Gravity tilt trailer to power tilt

[bgaidan]

Picked up a brand used 24' 15k full tilt (gravity) trailer yesterday. After years of abusing my 7k hauler, this thing will get put to good use.

I'm already thinking about converting it to power tilt. Originally I was thinking it would be as easy as adding a pump and swapping the cylinder, but looking at some other power tilt models, it looks like they either have more beefed up mounts for a single cylinder or they use a pair of cylinders mounted closer to the sides. Which all makes sense after looking at mine, this structure probably couldn't take the full load without buckling.

This is what I'm starting with:

Random internet pics:

Seems I could get away with using the same cross members and moving the mounts out closer the trailer frame with some extra gussets would be enough. And then probably tie it to the outside tube of the tilt frame.


I can pick up a 12v vevor pump for around $200.

Need to measure the cylinders, but I'm guessing somewhere around 16" will do it. Hopefully can find those on surplus center for ~$150 apiece or better. Maybe $100-150 in hoses and fittings and I should be able to get it done in the $600 range.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Why?

 

[tracyb]

x2 why? i get it for a deck over. does it not tilt with your weight on it?

in any case i wouldn't do re do any mounts or anything. just plumb it to existign cyclinder. it really shouldn't be taking to much stress, it shouldn't ever be lifting a load.


i really want to do a deck over power tilt where the back 4ft or socan be removed and then it would dump like a dump trailer.

 

[bgaidan]

Why?

x2 why? i get it for a deck over. does it not tilt with your weight on it?

in any case i wouldn't do re do any mounts or anything. just plumb it to existign cyclinder. it really shouldn't be taking to much stress, it shouldn't ever be lifting a load.


i really want to do a deck over power tilt where the back 4ft or socan be removed and then it would dump like a dump trailer.

Part of my intended use for it will be moving logs for my sawmill. Say I'm loading 2 or 3 big logs. I'd need to winch the first one up just enough to not tilt it back, which would prevent me from loading the second. After getting the last one on , it'd turn in to a game of pulling them all up enough to get it to tilt and load the tongue. With power, I could use the cylinder(s) to hold the deck up while I load and then carefully lower it down.




Hell, it would have been handy yesterday when I brought it home. I was out dropping something off with my old trailer when I stopped by to look at the new one and ended up buying it. It was either drive and hour and half round trip to go home and drop the old one off, or just winch it on to the new one and send it. Couldn't quite get it far enough due to fender conflicts. She was a little tail heavy and squirrely over 50, but fortunately it was back roads all the way home.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Have a relative that has a log arch he pins onto his trailer when he needs it. Lil fucker hauls alot of good sized logs down off the hill with it. Blew it up a few times before he got it built right.

His pivots a bit closer to the center of the trailer, but you get the idea

 

[bgaidan]

Have a relative that has a log arch he pins onto his trailer when he needs it. Lil fucker hauls alot of good sized logs down off the hill with it. Blew it up a few times before he got it built right.

His pivots a bit closer to the center of the trailer, but you get the idea

I had plans to do an arch with a fixed deck trailer, but this being full tilt, I think it'll work fairly well just skidding them right up. Only question right now is if the "12k" hf winch has the balls to fully pull a big log all the way up. It's came with the older style one with steel cable and spring brake...the one you can get for like $240 right now. I have the newer Badlands 12k with synthetic rope sitting on the shelf so I may swap it in. If not more powerful, I know that it is faster. I bought that one a while back when it was on sale really cheap, knowing I'd be building a log trailer at some point.

 

[YotaAtieToo]

Try to keep the gravity as an option. I prefer gravity over power for equipment and vehicles. It's also a nice option if the battery dies.

Although I'd be tempted to cut about 4 feet off the tail of that thing if going power. I hate having that much trailer behind the axles.

 

[BustedCrank]

What about just swapping cylinders with one with a valve you can close to hold it in place, then you can just open the valve when you're ready to drop it down?

 

[Steve300xcw]

What about just swapping cylinders with one with a valve you can close to hold it in place, then you can just open the valve when you're ready to drop it down?

The tilt decks we used to have just had a hose running from one port to the other on the cylinder. Had a needle valve in the middle of the hose to adjust how fast it moved. Wouldnt take much to run it out to the side...

Still that could be alot of weight just waiting to drop...

 

[bgaidan]

What about just swapping cylinders with one with a valve you can close to hold it in place, then you can just open the valve when you're ready to drop it down?

That's plan B. I'm actually considering doing that and then adding a little 5k or so winch to the tongue that, along with some pulleys, could be used to pull the deck down to latch it for the occasions that I can't get enough weight far enough forward on the deck.

The tilt decks we used to have just had a hose running from one port to the other on the cylinder. Had a needle valve in the middle of the hose to adjust how fast it moved. Wouldnt take much to run it out to the side...

Still that could be alot of weight just waiting to drop...

That's what I was expecting to see here, but this one looks like it actually does the bypassing internally. Not lines outside and only a single port. I'm guessing it just has holes in the piston that slowly let the fluid pass from one side to the other.


I'm picturing something like the cylinder on my horizontal band saw. It has something like a metering valve to control the speed and then a ball valve to completely turn it on or off. So set the metering valve so it drops nice and slow like the current cylinder when the ball valve is wide open. Close the ball valve to lock the deck in place and then open the ball valve and and the deck slowly goes back down (or up).

 

[arse_sidewards]

Can you actually max out the cap of that trailer with a single level of logs?

Winching logs past other logs sucks. Cable likes to dig into whatever log it's running over. It's a bitch to get out and it wears out the cable fairly quick.
How much time/effort are you really saving with power down? Enough that you can't just use a jack?

 

[bgaidan]

Can you actually max out the cap of that trailer with a single level of logs?

Winching logs past other logs sucks. Cable likes to dig into whatever log it's running over. It's a bitch to get out and it wears out the cable fairly quick.
How much time/effort are you really saving with power down? Enough that you can't just use a jack?

A 26" x 20' white oak log weighs just shy of 5k and I could fit 3 side by side on this trailer, so....yes? Pefectly loaded, paylod on this is probably around 12k.


But I'm thinking more along the lines of I'm winching the first log up and, oh shit, I pulled it too far and the deck tilted down. Now I can't get the second log up unless I rig something up to pull the first one back far enough to tilt it back. It basically means I'd have pull the first one on far enough to hold the tail down and then pull the next one(s) on furthers, but not too far that it tilts the trailer and leaves the first one teetering....and then just hopscotch pulling them all the rest of the way on one at a time.

I have piles of sacrificial straps and chains so I'll never choke directly to the log with the cable so not worried about that. I'm sure I'll fine tune the process as I go along.




This is kind of meant to be an all-around trailer that will hopefully do everything I need it to, but won't do anything as well as a purpose-built trailer. Basically, I need probably 4 trailers to do all the shit I need to do on a semi-regular basis.

1) Simple car hauler - 10k beavertail steel deck would be ideal. I'm usually at max weight with my 7k steel deck.
2) Log trailer - a low deck with an arch
3) Heavy equipment trailer for moving my forklifts and big tractor - this tilt deck is about perfect for that, though a little long
4) Deckover goosneck - for hauling loads of import equipment (sawmills, machines, etc) from the warehouse to the shop. My next order coming in is in the 12k lbs range. This new trailer will work, but I'll be maxed out and the fenders can make loading a pain at the warehouse. I'm also pushing the limits of my receiver with the tongue weight.

I also would really like to get a 15k dump at some point.

 

[Bebop]

Shit, power tilt is super useful.
I'd just double up the cylinders, add a few braces like this pic and send it:

 

[arse_sidewards]

But I'm thinking more along the lines of I'm winching the first log up and, oh shit, I pulled it too far and the deck tilted down. Now I can't get the second log up unless I rig something up to pull the first one back far enough to tilt it back.

A few tabs and a pin might solve that well enough.

I have piles of sacrificial straps and chains so I'll never choke directly to the log with the cable so not worried about that. I'm sure I'll fine tune the process as I go along.

It's the cable running by whatever log you loaded 5min prior that's the problem. Like the situation where you've already got a middle log and you want to load one beside it because it'll fit better that way. I've never choked with the cable but I suspect it would actually be fine since the cable is perpendicular to the grain and it's not moving relative to the log.

 

[bgaidan]

Shit, power tilt is super useful.
I'd just double up the cylinders, add a few braces like this pic and send it:

Damn, the more I look at it, that looks like a lot of twisting force on that lower crossmember. I think I'd want to push them out as close to the frame rails as possible so I could tie them in a gusset them better.


Think there's any benefit to having the cylinders pointing forward like that vs. backwards like mine and some of the others I've seen?

A few tabs and a pin might solve that well enough.

Problem is if you pin it and it gets loaded up trying to close, how do you unpin it when you actually want to close it?

It's the cable running by whatever log you loaded 5min prior that's the problem. Like the situation where you've already got a middle log and you want to load one beside it because it'll fit better that way. I've never choked with the cable but I suspect it would actually be fine since the cable is perpendicular to the grain and it's not moving relative to the log.

Makes sense. Not that they always work, but I keep several of those velcro abrasion prevention sleeves on hand on my wheeling rigs for when the rope is going to drag on rocks or trees during a pull.

I also have some thoughts on snatch blocks and rollers to help redirect the line when needed. Once I do a few pulls and figure out the problem spots I'm sure I'll be working on solutions.

 

[Bebop]

Think there's any benefit to having the cylinders pointing forward like that vs. backwards like mine and some of the others I've seen?

Lot more leverage I'd say

 

[Muckin_Slusher]

I used a boat winch and a post for my tilting shack trailer. Canadian Ice Shack Build
It's got holes drilled every inch for safety pin.

For yours, is the winch gonna live on the front of that deck all the time? If so, you could weld a post on the tongue and just use the winch cable to lift/lower the deck. Probably need a redirect pully somewhere.

Tilt it up with gravity until the back touches
Install safety pin
Load logs
Run winch rope through pulley at front tip of deck and up to top of post
Lift deck enough to remove safety pin
Lower deck with winch

I wouldn't want to fuck with a vevor power pack. I'd make pivot mounts for a hi-lift before I went hydraulic, unless it was something used often.

 

[bgaidan]

Well, I'm convinced that I need to do the power thing now. Delivered a trailer mounted sawmill this morning. Loading it up last night wasn't too big of a deal. Used an HF trailer dolly on the tongue along with the wireless winch control to slowly pull it up until it hit the tipping point and then pulled a little more to give it some tongue weight.

But unloaded was a bit more of a PITA. Left the tilt lever locked and had to pull the mill back by hand far enough to where it would tilt when I released the lever. Kept the winch hooked up to it to keep it from freewheeling when it tilted. Used the dolly and winch to slowly roll it down.

With power tilt, it would have been like a rollback - just tilt it up and then use the winch to control gravity.

I guess an alternative would be to mount a second light duty winch that could be used with a snatch block at the tail of the trailer to help pull things back and use the main winch to maintain pressure so they can't freewheel.


Other than that, the trailer pulls and works like a dream. Wish I would have bought one of these several years ago instead of just replacing axles every time I overloaded my little hauler.