Aluminum deckover or equipment hauler for Kubota B26 TLB

[CrossCreek]

Thanks for sharing your experience Stimw and everyone else. I do agree they are a lot of money and that it would be slick with all the snow we get, thanks for reminding me of winter &$&(@(!.

The price here in Canada for an 18 foot car hauler with two braked axles etc is about $4K. The price of 6K for the Aluminum would be me driving over to the USA, 4 hour drive- one way, and getting it there. I suppose I could still go over there and get a steel one but it will still be heavy for my truck.

I have an email out to LWL and I do believe in buying local. Even though I am in NB Canada, I consider the USA as local. The USA is our largest trading partner and I alway feel very good buying from the USA. I needed to buy some furniture a couple of years ago and wanted to by some La-Z-boy stuff. At least the stuff I wanted was then made in China so I made a specific request to have it made in a USA factory but they declined even though I offered to pay 50% more. I ended up buying some Jaymar from Quebec and Herman Miller from the USA. I do not want the cheapest of anything and I believe in keeping North Americans working.

I understand the steel will be easier to repair but I do not plan on breaking it as I will be only using half of its GVWR.

I am learning a lot so please keep the info coming. I would like to hear from some people that have an aluminum trailer. Please disregard your instinct to not reply to this post. Your fears of being heckled are not warranted and if you are worried just put on a mask before you send the reply so nobody will recognize you.

Thanks!


Ron

 

[CrossCreek]

I just returned from talking with a welder that has done work for me. I asked about an aluminum trailer and he suggested they are fine with an exception. That if you overload a steel trailer it will flex (then return to original state) or possibly bend if over loaded and stay that way. If an aluminum is over loaded it will crack and need to be repaired.

I can see where an overloaded aluminum trailer can be downright dangerous if it cracks in two going down the road overloaded where a steel trailer is more likely to buckle but still stay in one piece. I plan on carrying about 1/2 if the GVWR of the aluminum trailer.

I did check on the LWL galvanized and to get a reasonable weight of under 2K pounds it was $5K but that was only a 16 foot trailer so I do not think that will be long enough. The longer trailers from LWL are too heavy for me.

 

[case245]

I have a 20 ft 10k its a wood deck with 4 ft steel beaver tail drop deck I paid 4k last spring I haul my 7040sud on it im allowed around 7k with the 2by 8s 4 high for sides

 

[Scooby074]

We hauled a b26 on a 16' with no problems. With the loader on the deck, flat to the absolute end of the curl cylinder on the bucket it is 16.5', however it is not a problem in practice because curling the bucket gives you a bit of space and the backhoe slots in between the rear ramps. You can get the tractor balanced on the trailer properly, which is the main issue. The B towed very well on the Maxiroule 16'

That said, an 18' would be more comfortable, but not required, and a 20' more comfortable still (this can go on forever). One place where you might need the added length is if you plan on taking a bush hog on the trailer too. Actually you may even need more than 18' to comfortably fit a BH on there while hooked to the tractor. We never hauled the tractor with a BH so Im not 100% sure how much length is added with the 3pt arms and BH, but it does ad considerably to the length.

 

[Kioti guy]

I build all of my own trailers ( out of steel tube) and don't really like the aluminum trailers for the reasons allready given, durability, cracking, hidden corrosion etc. So for my purposes I would always select the correctly sized steel trailer, yes it will be heavier then aluminum but it is still possible to buy or have built for you a trailer that will meet your needs and not go over your vehicle towing capacities.
You also seem to be worried about the finish of the trailers, rust is annoying but on a properly built trailer that is correctly stored cleaned and maintained ie touched up every spring with trem clad or a similar rust paint the service life of a steel trailer will be at least as long as the aluminum one. Now having said that ,last summer I bought a sled deck that fits above the box of my dually to carry my ATV's, It is built by Mission and seems to be well built with good welds and good quality materials, So I am confident that if you do go with there trailer you will be happy with it.........Craig

 

[jim_wilson]

As far as aluminum vs steel - I would go with the aluminum if it was me.

My father built a utility trailer out of scrap yard sourced heavy alumimum angle and aluminum diamond plate - back in 1973. He used a good quality high capacity trailer axle - and that trailer is sitting in my driveway right now because I'll be using it this weekend to haul away a bunch of stumps and roots and so forth. He bolted it together at the time using stainless bolts and lock nuts - and the thing has stood up to 40 years of use. It's probably been over half the country on the backs of all sorts of tow vehicles. The only maintainence it's ever really needed was to have the plywood sides (intended to be expendable) - replaced every 15 years or so - and probably about 25 years ago I took the axle out of the trailer and sandblasted and painted it up with good quality industrial galv-a-lum primer and a quality epoxy because it was getting rusty. THat paint job is still good.

So on a cost efficiency basis - the aluminum wins every single time. He built that trailer out of aluminum for the same reason you're thinking of doing it - for weight savings. At the time he towed it behind a Corvair.

Back about 6 or 7 years ago I bought a 5x10 aluminum utility trailer from Worthington - and I have been VERY happy with it. Only real issue I have had is that the wiring job is junk and I probably need to rewire the whole thing.

My father's trailer has a aluminum diamond plate deck. My trailer has an aluminum deck which is made out of these extruded "planks" . Honestly I've never noticed either one as being especially slippery myself - but some of the peopel responding do have a point - an aluminum deck would be more slippery than a wooden deck. IMHO that is not a reason to go away from the aluminum though. Get an aluminum trailer - and if you find that the deck is too slippery - then either bolt down some (aluminum) diamond plate on top for traction - or even bolt on a layer of plywood or something else to provide traction. The traction issue is a solvable one. It's not a reason to go steel over aluminum or wood deck instead of aluminum.

 

[jim_wilson]

I just returned from talking with a welder that has done work for me. I asked about an aluminum trailer and he suggested they are fine with an exception. That if you overload a steel trailer it will flex (then return to original state) or possibly bend if over loaded and stay that way. If an aluminum is over loaded it will crack and need to be repaired.

I can see where an overloaded aluminum trailer can be downright dangerous if it cracks in two going down the road overloaded where a steel trailer is more likely to buckle but still stay in one piece. I plan on carrying about 1/2 if the GVWR of the aluminum trailer.

I did check on the LWL galvanized and to get a reasonable weight of under 2K pounds it was $5K but that was only a 16 foot trailer so I do not think that will be long enough. The longer trailers from LWL are too heavy for me.

This may be true depending on the specific design of the trailer, the type of aluminum used - etc. But I will tell you that the small aluminum utility trailer I have - has been overloaded on a few occasions (2200 pound limit and it probably had 2800 pounds in it) - and my fathers' trailer - the one I mentioned previously - has been GROSSLY overloaded on a number of occasions and has not suffered any serious side effects. When I say seriously - I'm talking about a guy who loaded up the thing to top of the sides with sheetrock (the sides are 3ft tall) -or the other guy who loaded it full of loam - and then left it sit there during a rainstorm so the soil all became saturated. Or the time last year when we were hauling pieces of granite with it - and the wheels had negative camber on them (because the axle was flexed so much) like you'd see on some kid's ricer Honda that's lowered to the ground.

I don't think your necessarily dealing with an inherent property of an aluminum trailer - you're dealing with the congruence of the design properties of that particular trailer and it's overloading.

 

[CJONE]

Steel frame trailers bend, Aluminum frame trailers crack/break.
Steel rusts, Aluminum corrodes.
I repaired semi tractors and trailers for over 30 years, supervised 3 shops. There is no way I would spend the extra money for an Aluminum trailer. There is no real advantage to them in the smaller sizes.
Here is a pic of my $500.00 16' trailer. When I got it the frame was racked so that it "dog tracked" 1 1/2' and had one spindle cut 3/4 of the way through with a torch. I straightened the frame, welded on new spindle, built the bulkhead (for hauling appliances), lights and painted it.
This trailer has 3500lb axles with one axle brakes. It tows like a dream!!!

I am with you 100% on the aluminum not worth the extra$$. I have been repairing trucks/trailers for years and the worst frame I have seen on a semi was a aluminum framed Mack we had. What a mess, it looked like somebody turned most of the frame to baby powder. I purchased a very nice Legend enclosed trailer that was totalled. It is all aluminum, it repaired nicely but I would not buy one new. Not much weight difference because of the extra meterial needed for the strength lost with the aluminum use. It corrodes just like steel up here in the great white north. CJ

 

[CJONE]

Only deckovers for me for hauling equipment. :thumbsup:
View attachment 322511 View attachment 322512 View attachment 322513 View attachment 322514

Notice, there are no dents in the steel deck! :laughing:

My D3 would fix that for ya!!

 

[Xfaxman]

My D3 would fix that for ya!!

Thanks, but no thanks!! :laughing:

I will prolly "fix" it myself some time when I least expect it.