Unloading without supporting the rear-end of the trailer a bad idea?

[herringchoker]

I always use wood cribbing. If the trailer settles enough to cause a bind, I have always been able to drive the trailer ahead off of the cribbing. I do this now loading the B7800 on a 16' low deck behind Sierra 1500 and did it years ago loading crawlers and backhoe loaders on a 9 ton triaxle tag-along lo-boy behind an F-750. Cheap solution and it never hurts to have a bit of cribbing around.

 

[HHR]

If the items you use to shore up the rear of the trailer get stuck, simply drive the machine forward until the front of the trailer lowers enough and the rear raises enough to release the blocking. Once you remove blocking, reverse equipment to achieve proper towing balance.

 

[N80]

Agreed. I think I will also cut a gentle wedge into one of the 4x6 chunks. That will be the piece that contacts the bottom of the trailer. This will allow for different heights and assist in driving off of the cribbing if it gets tight. I'll also cut two 6x6 chunks to fit each corner upright if the terrain is flat and the trailer level. Cribbing can be a pain to haul around but I've usually got a piece or two in the bed for jack points and wheel chocks anyway.

 

[xryan]

The only potential problem I see with pinned supports like that is somehow getting a lot of weight towards the tongue of the trailer, dropping and pinning the support at the rear of the trailer, unloading the trailer, which springs the tongue up and then there's a bunch of empty trailer weight on the pin and you can't pull it out with your hand.

Anyone run into that? :confused3:

That means you had the trailer loaded way too tongue heavy to begin with. You're not trying to jack the back of the trailer up, just drop the stand and pin it to the closest hole without forcing it into the ground.

I carry around a jackstand or two with a flat plate welded to the bottom. The legs of jackstands made for a garage will just burry themselves, thus the flat plate.

The legs on my trailer ramps are inadequate. And are the same as every other trailer I have seen, so dont think its a design issue there.

First thing all my new jack stands do is get a nice plate welded to the bottom. Jack stands are only safe on a poured concrete slab. They will sink in asphalt and can collapse, even with light cars.

I've seen exactly the same thing even on some "professional" pintle or gooseneck heavy equiptment trailers, the ramps are good for ONLY being used as ramps, not for depending on them to keep the tail down. The only trailers I have not seen that really need a rear block of jack legs are big low boys where there is little to no lever arm for the load to lift the hitch.

 

[jwmsjwms]

have a friend that loads and unloads this Kubota without blocking the trailer. he backs it up to a berm, curb or other spot that gets him an extra 8 inches to a foot and drives on or off the trailer. It may not be at the exact place to use the tractor but driving a couple of hundred feet is nothing as far as he is concerned to getting the ramps out and hooked up.

 

[Renze]

The only potential problem I see with pinned supports like that is somehow getting a lot of weight towards the tongue of the trailer, dropping and pinning the support at the rear of the trailer, unloading the trailer, which springs the tongue up and then there's a bunch of empty trailer weight on the pin and you can't pull it out with your hand.

Anyone run into that? :confused3:

Yes. I rebuilt my trailer last winter, and decided against this type. I made mine hinged on a bracket, which are welded against the rear beam (lights beam) of the trailer, about 4 to 5 inches above the lowest part. They clear the ground two inches with no load in the trailer, but when i am with the trailer wheels in a hole or the support legs on a heap, i can simply back up the trailer so they turn away from under the weight of the trailer.

When driving a vehicle on the ramps, the legs cannot swing underneath to the rear because they are stopped by the rear beam of the trailer, so the momentum of the vehicle driving onto the ramps can never push the trailer off these support legs.

For transport i swing them forward, alongside the chassis truss, and lock them with a spring action lockbolt, with the bolt in a hole drilled in the footplate of the leg.

 

[bdog]

The only potential problem I see with pinned supports like that is somehow getting a lot of weight towards the tongue of the trailer, dropping and pinning the support at the rear of the trailer, unloading the trailer, which springs the tongue up and then there's a bunch of empty trailer weight on the pin and you can't pull it out with your hand.

Anyone run into that? :confused3:

If that happened (which I have never seen it happen) you could use your tractor to lift up on the rear of the trailer to free them.