We are currently moving all of our logging equipment in the woods with this 1995 T800 Kenworth and TrailKing 50T lowboy. The truck originally was set up with a dump bed, so the wheel base is around 234". The lowboy has a 22' well. One of our biggest problem is goose neck is too short. The combination of long wheelbase and short goose neck really makes getting around in the woods a challenge. We are constantly climbing the bank or hanging out into the ditch trying to get around tight corners. There is nothing worse than an "S" curve. We've actually had to unload, pick the ass end of the trailer up and set it back up into the road, get around the corners, then reload. We're looking at another truck with a 20K front axle, no drop axle, but a wheel base of 200". It is actually set up as a lowboy truck with the ramps. My questions are: What are advantages/disadvantages with the shorter trucks and with that heavy duty front axle? With the ramps, I'm hoping to get the 5th wheel pushed ahead another foot or so. I'd love to trade this trailer for a 9' wide 18'-20' well trailer, but maybe the shorter truck will be enough. I know that my overall length will be shorter, which is great in the woods, but limits my gross weight (legally speaking) on the highway. We are very lucky here - in over 20 years of hauling our own logging equipment, we've never been axled out. Seems like if you keep your equipment clean, chain it down right, and use all your flags, flashers, signs, and permits in order, they don't harass us. Would appreciate any suggestions
Our tractor is 220" and my buddies is 200". And it is amazing the difference how much easyer it is to get around tight streets. I don't know what equipment you have but I would say keep the trailer. Nothing would suck more then to get a good deal on a piece and find out your trailer is to small to move it.
If you can find one, a 180" wb with heavy axles would turn on a dime. I have seen them used for heavy haul here a few times. I'm not sure if they still make them due to the lack of room and the new emissions gear though.
I don't know about your rules, but if it were my truck, (in Australia), I would simply shorten the wheelbase by moving the suspension mounts forward, shortening the tailshaft and cutting off the excess chassis then remounting the turntable, or fifth wheel as you know them.
Functionally I think you are on the right track, but losing the tag axle in Idaho may hurt you if you haul other things that are not permitted (reducable load). The longer gooseneck will help with weight distribution but I don't think it will help your off-track problem with the trailer. Your running under an annual overweight permit anyway with the load in the picture, so a shorter tractor with 20K front axle is probably the best way to go, if you can get the weight on the front axle, which takes us back to the longer neck on the lowboy. I have a 50 ton Aspen lowboy similar to yours, except the neck is long enough to put the king pin on the forward setting directly over the front drive axle. My tractor is an old logging truck with Hendricksen walking beam suspension so the frame does not protrude far behind the rear drivers. In a perfect situation the shorter tractor with 20K front end and long enough neck to get the weight on the steering would be ideal, along with a shorter well in the lowboy. Where you are running under the annual permit anyway the loss of bridge might not be that big of deal if you are not hauling other equipment that requires more room. Hope it helps, and I think you are on the right track.
Without going out and measuring it, I am pretty sure my T-800 is a 190" wheelbase, with a 22K set back front axle. I pull a Murray Proffesional lowboy, and it has a long neck on it. I have run the logging roads in Northern Cal with it, and it gets around well. I have the steering stops adjusted for maximum angle, and it turns sharp enough to jacknife while going forward and turning, if you let it. It is hard to beat for getting around in tight places. I have nearly 3 feet of fifth wheel slide to use for weight transfer as needed. In my experience, running with the fifth wheel forward gets the whole rig around the tight corners better. In steep ground, I have to pick a balance of forward for turning ability, of back for traction. As for weight, I don't know the rules in ID. I can net 90,000 on my set up in CA. 20,000, 46,725, 60,000 with a light weight of a little over 36K
Thanks for all the help and advice. I think the first thing I need to do is measure my gooseneck and see if I can get it far enough ahead on the new truck to get the front axle up to weight. Sounds like I need to get over the front drive axle.
The shorter tractor is a good idea, but from your description on the roads down in the woods I am afraid you need to shorten the trailer also. My suggestion if you want to get a trailer with say an 18' deck, but need to meet bridge law on the road where a 18' deck would be too short, I would do a couple of things; first set the trailer up with a 2 piece hydraulic neck. The main neck you have in the picture looks to be around a 10' 6" total length with 84" swing give or take some of course. I would set a trailer up with around a 12' 5" neck with multiple kingpin settings for more fine tuning, but then also set the neck up with a hydraulic flipneck extension say around 4' length with a couple pin settings. What this is going to do is you use the main neck when off road with the flipneck flipped back hydraulically. When you get on the main road you put the flipneck down. What this does will do a couple of things; first it will push the trailer away from your truck further opening the inner bridge distance between the truck and trailer meeting the bridge laws as if it were a 22' well and the second thing is move the weight distribution more towards the tridem of your trailer helping with that. Of course there are many many variables there on getting the weight distribution correct, so I can not be certain this setup will work unless you can give me axles weights both loaded and empty, spacings, & spreads on your current rig and what are maximum weights allowed on single, tandem, & tridem groups in your state. Another thing to consider in place of or in addition to what I said above is set the trailer up with reinforced axles and heavier 30K air ride susp. and air lift the 3rd axle when off road. This will cut the turning radius down a couple of feet on a 9' tridem spread and 3' less if it is a 10' tridem spread. Thing there is how much weight do you have on the tridem before you lift the third axle. You may can get by with a trussed 3/4" wall 5" diameter axle or may need to go to a 5 3/4" diameter axle. Either way it is doable. Now there is a third option which basically is a steerable tridem on the trailer. You can have a trailer built with kingpin steer axles that are electric/hydraulic operation manual steer with a wireless remote. Its been done and does work, but more things to go wrong and you will fuss about tire wear. But it is doable. All-in-all there is a such thing is a trailer to meet your needs, but there is no such thing as a "perfect" trailer. On another note if you haul yellow iron a 9' wide is man's best friend and in some cases even a 10' wide. I saw your comment wanting a 9' wide and I agree. Justin
i'm in the market for a 35ton lowboy or 25 ton tag trailer and was trying to get some info on which trailer would work out better and the insurance info for a tractor and lowboy for upstate NY. I have a friend that currently moves my equipment on his lowboy when needed. I have for equipment john deere 650j xlt dozer john deere 160d excavator john deere 310sj backhoe john deere 624j loader and a hamm 3307 roller and freightliner tri-axle dump any thoughts or info would be helful
The company I work for just went through the same thing your going through except we bought 4 new trucks and 3 new trailers. Scraper special necks for your trailer will give you more clearance and a air axle on the rear of the trailer will help you turn sharper. Shorter trucks seem to turn and back sharper and faster than the long wheel base trucks. The scraper necks will also give you a little extra length. The bigger the well the better, you can position the load differently so you can scale legally, we learned that the hard way. have to sit the shuttle buggy hopper on the neck to get it scale right.