Anyone on the forum using a cozad? They look like a well built trailer.How do operators like the mechanical detach?Dose cozad offer a hydraulic detach trailer?I see most of the cozad trailers are in the western part of the US.All detach trailers in my area are hydraulic.I like the idea of the mechanical detach trailer.
I had a 79 cozad that i sold to purchase my 06 Murray. It was a tough trailer that took a fair beating over the years. towards the end before i sold it, it seems like i was chasing cracks every couple of months. I ended up putting 2 completely new axle Assembly's in it a bout a year before i sold it after almost ripping the whole trunnion mount off the trailer about 5 miles from home. It was a narrow nose 22.5" wheeled 16 tire expandable. I will say that putting the neck back on was a bit easier than it is with my wide necked Murray. The narrow neck was the exact same spacing as the tractors frame rails and lowbed ramps so lining up was easier. Also the cozad center pin latching system was a much easier to line up and get latched on the first shot. Now the down sides are it rode much harder on the tractor than the Murray, If i was going to expand it i usually had to stop about 10 miles from where i was going to load and pull the air valve and let the trailer spread out before i got on site. Its Regular steel where the Murray is T-1 steel. Being a lesser grade of steel the Cozad was a 4 frame trailer to make up for that. Having four full frame rails made the trailer much heavier than the Murray with 2 frame rails. It had its faults and Merritt's. I also liked the wide load light setup on the cozad much better than the Murray extension cord setup but thats a preference thing, I was going to switch my Murray over to the four pin round connector like the cozad but never did. Personally being from the west coast a 16 tire west coast spec mechanical detach would be all i would ever own. I wouldn't even look twice at a hyd detach trailer having ramps on the truck was No big deal, and kept all your other trucking friends from borrowing your trailer. Even with the larger tires on my cozad i still loaded 80% of the stuff over the tail anyways so getting out to detach the neck only happened 20% of the time. The best thing i ever did to my tractor was to add an air release 5th wheel and longer air lines and electrical cord. that way i only had to get in and out of the truck three times instead of five.
Thank's for the all the good information Dualie.The cozad and murray trailer's share resemblance to each other.I like the tandem 16 wheel arrangement,the expanding option sounds awesome.I dont see these types of trailers in my area,everyone uses the hydraulic detach trailer.I like the looks of the cozad&murray trailers.I guess the big advantage of the mechanical verses the hydraulic is wieght.The mechanical type would be at least 1000 lbs. lighter not having any hydraulic system,cylinders,heavy linkage.I have a double drop 10' wide fixed neck lowboy that we load equipment over the side,and I was thinking of converting it to a mechanical detach.So I am eager to hear from people that use these trailers.I am somewhat familiar with the procedure of operating the mechanical detach,you need "cozad" ramps behined the fithwheel and the trailer has rollers that catch the ramps.
Does IN recognize 16 wheel combo's? I still never have been able to figure out how all the big conveyors around here can have 16 wheel combo's. I've asked a few of the guys i know at the quarry, but none of them can ever get any info. Of course, one of my friends thought a jeep was the flip over neck for hooking to the jeep and the jeep was the "little trailer" if i remember correctly.
INDIANA would recognize the 16 wheel combo.My old employer had a 16 combo lacrosse lowboy in northern IN.We never had any trouble with DOT.They go by the width of the wheel rim to determin the weight a vehicle can haul with overweight permits.My intrest is the mechanical goose neck on the cozad trailer as I am looking at converting one of my trailers to mechanical detach.
There is a video on the front page of our web site on the detaching of the mechanical neck trailer. www.murraytrailer.com We are currently working on hydraulic neck trailer design and hope to have a prototype out soon for testing. Not sure on the time line for them being available for sale yet.
Chaz and his dad build great trailers IMO!
I new the west coast operators could help me on the mechanical detach lowboy,But I did not expect to here from a Murray representative.I appreciate the help Chaz,and I saw the video on your website.It works like I imagined it would.The Murray looks like a well built lowboy for sure.I like the looks of that style of trailer,we dont see many in my area.My fixed neck double drop lowboy has about 16 " of ground clearence at the goose neck ,so I will need longer fithwheel ramps on the tractor to catch the goose neck.I have noticed on the old mechanical detach lowboys the tractor used a winch behind the cab to pull the trailer up to the fithwheel.Is there any trouble getting a loaded trailer up the ramps on the tractor?
It really depends on a few factors...how heavy is the load, what are the ground conditions i.e. mud, dirt, snow, dry etc, how are your ramps on the truck built as far as how steep they are. With our own trucks we try to avoid taking the neck off if we have to and load everything that will climb over the back that way. If we have to load over the front and the load is really heavy we would just move the machine as far back on the trailer as possible before trying to back the truck up under the trailer. On light loads it's not hard to get back under it. In the parts and service section of our site http://www.murraytrailer.com/services.html (second row, second column of pictures)it shows a rear view of a truck that we installed ramps on. If you look at the upper section, it is tied into the slider of the 5th wheel so the upper section slides with it.
That makes sense.The dozers and excavaters can load over the rear most of the time.If I convert my lowboy to a mechanical detach,I will mount a winch on the tractor to help on a heavy load.Thank's for the imput and help Chaz.I can post some pictures of the trailer in the future.
Here are some pictures of the lowboy I am thinking of converting to a mechanical detach.It's a home made 10' wide trailer.I did not build it,but I did make some changes on it.I shortened the deck 5' and modified the goose neck so the trailer sets higher in the front ,This helps on rail road crossings an uneven terrain.It has to be side loaded now.Put cribbing under the side rails of the loboy and some for the dozer to crawl up on to get on the deck.An excavator will load pretty easily on it.
We are pulling a 2+3+2 65ton Cozad for the 10th year now and we have had great luck. The only drawback was in the begining we had to make modifications to the tractor{ a 95 KW W900} for the mechanical d-tach. I have had everything from a small excavator to a d10r on deck with no problems. Cozad builds a great trailer. Good luck with your detach conversion!