Pull Behind Trailers -- Got any Pointers?

[kmcconaughey]

Ryan, you are correct. BTW, that old trailer was made from my childhood home made go-kart rear axle. Those are rather small rims/tires. I still have that homemade trailer the rims are aluminum two part split rims new bearings and it'll be good to go. Some day I might refurbish it. Anyway, the new trailer does pull easier, especially in deep snow.

 

[bmcmeen]

Hmm - I wonder if Kraig has a pic that includes my True Value branded Agri-Fab cart. It's essentially the 17 cu ft HD cart, then I installed an Agri-Fab plastic liner - nice thick plastic that holds up very well.

Prolly about $150 at the time. They even came out and dropped it off - assembled.

<font size="-2">hint to Kraig - it was prolly attached to the 100 or 129 at the time?</font>

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bryan, what color is it? All I find are photos of your Trac-Vac and your old Simplicity trailer.

 

[dfrisk]

I think My trailer is a VERY old Agri-fab, steel in the floor & walls is about 20 ga, .040" thk. Dad got it at MENARDS probably 25-30 yrs ago. It's been broken & rewelded, floor barely holds large tree branches it's got so many fatigue cracks in it. But I normally haul 500-700# loads of clippings & leaves, have hauled probably close to 1000# loads of dirt, and anything else I need to haul in bulk. Worst beating it ever took was loading rock with My trip bucket loader on My Super H one day. Dropping the bucket to the edge of the cart and tripping the bucket was "Cruel & Unusual Punishment" Wouldn't have been a problem with a hyd. bucket.

I am going to build My OWN larger cart someday....3-1/2 ft wide X 6 ft long with 12-15" sides, dual action tailgate, like a full size dumptruck, hinged top & bottom, plus a hyd. dump that will really lift some weight. Northern has one kinda like I'm going to build and they think it's worth $2000. Steel to build it's worth half that....and My time's worth

 

[lbuttke]

Heres a shot of the small trailer I use for hauling firewood and for rock removal from my garder. I can haul a full load of rocks with it but I had to replace the cheap plastic hub rims&tires and reinforce the toung.
Trailer only cost me $40.00 about 5 years ago when it was new.

 

[bmcmeen]

Kraig -

I found one!! Actually, I found a few. It's funny to go back thru the OLD pictures and wonder "WTH was I taking a picture of????"

Apologies for the beater Simplicity, but here you see Tedd helping cut up some fallen limbs and filling up the True Value/Agri-Fab cart with liner. Note the 1450 with an <FONT COLOR="ff0000">I</FONT><FONT COLOR="000000">H</FONT> No. 1 trailer in the background, too.

 

[rwilke]

Well Fellas,
Thanks for all the good imput, ideas and pictures - they're a big help, for sure!!

I spoke with a friend of mine today who said he'd be willing to take a stab at constructing such a trailer.

I'm still thinking I'd like use 14" car tires and make it to have the same wheel width as the 129, so the trailer will follow in the same tracks as the Cubbie. I don't think I should go much more than 5' long for the bed, (then add a 2' to 3' togue, for a total length of 7' to 8') for fear that the whole Cub/trailer rig may get just too long to maneuver in the woodlands. I'm thinking 15-20" side walls and a shorter 'tailgate' wall.

What is the opinion on hitches: Is a drop-pin hitch good enough or should I plan on locating some old boat trailer ball hitch end to have welded to the thing?

Thanks again for all the help & ideas, Guys!
Ryan W

 

[lbuttke]

Ryan,

Why go with an old boat hitch and all the troubles that go with it when a new hitch aint all that much at your local auto parts store or wal-mart, farm&fleet, ect.

 

[bmcmeen]

Why choose?

Really, unless the trailer will be the ONLY thing you pull with that tractor, do you really want to take the ball off everytime you want to pull an aerator, roller, etc?

But hey, if you're into more work to get things done...

 

[rwilke]

Lonny B.,
I appreciate your point; I would only go with a "old" boat trailer hitch IF it was in good shape and the price was 'free'.
Overwise, I'd do as you suggest. (I was also thinking I'd earn a 'thumbs up' from KENtuckyKEN for using all used material & NOT buying anything new to make it...

)
You list a few reasons I'm leaning toward building a trailer; the weak tongue construction on many of them & weak rims & narrow tires.
I can locate LOTS of good/used car tires, but trailer tires aren't available used and cost big $$$ new. Even if I had to put a tube in a bald car tire, it would still be WAY cheaper...

Bryan McM.,
EXCELLENT IDEA! I didn't think of going with a 'double style' hitch affair like yours!

If I can locate one of those plastic liners like you did, I may just plan the build size to fit one of those...?

Thanks again, Guys!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bryan, excellent idea!!!

 

[bmcmeen]

Ryan/Kraig -

I had Dan H. fab up a couple of these out of 1/4" CRS. If you line things up right, it won't interfere with a sleeve hitch adapter.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bryan, well, as you can see, my #2 125 has been slightly altered already and a rear lift won't work with it anyway.

 

[rwilke]

UPDATE Fellas;

I located and bought a very used, but straight and fairly rust-free BOLENS trailer. It's ~2.5' wide x 4' long. I need to repair one of it's tires, but that's it. I don't know if I'll be able to leave it the 'orange-ish' color that it is..... It may need to be painted something else,,,like maybe white???

Ryan W

 

[ccote]

There's a guy a few miles from me that has an IH trailer that's painted green to match the tractor he pulls it with. Every time I see it, I want to take it away from him!

 

[dsauve]

That's terrible what some people are capable of. I'd paint a green one white, but never white green.

Anybody ever had luck putting a linear actuator in for a powered dump box in lieu of a hydrolic ram?

 

[dfrisk]

DEAN - I don't think an elec. linear actuator would have enough force to raise a cart. Typical small hyd. system like the NF remote sytems or the charge pumps on hyd. remote equipped tractors make 900-100 PSI and even a small cylinder with 1-1/2" bore has 1.767 square inches of surface area so pushes 1767 pounds per 1000 PSI.
Back in the "OLD DAYS" company in Iowa, call MIDWEST Mfg. made a wagon hoist for farm wagons with a "Godbersen Linkage" which somehow increased leverage when You started to raise the wagon and need the most force. Worked really well but I can't find any details on how to build one! And I can't find any small economical 2 or 3 stage hyd. cylinders like large dump trucks use....the first stage is larger with more surface area and as the bed raises and require less effort to raise the stages get smaller and faster.

 

[kweaver]

All linear actuators I've had a part use plastic gears anyway.

Dennis - Do you remember any of the design of that lift system ?

 

[kide]

The Chinese tool place sells a 12 volt electric scissors jack, for about 70 bucks, rated at 2000 lbs with a lift of about 10 inches. I've thought of a couple of different uses. In this case, you'd have to mount it underneath the bed, closer to the tilt pivot, so you'd give up some capacity to get the bed travel you need. I'm thinking of a couple of hefty Heim joints for the links. It would be similar to one of the old mechanical lift systems on ancient dump trucks. The HF Sku is ITEM 94491-1VGA.... Get out the torches !!

 

[kweaver]

Yep I've seen those but think of this now ... take that electric scissor and use it as the "push" for a scissor such as what Michael has under his table or one like this (I had one of these once, they work good)

Northern has those for trucks. I had one under a '52 one ton Ferd.