Thoughts on dove tail trailers.

Before I started pulling tanks, I was pulling a 48' stepdeck with a dovetail, I don't remember the length of the tail though. Mine was all steel, and had hydraulic ramps powered by an electric over hydraulic motor. The set up worked very well in most cases, only time I had problems was going in and out of some farm driveways. The hoses for the ramps hung about six inches off the road, and would drag in the dirt, and sometimes tearingthe hoses off. We rerouted the hoses after the second time it happened and solved the problem. As far as how strong the tail would be, we never had an issue, but it was a steel trailer. I would think aluminum would be more likely to crack, but I dunno.
Overall it was a nice setup, I didn't have to lift ramps around, and I could load nearly anything I wanted, though lawnmowers were a pain. I loaded a 963 cat on that trailer many times with no issues, but I think that was about the limit. Hope that helps some

 

We had one on harvest. Low profile vehicles are hard to get loaded but it can be done. My next project trailer will be adding one to a trailer

 

As stated already you have 16' of ramp now, a dovetail will give you a little less than 10' so the angle is going to be greater. Also when loading vehicles, the rear 5' will be unavailable to load vs your setup now. The 16' are a pain in the rear to get setup, and it seems very few people want to pay for that, which is why my ramps went with my trailer when I sold it. They made great stairs to get up the deck though!

 

I must be the only person who doesn't think they're a pain in the butt. I think they're too nifty

 

I think you use them enough to have value. I bought mine because I saw ambulances I could haul, but as rates in general have gone up, they've gone down. What I ended up finding, at least where I'm at, was I could find normal freight paying the same or better as a ramp load. Of course there were occasional gems, but only one where I couldn't use a rollback to unload. All in, it's safe to say the ramps add about 500 pounds to your empty weight as well. At $50-100 for a rollback, it takes a lot of ramp loads to get ahead.

 

I paid for mine going into Florida for $3+ and coming out about $2.25 with UPS trucks back to Sturgis Michigan

 

I agree with Fortycalglock....we have used Landolls before.

I spec'd out a Wilson 53 beavertail step a few years aago but decided against it because:

1. extra weight or the ramps and beaver tail section (they really have to throw the steel into that rear section to make it strong enough).
2. The beaver tail would have pushed the axles too far ahead for my liking.

 

Did you bounce to SC for those trucks???? They used a tow truck to unload me at Sturgis.