Mech Detach Neck too low??

[Andrew_D]

I went and looked at a lowbed today. 1979 Cozad. Tandem axle (11r22.5 regular tires). Mechanical Detach. Live roll at the rear.

The underframe clearance was ~30" just ahead of the axles. This means that the upright part of the neck isn't very tall. The front of the deck was sitting up on some blocks, but I estimated that if it was sitting on the ground (for loading), that the kingpin would have been 14" off the ground. So how the heck would you hook up to that trailer??? Would need some awful long ramps on the truck wouldn't you? And to top it off, horizontal distamce from neck to kingpin is only 78", so no room for long ramps on the truck.

Would this trailer require a winch truck to lift the trailer up?

I didn't have the camera with me, so no pics unfortunately.

Andrew

 

[RZucker]

It should only require a set of short steep ramps (45 degrees) to take out the slack in the neck and then slide up standard ramps to the 5th wheel. Hard to explain and I dont have pics either. I would find the previous owner and check out his ramp setup.

 

[Andrew_D]

It's at a trailer dealer. He buys and sells mostly flat decks to farmers to use for hauling hay and/or equipment. So he doesn't have a truck set up for this trailer. The front of the deck was up on blocks when I was there.

14" is pretty close to the ground though. I'm guessing that the bottom of the ramp would have to be below the bottom of my frame rails. I don't think I've seen one that low???

I'm not at my yard to measure my truck frame, but I'd guess the top of the frame is 30" plus? So that's minimum 16" of rise. Even at 45º, that's an additional 16" sticking out the back of the truck.

Andrew

 

[Andrew_D]

I can't edit my original anymore.... It's not a Cozad, it's a Scona.

Andrew

 

[1466IH]

It may be a mechanical detach and you have to let the air out of the truck to get under it

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[Andrew_D]

Yes, it is a mechanical detach. But I've never seen a mechanical detach with 30" of ground clearance before. Which means that the neck drops very low to the ground for loading.

Andrew

 

[Andrew_D]

Basically, it is a single drop lowbed. ie: no drop from the axles to the deck. Hence the 30" of clearance. Which means that the kingpin is going to drop slightly more than 30". My airbags will give me 4" (KW 8 bag setup), so the ramps would need at least 26" of vertical. That's going to mean the bottom of the ramps needs to be around the center line of the diffs wouldn't it??

Andrew

 

[ben46a]

With a live roll at the rear, its likely designed for a truck with a power tower and winch setup, to winch the trailer onto the tractor.

 

[Andrew_D]

With a live roll at the rear, its likely designed for a truck with a power tower and winch setup, to winch the trailer onto the tractor.

That's what I'm thinking....

After much browsing around, I came across this picture which is similar to what I was looking at. Imagine this kind of ground clearance with a mech detach neck:
http://trailersearch.com/resize.php?image=/uploadedimages/6195/13204177_1.jpg&height=400

Andrew

 

[1466IH]

The trailer may have a landing gear that might be broken or something or it is designed for a winch truck

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[Andrew_D]

I'm thinking a winch truck would be needed. Definitely a mech detach neck with no landing gear.

Andrew

 

[td25c]

Look something like these trailers ..... www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=4546561
www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=3963091&LP=TRK

Looks like you will need some good frame ramps and a winch on the truck to make it work .

 

[Andrew_D]

Look something like these trailers ..... www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=4546561
www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=3963091&LP=TRK

Looks like you will need some good frame ramps and a winch on the truck to make it work .

Yup, that's close. The problem with this one is that the neck->kingpin is only 78". I'm still at the in-laws for Easter. I'll measure my truck when I get home, but I don't think there's enough room with that short of a neck.....

Andrew

 

[1466IH]

What would be the point of a detach with a deck that high? Why wouldn't you just hang a set of ramps off the back? The only detach I have ever seen were the double drop style. I'm just not real sure what the use of one of those is.

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[Andrew_D]

Well, I got home and measured my truck. Never mind issues of hooking up....the trailer has neck->kingpin of 78". My truck from the center of the 5th wheel plate to the corner of my tire is 84". I'd have to move the 5th wheel right to the back every time I wanted to use it...

Andrew

 

[Andrew_D]

I suppose another option would have been to weld the ramps on the front of the neck of the trailer going up into the air. Oh well, wouldn't be able to turn anyways... Or, if the trailer was really cheap, maybe a guy could re-work the neck???

Andrew

 

[td25c]

Yeah Andrew_D , That might work . My old Lacrosse lowboy had a short neck on it from the factory . Had to have the fifth wheel at the rear to pull it .I really like the trailer so a few years ago I cut the short beams off the neck & added longer ones to fix the problem .

 

[1466IH]

I made that mistake once. Got hire as a shop hand at a local construction company and the foreman comes out and says go get a truck and hook up the tilt deck for a roller so I said ok. Went out to the first truck, got in and hooked up to the tilt deck. Come to find out I was supposed to use the old single axle ih truck because they would up having to cut the 5th wheel off of the truck in order to get things unhooked. The lengths must have been just right so the 5th wheel would lock to the kingpin but the back tires were against the trailer neck and I couldn't back up at all to relieve the pressure to pull the release handle. Lucky for me the guys there were pretty nice and understanding so I didn't get in trouble and all they asked me was "did you learn not to do that again"

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[lumberjack]

Impressive that they couldn't push the trailer into the truck to relieve the pressure on the 5th wheel.

 

[td25c]

That's how my trailer was 1466IH . 1951 25 ton tandem lowboy with the short neck designed for a single axil tractor . Pretty common setup in the 1950's . Had to have the fifth wheel plate at the rear when using a tandem tractor with it . Made my old White 4000 manual steering rig feel like it had power steering after we loaded the dozer . Got a little light on the front .