Thread: Ground level loading trailers

I really like the concept .

I looked into this a couple of years ago. It would have suited my needs but adds a lot of weight and complexity. Great idea though. I don't think I'd pay for one but I might (and did) consider building one.

One I saw at a swap meet or car show was by 'Tilta Trailers'. Was interesting, can't comment any further- haven't used one!
http://www.tiltatrailer.com.au/
There are Youtube clips of them in use.
A.

A couple of others with a similar concept:

http://www.roadkingoutdoors.com/trailers.html

http://www.razortrailers.com

There are quite a few approaches to straight from the ground loading of trailers.

I've see a few where the tray or bed drops flat to the ground.....but they never seem to gain any market or popularity, because they are too heavy and too expensive.

The two concepts that seem viable to me are the tilting trailer and the squatting trailer.

There are a number of tilting trailer concepts arround.....some more complicated than others.

The simplest concept is to simply hinge the drawbar and either allow the trailer to tilt on its axle or axle group or to use some sort of jack or winch to force the tilting.

There are lots of plant trailers arround the hire companies like this, very common for golf buggies and I cant see much benifit in making it more compicated.

the need to tilt to a greater angle can be reduced by either using small wheels or using a drop axle.

The other idea is to use some sort of adjustable suspension to raise and lower the tray or deck.

Air bags are a good proposition but you need a source of air...and the airbags are expensive.

again a drop axle or small wheels helps in getting the whole thing low enough to get to the ground.


both of these ideas can be made a lot easier if you are prepared to tolerate some sort of short ramp at the rear.

A while ago I baught a used trailer off ebay..for arround the price of the axle.....its huge and flat....I refeer to it as the "trailer by the acre project"

I'm realy looking at the options for this rebuild and some sort of tilting or squatting option is attractive.....I realy like the idea of airbags...but its all looking too expensive and too hard.

My current thaughts are a tilting trailer with short ramps...because it is doable.

cheers

A good picture of one, similar to what I was once thinking about:

http://www.millerwelds.com/interests...ect/8519300802

Have a close look at that paricular trailer.

I have serious reservations about the strength of the running gear and the absence of any suspension.

A fish house is a light weight shed used for ice finhing....that structure is not a car trailer.

cheers

You make a good point, and I forgot the OP was interested in moving cars. My interest was in lightweight skiffs. However I'm sure that I saw a similar concept for heavyish loads. In the US though, where anything goes on the roads. BTW it does have springs if you look at the full size photo.

In SA, there was a trailer made that dropped level with the ground, it only lifted one end of the car though. It was designed as a breakdown trailer instead of having to call a tow truck, negating the special permit required for tow trucks. Consequently the Govt banned it after only a couple of years. It was lifted and lowered using a flat strap winch to a steel cable that was hooked to the chassis. If anyone is interested, the wreckers at Parafield that wrecked Subaru's had one, whether it's still there I don't know.
Kryn

Yeh the "mobitow" business was bassed on that device.

Not realy a ground level loading trailer more a towing dolly.

There are some people still using them to tow small vehicles behind their mobile homes...um.....very interesting legally....because the tow vehicle is actually towing two vehicles the dolly and the towed vehicle.....hmmm sounds a bit like a multi-combination.
Not sure how that whole thing played out.

Another legally interesting thing is the towing dolly that allows a fith wheel caravan to be towed by a conventional rear hitched ball...again that turns it into a multicombination, because both the dolly and the trailer have to be registered


ANYway...back to ground level loading trailers.

As I see it there are 3 very big chalenges.

Weight....the additional weight required for such construction.

Structrual integrity...what you have to do to restore the structrual integrity..see weight

The lifting and locking mechanism.....that may require quite some strength if it is a car trailer...see weight...and the bank manager.

cheers

I was sure I'd discussed this on here before - and I was right. Here were some of the ideas I was throwing around but in the end I didn't go through with anything similar. If you follow the youtube link and look at the other similar videos linked to it, you'll see they use similar concept for car trailers.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f184/b...-skiff-177282/

Updated link since some from my old thread are broken:

http://www.renegadetrailers.co.nz

Some cool trailers and a clever home builder could do the same, but keeping weight down is the issue.

What I'd like to know is how the tandem suspension works?????
Kryn

Its not a load sharing suspenion.
Each wheel is on its own spring and suspension.

cheers

As several others have identified, what is possible and what is practical are two different things.
Certainly a trailer that sinks to ground level is very doable from an engineering perspective, but costs will be way up there, maintenance more frequent and in quite possibly, the magic 3.5 tonne mark passed in order to get adequate load capacity to carry a decent size car. Suspension wise, hydraulic suspension would be a concept worth investigation.
If we look at what commercial operators are doing these days, it's pretty well all tilt trays for equipment and vehicle movements and there's not much you can't do with a tilt tray and a good operator.
Something that could easily be achieved on a trailer, either by hydraulics, airbags or winches.