New Trailer questions

[rcrcomputing]

Hi Guys!
I finally bought a trailer. 18' Dovetail Maxey carhauler with a metel bed.

But I've questions.
Best way to lock trailer to prevent theft?

Best way to keep the truck on the ground when I roll the tractor on it? (Wheels of the truck 3 feet off the ground just seemed like a bad thing. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Since the "cranker" is in the middle of the tongue, I can't hardly mount a toolbox on the tongue. Can I change this? Or bad idea...

Lastly, I was in an all fire hurry when I bought it. (Needed it quickly). So I bought the first thing I found. It's a Maxey brand. Ever heard of them?

I know I'm rambling... But if you could answer one or all of these, I'd appreciate it.

 

[beenthere]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Best way to keep the truck on the ground when I roll the tractor on it? (Wheels of the truck 3 feet off the ground just seemed like a bad thing. )</font>

Usually the ramps have a 'block' connected that holds the rear of the trailer. If not, then carrying a wood block or piece of firewood to throw under the rear of the trailer, will keep it from settling down when loading.

Not sure there is a "best" way to lock it, as a determined thief will circumvent most anything. I'd just use a padlock on the hitch latch.

 

[Thorndike]

You must either have a little truck, or large tractor to lift the tires 3' off the ground. At any rate, there are stabilizer jacks on the market that can be welded or bolted to each rear corner of the trailer. The larger equipment trailers, 6-7 ton, usually have stabilizers an integral part of the ramp. I can load/unload my TC35DA with loader and BB, and never have the truck hookedup, with no tilting problems.
How long is your trailer and gross wieght? How big is your truck trailer combination? /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Your trailer dealer, or any other one, should be able to tell you about the jacks, and/or where to get them. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Casco1]

I had the same problem loading my tractor. My front wheels didn't leave the ground, the truck just dropped too much to make me happy. I brought it to a welder friend and he welded two 5" peices of 2 1/4" pipe to the back of the trailer inside these are two 12" peices of 2" pipe with plates welded on the bottom so that they don't sink in soft dirt. the inside pipes have a series of holes drilled in them so I just drop them to the ground and secure with the same pins that hold my hitch in the receiver. Up to drive, down to load. My trailer is not here so I can't take pics sorry. very simple but works well if I'm on uneven ground I drop one side lower than the other. Mistakes I've made: 1. remember to bring them back up before you take off 2. When you put them down to load don't put them all the way to the ground. the weight of the tractor will drop the trailer some & you won't be able to pull the pins to raise them for travel. ps: the second one really aggravated me because should have thought of it before it happened I'm just glad I was alone when I did it.

 

[ronjhall]

I added a couple of jacks to rear of my trailer. It stops lowering of of trailer rear and raising of trucks rear end. I use these same jacks when storing trailer to raise trailer until tires do not touch ground.
I also use them to load trailer when I do not have truck hooked up.

 

[rcrcomputing]

Great, the picture helped to...

For the moment, I got some jacks from walley-world. But I like the lift on the side..

As for toolboxes, I think I'll mount two 4x4's across the tongue and get two toolboxes to go across the tongue. (I'm not a metel man).

With an electric wench between them to pull a car up with. Of course, with this in mind, I guess the cable would rub the bed at the rear until the car comes up the ramps a bit. Sound good?

PS you guys should charge for all the good ideas. You'd be rich! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[George2615]

My previous 16' trailer had a dovetail with fold down ramps that had angle iron stands welded on to contact the ground when driving on them. problem was they were too short. As a result, when I started to drive the tractor on the ramps, the rear of my 1/2 ton truck got light and started to lift. I used two jackstands under the rear frame of the trailer to prevent the back end of the truck from lifting up. After loading I removed the jackstands and put them in the pickup bed. I've since bought a heavier truck and a 20' tiltbed trailer.

 

[VA_Joe]

Great idea - I was thinking of storing my tractor on the trailer and was going to use blocks to keep it stable. I like the jack idea - much quicker/easier to set up.


Joe

 

[countrybumpkin]

I bought my trailer with the screw type jacks on each rear corner. These are very nice to have. As for the tool box I Placed an aluminum top opening single lid from a small truck like a Ranger on the front. Mine has a rail across the front of the trailer so I set the back edge of the toolbox on the rail and had some supports for the front. Mounted the winch inside the toolbox, and made a removable cover for the cable to come thru. Works great. The only time I have trouble with the cable dragging is on a low car. The trailer is 20' with a 2' dove tail.

 

[skipmarcy]

I built the ramps on my 20' flat trailer and made 2 stands on each ramp out of 3" channel iron - 1 stand up close to the back of the trailer where the stand attaches and 1 mid-way down the ramp - my ramps are almost 6' long and didn't want any bending. Has worked great for 4 years now and I trailer my tractor sometimes 5 or 6 times a week. I installed my toolbox on my left fender - when I used to tow this trailer behind my LN600 dump truck the bed extended out too much and would hit the box on a sharp turn with it mounted on the tongue - have liked the box on the fender ever since and left it there even after getting rid of the dump truck.