Thread: Need ideas for a low loading trailer

You will end up over maximum legal width, maybe a tilt tray setup might work.

Hi Surfin,
That's a mean looking machine. What are the measurements at full lift, front, centre and rear? Is there a motor in the front? Is the overall width 2.1? What sort of distances will it be towed? What is the total weight? I'm asking to try to work out a design to help you. Would it matter if it had small wheels, something along the lines of Alloy boat trailer wheels?
Kryn

Originally Posted by KBs PensNmore

Hi Surfin,
That's a mean looking machine. What are the measurements at full lift, front, centre and rear? Is there a motor in the front? Is the overall width 2.1? What sort of distances will it be towed? What is the total weight? I'm asking to try to work out a design to help you. Would it matter if it had small wheels, something along the lines of Alloy boat trailer wheels?
Kryn

Hi thanks for your reply.

Measurements at full lift are unknown at this stage as the suspension isn't fully welded (waiting for Engineer approval). But it could be between 150-200mm ground clearance at either end, and in the middle.

The motor is in the front, and weight is unknown, but estimated to be 1000-1200kgs.

I had thought of small 13 or 14" wheels...but probably not the boat trailer wheels. Distances towed could be large sometimes, like > 500km's depending where it has to go

Cheers

Craig

Originally Posted by BRADFORD

You will end up over maximum legal width, maybe a tilt tray setup might work.

Yes I am thinking this might be the best way

Hi Surfin,
Don't know if you have them in Qld, but there are trucks that pick up skip bins, that have a hook on the end of a Hydraulic Ram that connect into bar on the bin. Working on a similar type of design would allow the car to be driven onto a platform and then hauled up onto a trailer, something like that would be ideal but probably very costly to set up.
Another thought, was a flat top trailer that slid back, and allowed the car to be driven up then pulled up by a winch to load onto the main trailer, similar to the flat top recovery trucks, the winch running in reverse, would wind on the cable that runs around a pulley. This would require the winch cable to be on the top and bottom, so that it operates on a push pull system. This could be a tandem trailer with the smaller wheels to keep everything low, the suspension would be a single spring, pivoting at the centre, connecting to a pair of axles at each end, similar to a bogie drive truck. Where the spring pivots is also a pivot point for the trailer to lower the back end so as not to be so steep. The drawbar would need to pivot to make this all work.
Hoping you can follow my thoughts/idea.
Kryn

Hi Kryn

I can't follow all of what you said, but I get the idea.

I think it is something like what I had in mind like this:

http://mobilecontainersales.com/roll...iner_trailers/

My interpretation would be: I would drive the car onto a flat dolley on the ground. The dolley would have wheels. The dolley gets winched up onto the trailer (which is tilted). Once on the trailer, it is lowered flat and the dolley in pinned in place.

To unload, unpin the dolley, the trailer is tilted (could be hydraulic or using a winch to lift the front). The dolley would then be reverse winched off the trailer until it was flat on the ground.

One problem i can maybe see with this idea is getting the dolley off. If it gets stuck, it is basically rolling off under its own weight. So it may be had to keep it going .

How does this idea sound?

Originally Posted by surfin

Hi Kryn

I can't follow all of what you said, but I get the idea.

I think it is something like what I had in mind like this:

http://mobilecontainersales.com/roll...iner_trailers/

My interpretation would be: I would drive the car onto a flat dolley on the ground. The dolley would have wheels. The dolley gets winched up onto the trailer (which is tilted). Once on the trailer, it is lowered flat and the dolley in pinned in place.

To unload, unpin the dolley, the trailer is tilted (could be hydraulic or using a winch to lift the front). The dolley would then be reverse winched off the trailer until it was flat on the ground.

One problem i can maybe see with this idea is getting the dolley off. If it gets stuck, it is basically rolling off under its own weight. So it may be had to keep it going .

How does this idea sound?

Hi surfin,
Yes that's what I had in mind. The front of the dolly would have a couple of wheels running in a channel, while the rear would have a similar set up. Getting the dolly off, is by using a winch, that the cable runs in a loop, around a roller at the bottom of the trailer, very similar to a Rhino Boat Roller design. The winch when wound on, drags the dolly up on the trailer, to get the dolly off, run the winch in reverse, and the dolly is pulled backwards.
Regards
Kryn

Interesting to see what the end result is here.Ideas may come from what are used to transport race cars. Many look to be quite low.