Which Trailer. Fast Tow or Ifor and Forestry Trailer

[RichardT]

"Small forestry trailers are like rocking horse poop second hand"

 

They seem to be.

 

There's one of Atkinsons' little Chinese trailers on Ebay, not road legal:

 

Timber Dragon TC1 Timber Trailer | eBay UK

[Chris Sheppard]

"Small forestry trailers are like rocking horse poop second hand"

 

They seem to be.

 

There's one of Atkinsons' little Chinese trailers on Ebay, not road legal:

 

Timber Dragon TC1 Timber Trailer | eBay UK

 

I know where there is (or was recently) one of those for sale in Kent that's for less than that - exactly the same trailer and crane but brought in before Atkinson Vos started. We were just about to say we'd have it (it was the only thing we could find anywhere near budget) and then the Weimer came up on ebay so we grabbed that before anyone else did.

 

If anyone wants to know about the one in kent, just let me know and I'll pass you on his details.

[Ty Unnos]

Hi. Still trying to work out a good setup.

 

Still thinking about an alpine tractor and an ifor williams trailer.

 

But can I get away with out a forestry trailer?

 

Does anyone use an ifor williams type trailer behind a tractor in the woods?

 

Is it possible to make an ifor williams trailer better off road?

 

I have seen some with land rover wheels. What about flotation tyres? Would it still be road legal?

[Chris Sheppard]

It's surprising how far into a wood you can tow an Ifor type trailer, but one problem with any road going traielr is that the brake cables are very vulnerable to catcing on brash etc.

 

Theoretically land rover wheels would fit most braked stub axles as the stud patterns are the same, but the problem you would probably have would be clearing the trailer bed on a dropside/flatbed trailer.

[elfinwood saws]

Here a trailer i converted from an old horsebox, horsebox 100 pounds, steel 70 pounds and tyres 120 pounds and it carrys 3, cubic metres:001_cool:

[elfinwood saws]

and it has 4 wheel brakes.

[Tom at Heartwood]

I have an alpine and I tow it on either a flatbed or on the back of an atlas tipper.

 

TBH I wouldn't bother with the timber trailer, get either a front loader or a 3pl timber crane, then just use your tipping trailer, that will be a much more flexible setup.

 

In fact it wouldn't take much to get a short kingpost crane mounted on the back of the alpine leaving the 3pl free for a winch. you could use the mounting points for the rear roll bar or down onto the axle.

 

Is this the set-up that you have Tom? I would be interested to see some pictures. I've just bought a 50hp Alpine tractor and am thinking of how best to set it up.

 

Cheers,

 

Tom.

[john k]

Getting myself set up to extract small stuff using either a quad or alpine tractor.

Did you come to any conclusions in the end?

 

I'm looking at something similar, and had thought about the Riko fast tow forwarding trailer too. However it's expensive, and I don't really like the idea of taking a road trailer into the woods because when it gets trashed you're a bit stuck. Using it to move timber on the road isn't a priority for me.

 

Jim at Riko reckons you can get an alpine tractor and a 3 tonne forwarding trailer onto a road trailer together. The forwarding trailer folds to do this, but I don't know how much of a PITA it is to set it up and take it down again.

[Ty Unnos]

Hi

 

No have not quite figured this one out yet!

 

I decided to start with an Ifor TT105 to go behind the land rover.

 

I am still after an alpine but am trying to get a grant to cover the costs.

 

Not sure if you can get the alpine and timber trailer onto a road trailer. The smallest alpine tractors are nearly 3 metres so its going to have to be a pretty long road trailer to get both on. Has anyone done this?

[Theocus]

I started with the tt105 and still have it as its a great trailer and will serve you well, also they hold the value very well. I also have the riko fast tow trailer which has been brilliant in the sense of the grab and the ability it has given us. The only problem is Riko's build quality, the welds started to fail on the first day using it. Has cost me a couple of hundred to have it sorted out and there is still more to do like cover up exposed hydraulic rams under where the logs go. I think the Ifor botex grab looks good and also Marshall engineering might be making something similar in the future.