Price check on 16' aluminum trailer

[crazyal]

I have one of those 4x6 SA trailers from Lowes with the drop down gate. I can tell you that the difference between flopping the gate down on the deck and pinning it in the upright direction is day and night. Flopped down I can't even feel the trailer but when up it's like dragging an anchor behind the car at high speeds. It's so bad that I made it removable.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I'm having a tough time with this one. If you were jumping out of an airplane, would you rather have a parachute made out of mesh fabric or solid fabric? Seems to me that the solid fabric would provide alot more drag.......

We are talking about two totally different things here. A traditional parachute a totally different thing. It working off the principal of a equal and opposite reaction. A modern parachute is basically a airfoil that relies on traditional lift and induced drag, a by product of lift.

On something like a boat, cars shape, or a gate you are dealing with parasite drag. Parasite is just like the name implies. Lets say you have a 4'x6' rear gate that is solid. You have basically lineal 20' of edge for flow separation. On a gate that is mesh you the same size you have the same 4'x6' size you not only have the outer lineal dimension but also create drag off all the perforations. Who knows how many lineal feet this adds?

The reason the manufactures yous mesh is for weight and traction, not due to drag.

Chris

 

[PeterK]

I have the single axle version of the Aluma 14; the axles they use are 3500lb torsion. Mine weighs in around 600 lbs so I can move it around my yard by hand so 1200lbs is probably correct for yours.

I tow an old Triumph sportscar with it and it tows like a dream. I have disc brakes/surge and they work very well. Bought mine new for around 2500. Nice trailer, mine is 3000gw so I can load 2400 no problem.

 

[archerynut]

I guess a lot of people don't understand my satire. They go out and buy a 7,000 pound truck, maybe $35K. Then they get a 2,000 pound trailer, maybe $4K. Then they get 3-6,000 pounds worth of tractor, maybe $30K. So you end up with around $70K of rolling stock, weighing upwards of ~15K pounds. They tow it down the highway at 75-80 mph. Then they complain that they can't make 10 mpg. Fuel goes up a nickle a gallon and the world is suddenly coming to an end. Exaggerated a bit? Yes, but I see this kind of thinking so much on this forum. That tailgate means nothing in the big picture. Why even be concerned about it if it does the job?

I get the satire and I think it makes for great banter. I actually liked your comment about getting the trailer with the ramps that you want, it makes sense. The extra $.25 in gas per trip is not important, whether you like it or not is the important thing. But for the sake of argument, lets say you have a commercial business where you move the tractor 4 times per week with an average move of 25 miles rountrip. Average of 100 miles per week, and one $70K rig gets 8 mpg and one gets 10 mpg. Whats the difference with the current fuel prices of $3.09 gallon of unleaded. The flip up gas sucking mesh gate uses $38.63 in gas per week, the non-gated streamlined aerodynamic wonderful best trailer in the world uses $30.90 per week. If you work 50 weeks per year, the difference is $386.50. If you invested that difference each year with annual return of 6% the value of the investment in 30 years would be $34,609.21. Wait a second those gates are important aren't they? Now lets say you had a fleet of gas sucking gates on 32 trucks that ....

 

[crazyal]

I guess a lot of people don't understand my satire. They go out and buy a 7,000 pound truck, maybe $35K. Then they get a 2,000 pound trailer, maybe $4K. Then they get 3-6,000 pounds worth of tractor, maybe $30K. So you end up with around $70K of rolling stock, weighing upwards of ~15K pounds. They tow it down the highway at 75-80 mph. Then they complain that they can't make 10 mpg. Fuel goes up a nickle a gallon and the world is suddenly coming to an end. Exaggerated a bit? Yes, but I see this kind of thinking so much on this forum. That tailgate means nothing in the big picture. Why even be concerned about it if it does the job?

That tailgate could mean the difference between putting an extra 2 gallons of gas in the tank or Quarter Pounder and fries in my stomach. :licking:

 

[firefighter jim]

We are talking about two totally different things here. A traditional parachute a totally different thing. It working off the principal of a equal and opposite reaction. A modern parachute is basically a airfoil that relies on traditional lift and induced drag, a by product of lift.

On something like a boat, cars shape, or a gate you are dealing with parasite drag. Parasite is just like the name implies. Lets say you have a 4'x6' rear gate that is solid. You have basically lineal 20' of edge for flow separation. On a gate that is mesh you the same size you have the same 4'x6' size you not only have the outer lineal dimension but also create drag off all the perforations. Who knows how many lineal feet this adds?

The reason the manufactures yous mesh is for weight and traction, not due to drag.

Chris

Just hard to believe that (for example) a 4x8 sheet of plywood would have less drag than a 4x8 sheet of screen type material.

 

[Deadman]

I LOVE my Featherlite Aluminum Car hauler. Built Rock-Solid, and all Aluminum. The only think not Al, is the Stainless Steel Tie downs! :thumbsup:

It has Ramps that store underneath the rear, and if it would have had a fold-up mesh tailgate i would have never bought it. I have a steel utility trailer with an expanded steel gate, and that thing pulls so dang hard because of that gate.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Just hard to believe that (for example) a 4x8 sheet of plywood would have less drag than a 4x8 sheet of screen type material.

It is. I wish I had a way to prove it. Now it all depends on how much mesh area there is. But the standard stuff its true. Now if was a mesh with holes big enough to pass a basketball though it may be a different story.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

Not that this has any thing to do with anything but about 5 years ago we were at thanksgiving playing cards and talking guy stuff. My wife's uncle has a trucking company on the Indiana/Illinois state line. They run semi's and F-150's. They have 2 16' tandem axle landscape trailers they pull with the Fords.

Anyway, he was telling me that one of the trailers had something wrong with it. He said the trucks are identical and one pulling a trailer can make it from Columbus Ohio to the home base but the other comes up 50 miles short on a tank of gas. They swapped trailers and it followed the trailer, not the truck.

I asked what he had done to the trailers and he said the one that got awful mpg he had the axles aligned, new bearings, brakes, ect. As soon as I went to the shop and saw them I saw what was going on. One had a mesh gate and one did not have any gate but slide in ramps. He argued with me that the mesh just let the air though. I told him to lose the gate and it would get the same. It took a 6 pack and 2 hours to convince one of the smartest guys I know this.

Lets just say that trip is 300 miles and one truck could make it at 10 mpg, the other one was coming up 50 miles short making only 250 miles on a tank or 17% less mpg.

Chris

 

[timswi]

I would venture a guess that most of us are trailering to the task...If we were doing 300 miles per day it might matter.

In my case, I want convenience and safety...Honestly I could not care less about gas mileage. As long and my machine and I get loaded , transported and unloaded without issue...I couldn't care less. If it costs me an extra $50 in gas, so what? Given that there are at least 20K in stuff on the trailer when I pull it.

I'll take a full gate any day.