Timber trailers.... what to consider when purchasing?

[woody paul]

A 3pl crane is hard on linkage and vision out of rear window is bad, large chunks can be dragged on with crane you will be surprised what you can get on to a trailer with a small crane also moving small size lumps you may need a removable floor.  

Edited June 10, 2018 by woody paul

[swinny]

18 minutes ago, woody paul said:

A 3pl crane is hard on linkage and vision out of rear window is bad, large chunks can be dragged on with crane you will be surprised what you can get on to a trailer with a small crane also moving small size lumps you may need a removable floor.  

Is yours 8t Paul? And was it farma crane?  4.6m?

[monkeybusiness]

I’ve got an 11 tonne KTS with an extendable rear bunk (when shortened it finishes immediately behind rear axle). There hasn’t ever been a situation where I’ve thought it is too big (occasionally wish it was bigger, but wouldn’t want the pay-off in usability tbh), and I use it almost exclusively for arb jobs (drives, lawns, side of houses, basically anywhere we can get it!).

Steering drawbar is essential - once you’ve had one you won’t believe how you could ever manage without.

As already said, get the widest tyres you can. 

I’ve only got 2 wheel braking and it’s fine on 99% of what we do, but I have had a couple of scary moments coming downhill loaded in the woods with everything locked up and no sign of slowing down/stopping!... (back on the power and keep it going where pointed - far from ideal and very scary!). I’m not sure if the second axle’s brakes would stop that occurence, but it can’t hurt (I will get 4 wheel braking next time).

If using for arb I would suggest getting extra bunks/bolsters  (as we don’t tend to deal in uniform pieces, and a short bay would be very useful!), with lift out pins (it’s amazing what you can drag on with a crane!).

Get the biggest crane you can afford (reach and lift), and if you aren’t in the production forwarding game don’t worry about speed - it will be fast enough through your spools. My crane can be mounted on the 3pl (and at purchase that was a box ticked) - in reality I doubt it will ever be taken off the trailer though, as it would be a really cumbersome lump and I’m not sure where the spool block would go in that application. 

Driven axle(s) are the only real upgrade I’d go for on mine - I came very close to swapping for a different make with drive but it had fixed pins and that wouldn’t work for me so the KTS is still here grafting (and is well worth considering IME). 

[woody paul]

8 hours ago, swinny said:

Is yours 8t Paul? And was it farma crane?  4.6m?

Its a 7 ton agri trailer I converted In to a timber trailer, its near 6ft inside bolsters. 

Crane is a 4.6m farma.

[MattyF]

We run a botex 8 tonne with steering draw bar and brakes trailer is ok , crane is a 360 and will lift about a tonne maybe more close in , I’ve got some lumps on there but done by dragging and removing bolsters overall I would say the crane is sloppy and not amazingly well built but was the best we could afford at the time and has done the job well.
I would not want anything bigger as it’s ran on a valtra 101 or 6400 and struggles on the road fully loaded I imagine a 11 tonne trailer would pull the arse out of the tractor.
Also any thing bigger in the woods we work in and type of work that is done would be a hindrance.
A driven trailer would be nice with a bigger crane but that would probably suit clear fell better and you would want a bigger trailer anyway! And would end up purpose built and there is no way I would leave a machine in the woods over night.

[Gray git]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F283005324726

Looks nice

[Matthew Storrs]

On 11/06/2018 at 00:37, monkeybusiness said:

I’ve got an 11 tonne KTS with an extendable rear bunk (when shortened it finishes immediately behind rear axle). There hasn’t ever been a situation where I’ve thought it is too big (occasionally wish it was bigger, but wouldn’t want the pay-off in usability tbh), and I use it almost exclusively for arb jobs (drives, lawns, side of houses, basically anywhere we can get it!).

Steering drawbar is essential - once you’ve had one you won’t believe how you could ever manage without.

As already said, get the widest tyres you can. 

I’ve only got 2 wheel braking and it’s fine on 99% of what we do, but I have had a couple of scary moments coming downhill loaded in the woods with everything locked up and no sign of slowing down/stopping!... (back on the power and keep it going where pointed - far from ideal and very scary!). I’m not sure if the second axle’s brakes would stop that occurence, but it can’t hurt (I will get 4 wheel braking next time).

If using for arb I would suggest getting extra bunks/bolsters  (as we don’t tend to deal in uniform pieces, and a short bay would be very useful!), with lift out pins (it’s amazing what you can drag on with a crane!).

Get the biggest crane you can afford (reach and lift), and if you aren’t in the production forwarding game don’t worry about speed - it will be fast enough through your spools. My crane can be mounted on the 3pl (and at purchase that was a box ticked) - in reality I doubt it will ever be taken off the trailer though, as it would be a really cumbersome lump and I’m not sure where the spool block would go in that application. 

Driven axle(s) are the only real upgrade I’d go for on mine - I came very close to swapping for a different make with drive but it had fixed pins and that wouldn’t work for me so the KTS is still here grafting (and is well worth considering IME). 

How come these timber trailers aren’t 4 wheel braking as standard? They are on most Agri type trailers arnt they?

[monkeybusiness]

3 hours ago, Matthew Storrs said:

How come these timber trailers aren’t 4 wheel braking as standard? They are on most Agri type trailers arnt they?

Don't know tbh - I guess they aren't really built primarily for road work and they want as little to get ripped off in the woods as possible!