Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[California]

Lifted truck plows unseen Porsche.

 

[WinterDeere]

Lifted truck plows unseen Porsche.

I almost did that once in a lifted 1978 Bronco, but with a small British convertible, either MG or Triumph. Too long ago to remember anything other than my surprise, when the light turned green and this little car shot out from under the visual shadow of my front bumper. Having somehow forgot he was there, if he'd been any slower, I'd have rolled right over him.

 

[JohnDeereJoey]

I really like my new Weigh-Safe hitch with the built-in scale, it takes the guesswork out of positioning on the trailer. I try for 10 to 15% of Gross Trailer Weight on the tongue. This trailer gross was around 13,000 lbs.
View attachment 823820

I also use a Weigh-Safe hitch. It works well.

 

[JohnDeereJoey]

It's not quick-detach, so as a practical matter it's not going to fall off. Per the Vehicle Code, probably.

If things get ugly, the chain can prevent the bucket and whatever it is attached to from moving. Imagine a backhoe or mini excavator with the swinging about if not chained.

 

[JohnDeereJoey]

...In the USA we "know" the bigger the number the better!...

Isn't that the truth!

I knew a guy who routinely loaded with way too much lounge weight. One day the trailer said "Enough!". The tongue on the trailer folded to about a 45-degree bend.

 

[Renze]

In the USA we "know" the bigger the number the better!

Ive seen the local farm machinery manufacturer slide from their No.1 position in silage trailers. They used to build a very robust silage trailer in the 80s and 90s by using the next size up in C channel that their competitor used. But they stuck with the mindset of using big beams. An apprentice was once told to stop beveling square tubing for weld penetration, farmers want to see heavy welds in sight, and when its full penetration, farmers dont see that...

In the short term, bigger is better, but when products and manufacturers get time tested, proper engineering wins over sheer dimensions.

 

[Renze]

Whoa... I'm just a simple engineer, not a trailer designer. But even with my total lack of experience on the subject, I can easily see that deck pivot and axle location (i.e. tongue weight) need not have anything to do with one another. You can place the axles aft of the deck pivot, to maintain target tongue weight, even if the pivot is at 50% of bed/deck length. There is the issue of hitting the rear axle at maximum pivot angle, if pivot height/angle don't allow for it, but that problem is solvable, or a compromise can be found somewhere between ideal and the extreme of placing the axles at 50% bed length.

Ive built tilt decks in the past but i only like them single axle behind a farm tractor with a mini excavator on top with 20 to 25% tongue weight. For high speed use and 5-10% tongue weight, torsion axle tandem, all they do is rattle. Built my own trailer on lower 195/50R13C wheels to get the deck at 25" with a heavy fixed towbar and a straight deck.

 

[4570Man]

Whoa... I'm just a simple engineer, not a trailer designer. But even with my total lack of experience on the subject, I can easily see that deck pivot and axle location (i.e. tongue weight) need not have anything to do with one another. You can place the axles aft of the deck pivot, to maintain target tongue weight, even if the pivot is at 50% of bed/deck length. There is the issue of hitting the rear axle at maximum pivot angle, if pivot height/angle don't allow for it, but that problem is solvable, or a compromise can be found somewhere between ideal and the extreme of placing the axles at 50% bed length.

You could in theory put the pivot anywhere you want but it realistically has to be centered on or slightly behind the axels to clear the tires when it tilts and you need enough bed behind the pivot to make a safe loading angle. A gravity tilt needs to be close to balanced as well. The bed would be too hard if not impossible to move by hand when the trailer was empty if it wasn’t.

 

[WinterDeere]

You could in theory put the pivot anywhere you want but it realistically has to be centered on or slightly behind the axels to clear the tires when it tilts and you need enough bed behind the pivot to make a safe loading angle. A gravity tilt needs to be close to balanced as well. The bed would be too hard if not impossible to move by hand when the trailer was empty if it wasn’t.

Yeah, got it. I really liked the concept of a tilt bed with a fixed bed extension forward of the tilt bed that you had mentioned earlier. Resolves the issue of tongue weight, without forcing the bed pivot forward.

 

[4570Man]

The last 10-15% of a tilting deck trailer isn't that useful. A normal trailer has the axles around 60-75% of the way back. A tilting deck needs to have the deck balanced & the pivot goes between the axles. So axles on a tilting deck are only 50% of the way back. Way easier to accidentally end up with insufficient tongue weight.

Only considering the trailer frame at least. Not the tongue, gooseneck or a fixed deck infront of the tilt.

I have a power tilt deckover these days rather than gravity tilt. The power hydraulics let it work unbalanced. But it still has axles further forward than a fixed deck.

I’ve never had any problems with the weight distribution on my tilt deck. Of course I can’t park my skid steer on the tail but there’s plenty of deck space to avoid that issue. Resting my trencher boom or tractor bushhog on the tail is no big deal.