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tri axle fixed neck trailer manufacturers

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
I've got two detach trailers now and am wanting a tri-axle fixed neck deck over trailer to go with my detaches. I've got so many places my detaches can't get into due to the low ground clearance, I'm hung up all the time, that and with the poor shape of these secondary roads, my detaches are helpless.

I don't really need a tri axle but for the little cost difference, I might just as well have it in case I'd ever need to haul my larger equipment.

I've all but given up looking at used, all I've seen so far are complete junk, rusted out hulks of scrap iron way overpriced for what they are, been considering new, and an absolute must is hot dipped galvanized which limits the makers pretty slim who would do it.

Interstate tells me they will hot dip the deck over trailers, but know nothing about them and there is one in Minnesota that will as well, can't recall the name right off hand. Any suggestions??

We've tossed around the idea of building one ourselves, the only plus side of that is, I could build it exactly the way I wanted it. Anyone built one themselves??
 

Old Doug

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2013
Messages
4,484
Location
Mo
I worked for a guy and we built 2 trailers. He got some T1 some were we built the main frame I beam from that i dont remember if the rest was T1 or not. We stick welded it with 11018 rods i think thats what they were. You cant weld any thing with them if its not laying flat so we rolled it over several times. It took a long time to build one but they were used to the extreme . He told use how long and we look at others no prints or drawings.
 

heymccall

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2007
Messages
5,349
Location
White Oak, Pa
I've got 2 20+ year old Interstate 40dla trailers...only issue is corrosion.
I've got several Towmaster 5&6 ton trailers between 8 & 20 years old..again, only issue is corrosion.

Definitely considering the next one to be galvanized. Towmaster (Minnesota) offers galvanizing, too.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a trailer from either one again.
 

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
If I ever took a notion to use a detach trailer in my area it would be one like member Lowboy uses .

Sets high in the rear & low in the front . Imagine he can " jack " the neck when needed to get over & around obstacles . :cool:

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/p-h-30-ton-mobile-crane-new-retirement-home.76689/

We did something similar with fixed neck 10 wide . Left the rear low & raised the gooseneck in the front . Be surprised where a feller can go with a trailer that aint on the level . LOL! :D

10-wide&insley 001[1].jpg
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
We have so many banked highways, so when you need to turn down a gravel road, even with the neck as high as it goes, your hung up in the belly.

Most farm drives are about impossible to get into or out of with a triple axle detach, if not the length, it will be with the belly being hung up.

I've seen the style where they angle the deck from the ground level to driving over the rear axles, kind of like the best of both worlds, some call them oil field detaches.

This rust issue thing is getting bad, with the liquid salt they spray on the roads today, I've seen some five to eight year old trucks in so bad of shape with rusted frames, they are junked out due to being unsafe to drive.

Was in the local repair shop this past winter, and an almost new truck, had the radiator so bad, the fins fell out between the tubes and the front bumper had fallen off due to the rust in the frame rails, they were fighting with warranty to determine who was supposed to pay the damages, since the truck was still under warranty.

Towmaster, thanks for the name, I couldln't remember it, they had a trailer frame being dipped the last time I was at the galvanizing plant having some small parts being dipped.

I priced an interstate trailer a few years back, the plant they have that does the smaller trailers will dip any trailer they build, the plant that does detaches is in another state and they won't dip those, they don't have any galvanizing plant nearby to do it for them.

Landoll will dip the deck portion, not the neck portion of detaches, but their claim to fame is the lowest frame height in the industry for their detaches, not really what I was after at all.
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
The other issue with detaches I've noticed with every single used one on the market and even my own, they sit so low and the gravel dust and debris sit so badly on the main beam rails due to being so low in the first place, they rust the main beams out so badly.

On my own trailers, we solved this issue somewhat by leaving a gap in the deck boards on both sides of the main beams, so you can wash them off from the top side standing on the deck, before with the solid boarded, you'd have to lay under them with the neck as high as it goes in order to reach the inside of the frame rails to wash off, then blow the debris in your face as you wash, which usually ended up never being done. Now with a six inch gap in the boards on both sides of the frame rails, it takes a few minutes to wash the entire main beam assembly from standing on the deck and blowing the debris down and away from you.

On the trailers with an open center section, never seen one yet that didn't have bent cross members in them. So by putting a few boards down the center seemed to help that issue.

When we did the last deck on my tandem detach, we also left a gap between the side rails and the boards, so I have six gaps in the top deck, so I can also wash the cross members of the entire trailer by standing on the deck to do it, it also helps with air flow and the deck seems to last longer as well. Otherwise I was putting a deck on every other year, since there was moss growing on the bottom sides of the boards and rotted the deck out of the bottom up.

A friend of mine asked when he saw my trailer, why we left gaps in the deck, told me it looked bad, explained to him why and then drove the trailer around the shop and pulled the pressure washer hose out and started to wash the main rails and cross members off by standing on the deck, two weeks later his lowboy wasn't solid boarded either.
 

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
We have so many banked highways, so when you need to turn down a gravel road, even with the neck as high as it goes, your hung up in the belly.

Most farm drives are about impossible to get into or out of with a triple axle detach, if not the length, it will be with the belly being hung up.

I've seen the style where they angle the deck from the ground level to driving over the rear axles, kind of like the best of both worlds, some call them oil field detaches.

Sure understand that Randy .:cool:

You got to spec the truck & trailer to the environment it's working in I reckon .

Long & low don't work to well in my neck of the woods .:)
 

hvy 1ton

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2006
Messages
1,942
Location
Lawrence, KS
Last I checked, landoll will dip the neck and frame on their traveling axle trailers. Almost as much clearance as fixed neck and no ramps.
 
Last edited:

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,274
Location
sw missouri
There are a lot of heavy single drop tri axle's, for sale around my area, they all come out of the oilfield in oklahoma. Some are in good shape, some have been used really really hard.

Holden, Nuttall, and Atoka are all made around here. Holden in Missouri, atoka and nuttall in Ok.

I'm not sure what brand your current detach is, but my talbert will lift the neck at least 4' off the ground. I've never done that loaded, I think it would get a little tippy on the 5th wheel, but I've done it empty to get turned around in a crooked spot.

I know what you are saying about field driveways though. I've thought about a shorter detach for my smaller crane, just because my tri axle is so hard to get turned around in some spots. A local big dirt contractor has a big detach, but they move a lot of stuff still with their single drop short trailer, just because they can't get the big trailer in to a lot of spots.

For what they want for used detach trailers, a single drop looks pretty reasonable in price. I recently saw a nice 10 year old single drop for sale for around $16,000, and it looked like a new trailer. Beat up detaches seem to mostly be in the 25-35,000 range around here. Unless they are ground bearing witzco, etc.. Those don't bring much.
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
My tandem detach is a Talbert, my triple axle detach is a Rogers, and I've raised them up as high as they go loaded, do it all the time, puts quite a bind on the fifth wheel plate when turning, but there are plenty of places they are still hung up on the banked highways. In those areas you have to creep along to see if they clear, if you gun it and try to ram through, you find out your trucks drivers are dangling in mid air and then your forced to side unload and use what your hauling to shove the truck and trailer off the hang up.

I've talked to Holden in the past, they will hot dip, but since they are so far from a plant, it added I think 16k to the top of the price. The other two I've talked to but never got an answer really if they would or not, think I must have been the first to even ask and they were not prepared, never heard back from either.

I haven't found any single drop trailer worth taking home yet, bid on a few online that looked pretty good, but didn't have the time to go look in person so I wouldn't pay what it took to own them.

I once thought about rebuilding a used trailer and then having it dipped, but by the time I was done, I might as well just order a new trailer dipped.

Those ground bearing detaches, not sure who would even want one, in my area they'd be worse than hopeless to the point of dangerous might be more of a term that describes them best. Can't recall of any place I'd been in the past two years I could even use one, with the soft roads, yards and fields around here, I'd never be able to unhook or hook one back up, once hung up, the cylinder would never touch the ground, heaven forbid they'd unhook while hung up.

Some of my help in the past, has gunned the truck with my Rogers to avoid the whole truck drivers dangling in the air only to find, those will unhook once the weight is off the neck, to tear the air lines and power cord right off the front of the trailer. My Talbert has a lock pin to keep the neck on, but if you ram it hard enough, that too tears off the front of the trailer along with everything else, especially if your loaded, as they say, some put that little bit of extra effort into causing destruction and expense.
 

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
This thread reminds me of a job we were on at a Church .

They had added on a big fellowship hall and we were going the grade work .

Church has a big cemetery so pretty common to have a Funeral at the new fellowship hall .

It's on a hillside as usual in south Indiana and My concern was ….. " Will the hearse have adequate clearance with it's long & low wheelbase given the grade transition going from flat to downhill ? "

OK …. Myself and Pastor Jimmy went knocking on the door at the funeral home …... " Hey , how's it going and buy the way we need to measure the wheelbase & ground clearance on the Hearse ."

We were fine with the grade and the hearse had 3 inches to spare .:D

serveimage[2].jpg
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
TD did you measure the ground clearance on the hearse when it was empty or loaded? LOL

They did the same thing around here years back, as soon as the cement was poured, the funeral home traded hearse's and the new one was slightly longer and it rubbed loaded, so jack hammer all of the cement back out and do the landscaping again, a couple other churches they have to park on the street and carry the casket into the church, same problem with it rubbing and getting hung up.
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
Crane Operator, I'm still in the market for a trailer, but I'm needing a 50 ton triaxle, but that 35 ton is nice looking trailer thought, just a little light for my needs.
 

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
Crane Operator, I'm still in the market for a trailer, but I'm needing a 50 ton triaxle, but that 35 ton is nice looking trailer thought, just a little light for my needs.

What are you hauling Randy ?
 

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
Cool …. Sounds like 30 to 35 tons .

35 ton trailer should handle that fine .
 

Randy88

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2009
Messages
2,149
Location
iowa
Almost every used 35 ton trailer I've looked at had a twist or bow to them for some reason, thinking 50 ton is more durable.
 
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