What do you think about this trailer

I am guessing that the empty trailer weighs 2,000 lbs, 3,000 at most.

i

Take it to a scale at a truck stop and weight it. A truck scale will give you your front axle, rear axle, trailer and gross combined weights for about $10.

Great idea.

And this is how it looks:

With a photo shot straight from a side, it does not look that unbalanced.

i

Nope, but it looks heavy. Also those are the two piece clamp type wheels, which are an older heavy duty style. You're going to want a spare of course.

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It looks heavy to you because it is a tilt bed.

i

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The dropdeck is definitely better. But with a winch mounted on the front of the tilt deck, you can move a lot of stuff fairly safely. I moved a Bridgeport with a landscape trailer by removing the back ramp and jacking up the front until the back of the deck was on the ground. Not ideal, but I got the machine in my garage.

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We'll see who's estimate is closest to correct once you weigh it...

Guys, sorry for a dumb questionm how do those tilt beds work? Are they supposed to be raised unloaded, then equipment driven on, and it would drop back to its original position when the forklift or bobcat deives far enough forward? Is that right?

Depends on the design but what you have is right for many.

When empty they will tilt up so you can load. Some use hydraulics, others use a sliding axle system, others just gravity.

That trailer you posted looks like a standard beavertail that doesn't actually tilt. You drop the rear ramps and drive up those.

It does tilt, for sure. I cannot try it right now, because it is loaded.

i

The photo is more confusing than helpful. It makes it look shorted and heavier on the nose than it really is.

Here's a better photo that I made after loading a 6,000lbs crane on it:

The trailer has a 14 foot bed.

I have a feeling, based on something factual, that this is actually a

12k trailer, but it is titled as 10k, which is fine with me. i

The price was OK, better than ebay, but not something to really brag about.

i

Proof that a pic can confuse things. I would have said nine feet with six ahead of the wheels.

Karl

This is where picture decoding skills come helpful. On the left side

-- closest to the photographer -- you see the part ahead of the wheels enlarged, and the area behind the wheels obscured.

Now, if you would look at the right side of the trailer -- farthest from the photographer -- the trailer proportions do not look so crazy.

I went to the auction site and actually looked at it before bidding, as I needed a trailer ASAP and did not want to byu a lemon.

After putting about 300 miles on it, this one does not seem to be a lemon, however the electricals do not work. Also, the front lifting jack clearly bent itself out of position.

i

I hope the "factual" item isn't a rating plate on the trailer. That plate is what the DOT goes by to determine if the trailer is CDL level or not.

If it says 12K I hope you have a CDL. Unless you like large fines.

On that subject, how are you doing getting your CDL Iggy?

There is no tag left on this trailer.

I read 1.5 books out of 3 by now. I will probably take the next in 4-6 weeks.

i

Yeah, you couldn't really see the beaver tail at all in that. --Glenn Lyford

The electrical is a simple problem you've probably already fixed - half the time they just let all the lamps beat themselves to death. LED Lights are the way to go on any trailers, they ride too rough.

Might want to move the tail lights closer to the rear, they shouldn't be set back more than a few inches from the corners. You can always take 3/8 round bar and bend up some protection hoops around the tail light fixtures.

The best trick is to wire it like a Commercial trailer with separate Stoplights (takes 4 tail lights) and put a 7-pin or 9-Pin commercial round FEMALE connector on the tongue. Then it can work with either style of tow vehicle tail lights, and you can make separate connector cables to adapt to the truck you are towing it with.

Straight-through cable if you rent a Semi Tractor, 7 Commercial to 7 Travel Trailer if you have your pickup wired like that, 7 Commercial to 6-pin round...

Don't do any more to the tongue jack than make sure it didn't rip anything, and replace the bolts. If you fix it, you'll just drag it in a driveway and bend it again.

If you really insist, you'll have to put on a reinforced "Skid Shoe" to take the brunt of a dragging. Or get a big cast-iron caster wheel and hard-mount it right there so it rolls over the driveway apron. Look at the wheels they mount under the back bumpers of motorhomes for inspiration.

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