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Live Floor Trailer

P Backus

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
75
Location
N.E. WI
I currently haul big square bales of hay/straw on a 24' flatbed straight truck with a hoist. Works great, but I would like to use my semi instead for a couple of reasons (more capacity, and have one truck, several trailers for different jobs rather than maintaining two trucks). I have a flatbed trailer, but would like it to be self-unloading, so I was wondering about a walking floor, or live floor trailer. All of them that I see have sides and doors in the back. Do you think this sort of thing would work on a flatbed? Could my existing 45' flatbed be fitted with a walking floor, or maybe an apron chain? How fast are the walking floors, ie. how long would it take to unload 45'? I was considering buying a cheaper walking floor trailer and cutting the sides off. Bad idea?

Any ideas on this? I've never used a walking floor trailer, so I don't know if that would work well or not. The loads generally weight under 1000# per foot of trailer length.

Paul
 

Turbo21835

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Messages
1,135
Location
Road Dog
If all you are hauling is hay, im sure it would be no big deal. I used to work around some live floor trailers, but they just didnt hold up to our demo environment. We ended up skinning the bottom of those trailers and using them as drag outs. They really only hauled scrap so there was a mag or orange peel machine at either end.

Something to consider would be a push out trailer. These have a smooth floor bottom. You would have to keep the side walls, but this would allow you to have another trailer to use. Im assuming you are loading the bails with a telehandler, or loader. All you would have to do is load them from the back is stack them up, and push them forward. Once you get to the other end, you just use the ram/pushblock to shove them out the back. Maybe you could rent one to see how it would work for you?
 

Dualie

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
1,371
Location
Nor Cal
why not just a dump. im sure you could find a company to build you a dumping flat floor trailer.
 

Iron Horse

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
761
Location
,
A cotton module flat top trailer is what you need (probably what you called an "apron chain"), it will push the load off the back .

You cannot cut the sides off of a walking floor trailer as the sides form the bridging structure , there is no strength in the floors .
 
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Bob Moore

New Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
3
Location
Madras, Oregon
There are lots of flat bed trailerss with Walking Floors operating. The bottom rail, top rail, main suspension rails, and sides give the trailer the strength. If the bottom rail is strong enough a live floor can be installed.
 

P Backus

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
75
Location
N.E. WI
why not just a dump. im sure you could find a company to build you a dumping flat floor trailer.

I'd like to have around a 40' trailer at least and running that all that way up in the air scares me. Usually dump in gravel yards with slopes and uneveness. I have to pull forward to get out from under the load, and I just figure I'd have the Kenworth on it's side before long, or power lines snagged up top!

It sounds like I could maybe have a walking floor installed on my existing flatbed? I wondered about the integrity of some of them if the sides were cut off.

I thought about a push out trailer too. How would the ram retract? Or do you figure that would get pushed back when loading bales on it? The thing with that is that as the load fills up, pretty soon you are trying to slide the entire load forward.

I was also thinking about a truss hauling roll off trailer, but not sure how well the bales would roll. Probably would need more rollers to support them.

Thanks for the ideas guys! Keep brainstorming.
 

Dualie

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 23, 2007
Messages
1,371
Location
Nor Cal
rolling tailboard would be a no go. you would possibly get the last row of bales of the rest would stay put. Around here hay is hauled from the field to the shed on a harrow bed then loaded on doubles with pull out cheaters that's followed to the ranch by a squeeze.

when I kept a couple of horses at the ranch I would get the feed dealer to just load the hay and the shavings bales right over the top of the 45' frameless. I would back up to the front of the barn and dump them right out the back. then I just had to lump them into the feed stall.
 

Bob Moore

New Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
3
Location
Madras, Oregon
The Walking Floor will unload anything anywhere and won't tip over the way those long dumps do when raised in the air on uneven ground or windy conditions. Check out the V-Floor at V-Floor.com.
 

Iron Horse

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
761
Location
,
Any ideas on this? I've never used a walking floor trailer, so I don't know if that would work well or not. The loads generally weight under 1000# per foot of trailer length.

Paul

I don't know if you know that Walking Floor trailers require a prime mover/tractor to have special hydraulics . The normal wet kit you would have for a tipping trailer will not work them .

An idea i drew up on paper once , was a forklift mast and tynes that were stored vertically in the rear of the trailer , against the back gate . The mast would have it's own electric power pac and deep cycle battery trickle charged by the truck . When needed you would wind down the trailer legs and unhook the truck . You would then come around the back and hook the corresponding eyes on the Bull Bar into the quick connect fittings on the mast (little ringfeders) . Reverse the truck back and pull the tynes out of the trailer rack . A forklift is only a vehicle with a mast , you already have the vehicle......You may need a pair of hydraulic spring isolators to stop the front of the truck moving around . The normal weight on the steer axle is 6 ton and the unsprung mass is less than 3 ton so you would have 3 ton capacity if needed . A simple curly cord with an up/down button through the window would be all that you would need to control it . A used mast can be had for 2K and a power pac 1.5K , it may be worth a thought .
 

hvy 1ton

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
1,943
Location
Lawrence, KS
Ironhorse
Trucks that deliver rafters and building kits have forks that fold out after they unhook the trailer. Its been a long time since i've seen them working so the details are fuzzy.
 

pavving

Active Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
31
Location
central north dokota
Occupation
paving contractor
i think a walking floor trailer would be perfect for his use.some of the live floors i have saw you can stand at the rear of the trailer and control them.they are now trying to build a walking floor for the asphalt industry? they call them a mule by travis they built 3 of them in 06, they still have all 3?
 

P Backus

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
75
Location
N.E. WI
Iron Horse, that's kind of a cool idea!
For me, I'd like to find a way to unload the whole trailer in 5 minutes or less though.

What are the hydraulic requirements for a walking floor? Just a two line wet kit, or does it need extra high flow?
 

pavving

Active Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
31
Location
central north dokota
Occupation
paving contractor
the travis mule i was looking at took a two line wet kit,but it had a higher flow requirment than a red river live belt,the travis with a kieth walking floor was 2 line with about a 45gpm flow for proper use, they told the lower gpm would work but would be a lot slower!
 

pavving

Active Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
31
Location
central north dokota
Occupation
paving contractor
i thaught that was pretty good i was pretty good i am just afraid to be the first one to use it for asphalt!however the keith walking floor has been around a long time in the garbage and other industries,and are almost built like tanks,meaning you cannot tear them up!but they are lightweight,for your use i dont see how you can go wrong!and there is a lot of nice used walking floor trailers around,the travis mule i was looking at was only 28 ft and legal with a 28 ton load!if you call them they sometimes offer you to try out there product free!
 

Iron Horse

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2008
Messages
761
Location
,
I currently haul big square bales of hay/straw on a 24' flatbed straight truck with a hoist. Works great, but I would like to use my semi instead for a couple of reasons (more capacity, and have one truck, several trailers for different jobs rather than maintaining two trucks). I have a flatbed trailer, but would like it to be self-unloading, so I was wondering about a walking floor, or live floor trailer. All of them that I see have sides and doors in the back. Do you think this sort of thing would work on a flatbed? Could my existing 45' flatbed be fitted with a walking floor, or maybe an apron chain? How fast are the walking floors, ie. how long would it take to unload 45'? I was considering buying a cheaper walking floor trailer and cutting the sides off. Bad idea?

Any ideas on this? I've never used a walking floor trailer, so I don't know if that would work well or not. The loads generally weight under 1000# per foot of trailer length.

Paul


Would'nt a walking floor trailer leave a load of hay lying on the ground like a big Elephant poop ?

P Backus , idealy a high flow , high pressure pump (some use piston pumps) and yes it is a two line system running a return line .

hvy 1ton , Are you refering to a set of fold away brick forks that are used with a truck crane ?

You guys talking of Asphalt with a walking floor . Are the trailers insulated to keep it hot ?
 
Last edited:

pavving

Active Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
31
Location
central north dokota
Occupation
paving contractor
how did it go?

I'd like to have around a 40' trailer at least and running that all that way up in the air scares me. Usually dump in gravel yards with slopes and uneveness. I have to pull forward to get out from under the load, and I just figure I'd have the Kenworth on it's side before long, or power lines snagged up top!

It sounds like I could maybe have a walking floor installed on my existing flatbed? I wondered about the integrity of some of them if the sides were cut off.

I thought about a push out trailer too. How would the ram retract? Or do you figure that would get pushed back when loading bales on it? The thing with that is that as the load fills up, pretty soon you are trying to slide the entire load forward.

I was also thinking about a truss hauling roll off trailer, but not sure how well the bales would roll. Probably would need more rollers to support them.

Thanks for the ideas guys! Keep brainstorming.
Did you ever find a trailer that would wwork out for what you need?
 
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