Just curious if anyone has a mechanical detach that doesn't have ramps on the frame of the truck. My dad doesn't want to put ramps on his truck or a wet kit. We have found a nice triple axle mechanical detach trailer. Just curious if anyone does, what we are thinking about doing. Putting blocks under the deck of the trailer and then holding the neck up and back with either chains and a binder, or the bucket of my loader.
Used to see some mechanicals that were either built or modified with a small engine/powerpack setup in the gooseneck that either had a big single cylinder with a big flat plate foot that pushed down on the ground between the gooseneck frames, or twin cylinders and a sort of flat bar that pushed down across the rear frame of the tractor. In either case there was enough lift to disengage the locks on the gooseneck and then after the trailer was lowered and the latch pin was disconnected, raise the back of the gooseneck up so you could block it and then drive away. That's how I would do it, slick, relatively low cost, stays with the trailer, and not a lot of mucking about to get the job done.
Wouldn't the one with the large single cylinder be a ground bearing detachable gooseneck? Aren't they famous for punching through the ground when loaded If he isn't wanting to mod the tractor, why not put a power pack on a standard hydraulic detach?
You cannot detach the neck without driving the tractor out from under it. The neck has to hang free to release any locking apparatus. Sounds like you need to be looking for a hydraulic with a pony motor.
Few video's from Murray showing how it all works . http://www.murraytrailer.com/
I would seriously look for a Non Ground Bearing hydraulic detach. You won't need a wet kit (but they sure are nice), you won't have problems associated with ground bearing detachable trailers as Lumberjack pointed out, and you won't have the problems with the Cozad/Murray type of mechanical detach trailers needing lowboy ramps on the tractor. Ever try to back under and lift a heavy load on ice? The mechanical detach trailers work great on dry and level ground, but I have seen guys almost get hooked up and then spit the tractor back out when trying to lift the load when it is slick.
I can only give one exception to rule of hydraulic ground bearing trailers to not working well. That is the General/peerless design with a cylinder on each side of of the neck. I have been around these for years and it seems to be very functional and sometimes advantageous....imho.....TIO
Yeah ippielb , That would be just for dropping the trailer , rite . From what I understand on the mechanical detach trailers they load over the rear most of the time and only detach when truly needed . Advantage on the mechanical is a lighter trailer weight due to no hydro system . If the price is good on the mechanical and you load over the tail most of the time then go for it Bro . We use single drop lowboys due to ground clearance issues & terrain . Only piece of equipment I have that needs hauled on a double drop lowboy is a motor scraper . Everything else gets hauled on a single drop or moves down the road under it's own power .
My brother used run one, little much to load equipment over the back , even with the air ride ,frame ramps, interlocking rears , ice/snow/mud made it a pain. then he backed spot on every time. I always had to do a second to get square to trailer. advantage was only we had the extra room on the flat top for a bobcat .
I would never, I repeat NEVER!! Have a mechanical detach trailer for use in a rural area or farm use. How much flat, dry, hard area do you have to load on? The crown on a township road is even a problem for one of those things. I would get a low single drop and load over the back (I did for 10 years) if you cant find a hyd detach in your price range. I now have a non ground bearing hyd detach, can load in snow, mud, grass, anywhere. Quick and easy.
Like Dis ? http://altoona.craigslist.org/hvo/5309239611.html
We have a 50 ton Aspen trailer with a hydraulic, non ground bearing, gooseneck and it works great. I seldom have a straight level spot to load/unload, the hydraulics make life a lot easier when hooking up. It's great to be able to raise the deck up in the air when you get hung up on the crown of the road when turning around. I've used the hydraulics to lower the deck almost down to the road to get a high load under a railroad trestle a few times too.