Adding length to 16 ft trailer

[bucktaker]

I have a pretty good heavy duty tandam 16 ft trailer with 1 brake axle.
My tractor/fel and mower will not fit. Is it feasble to add a 4 ft tail to it to make it long enoug? Properly sized and welded.

Should i relocate the axles rearward for this? The "Tail will only hold the mower not really any weight.

???

 

[radioman]

I guess you could- but costwise? just the price of metal to add on alone will be more then selling and buying another trailer that is longer already.

 

[JimRB]

I had a two axle trailer with only one set of brakes. After a spinout I replaced the bent axle with a new Dexter axle with brakes. Having 4 brakes makes thing much safer. My only question is if you have enough brakes for what you haul? Some say the truck should be doing some of the trailer braking but I believe the trailer should have enough brake to control itself.

 

[deepNdirt]

yes you could add to the tail end of it, although not sure if would go through the trouble of adding 4 ft. and then having move the axles etc,etc,....perhaps if you were only adding say 2 ft. maybe you wouldn't have to move the axles. does your trailer have a complete flat bed? I had a 12 ft. trailer with flat deck and was a bit short, as well as difficult to load with short ramps, so I add a dove tail of 2ft. to the rear and give a bit more room as well as easier to load, I have a CUT tractor and at the time thought I could get buy with just adding to the trailer, when hauling the bush hog the tail wheel would still hang off between the ramps and i had to rest the bucket on top of the front rail, I made do for a while, But many time I found myself needed another implement and had no room to transport it,
Is when I decided to trade the trailer for a larger one 16 ft, although it was also a flat deck and I modified it into a dove tail, didn't ad anything to it just mad a few cuts and drop the tail and reinforced it,
so yes adding to the rear can be done, but to limit your expense and effort of moving axles, you might have to limit the length of add on
the picture shows where I add to the rear extending the top rail & floor and add a diagonal bracing, after adding the rear cross iron 2 x 3 plus shifting the weight of the ramps further back had the trailer almost equal weight over the axles, I could easily lift the tongue when empty, Note: which is not really a good thing

 

[bucktaker]

I had a two axle trailer with only one set of brakes. After a spinout I replaced the bent axle with a new Dexter axle with brakes. Having 4 brakes makes thing much safer. My only question is if you have enough brakes for what you haul? Some say the truck should be doing some of the trailer braking but I believe the trailer should have enough brake to control itself.

My tow vehicle is a 07 GMC diesel dually with a brake controller.
I will need the 4 ft to keep the tail of the mower on the trailer. While buying another trailer is a option I have newer tires and a pressure treated deck on this one.
Any one have a 20 ft plus bumper pull if so what is the distance from hitch to front tire? Just wondering if moving the axles back is really required. My balance would remain the same as I would not haul the tractor on the tail

 

[deepNdirt]

My tow vehicle is a 07 GMC diesel dually with a brake controller.
My balance would remain the same as I would not haul the tractor on the tail

I understand what you're saying but
you don't think 4 ft of Pressure treated boards along with the additional weight of steel and ramps being moved further back will add more weight and throw the balance off... ...
Perhaps provide some Specifics on the trailer and someone here who builds trailers could better advice what your options are.... length of tongue? how much frame front of the axle? how much frame rear of the axle? etc,etc,

 

[tommu56]

My tow vehicle is a 07 GMC diesel dually with a brake controller.
I will need the 4 ft to keep the tail of the mower on the trailer. While buying another trailer is a option I have newer tires and a pressure treated deck on this one.
Any one have a 20 ft plus bumper pull if so what is the distance from hitch to front tire? Just wondering if moving the axles back is really required. My balance would remain the same as I would not haul the tractor on the tail

When I built my trailers (yes more than one) scrounged steel and my time and scrounged mobile home axles (I don't want to hear the critiques) I'm cheep!

I went out and measured the built ones for my axle placement.
for the flat beds with no gate or ramps the axles were all in the 53/55% of the bed in front of the axle not counting the tongue.

The ones with the gates and ramps I couldent come up with a number
probably because the weight of them changed the center of ballance and they used that to set axle correctly.

That being said cutting the spring perch's off isn't all that hard to set the axle's at the correct point if you are capable of adding the frame section.


tom

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Just raise the loader and drive the front wheels up against the front rail of the trailer, you should have plenty of length. I haul a Ford 5610 4X4 with a loader, brush grapple on the front and a 6' Rhino heavy cutter with the 105hp gearbox on the back. Tractor has 3/8" belly pan and water in all the tires plus a full cage. The Rhino cutter is a very heavy commercial one. I wrote all that because the tractor is over 10k loaded out this way. It weighs almost 10,400 lbs, and its been hauled many times on a 16' bumper pull trailer. Twice I have snapped the Bull Dog coupler off the front but I had a backhoe on it. Funny, but both times the coupler snapped, I hit a rough bridge close to the house. Each time I made it home hanging by the little tab that sticks up for the lever that slides the collar back. That was all that was holding it. The trailer has a couple of six lug bull dog drop axles with transport tires. I recommend always using trailer tires on trailers, a lot less trouble than using passenger tires on a trailer.

 

[TravisTractor]

I had a two axle trailer with only one set of brakes. After a spinout I replaced the bent axle with a new Dexter axle with brakes. Having 4 brakes makes thing much safer. My only question is if you have enough brakes for what you haul? Some say the truck should be doing some of the trailer braking but I believe the trailer should have enough brake to control itself.

in mud or snow, one non brake axle is preferable to me as lessens to chance of trailer trying to skid with gravity into the ditch, or pass you on a down hill.

 

[schmism]

My 20' flat deck trailer.

14' from tounge to first axle (give or take a few inches)

mine matches the specs of big tex etc (go look up there trailers online to get all dimensions for 16' flat, 16' with 2' dove, 18' flat, 18' with 2' dove and 20' flat)

I find it highly unlikely youll be able to tack 4' on the back of a 16' trailer and still maintain a good ratio front to back.

Not being able to load enough weight weight at the front can cause serious issues.