5 Foot Wide Utility Trailer?

[MasterBlaster]

Good post!

 

[SeanKroll]

Trailer brakes on that?



I'll get you a picture of the brush hauling set-up. Its not fancy, but practical, for poor access jobs in order to save uphill dragging, locally.

 

[squisher]

Heck yah, great advice. Espescially when starting out and having no need for a capital depreciation I'd be looking used. Because if it's used for treework.......it'll get beat.

 

[dstimber]

I'd love to add a small knuckle boom to my trailer. If I didn't already make it so dang heavy I would. I've already had to add air springs on my tundra. Not sure if it'll handle much more plus what load I put on it.

 

[Page]

Oh yeah that trailer will get beat to death. I agree with a flat bed trailer or a dump trailer. Its all about handling material one time not multiple times. I always hated hand unloading logs at the end of the day.

 

[Merle Nelson]

That's a mower trailer. While it will work, you will just beat it to death using it for trees. And every twig will get stuck in the expanded metal. Get yourself a used flatbed, and add removable wooden sides. Spend as little as possible, and make sure it's a tandem. If you go to a dealer, you will be paying as much as possible for something. Hit up craigslist, eBay, or auctions. You will be amazed at what stuff actually goes for.

I went to a local utility auction, and they had a ton of utility pole trailers. Some were bare bones, but some had utility boxes too. I picked a utility one, 14000 pound, electric brakes and everything, for $500. I'm planning on making a roll off for it one of these days.

That is a great post, as Butch said. Additionally, there is probably very little chance that if you bought a trailer it will be just what you want to continue working with a short while from now. Buy used, buy it right (cheap) and when it's usefulness has passed sell it for the same amount or more.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Find a 10 foot x 6 X2 dump trailer 7k rated two axle for around 3400 in excellent condition and don't look back. Fug all that utility trailer shat. Waste of labor.
With pockets of course so you can add 2 more feet of wood sides to keep weight down

 

[CurSedVoyce]

No screwing around.

 

[pantheraba]

You do have some fine equipment there, Stephen. Looks great.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Smoking deal on that one Gary. I called around. Guy traded it in to the local mfg for something bigger. They painted it, new wires, brakes, good rubber, new jack.... 3400.00 almost like new.

 

[Tree09]

Yes a dump trailer is the way to go. But he has yet to cut a tree for money, and so doing the chainsaw chipper and hand dragging it off for the burn pile is the first step lol. I have a backhoe that I use to unload, before I got my chipper. The rolloff trailer conversion I plan on will be able to dump, and I can run multiple redneck tubs if I get rolling. I'm also gonna make a few enclosed ones, and sell off the enclosed trailers I got. Even playing with the idea of framing up a camper, and then pull it on and bam there's my rv lol. My trucks are all going to get the same type deal, so I can switch between welding bed and tree service beds. I'm doing the oilfield body as opposed to the dedicated rolloff or hooklift, so I will have gin poles too. I'll have an extra roller I can elevate, and then winching up on that will be the dump (trying to keep it lightweight and winch based for the swap thing. Kinda like this here...


Minus the size and all lol. 4" pipe for the rolling tailboard, all skids will be the same and made out of c channel. Was going to order the steel last week but I got called back to work. Simple and redneck, not specifically for tree work only, but will suffice for me for now. Guys I've talked to said they have lifted the front end of their truck up with them, picking all sorts of stupid weight. I'll do a build thread once I get started on it. Sorry bout the derail again...

 

[pantheraba]

This will be fun to watch...keep us in the loop!!

 

[rfwoody]

That's a mower trailer. While it will work, you will just beat it to death using it for trees. And every twig will get stuck in the expanded metal. Get yourself a used flatbed, and add removable wooden sides. Spend as little as possible, and make sure it's a tandem. If you go to a dealer, you will be paying as much as possible for something. Hit up craigslist, eBay, or auctions. You will be amazed at what stuff actually goes for.

I went to a local utility auction, and they had a ton of utility pole trailers. Some were bare bones, but some had utility boxes too. I picked a utility one, 14000 pound, electric brakes and everything, for $500. I'm planning on making a roll off for it one of these days.

Good post!

Heck yah, great advice. Espescially when starting out and having no need for a capital depreciation I'd be looking used. Because if it's used for treework.......it'll get beat.

That is a great post, as Butch said. Additionally, there is probably very little chance that if you bought a trailer it will be just what you want to continue working with a short while from now. Buy used, buy it right (cheap) and when it's usefulness has passed sell it for the same amount or more.

I'd love to add a small knuckle boom to my trailer. If I didn't already make it so dang heavy I would. I've already had to add air springs on my tundra. Not sure if it'll handle much more plus what load I put on it.

Oh yeah that trailer will get beat to death. I agree with a flat bed trailer or a dump trailer. Its all about handling material one time not multiple times. I always hated hand unloading logs at the end of the day.

Thanks for the good advice, squisher, Merle, Page!

Thanks Kyle, Butch, squisher, Merle, Denver, Page!!

That makes sense about the twigs, etc. getting stuck in the sides.

Also the idea of pushing stuff off the sides like Sean was talking about makes sense to me too.

I hope Sean will post some pictures of what he was talking about the wooden sides he has.
... (I know it isn't rocket science, but I like to learn from others (especially those with more experience) and factor in their approaches.)

I can/will build wooden sides, etc. ....... but (call it lazy or slowing down or other responsibilities or lazy) .... I will trade some money for time.
I don't want to spend my time doing a lot of maintenance and fixing ... maybe when I was younger.

[ Well you are looking to be in the wrong business fella! ]

Yeah, maybe so.... I do see I need to start changing my mindset of buying used when possible.
but I just don't see myself taking on any major fabrication/modification projects.

The thing about a trailer though, it will always be useful for something.

Thanks again for the practical, clear-headed post.

 

[rfwoody]

Trailer brakes on that?



I'll get you a picture of the brush hauling set-up. Its not fancy, but practical, for poor access jobs in order to save uphill dragging, locally.

Good question, Sean. I'll check.

Yeah, I hope you will show some pictures of what you were talking about with the 2' and 4' sides and rolling the sides off.

 

[rfwoody]

Find a 10 foot x 6 X2 dump trailer 7k rated two axle for around 3400 in excellent condition and don't look back. Fug all that utility trailer shat. Waste of labor.
With pockets of course so you can add 2 more feet of wood sides to keep weight down

CurSedVoyce, that looks like a great setup.
If I'm still doing this a few years from now with any momentum I might

 

[Tree09]

Let's be clear, even if it has brakes, that's the wrong trailer. There's not too much to maintaining a trailer, so used is ok. As long as it's not rusted away and you have tires under it, that's about all there is.

 

[rfwoody]

Let's be clear, even if it has brakes, that's the wrong trailer. There's not too much to maintaining a trailer, so used is ok. As long as it's not rusted away and you have tires under it, that's about all there is.

Thanks Kyle. Yeah, I think Sean, you and others have sold me on a flat bed with home made side.

... but it should be a flatbed with brakes, right?

 

[Tree09]

All tandem axle trailers should have brakes

 

[SeanKroll]

State laws will vary. Some require inspections and brakes on different weight trailers. A tandem should have brakes, but might not. It will have a battery and a emergency breakaway brake cable. Usually trailers with brakes store the battery in a toolbox.

You're pulling with a half-ton truck, I think. Don't think you have capacity for a dump trailer, or maybe not 7k.

Do you have hills, much? Traffic much? Brakes cost money, and usually, a tandem trailer is 7k or more capacity. A flatbed will weigh a LOT less than a dump, which is one reason I haven't bought a dump trailer, Yet. I have upsized with two trucks that have the towing capacity, and I've had a chip truck for 10 years. If I didn't have a dump bed, I'd have bought a dump trailer a long time ago.

I'll get you a picture of my set-up.
I didn't mean that its not rocket science, like you should understand. I mean that it is a low-tech solution. Doesn't look fancy, but I can get it back out where I wouldn't get a dump trailer. 4wd low is a feature I'm looking for!
I've probably got 2000 pounds. Probably take half and hour to unload it all, and be packed back up. Maybe 40 minutes. One strong person.

 

[DMc]

Robert, I know you would like a trailer, but do you really need one? I would say that most tree companies started off with just a pickup truck, chainsaw and some climbing gear. I know I did and believe me, it is all you need for most small jobs. Why not keep things simple?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Heck, with just that you might do better as a contract climber.

I mean, that's why I did it... I didn't want to mess with a treeco owner's worries.

 

[stig]

How in the world are you going to manage making a living doing tree work if you have so little practical experience at the age of 63? I'm baffled how you made it this far, I guess the government job explains a lot of that. I would expect a 20 year old brush dragger to know many of the things you've asked about. Even without doing tree work before, I'm amazed you've been on this earth 63 years and haven't been exposed to any of these tasks or concepts before.

I'll go crawl back under my rock now. I'm out.

I think it is male menopause, Brian.
A somewhat delayed one.
Most of us get it in our fifties, ditch the old wife for a younger model, preferably with silicone tits, and buy a sports car.

Robert got it way late, and decided treework was the way to go.

Dangerous choice, that one.
Silicone tits won't kill you,unless you are the owner, neither will a sports car, if you are smart enough to get a European or Japanese model and drive with care.

Treework sure as hell will kill a newbie if he doesn't get a mentor or a gigantic bag of luck.

Be interesting to see how this pans out.

 

[MasterBlaster]

But at the same time, it ain't rocket science.

 

[dstimber]

I'm a newbie. ( I gave up the hunt for a mentor a while ago). I guess my logging/sawmilling experience gives me an ever so slight head start over someone that's never been around anything like this.
I don't take chances on anything I have and will turn down work if I'm not comfortable with it.
Having a touch of fear in the back of your mind will help keep you alive I suppose.
I do think this line of work takes an intelligent person to get the job done and live through it. It's not a place for an idiot lol

 

[dstimber]

Being 31 and in half a$$ decent shape doesn't hurt either