Sliding axle tilt trailer

I think I'm in the market for a sliding axle tilt trailer. Preferably a good used one but may have to go new to get the options I need.

The deal is that we are in the machinery moving business and I've currently got a 1995 Trail King sliding axle trailer. I like it a lot but the crossmembers are about rusted out from under it. I'm going to repair it as it's not worth much in it's current condition and I've spent years getting it set up like I need it. The problem is I really have to have another trailer as I can't be without while the old one is being repaired.

The only design problem with the Trail King is they used tubing crossmembers. The reason for this is they were trying to save deck height and still have room for the axles to slide. The problem is that when they screw the deck down to the crossmembers, they create a hole for moisture to get inside the tubing and they rust from the inside out. For the repair I'm going to replace the tubing with channel. The channel won't be hardly as strong but I think it will hold up ok for what we do. There is also channel running length ways the entire length of the trailer where our forklifts run so that helps support the weight also.

The first thing we do on all our trailers when we get them is rip out the wood where the forklifts we haul track and replace it with steel channel. Our heaviest forklift we haul with that trailer weighs 40,000lb and most of that weight is concentrated on the rear axle, wood won't hold up very long.

Another thing we have on our current trailer that is a must is cylinders between the axles that will raise the rear of the trailer up to dock height. You'd be surprised at how many plants we go into to move machinery that don't have a ground level entrance. We need to be able to unload forklifts on the ground or on a dock when needed. I know Landoll has a tilting tail trailer that will go to dock height but I really don't like tail tilted up to dock height and you have a angle transition from the tail to the trailer. From time to time we will need to skate a large machine from the trailer to dock and that transition would just cause problems.

Anyway, I just thought I'd throw it out there and see if anybody had any thoughts.

 

The dock lift cylinders are just cylinders mounted between the tandems with feet on them that go down to the ground and raise the whole rear of the trailer off the ground. I'll try and get some pics of it tomorrow. I have also raised the front of the trailer with the tilt cylinders to level things up but most of the time this is not needed.

The Landoll siding axle tilt trailers work fine for dock work if they have the lifting cylinders. What I was talking about earlier was Landoll also makes a tilt tail sliding axle where you can raise the tail to dock height. What you end up with is the trailer pretty much level and the tail going up a incline to reach dock height. These two different angles can present problems when trying to skate a long machine from the trailer through a dock door.