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need advice on lowboy

fireman050

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
286
Location
jackson
Occupation
construction & volunteer firefighter
i need advice on buying a 50 ton non ground bearing 3 axle lowboy
 

Chaz Murray

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
215
Location
Stockton CA
i need advice on buying a 50 ton non ground bearing 3 axle lowboy

I am assuming you are lookin for a hydro detachable neck right?
Have you looked at the Mechanical detachable?
What is the biggest machine or item you plan on hauling?
how is your tuck set up..wheel base and axle config?
where are you primarly going to use this trailer(states)?

Ill prob come up with a few more questions before the night is through...
 

fireman050

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
286
Location
jackson
Occupation
construction & volunteer firefighter
i do want a hydro detach the biggest equipment i'll haul will be a 40 ton adt
the truck is a 1996 international eagle with a 3406 cat 455 hp engine 20,000 rears 12,000 front 3.73 spicer rears
 

Chaz Murray

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
215
Location
Stockton CA
i do want a hydro detach the biggest equipment i'll haul will be a 40 ton adt
the truck is a 1996 international eagle with a 3406 cat 455 hp engine 20,000 rears 12,000 front 3.73 spicer rears

what exactly is a adt?

if you are hauling 40 tons i dont think a 3 axle trailer will be big enough assuming the following

your state allows 12k on the front axle 40k on the drivers and 60k on the trailer

if the truck weighs 17k and the avearage 3 axle trailer is somewhere in the 15-25k area...lets assume 20k for arguments sake that would give you a empty weight of 37k and a max loaded weight of 112,000lbs...you would be 5k short weight wise for makin 40ton payload...thats also assuming you can get the weight transfer just right on the trailer. If you could get a different truck (goin off Californa rules here so may be a little different where you are at) we can run a heavy front axle truck up to 22k and get 46725lbs on the drivers so there would be the extra payload you would need right there.

If you dont get a different truck then your only other option would be to find the lightest trailer you can find and to do that you would have to drop the hydro neck and look into a mechanical type. that in itself would drop 1500 to 2500lbs off the weight of the trailer. Hydro may be nice when loading but sure makes the trailer heavy quick. here is a video I made of a mechanical detachable neck..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5cnccKc7fs
 
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Chaz Murray

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
215
Location
Stockton CA
sorry brain fart on that one...just had one in the yard saturday that we were using to test load over the back of a 3 axle we just finished...makin sure it would clear the rear end of it.
First pic is the 3 axle and the 2nd pic is how we haul them in CA:D we did not load it all the way on the 3 axle since we dident want to scratch the thing and were just makin sure it would clear the rear of the trailer and it would with about 8" to spare and if we would have dumped the air in the suspension would have had a little more clearance. This trailer is also the same one we used in makin the video on youtube of the detachable neck.
 

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richardcatdaddy

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 5, 2007
Messages
61
Location
Versailles,Ky
Occupation
heavy equipment hauler,local
semi and lowboy

I drive a 92 KW T800,pulling a Etnyre 55 ton drop deck,detatch by hydro,no pony assist motor.It is a 3 axel trailer,the rear being a tag,or drop alex. I haul art trucks on it with no problems.Also D8n,a Cat 345 track hoe,621B scrapers a John Deere 770 grader,so it does pretty well.Luck to ya.:usa
 

dayexco

Senior Member
Joined
May 21, 2005
Messages
1,224
Location
south dakota
murray, althought your trailers are very nice looking and appear to be very well built, the mech detach would be too time consuming for us. we work primarily within a 50 mile radius, move 3-4 pieces of equipment each job, and we might do this several times a week, we have a non ground bearing 3 ax challenger, i know not favored by many...but works great for us. i like being able to drop the trailer, pull the lowboy away, load/unload, back up, hookup and go.
 

Chaz Murray

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
215
Location
Stockton CA
murray, althought your trailers are very nice looking and appear to be very well built, the mech detach would be too time consuming for us. we work primarily within a 50 mile radius, move 3-4 pieces of equipment each job, and we might do this several times a week, we have a non ground bearing 3 ax challenger, i know not favored by many...but works great for us. i like being able to drop the trailer, pull the lowboy away, load/unload, back up, hookup and go.

do you detach for everything you load and unload?
 

bill5362

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2007
Messages
353
Location
Indiana
Occupation
I own a excavation company and a rolloff container
Trailers

We have been looking at getting a new 55 ton hyd. detach, looked at several and we have it narrowed down to a Trailking, Talbert, and Globe, I fairly sure we are going to be ordering a new Globe by the end of this month. I think they make a very good product, and the warrenty is great. Quality really matters with me, I don't think you can wrong with any of these trailers. This is just my opinion. Bill
 

Chaz Murray

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
215
Location
Stockton CA


aside from building trailers we also run 5 lowbed trucks in our fleet..our company started out as a lowbed trucking company in 1946..so after 61 years of doin it one way just kinda hard to understand other ways of doin it...the only loads we break down for are machines that wont crawl over the back of the trailer..so maybe one or two times a week our drivers have to break down (except on the 9 axle where ya have to break down for everything). most excavators and many rubber tired machines run right over the back with no ramps at all..chain down and go. I guess I am just use to the way it is done around here and rarely see a hydro goose neck in this part of the country.
 
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thejdman04

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
582
Location
Illinois
aside from building trailers we also run 5 lowbed trucks in our fleet..our company started out as a lowbed trucking company in 1946..so after 61 years of doin it one way just kinda hard to understand other ways of doin it...the only loads we break down for are machines that wont crawl over the back of the trailer..so maybe one or two times a week our drivers have to break down (except on the 9 axle where ya have to break down for everything). most excavators and many rubber tired machines run right over the back with no ramps at all..chain down and go. I guess I am just use to the way it is done around here and rarely see a hydro goose neck in this part of the country.

A lot of them around here are going to hyd tails/ detaches. They run hydro tails and then a slope over the axles down to the deck. You can still detach to put low profile stuff on (pavers) and still get the low deck height but dont have to detach for everything
 

Chaz Murray

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 26, 2007
Messages
215
Location
Stockton CA
A lot of them around here are going to hyd tails/ detaches. They run hydro tails and then a slope over the axles down to the deck. You can still detach to put low profile stuff on (pavers) and still get the low deck height but dont have to detach for everything


we try to avoid using Hydro as little as possible...the more moving parts you have the bigger chance there is for something to go wrong. The last time we built a hydro neck was back in the 70's for the fed govt. and have never seen them again since they left our yard.

we do build one trailer with a folding tail but it is all air powered so any truck can hook up to it and use it no matter if they have a wet kit on the truck or not.
 

Jammar7

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2009
Messages
19
Location
Iowa
Hey Fireman! What states you runnin in? Three axle lowboy will more than cover you in most parts. Might want to consider a 42-1/2 ton or a 45 ton to keep the weight and cost down. However, you can always grow into a 50 tonner!
 

The Farmboy

Active Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2010
Messages
25
Location
Kentucky
Occupation
high school and farming love farming with my dad
i got brand new lowboy and first thing i did was put strobes all around it
 

jrtraderny

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
236
Location
New York
aside from building trailers we also run 5 lowbed trucks in our fleet..our company started out as a lowbed trucking company in 1946..so after 61 years of doin it one way just kinda hard to understand other ways of doin it...the only loads we break down for are machines that wont crawl over the back of the trailer..so maybe one or two times a week our drivers have to break down (except on the 9 axle where ya have to break down for everything). most excavators and many rubber tired machines run right over the back with no ramps at all..chain down and go. I guess I am just use to the way it is done around here and rarely see a hydro goose neck in this part of the country.

I'm guessing you folks have never had to load an excavator in a blizzard then ............ H#ll of a long ways to the ground crawling over the tires of a trailer.
jr
 

monster truck

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
267
Location
cali
Ive ran both hydro and mechanical styles and have to say that there is not too much difference between the two when it comes to time.
 
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