I currently haul big square bales of hay/straw on a 24' flatbed straight truck with a hoist. Works great, but I would like to use my semi instead for a couple of reasons (more capacity, and have one truck, several trailers for different jobs rather than maintaining two trucks). I have a flatbed trailer, but would like it to be self-unloading, so I was wondering about a walking floor, or live floor trailer. All of them that I see have sides and doors in the back. Do you think this sort of thing would work on a flatbed? Could my existing 45' flatbed be fitted with a walking floor, or maybe an apron chain? How fast are the walking floors, ie. how long would it take to unload 45'? I was considering buying a cheaper walking floor trailer and cutting the sides off. Bad idea? Any ideas on this? I've never used a walking floor trailer, so I don't know if that would work well or not. The loads generally weight under 1000# per foot of trailer length. Paul
If all you are hauling is hay, im sure it would be no big deal. I used to work around some live floor trailers, but they just didnt hold up to our demo environment. We ended up skinning the bottom of those trailers and using them as drag outs. They really only hauled scrap so there was a mag or orange peel machine at either end. Something to consider would be a push out trailer. These have a smooth floor bottom. You would have to keep the side walls, but this would allow you to have another trailer to use. Im assuming you are loading the bails with a telehandler, or loader. All you would have to do is load them from the back is stack them up, and push them forward. Once you get to the other end, you just use the ram/pushblock to shove them out the back. Maybe you could rent one to see how it would work for you?
why not just a dump. im sure you could find a company to build you a dumping flat floor trailer.
A cotton module flat top trailer is what you need (probably what you called an "apron chain"), it will push the load off the back . You cannot cut the sides off of a walking floor trailer as the sides form the bridging structure , there is no strength in the floors .
There are lots of flat bed trailerss with Walking Floors operating. The bottom rail, top rail, main suspension rails, and sides give the trailer the strength. If the bottom rail is strong enough a live floor can be installed.
I'd like to have around a 40' trailer at least and running that all that way up in the air scares me. Usually dump in gravel yards with slopes and uneveness. I have to pull forward to get out from under the load, and I just figure I'd have the Kenworth on it's side before long, or power lines snagged up top! It sounds like I could maybe have a walking floor installed on my existing flatbed? I wondered about the integrity of some of them if the sides were cut off. I thought about a push out trailer too. How would the ram retract? Or do you figure that would get pushed back when loading bales on it? The thing with that is that as the load fills up, pretty soon you are trying to slide the entire load forward. I was also thinking about a truss hauling roll off trailer, but not sure how well the bales would roll. Probably would need more rollers to support them. Thanks for the ideas guys! Keep brainstorming.
rolling tailboard would be a no go. you would possibly get the last row of bales of the rest would stay put. Around here hay is hauled from the field to the shed on a harrow bed then loaded on doubles with pull out cheaters that's followed to the ranch by a squeeze. when I kept a couple of horses at the ranch I would get the feed dealer to just load the hay and the shavings bales right over the top of the 45' frameless. I would back up to the front of the barn and dump them right out the back. then I just had to lump them into the feed stall.
The Walking Floor will unload anything anywhere and won't tip over the way those long dumps do when raised in the air on uneven ground or windy conditions. Check out the V-Floor at V-Floor.com.
looking to buy a red river or flowboy belt trailer looking for a nice used live floor belt trailer for asphalt at a fair price you can email me [email protected]
Live Floor Trailer: Here's a link: http://www.v-floor.com/ OCR
I don't know if you know that Walking Floor trailers require a prime mover/tractor to have special hydraulics . The normal wet kit you would have for a tipping trailer will not work them . An idea i drew up on paper once , was a forklift mast and tynes that were stored vertically in the rear of the trailer , against the back gate . The mast would have it's own electric power pac and deep cycle battery trickle charged by the truck . When needed you would wind down the trailer legs and unhook the truck . You would then come around the back and hook the corresponding eyes on the Bull Bar into the quick connect fittings on the mast (little ringfeders) . Reverse the truck back and pull the tynes out of the trailer rack . A forklift is only a vehicle with a mast , you already have the vehicle......You may need a pair of hydraulic spring isolators to stop the front of the truck moving around . The normal weight on the steer axle is 6 ton and the unsprung mass is less than 3 ton so you would have 3 ton capacity if needed . A simple curly cord with an up/down button through the window would be all that you would need to control it . A used mast can be had for 2K and a power pac 1.5K , it may be worth a thought .
Ironhorse Trucks that deliver rafters and building kits have forks that fold out after they unhook the trailer. Its been a long time since i've seen them working so the details are fuzzy.
i think a walking floor trailer would be perfect for his use.some of the live floors i have saw you can stand at the rear of the trailer and control them.they are now trying to build a walking floor for the asphalt industry? they call them a mule by travis they built 3 of them in 06, they still have all 3?
Iron Horse, that's kind of a cool idea! For me, I'd like to find a way to unload the whole trailer in 5 minutes or less though. What are the hydraulic requirements for a walking floor? Just a two line wet kit, or does it need extra high flow?
the travis mule i was looking at took a two line wet kit,but it had a higher flow requirment than a red river live belt,the travis with a kieth walking floor was 2 line with about a 45gpm flow for proper use, they told the lower gpm would work but would be a lot slower!
oh the travis would unload the load in just a little over three minutes!wit proper flow,
i thaught that was pretty good i was pretty good i am just afraid to be the first one to use it for asphalt!however the keith walking floor has been around a long time in the garbage and other industries,and are almost built like tanks,meaning you cannot tear them up!but they are lightweight,for your use i dont see how you can go wrong!and there is a lot of nice used walking floor trailers around,the travis mule i was looking at was only 28 ft and legal with a 28 ton load!if you call them they sometimes offer you to try out there product free!
Would'nt a walking floor trailer leave a load of hay lying on the ground like a big Elephant poop ? P Backus , idealy a high flow , high pressure pump (some use piston pumps) and yes it is a two line system running a return line . hvy 1ton , Are you refering to a set of fold away brick forks that are used with a truck crane ? You guys talking of Asphalt with a walking floor . Are the trailers insulated to keep it hot ?
some of them are insuleted!
how did it go? Did you ever find a trailer that would wwork out for what you need?
I have been thinking on it a lot, and the idea has evolved to this: Use my existing 45' flatbed trailer and modify by running a chain down each side of the trailer and pulling them with a shaft on the rear with two sprockets (one for each chain) which is turned by a reduction unit powered by a hydraulic motor. The chains would be attached only to a bulkhead at the front of the trailer so that when in operation, the bulkhead would push all the bales off the back. The chains would be a continuous loop (probably just use cable to complete the loop) so that when unloaded (with the bulkhead at the back), you could just reverse the hydraulic motor and return the bulkhead to the front of the trailer again for the next load. Clear as mud? This is the simplest and least expensive method I have come up with. Have any other ideas anyone? I'm still refining this in my mind, but am planing on starting on cutting and welding pretty soon! I have an old barn cleaner unit I am planning on using for the reduction unit that would be mounted below the deck, except for the last sprocket which would be on the shaft at the rear of the trailer. Any ideas on what hydraulic motor would be needed and where to get one? Or how about the requirements for the truck wet kit pump? Should I just call a "hydraulics place" and ask what they recommend? Pb
I would say the amount of frictional drag the load would have on the tray would be enormous . I would think far more than any hydraulic motor and reduction box could overcome . Does it not matter that the bales will fall all over the ground and break thier strings ? Do the stock just eat from the pile ?
I currently haul the bales on a 24' straight truck with a hoist. I usually don't have to get over 30º or 35º of tilt on the bed before the bales start to slide off. Based on fuzzy images of high school physics (the high school girls are not as fuzzy in my mind...) the friction at that angle would be less than 1/2 of the weight of the load. So with a 40,000 lb load, I'm thinking that a 20,000 lb pull should get them sliding. That should be attainable, I'd think. Am I thinking about that wrong? I rarely even break one string, much less an entire bale by dumping them, and I have dumped 1000's. It can happen though, and I was going to fab up some kind of chute for the back of the flatbed to ease the drop. BTW, the reasons for not just continuing to use my dandy straight truck include owning/insuring/licensing only one truck, and the increased capacity of the semi. Thanks!
You've got me there , my mind is full of fuzz when it come to remembering what i was taught at school . As for the girls , i was the fool chasing them around with frogs instead of ............:Banghead
wet kit i also was looking at going to a walking floor;travis told me a around a 45 gpm flow would be what i needed to unload in around 3 minutes,yes i would call just to be safe;i have seen almost new wet kits with everything on ebay for less than a thousand$ good luck let us know how everything works out!
We used to haul idiot squares (small square bales) in hay vans. We would build the stack in the back of the trailer and while the loader was getting more bales, we would walk the floor ahead. Unloading and stacking was easy, just walk the floor back as you unload the trailer--no walking clear to the front of the van trailer to get the last few bales. This was a great set-up for delivering horse hay.
Live Floor Trailer: :falldownlaugh... :lmao OCR...
yepers!
we used to load small squares in van trailers. we used a gradall telehandler and hand stacked them. My dad told me that it would "make me tough" and "Build character" atleast i didnt have to hand unload them when they got to Texas in august. but it wasn't much better loading them in California. You need a hay squeeze
ya,i know what you mean my dad told me he carried hid two brother to school in three foot of snow 2 miles up hill each way,lol
Yea my favorite part was he would always tell me this after he rolled the window down in his pickup that was well air conditioned. he would then roll the window up and drive off.
lol,that sounds like my father he will gripe over paying 100$ for a room in vegas and then go dow stairs and loose 5000$
Live Floor Trailer: :falldownlaugh :falldownlaugh Stop... this is bad for my health...:lmao :lmao OCR...
Thank fully those times are well behind me now. WELL BEHIND ME! and today the only way i would load an entire truck of hay would be with one of these http://www.roadrunnermfg.com/haysqueeze.html
that is nice i have a friend who i haven't seen in a few years south of fresno who has some of those that are all yellow they look real nice you may know him? his name is melven maggiene and his brother felix they are big time hay brokers! i may have spelled the last name wrong but thats close.they have several big yellow trucks they go all over in to nevada and northern california,yhey have nice rigs$$
I know OF maggini. I talked to the guy once briefly at a truck show. One of the nicest fleets of peterbilts i have ever been near in my life. Hell the squeeze is cleaner than most new luxury cars. words cant describe how clean his rides are.
yep that's melvin the blond headed muscler guy and his brother felix everything down to there pickups are yellow.and like you said NICE his trucks say hat bull.very wealthy but down to earth guys,about 12 years ago melvins brother baught him a real nice wooden sign to put in front of his office as a gift and paid like 35k for it,melvin is realy big hearted a it braugt tears to him,but for sure he has first class everthing right down to his yellow squeeze,it's a small world! i lived in fresno for about 9 or 10 years,i went back last year and the traffic seemed it had trippled since i lived there,i kinda miss it till i think about the traffic and the gang problem wich was one of the biggest factors why we moved after we had our first daughter,it got to be there was a killing every night in fresno,i don't know if thats calmed down any?i sure hope so because ther is a lot of good people there and it's a pretty nice farming area
I've lived a sheltered life up here in the far northeast. What is that "squeeze" you're talking about and what does it do?
heres some of maggini's fleet. http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/dd_ca_maggini.htm And hers a demo of what their capable of http://www.gkfarms.com/SQUEEZE SERVICE.htm
that's a hay squeeze on his links that he posted,it looks like a giant forklift,
a wet line set up cost 1500 here in va on new or used ,, it will apply to walking floor trailers or dump bed trailers with 5 stage cylinders.... the best open top trailers ive worked with is peerless its a chip trailer but will do what you want to do
that is reallt reasonable for a wet kit,in north dakota they range depending on where you go from 2800$ to 3500$ it was kinda funny i stopped by a guys shop who deals in used trucks who i purchased a semi from about 5 years ago he had some used ones and he told me 4500$ installed i thaught he was out of line but after hearing 1500$ he is way off,i have found near new ones without instalation for 700$
nice pics it's kinda funny because i put the asphalt pavement down those trucks are parked on in those pictures!