Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

[goeduck]

When positioning the load on a tilt trailer, don't forget that the farther back the load is, the more stress on the tilt latch. I once rented a 15K trailer and its hydraulic cylinder that "locked" the tilt was not working. I did not know that until I was loaded and at that point, I had no choice but to front load as much as possible so the tilt "catch" would not be over stressed and rerouted my trip to slow back roads. I chewed out the rental place when I took the trailer back when they said "that is not an issue" (they apparently knew).

 

[4570Man]

When positioning the load on a tilt trailer, don't forget that the farther back the load is, the more stress on the tilt latch. I once rented a 15K trailer and its hydraulic cylinder that "locked" the tilt was not working. I did not know that until I was loaded and at that point, I had no choice but to front load as much as possible so the tilt "catch" would not be over stressed and rerouted my trip to slow back roads. I chewed out the rental place when I took the trailer back when they said "that is not an issue" (they apparently knew).

The latch on a tilt trailer shouldn’t be doing much of anything. If it is you’ve probably loaded it tongue weight negative.

 

[goeduck]

The latch on a tilt trailer shouldn’t be doing much of anything. If it is you’ve probably loaded it tongue weight negative.

I have no idea how you came to that conclusion. I loaded the tongue to over 1600 lbs so the latch (catch) wasn't stressed. "Front" to me is towards the truck if that is confusing.

 

[Renze]

Wrong. I loaded the tongue to over 1600 lbs so the latch (catch) wasn't stressed.

What did you load, steel beams flat on the deck, or a tractor ?

I definately wouldnt want to drive a high center of gravity load like a tractor, with a tilt bed that doesnt latch. Even with 1600 pounds tongue weight, the tilt bed can snap up and down at a bump.
The rental company just didnt have their **** in proper condition, i would be furious if they knew.

 

[goeduck]

What did you load, steel beams flat on the deck, or a tractor ?

I definately wouldnt want to drive a high center of gravity load like a tractor, with a tilt bed that doesnt latch. Even with 1600 pounds tongue weight, the tilt bed can snap up and down at a bump.
The rental company just didnt have their **** in proper condition, i would be furious if they knew.

Backhoe. Which I why I took the back roads, probably 20 mph max. They were smooth, so no real bumps. There was a manual "catch" and a hydraulic cylinder "lock". The "catch" (fairly heavy duty) worked, the hydraulic "lock" did not.

 

[Fallon]

Don't new ford f150s have a built in scale option using led lights for tongue weight?

I saw a video on that for the new Ford SuperDuties on higher trim levels. Used the brake lights in sections to let you how much weight was in the bed or hitch. Had to fiddle with the dash to set it up for expected weight I think. I'd assume the F150 would be about the same.

 

[Fallon]

When positioning the load on a tilt trailer, don't forget that the farther back the load is, the more stress on the tilt latch. I once rented a 15K trailer and its hydraulic cylinder that "locked" the tilt was not working. I did not know that until I was loaded and at that point, I had no choice but to front load as much as possible so the tilt "catch" would not be over stressed and rerouted my trip to slow back roads. I chewed out the rental place when I took the trailer back when they said "that is not an issue" (they apparently knew).

The last 10-15% of a tilting deck trailer isn't that useful. A normal trailer has the axles around 60-75% of the way back. A tilting deck needs to have the deck balanced & the pivot goes between the axles. So axles on a tilting deck are only 50% of the way back. Way easier to accidentally end up with insufficient tongue weight.

Only considering the trailer frame at least. Not the tongue, gooseneck or a fixed deck infront of the tilt.

I have a power tilt deckover these days rather than gravity tilt. The power hydraulics let it work unbalanced. But it still has axles further forward than a fixed deck.

 

[WinterDeere]

The last 10-15% of a tilting deck trailer isn't that useful. A normal trailer has the axles around 60-75% of the way back. A tilting deck needs to have the deck balanced & the pivot goes between the axles. So axles on a tilting deck are only 50% of the way back. Way easier to accidentally end up with insufficient tongue weight.

Only considering the trailer frame at least. Not the tongue, gooseneck or a fixed deck infront of the tilt.

I have a power tilt deckover these days rather than gravity tilt. The power hydraulics let it work unbalanced. But it still has axles further forward than a fixed deck.

Whoa... I'm just a simple engineer, not a trailer designer. But even with my total lack of experience on the subject, I can easily see that deck pivot and axle location (i.e. tongue weight) need not have anything to do with one another. You can place the axles aft of the deck pivot, to maintain target tongue weight, even if the pivot is at 50% of bed/deck length. There is the issue of hitting the rear axle at maximum pivot angle, if pivot height/angle don't allow for it, but that problem is solvable, or a compromise can be found somewhere between ideal and the extreme of placing the axles at 50% bed length.

 

[Fallon]

Whoa... I'm just a simple engineer, not a trailer designer. But even with my total lack of experience on the subject, I can easily see that deck pivot and axle location (i.e. tongue weight) need not have anything to do with one another. You can place the axles aft of the deck pivot, to maintain target tongue weight, even if the pivot is at 50% of bed/deck length. There is the issue of hitting the rear axle at maximum pivot angle, if pivot height/angle don't allow for it, but that problem is solvable, or a compromise can be found somewhere between ideal and the extreme of placing the axles at 50% bed length.

I'm sure it is "solvable" differently. But manufacturers seem to have solved it by putting the pivot between the axles. Probably the best support for the highest stress part of the frame. I suspect the 4-8' fixed deck on longer gravity tilts is the other fix.

My previous 16' gravity tilt had 8' before & after the pivot, which was between the axles. The gravity tilt Big Tex, Diamond C & a few others all had the same setup, unless they had a fixed deck up front.

It's not a horrible design & as with most things there are tradeoffs. Easier loading & unloading vs a trailer having a few extra feet of lesser usable deck space on the back.

I was going to get another gravity tilt, only with a fixed deck, to replace my old 16'. I ended up with my power tilt deckover. Taller trailer, steeper deck, harder to load a tractor onmore expensive & complex. But I didn't have side rails or fenders to get in the way when loading stuff from the side. Tradeoffs.

Not saying the design is wrong or unsolvable. It's just something that can tongue weight issues if not loaded right. And not everybody realizes the tail of a gravity tilt trailer isn't as usable as they may expect. I certainly didn't when I got my former 16' gravity tilt trailer & it caused me issues.

 

[4570Man]

The last 10-15% of a tilting deck trailer isn't that useful. A normal trailer has the axles around 60-75% of the way back. A tilting deck needs to have the deck balanced & the pivot goes between the axles. So axles on a tilting deck are only 50% of the way back. Way easier to accidentally end up with insufficient tongue weight.

Only considering the trailer frame at least. Not the tongue, gooseneck or a fixed deck infront of the tilt.

I have a power tilt deckover these days rather than gravity tilt. The power hydraulics let it work unbalanced. But it still has axles further forward than a fixed deck.

My tilt deck has a 6ft flat part in front of the tilting deck. The deck pivots directly over the axels and it’s gravity tilt. Assuming the deck tilts down at all you would have a reasonably safe load to pull. I like my machine forward some more for good measure. The only way you could unsafely load the trailer would be if you locked the deck once it tilted down and then back up.

 

[California]

Lifted truck plows unseen Porsche.

 

[WinterDeere]

Lifted truck plows unseen Porsche.

I almost did that once in a lifted 1978 Bronco, but with a small British convertible, either MG or Triumph. Too long ago to remember anything other than my surprise, when the light turned green and this little car shot out from under the visual shadow of my front bumper. Having somehow forgot he was there, if he'd been any slower, I'd have rolled right over him.

 

[JohnDeereJoey]

I really like my new Weigh-Safe hitch with the built-in scale, it takes the guesswork out of positioning on the trailer. I try for 10 to 15% of Gross Trailer Weight on the tongue. This trailer gross was around 13,000 lbs.
View attachment 823820

I also use a Weigh-Safe hitch. It works well.

 

[JohnDeereJoey]

It's not quick-detach, so as a practical matter it's not going to fall off. Per the Vehicle Code, probably.

If things get ugly, the chain can prevent the bucket and whatever it is attached to from moving. Imagine a backhoe or mini excavator with the swinging about if not chained.

 

[JohnDeereJoey]

...In the USA we "know" the bigger the number the better!...

Isn't that the truth!

I knew a guy who routinely loaded with way too much lounge weight. One day the trailer said "Enough!". The tongue on the trailer folded to about a 45-degree bend.

 

[Renze]

In the USA we "know" the bigger the number the better!

Ive seen the local farm machinery manufacturer slide from their No.1 position in silage trailers. They used to build a very robust silage trailer in the 80s and 90s by using the next size up in C channel that their competitor used. But they stuck with the mindset of using big beams. An apprentice was once told to stop beveling square tubing for weld penetration, farmers want to see heavy welds in sight, and when its full penetration, farmers dont see that...

In the short term, bigger is better, but when products and manufacturers get time tested, proper engineering wins over sheer dimensions.

 

[Renze]

Whoa... I'm just a simple engineer, not a trailer designer. But even with my total lack of experience on the subject, I can easily see that deck pivot and axle location (i.e. tongue weight) need not have anything to do with one another. You can place the axles aft of the deck pivot, to maintain target tongue weight, even if the pivot is at 50% of bed/deck length. There is the issue of hitting the rear axle at maximum pivot angle, if pivot height/angle don't allow for it, but that problem is solvable, or a compromise can be found somewhere between ideal and the extreme of placing the axles at 50% bed length.

Ive built tilt decks in the past but i only like them single axle behind a farm tractor with a mini excavator on top with 20 to 25% tongue weight. For high speed use and 5-10% tongue weight, torsion axle tandem, all they do is rattle. Built my own trailer on lower 195/50R13C wheels to get the deck at 25" with a heavy fixed towbar and a straight deck.

 

[4570Man]

Whoa... I'm just a simple engineer, not a trailer designer. But even with my total lack of experience on the subject, I can easily see that deck pivot and axle location (i.e. tongue weight) need not have anything to do with one another. You can place the axles aft of the deck pivot, to maintain target tongue weight, even if the pivot is at 50% of bed/deck length. There is the issue of hitting the rear axle at maximum pivot angle, if pivot height/angle don't allow for it, but that problem is solvable, or a compromise can be found somewhere between ideal and the extreme of placing the axles at 50% bed length.

You could in theory put the pivot anywhere you want but it realistically has to be centered on or slightly behind the axels to clear the tires when it tilts and you need enough bed behind the pivot to make a safe loading angle. A gravity tilt needs to be close to balanced as well. The bed would be too hard if not impossible to move by hand when the trailer was empty if it wasn’t.

 

[WinterDeere]

You could in theory put the pivot anywhere you want but it realistically has to be centered on or slightly behind the axels to clear the tires when it tilts and you need enough bed behind the pivot to make a safe loading angle. A gravity tilt needs to be close to balanced as well. The bed would be too hard if not impossible to move by hand when the trailer was empty if it wasn’t.

Yeah, got it. I really liked the concept of a tilt bed with a fixed bed extension forward of the tilt bed that you had mentioned earlier. Resolves the issue of tongue weight, without forcing the bed pivot forward.

 

[4570Man]

The last 10-15% of a tilting deck trailer isn't that useful. A normal trailer has the axles around 60-75% of the way back. A tilting deck needs to have the deck balanced & the pivot goes between the axles. So axles on a tilting deck are only 50% of the way back. Way easier to accidentally end up with insufficient tongue weight.

Only considering the trailer frame at least. Not the tongue, gooseneck or a fixed deck infront of the tilt.

I have a power tilt deckover these days rather than gravity tilt. The power hydraulics let it work unbalanced. But it still has axles further forward than a fixed deck.

I’ve never had any problems with the weight distribution on my tilt deck. Of course I can’t park my skid steer on the tail but there’s plenty of deck space to avoid that issue. Resting my trencher boom or tractor bushhog on the tail is no big deal.