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.

 

[ovrszd]

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.

How did you "float" your boom so it would swing with the truck in turns?

 

[aircommuter]

You place the bucket in the position of where movement is minimized over the truck tandem’s. Once you know that position it is easy to replicate. Some sliding may take place but not enough to be an issue. It is slightly aft of center of the tandems. Then the bed is moving the same way the boom is moving.

 

[Bentrim]

Believe what you have is a specialty trailer, used to transport wheeled equipment that would have been overheight on a flat bed. A dealer I worked for in the 70's and 80's had purchased one that was specific for combines. Later he got rid of that on and purchased another that had removeable plates over the drops, then could be used as a regular flat bed, both were expandable and could go out to 14 feet wide. Yours appears not to be expandable but someone put the deck plates on when they no longer needed the lower ride. It may have been used for ag equipment (sprayer, tractor with cab, high crop tractor, or other tall equipment). Or maybe some type of industrial equipment.

 

[ovrszd]

You place the bucket in the position of where movement is minimized over the truck tandem’s. Once you know that position it is easy to replicate. Some sliding may take place but not enough to be an issue. It is slightly aft of center of the tandems. Then the bed is moving the same way the boom is moving.

I'd have to see it to understand I guess. If I take a hard left, the truck tandems are left of the trailer center line. Hard right would create same issue, different direction.

I guess if you were very careful and minimized turning degree you could get by with the sliding you are talking about.

 

[Kenduro]

I recently sold my 555D and trailer and already miss them. Bought the trailer pictured last week to help fill the void. Much heavier duty then I need, but what the heck

What is the dip in the frame at the front of the trailer for? The dip does make for a nice support to take excessive load off of the hitch with a heavy load on the front before a balancing load is toward the back, but as the advertisement goes ... but wait there's more.
The dip is constructed of C-channel covered with diamond plate. Put a door on it and could store stuff there I guess. But the diamond plate has traction bars welded to it that would give traction to a wheel climbing out of the dip??? Stranger to me is the diamond plate parallel to the deck over the dip is made to be removable??

Any idea what the trailer might have been made for with the dips? Large wheel could go down in the dip to reduce the height on the trailer but not much room from the dip to the hitch.

I'll be done with the trailer in a couple months and will be putting it up for sale then. View attachment 789676View attachment 789677 I'd like to know before then what it was made for. Thank you if you have any knowledge or guess why the trailer was made that way.

If its the top portion that is removable, definately to lower overall height on tall equipment. Some hedge rowers (used in nut orchards) are very tall, and use these.

 

[LD1]

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

Yup, but not to the point the backhoe back tires are clear to the very front of the trailer

 

[ovrszd]

Yup, but not to the point the backhoe back tires are clear to the very front of the trailer

 

[Hay Dude]

I'd have to see it to understand I guess. If I take a hard left, the truck tandems are left of the trailer center line. Hard right would create same issue, different direction.

I guess if you were very careful and minimized turning degree you could get by with the sliding you are talking about.

It works.
Sometimes you have to accept that some people know more about some things than you.

 

[ovrszd]

It works.
Sometimes you have to accept that some people know more about some things than you.

And you have to admit that you don't. An example would be that you don't know the rear axle of the truck moves laterally off the line of the trailer during a turn.

For someone that has me on ignore you sure quote me a lot.

 

[Renze]

I recently sold my 555D and trailer and already miss them. Bought the trailer pictured last week to help fill the void. Much heavier duty then I need, but what the heck

What is the dip in the frame at the front of the trailer for? The dip does make for a nice support to take excessive load off of the hitch with a heavy load on the front before a balancing load is toward the back, but as the advertisement goes ... but wait there's more.
The dip is constructed of C-channel covered with diamond plate. Put a door on it and could store stuff there I guess. But the diamond plate has traction bars welded to it that would give traction to a wheel climbing out of the dip??? Stranger to me is the diamond plate parallel to the deck over the dip is made to be removable??

Any idea what the trailer might have been made for with the dips? Large wheel could go down in the dip to reduce the height on the trailer but not much room from the dip to the hitch.

I'll be done with the trailer in a couple months and will be putting it up for sale then. View attachment 789676View attachment 789677 I'd like to know before then what it was made for. Thank you if you have any knowledge or guess why the trailer was made that way.

Wheel wells. Pretty common on equipment trailers when a low loading height is required, but you dont want to haul the heavy chassis of a lowboy with its wheels behind the load

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