will eventually move it back about 9 feet. After weighing the contents and looking up the box weight it will be about 200lbs.

 

[woody]

photo op, going to do some bush hogging this mourning. I loaded the tractor forward and backward to see which was better but I could not tell much about it so I will haul it this way going and haul it forward when I come back.

 

[aczlan]

Just make sure to not short yourself on tongue weight. Just looking, I would have probably backed up until the front tire was centered over the trailer's rear axle.
That would put the tractor's center of gravity (which is probably near the front ROPS uprights) behind the "axle pivot" (midway between the trailer axles).

Aaron Z

 

[woody]

Thanks Aaron, I did back it up some more, the wheel on the mower was up to the angle iron just in front of the winch. I moved it before I chained it down. It pulled better than I expected on the way down and I turned it around on the way back I felt every bump on my way home so I stopped a few miles from the house and slid the bed back a foot and it helped but was still to heavy on the tongue.