Help me decide on a tilt deck trailer.

[mopardude318]

I'm looking at Diamond C gravity tilt deck equipment trailers to haul my M7060. From loader to box blade it's almost 20 ft long. I will also use the trailer for cars, and trucks. I am over carrying heavy ramps, that is why I want a tilt deck, and these seem to operate very nicely.

The options I'd like are 18,000 lb GVWR, which has 2 8k oil bath axles with larger electric brakes, and the 17.5 tires. It has the 8"x15lb I-beam frame upgrade.

I think I want the 6 foot stationary deck with 16 foot tilt deck, so a 22 ft deck total.

I'm pretty sure I want gooseneck, my truck is an '02 Ram 2500, I think it'll handle gooseneck much better.

I'm including a bunch of pictures of something they have similar to what I want. What do you think?

There is also a 20 foot bumper pull, 4 ft stationary deck

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Sounds good to me. The truck will pull much better with a GN with that tractor behind you. One thing I'd be concerned about is how your combination registrations work in CA. In PA, they will look up your particular truck and tell you what your max registration combination weight is if the information is available to them. I can't tell you what years that is exactly off the top of my head. They no longer let you say I have a super ram and I want to pull 40klbs because I'm a farmer. The reason why I say this is that I had a 2005 3500 ram and I don't think I would have been legal registering an 18k trailer for behind it. If you de-rate the trailer then that is a moot point. If CA doesn't follow the manufacturer's recommendations then its also a moot point. Just something to look into before you drop the coin.

 

[Reb954]

Where is the center of weight of the tractor and implements? How does that compare to the center of the tilting part of the trailer. You are probably ok but it may pay to verify.

Myself I don't care for a tilt deck but I am in an area that gets lots of snow. Driving a tractor up on a tilt deck that has a layer of snow/ice on it could get interesting. I do like the idea of the convenience though.

 

[George2615]

Looks like a nice trailer. I've had full tilt trailers since 2006 and like them a lot. Current trailer is a bumper pull PJ model TF, 22' 14K rated. Power up and power down. Actual deck length is 23'9" including the tail though its called a 22'er. I prefer BP over goose neck. I had a GN years ago but had problems maneuvering in and out of my driveway. I have a narrow entrance and must turn to get in or out and trailer wheels would cut corners too short curbing the wheels. With a BP the trailer wheels are further forward and due to geometry of the hitch being 4' behind the truck axle I can easily make the turn in and out of the driveway without curbing the trailer wheels.

Here's the link to mine. PJ Trailers | Powered Full Tilt (TF)
They also have GN and partial tilt with a stationary deck.

Your 2500 is probably somewhere in the 9000-10000 GVWR (as is my 2500HD) plus an 18K trailer puts you in CDL A category being over 26,000 lb. Not a problem if you have a CDL A.

 

[Fallon]

I upgraded from my 14klbs 16' tilting deck this summer. It was more or less to small fir my old L3200 much less my new L4060. I was all set on another tilting deck as they load so easily. I ended up with a 22' deckover power tilt Diamond C. The ability to load non-vehicles into it is a lot better than a gravity tilt. But it's harder to load vehicles on due to the extra deck angle. But I'm happy with it for my needs these days.

One limit for a tilting deck is width. Memory is fuzzy, but every single one I looked at was within an inch or so of i want to say 82" between fenders. That's because of tires & fenders + deck needing to stay with the legal (104"?) Width limits.Depending on length & axles/fenders impliments or wide set tires might not fit. I couldn't back my old L3200 & wide flail onto the trailer as the flail was to wide. Will be worse with M tire width & impliments.

The other limitation of a tilting deck is axle placement. On a normal trailer the axles are 2/3 or 3/4 of the way back. That gives optimal tongue weight & usable deck space. A tilting deck pivots directly between the axles, so axles are only half way back because the tilting deck needs to tilt in the middle. The last several feet of the deck become minimally usable due to balance issues, making the trailer functionally shorter than the same deck on a non-tilting deck. A fixed deck in front of the tilting deck helps mitigate some or most of that.

I've been pretty happy with my Diamond C & dont regret it at all, other than the temporary pain in my wallet. It pulls beautifully even behind my Tacoma. The F250 is a bit of a beater so I avoid it for light loads of I'll be on the road a while.

 

[George2615]

The other limitation of a tilting deck is axle placement. On a normal trailer the axles are 2/3 or 3/4 of the way back. That gives optimal tongue weight & usable deck space. A tilting deck pivots directly between the axles, so axles are only half way back because the tilting deck needs to tilt in the middle. The last several feet of the deck become minimally usable due to balance issues, making the trailer functionally shorter than the same deck on a non-tilting deck. A fixed deck in front of the tilting deck helps mitigate some or most of that.

Just an FYI that my PJ DOES NOT tilt between the axles. The pivot point is actually at the rear axle. I have torsion axles and not the standard spring mounted axles with the equalizer between them. Spring mount type axles may pivot between the axles. 16" radial tires on 8 lug rims and only an 11 degree tilt angle.

 

[mopardude318]

I do have a class A, but I don't drive professionally, I needed it for a job I no longer have. CA can be pretty strict, CHP are not too forgiving.

My tractors tires are 80 inches, between the fenders on these is 82", it's a tight fit, but it'll make it. I just loaded and unloaded my tractor on a friend's same width trailer when I had to disc that field the other day. It's not too bad. I'd rather fuss getting it centered correctly, than dealing with those heavy ramps. After just that one day, was a deciding factor on a tilt!

I think these tilt decks tilt behind the rear axle, not in the center of them like some of them do. Like you mentioned, I will also have a 6 foot stationary deck in front, to maybe allow me to use the last few feet of the trailer?

I am concerned about the rear implement, which are almost always wider than the rear tires. I do not think I would have to pull the tractor up that far though, to where the implement would be close to the fenders...?

I would like to find the center point of my tractor with loader and box blade though.

I appreciate everyone's input. Keep it coming.

 

[Fallon]

A gravity tilt makes balancing a load almost trivial. At least with my 16' center pivot tilting deck. You just drive onto the deck until it tilts. Boom, perfectly centered. Just drive forward another few inches (depending on deck length) & you get your 10-15% tongue weight.

A bit more math involved if it's not pivoting on the center of the deck or you have a fixed deck in front of the tilt. But in any case it's still way easier than a full fixed deck, or my new power tilting deck. I had to mark the deck while measuring tongue weight on a few test loads forward & backwards.

 

[RichM752]

I have the 48HDT 20' bumper pull for my L47TLB which has 72" rear tire width. Sometimes I have grapple inside loader bucket for transport to job, and that extra 400# requires tractor to be loaded 2" more to the rear for acceptable tongue weight. Had mine derated to 9990 GVRW. I also have the blackwood deck as shown, its a great option when its cold and wet. As a matter of fact I made the trip down to Aromas to get mine. I like the way 101 Trailers order from Diamond C with 12" o.c. cross members, and the 3/16" fenders. Dealing with them (I forgot the guys name) was hassle free. I had checked quality of Diamond C's build from a dealer up here, but those two features,made the drive south worth it for me. Also I welded extra d-rings forward for a better pull on the front end of tractor.

 

[mopardude318]

A gravity tilt makes balancing a load almost trivial. At least with my 16' center pivot tilting deck. You just drive onto the deck until it tilts. Boom, perfectly centered. Just drive forward another few inches (depending on deck length) & you get your 10-15% tongue weight.

A bit more math involved if it's not pivoting on the center of the deck or you have a fixed deck in front of the tilt. But in any case it's still way easier than a full fixed deck, or my new power tilting deck. I had to mark the deck while measuring tongue weight on a few test loads forward & backwards.

I'm wondering about what you mentioned on the fixed deck, and axle placement on the tilt trailers...What if I went longer, with a 8 foot fixed deck up front with the 16 foot tilt, for a total of 24 feet of bed length, I'd imagine that would put the axles back far enough, to give me a broader range of loading.

I have the 48HDT 20' bumper pull for my L47TLB which has 72" rear tire width. Sometimes I have grapple inside loader bucket for transport to job, and that extra 400# requires tractor to be loaded 2" more to the rear for acceptable tongue weight. Had mine derated to 9990 GVRW. I also have the blackwood deck as shown, its a great option when its cold and wet. As a matter of fact I made the trip down to Aromas to get mine. I like the way 101 Trailers order from Diamond C with 12" o.c. cross members, and the 3/16" fenders. Dealing with them (I forgot the guys name) was hassle free. I had checked quality of Diamond C's build from a dealer up here, but those two features,made the drive south worth it for me. Also I welded extra d-rings forward for a better pull on the front end of tractor.
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Nice Trailer!

Brad is his name, he's been very helpful and patient. He is willing to order anything I want from Diamond C, and not just wanting to sell what is on his lot. He sells a lot of trailers.

I would for sure get extra D rings added. One thing I am unsure of is why Diamond C does not weld the D-rings closer to the ends of the trailer...They are a couple feet from the ends, as you can see in the pictures...it probably doesn't matter either way.