Trailer new to me, what is the pictured dip in the frame for?

[Hay Dude]

It just pivots in the bed. Seen it before, but not in last 30 years.

 

[TMGT]

It just pivots in the bed. Seen it before, but not in last 30 years.

I just saw one in the past couple years, not something I would do but didn't look like the first time he's done it. Not legal, though, as the boom is supposed to be secured.

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[TMGT]

Thought the same thing. But that would put the hoe boom awfully close to the tow vehicle and seemingly way too much tongue weight

A lot of those trailers were rated for 5-6k tongue weight, I have a dual tandem tag that is rated for about 5800lbs tongue weight.

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[civilian]

I just saw one in the past couple years, not something I would do but didn't look like the first time he's done it. Not legal, though, as the boom is supposed to be secured.

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Could the boom float sideways while it is secured in the bed of the truck? I think I can push my hoe side to side if the joystick is held over when the engine is off. Jon

 

[TMGT]

Could the boom float sideways while it is secured in the bed of the truck? I think I can push my hoe side to side if the joystick is held over when the engine is off. Jon

Yes, unless it's locked. I remember my dads work years ago had one of their semi trucks almost totaled by a backhoe boom that wasn't secured and swung to the side. They were on the hwy and took a turn side by side. Totaled the whole cab/front-end and did some engine damage.

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[aircommuter]

It is definitely a truss to allow the load to be lowered. About hauling the backhoe in the dump bed, I did it for 32 years because it allows for a shorter trailer and total length. Now for the secured part. While states may vary, in my state the hydraulic part of anything must be restrained so it can’t bounce up and become higher than the legal height limit. Bouncing and differential angles can cause this to happen and oil can be pulled into the cylinders and maintain the illegal height.
I was confronted by various scale cops (self made geniuses) that said your boom/bucket has to be chained down. When I asked the code reference they brought out the one I mentioned above about becoming over height. So I said where is the part you said about the chains? The reply was it’s the same thing. Really? See those metal clamps around the cylinder rods? Is that also the same thing without a chain? I was cleared through without a problem.

 

[jim_wilson]

Brother had a semi trailer lowboy with dips like OP's. The lowboy was set up for a piece logging equipment that needed its front wheels in those dips to be road height legal. Maybe that's what the OP's trailer did in a previous life. Then someone no longer needed them and filled them in. Jon

That was my thought - looking at the pictures. The dip part looks like it was either made originally as a piece of a ramp - and reused - because it has the traction bars on it - or , as you pointed out - it was a dip that was filled in later when the trailer was used for something else.

 

[ovrszd]

Maybe an older combine or a swather trailer as that’s not enough trailer for most combines built since say the 1980s.

Obviously for a piece of equipment. I was also thinking some of the older 2wd sprayers.

 

[ovrszd]

Thought the same thing. But that would put the hoe boom awfully close to the tow vehicle and seemingly way too much tongue weight

Backhoes are almost always hauled with the digger boom to the rear of the trailer.

 

[ovrszd]

It just pivots in the bed. Seen it before, but not in last 30 years.

The hoe would need "float" on the boom swing. I've never saw a hoe with that feature.