Your favorite light duty tilt/sliding axle trailer design?

[Garwood]

I'm thinking of building or buying another tilt deck trailer to replace the one I built when I was 17 for hauling vehicles. It's really not made for anything I use it for these days.

Wanted to see what other people who haul machines and equipment like and don't like. I mostly haul CNC mills and lathes up to 15K lbs behind an F-350. I also haul a 10K lb excavator and a 5500 lb skidsteer with implements. I'd like to have the ability to move 20'-24' shipping containers and haul my 14K lbs forklift with it too. I think I will probably go gooseneck, but I would consider bumper pull.

Does anyone have a hydraulic sliding axle trailer they use behind a pickup? What do you like/not like about it?

I think my dream trailer would be a gooseneck with a hydraulic tilt neck, about a 24' deck, two 10K axles with a knife edge on the back and maybe a pair of hydraulic outriggers behind the rear tires so you can keep from overloading the rear axle. And total weight under 4500 lbs. Is that possible while keeping a fairly low load angle and still towing OK?

 

[gbent]

I was with you until the last 2 sentences. Your weight will top 6,000, probably top 7,000. Since its going to be a deckover, your low load angle will require a lot of deck travel.

 

[DDoug]

Like this ?:

Rollback Trailers, Tilt Trailers & Heavy Car Haulers in Texas at Kwik Load Trailers

Contact Kwik Load Trailers for Rollback Trailers, Tilt Trailers, Car Haulers and Gooseneck Trailers for sale in Sherman, Texas. Click here for details!

www.kwikload.com

 

[Mud]

PJ has an excellent reputation on this side of the country, and does custom modifications.

Tilt Trailers

Tilt Trailers are designed with easy loading and unloading in mind. Hydraulic cylinder Tilt Trailers make safely loading and unloading safe and simple.

pjtrailers.com

 

[Overland]

I rented a Hudson trailer. Couldn't quite figure the mechanism, but it was a very low angle to load. It seemed to rotate the rear axle or something to get a really low angle.
Bob

Hudson Brothers HD 14 5 Ton Tilt Trailer

This rugged tilt equipment trailer has a 5 ton capacity.

www.hudsontrailers.com

 

[scsmith42]

Landoll has been a leader in the heavy duty tilt trailer market for years, and I would study some of their models for ideas.

I would 100% go gooseneck on that trailer, and consider building it out of aluminum to reduce weight. Towing and braking will be much superior with a gooseneck, as well maneuverability when backing.

I'd build in a torque tube at the front as well, and use hydraulic disk brakes.

17.5" wheels have the best capacity for trailers such as your are specifying. You can get dual tandem 17.5 axles rated for either 12K each or 16K, which would serve your needs and negate the need for the hydraulic outriggers.

The trailer below was designed by me and built by Brute back in the 2000's. It has a hydraulic dovetail.

 

[DDoug]

Landoll has been a leader in the heavy duty tilt trailer market for years, and I would study some of their models for ideas.

I would 100% go gooseneck on that trailer, and consider building it out of aluminum to reduce weight. Towing and braking will be much superior with a gooseneck, as well maneuverability when backing.

I'd build in a torque tube at the front as well, and use hydraulic disk brakes.

17.5" wheels have the best capacity for trailers such as your are specifying. You can get dual tandem 17.5 axles rated for either 12K each or 16K, which would serve your needs and negate the need for the hydraulic outriggers.

The trailer below was designed by me and built by Brute back in the 2000's. It has a hydraulic dovetail.

View attachment 372410

Post up your numbers on this trailer please.

 

[Garwood]

I was with you until the last 2 sentences. Your weight will top 6,000, probably top 7,000. Since its going to be a deckover, your low load angle will require a lot of deck travel.

I'm sure you're right. Like I said- just dreaming. I don't need the lowest load angle out there, but I want better than what a 16' deckover tilt on 22.5's gets you. I'd like to be able to drive a pneumatic tired forklift on the trailer without having to winch it.

I haven't modeled it up, but I was thinking a 24' deckover with hydraulic gooseneck and the axles 65% to the rear might work.

 

[david n]

Prolly too steep..............

https://www.rawmaxx.com/fdx-tilt

 

[DDoug]

I wonder how this could work on a gooseneck trailer chassis:

Multi-Body Truck Hoist Solution | Switch-N-Go®

Convert permanent mount trucks to the Switch-N-Go® system which allows you to use over 25 different truck bodies with a single truck.

switchngo.com

 

[Garwood]

Prolly too steep..............

https://www.rawmaxx.com/fdx-tilt

If the bed was a foot or two longer I think that'd be fine.

I'm not a big fan of the split deck/tilt deal though. That's how my current tilt deck is and the split deck adds an extra level of complexity to winching anything on. I made a flip up winch cable roller on the front of the tilting deck that helps, but it's still real troublesome when you're winching hard to pull something and the winch is twisting the trailer, trying to pull the deck down and raising the rear.

I would definitely go one piece deck, not split deck on the next trailer. I want the winch mounted to the tilting deck, not to the front frame of the trailer or the gooseneck.

 

[Garwood]

I wonder how this could work on a gooseneck trailer chassis:

Multi-Body Truck Hoist Solution | Switch-N-Go®

Convert permanent mount trucks to the Switch-N-Go® system which allows you to use over 25 different truck bodies with a single truck.

switchngo.com

I think the weight would be pretty high to handle over 10K lbs on the deck. Dropbox trucks are real heavy.

The sliding axle design, like Landoll, makes a bit more sense to me as the trailer just needs one main frame with a small structure for the axle carriage.

Bigger than what I want and it doesn't look like the gooseneck is actually hydraulic, but this video does show the underside details of how their sliding mechanism works.

 

[gtermini]

I had thoughts on this recently while looking at the nutso prices on used trailers. A drop deck would be great for moving machines and low clearance equipment like hard tire forklifts.

I had the thought to do a pan type trailer that used a walking beam type suspension with a
standard semi truck class 8 air bag to provide the lift and cushion flex. The deck frame would be 2x8 or 10 heavy wall tube with the walking beam stub welded in a bored hole. The deck cross members would be 2x3 or 4 medium wall tube (giving 3-4" deck height in load position) with a 1/8th smooth deck (skates don't roll well on tread plate).

The attached picture shows the basic axle setup roughly sized for a bag using 13" of travel to give 11" of ground clearance. I figured 8k stub axles with low pro 30" tall 17.5 commercial trailer tires. The tongue would need to pivot as well to allow the deck to sit flat on the ground. I roughed out how another air bag could be used to move the tongue from loading to transport position. An onboard air system and battery would be needed, and a small 5 lb bottle of CO2 could be used for a backup. The ride height and suspension stiffness would be easily adjusted with a pressure regulator and/or ride height control valve off a semi.

I haven't sanity checked the design off anyone with any sense, so my flame suit is on if I seem way off reality here.

 

[mpmar_bt]

I like it.
My first thought is to keep a rigid tongue to keep down weight, complexity and cost. That would still give a pretty low deck angle.
Second thought is the air bag over the walking beam might need some kind of pivot to handle the change in angle as the trailer is lowered and raised.

Is it fixed in place in the center?

 

[gtermini]

I like it.
My first thought is to keep a rigid tongue to keep down weight, complexity and cost. That would still give a pretty low deck angle.

That was my initial thought as well. A 10" rise in 16 to 18 ft wouldn't be that bad to pull things up or let them off in a controlled manner.

On the PRO column for the pivoting tongue was that if it used the same bag as the axles, it could be considered a spare kept onboard in case you got up a creek and needed one asap.

Second thought is the air bag over the walking beam might need some kind of pivot to handle the change in angle as the trailer is lowered and raised.

Is it fixed in place in the center?

The picture doesn't show it well, but each end would have a yoke for rotational freedom. I am concerned having both ends free to swivel may cause the bag to kick out in a banana shape. Firestone doesn't give much design info about minimum bag constraints and moment connection. I think they assume at least one end will be rigidly mounted.

 

[Garwood]

I had thoughts on this recently while looking at the nutso prices on used trailers. A drop deck would be great for moving machines and low clearance equipment like hard tire forklifts.

I had the thought to do a pan type trailer that used a walking beam type suspension with a
standard semi truck class 8 air bag to provide the lift and cushion flex. The deck frame would be 2x8 or 10 heavy wall tube with the walking beam stub welded in a bored hole. The deck cross members would be 2x3 or 4 medium wall tube (giving 3-4" deck height in load position) with a 1/8th smooth deck (skates don't roll well on tread plate).

The attached picture shows the basic axle setup roughly sized for a bag using 13" of travel to give 11" of ground clearance. I figured 8k stub axles with low pro 30" tall 17.5 commercial trailer tires. The tongue would need to pivot as well to allow the deck to sit flat on the ground. I roughed out how another air bag could be used to move the tongue from loading to transport position. An onboard air system and battery would be needed, and a small 5 lb bottle of CO2 could be used for a backup. The ride height and suspension stiffness would be easily adjusted with a pressure regulator and/or ride height control valve off a semi.

I haven't sanity checked the design off anyone with any sense, so my flame suit is on if I seem way off reality here.

Greyson?

I like it. I have the shop in Mac. You bought a chuck from me. You oughta stop by and discuss this one of these days.

 

[gtermini]

Greyson?

I like it. I have the shop in Mac. You bought a chuck from me. You oughta stop by and discuss this one of these days.

Yep. Sounds good.

 

[scsmith42]

Post up your numbers on this trailer please.

I paid 17K new for it back in 2006.

Overall deck length is 37'.
Ramp length 11'
Deck height is 30" (pierced beam construction)
Dual Tandem axle, 12K axles
Electric over hydraulic disk brakes
Hydraulic dovetail that can pick up 9k lbs on top.
8K Pierce winch (commercial oilfield winch) mounted to Reese style hitch insert
20' torque tube at front. This keeps the front edges of the trailer from diving down under an eccentric load.
Dual jacks
2-5/16" gooseneck hitch

Dual batteries hooked in parallel with 2/0 welding cable. One slaved to winch, the other to the hyd dovetail, but both connected in parallel so as to allow the winch to pull from both batteries.

Designed to carry 20k on the trailer, with 16K over the axles and 4K on the tongue, plus trailer weight.

I can load it with a skidsteer or forklift on the back, and be self sufficient when picking up materials. They get transported on the front.

I've put enough miles on it to wear out the original ball coupler (which I had to replace earlier this year).



Since this is a machinist forum, here it is being used to transport a Southbend Turn-nado 17x60. In the photo below I have just set the lathe on the trailer.



Pic below is lathe loaded and strapped down, skid steer loaded and chained, and lathe being tarped for the 4 hour trip back to the farm.

 

[DDoug]

Tnx for all the numbers, I didn't need for you to reveal the cost.
One I don't see is the empty weight of the trailer.

 

[scsmith42]

Doug - you're welcome.

The trailer weighs 10K lbs full loaded with chains, boomers, straps, dunnage, tools, etc. Empty weight is 9k lbs.