Trailer questions

[mikehaugen]

the biggest disadvantage of a tilt deck that I see is that they are only practical for 1 larger vehicle. What if you wanted to put 2 utvs on one, or a tractor and riding mower, or a tractor with an extra implement in front of it? They may be fast and convenient, but don't appeal to me. I know some of this can be eliminated with the ones that have a fixed section in front, but that is going to be worse in a way sometimes- at least with a single tilt bed you could still get 2 utv's or similar on if you had 2 people driving that knew what they were doing. Tilts are great if they have a defined purpose- i.e. you only need it to tow your car, but for multi-purpose, all around use I don't like them.

I had a 16' 10k imperial tilt deck for a short time and sold it. I now have a 7k 20' beavertail car trailer to get me by until I find a deckover. I definitely will not go smaller than 20'.

 

[94BULLITT]

I now noticed like several of you have said a 10k car trailer may be built out of 4" channel were a 10k equipment trailer is made out of 5."

When I was shopping around, the local place had both types of trailers available in 7K or 10K. They called it a car hauler if it had slide-out ramps, or an equipment hauler if it had flip-down ramps. Either one could be spec'd with wood, diamond-plate, or open frame deck. Their descriptions were kind of arbitrary, since the trailers could be customized in any sort of combination.

That seem to be the case with these bri mar trailers.
Bri-Mar EH18-10LE
Bri-Mar CH18-7-FULL(they do make them in a 10k)

 

[94BULLITT]

the biggest disadvantage of a tilt deck that I see is that they are only practical for 1 larger vehicle. What if you wanted to put 2 utvs on one, or a tractor and riding mower, or a tractor with an extra implement in front of it? They may be fast and convenient, but don't appeal to me. I know some of this can be eliminated with the ones that have a fixed section in front, but that is going to be worse in a way sometimes- at least with a single tilt bed you could still get 2 utv's or similar on if you had 2 people driving that knew what they were doing. Tilts are great if they have a defined purpose- i.e. you only need it to tow your car, but for multi-purpose, all around use I don't like them.

I had a 16' 10k imperial tilt deck for a short time and sold it. I now have a 7k 20' beavertail car trailer to get me by until I find a deckover. I definitely will not go smaller than 20'.

The tilt decks I was referring to are electric over hydraulic not gravity. Here is a video.

 

[meburdick]

Big Tex is similar. They also appear to put brakes on only one axle on the car haulers where the equipment trailers have brakes on both axles. "Brakes on all wheels" for larger trailers is becoming a more common requirement in many states. I'll never own a larger trailer WITHOUT brakes on all wheels.

 

[94BULLITT]

I'll never own a larger trailer WITHOUT brakes on all wheels.

That's the only way to have them. You can't ever have enough brakes.

 

[kneedeep]

My experience has been the slide out ramps will bend with a 30+ HP tractor . Car haulers are light as possible and will flex and bend with a tractor and / or equipment. Equipment trailers are built bigger and stouter

Just my :2cents:

 

[meburdick]

The tilt decks I was referring to are electric over hydraulic not gravity. Here is a video.

Personally, I wouldn't want a trailer like that because you have to drive completely "uphill" to load. When you're dealing with a wet surface, even on a wooden deck (as opposed to steel), it can be slippery. You have to drive up, "park", get out / off, then lower the deck. Just too risky for me - especially if your wheels have any mud / snow on them. With a fixed deck (with or without beavertail), there's a point where you're not fighting gravity any more and can continue to drive further onto the deck.

The other type tilt trailer where only part of the deck tilts has many of the potential limitations like mikehaugen listed. What happens when you're at the remote site and the pump fails and you can't unload and work? What about being able load and get home?

How sturdy is the front of that deck to take unevenly distributed weight near the lift point and not twist and warp or break the lift rod?

Again, personally, tilt decks are not for me.

 

[meburdick]

My experience has been the slide out ramps will bend with a 30+ HP tractor . Car haulers are light as possible and will flex and bend with a tractor and / or equipment. Equipment trailers are built bigger and stouter

Just my :2cents:

That's my view, too. Fold-down ramps all the way for me. And, if I *really* need them removed, they come off by removing a pin and sliding them off of the support rod.

 

[94BULLITT]

Personally, I wouldn't want a trailer like that because you have to drive completely "uphill" to load. When you're dealing with a wet surface, even on a wooden deck (as opposed to steel), it can be slippery. You have to drive up, "park", get out / off, then lower the deck. Just too risky for me - especially if your wheels have any mud / snow on them. With a fixed deck (with or without beavertail), there's a point where you're not fighting gravity any more and can continue to drive further onto the deck.

The other type tilt trailer where only part of the deck tilts has many of the potential limitations like mikehaugen listed. What happens when you're at the remote site and the pump fails and you can't unload and work? What about being able load and get home?

How sturdy is the front of that deck to take unevenly distributed weight near the lift point and not twist and warp or break the lift rod?

Again, personally, tilt decks are not for me.

Its no worse than a rollback.

 

[meburdick]

Its no worse than a rollback.

True, but I wouldn't want one of those either. I like the stability of my 18' trailer withe the 2' beavertail. I can take the tractor with ALL of the attachments, 16' logs of firewood, or even the wife's van if it dies somewhere. Very versatile.