Manual tilt vs Electric tilt trailers?

[Jackstack76]

I can see some of the pros and cons of either as I’ve had both. One thing with the electric tilt I’ve wondered and I’m sure some of you have used a trailer more than me is…. Is there a way to get the trailer to tilt if the pump goes out on a electric tilt? Or are you just SOL?

I’m going to be getting a new trailer and was thinking of keeping the electric tilt, that said I don’t use a trailer a whole lot and the manual tilt seems more fool proof.

Thought?

 

[Johndeere3720]

I’ve not seen an electric tilt fail however you could probably adjust the relief valve to get the deck to tilt if the system was to fail. Really it all depends on what you intended to use it for. If just hauling a tractor or equipment I’d just go with gravity tilt. If hauling cars or pickup trucks I’d opt for electric tilt since gravity tilt will start tilting before the rear axle of the vehicle makes it on the trailer.

 

[Tractorable]

Most gravity tilts have check valves so you can lock the tilt deck in place for loading long wheelbase vehicles so the deck doesn’t start tilting down before the back wheels get on the deck.

I’m ordering a 24ft Diamond C HDT tilt deck tomorrow. 14K, 16ft gravity tilt deck, 8ft flat deck, pop up winch with bed roller.

 

[Fallon]

Gravity tilt & power tilt trailers are designed & balanced very differently.

I had a low gravity tilt trailer previously. Great to load, but it was to short (16'). Due to needing to balance the deck, the back 10-20% of the deck isn't usable space. Some have a fixed 4-6' chunk of deck in front as making the whole deck balance isn't possible on longer trailers. It's trivial to balance your load as you just drive forward until the deck tilts, then a smidgen more to go from balanced to the proper 10-15% tongue weight. Fenders suck for loading wide things or putting anything over the side of the trailer.

My current trailer is a 22' deckover power tilt. No fenders to deal with so my wide flail goes on fine forward or backwards. Forking pallets or anything over the sides is trivial. The deck is a lot steeper though. Slippery when wet or snowy. Some impliments drag when loading or unloading even with the 3pt all the way up & hydraulic toplink fully in. The deck is not balanced & will not lower without power. Lots more ground clearance on a deckover, which can be handy in rougher terrain.

Not sure if my next trailer will be a gravity tilt or another power tilt. Both have their pros & cons. If you only move a tractor & stuff fits between fenders, get a gravity tilt. Easier to load/unload, easier to balance, a little bit cheaper. If you haul a lot of non-tractor stuff a deckover power tilt may make more sense.