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Lowboy ?

Started by Norm, November 02, 2010, 05:56:58 PM

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Norm

I need to get a lowboy for hauling around a Cat d-6H with 14' blade and my trackhoe. Anyone have suggestions of what to get that is reasonably priced.

sandhills

I don't know how big your trackhoe is but make sure you have plenty of axles.  My neighbors have a JD, don't know the number but would guess it's the biggest or close to it and they got caught with it on a double axle trailer and tractor.  Weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 110000#s, DOT wasn't impressed.  I've been around detach trailers some and they are really handy for loading/unloading but always thought they were awful hard on the tractor.

Jasperfield

My brother bought a three-axle, detachable, drop-front, lowboy trailer made by Rogers at an auction about five months ago for not very much.

He added a hydraulic pump and a fluid reservoir to the International road tractor in order to operate the drop deck. Since then the lowboy has been in use on the road about two days a week, every week, hauling for other people. When he bought the trailer he thought he'd use it only for his wholesale plumbing and pipe supply business.

When you need one of these things they're really useful. And it won't take long for other people to ask you to move their equipment, either.

isawlogs

Norm .  You planning on getting only the Low Boy, what will it be attached to ??? Sorry I can't help you with the trailer but here if I was looking for one I would look up Ritchy Bros Auctions, they are in the States akso. There is a pile of equipment going to auctions these days . Ya might find a good lowboy at one.
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

chevytaHOE5674

As soon as you get one you will find out how many "friends" need something hauled around.   :D

Gary_C

Richie Bros is a good place to look. That's where I got mine some years ago and I think there's an auction in Dec. right here in Owatonna at their new facility. Even the beat up old ones usually bring a good price. But then for one of these new ones you can spend $50K easily.

They did have some new Witzco 35 ton units like mine on each auction but I just checked and don't see any new ones listed. I am heading up I 35 tonight with mine and I should be back home this weekend if I can be of some help. Mine is the economy unit, detachable neck, 2 axle 35 ton, gas pony motor, ground bearing, 22 ft deck. It's OK and good enough for what I do. It sits in the woods while I am on the jobs and the pony motor is a pain when it will not start. But I don't need all the weight of a hydraulic pump and tank on the semi tractor.

When I was looking there were similiar older beat up and rusty ones that were bringing $15K so I went to two auctions and at the second one bought a new one for around $16K. By the time the government got done with excise taxes and sales taxes it was over $20K.

I did a little looking and here are two places with some used ones for sale.

This one has a 1996 Fontaine that looks OK for $17.5K Fontaine is one of the better names.
http://richardsmachinery.com/id24.htm

This one has a number of Witzco's but they are not cheap..
http://www.forestryequipmentsales.com/categories/44/48.html

You should be alright with a 35 ton 2 axle one and they usually are cheaper. Be aware they take some room to turn and don't have much clearance under so they can get hung up easily. There are some driveways that are just no go places and you can get hung up on humps. Some railroad crossings are trouble unless you have an air ride with height control.

And then like Marcel asked, you got to have something to hook it to.  :)


Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

Norm

Amazingly enough I can buy a nice semi for less than a lowboy. I got a Western Star with a freshly overhauled 400hp cat engine in it for real cheap to haul with. Nothing fancy but all I'll do with it is haul with the lowboy and haul grain. All in state so I don't have to screw with some of the dot bs.

http://www.forestryequipmentsales.com/listing/4681/Hyster_50_Ton_Lowboy.html

What do you guys think of this one?

Randy88

Go with a non ground bearing detach, make sure its new enough to have 22.5 tires not 20's on it, have it three axles so you can haul something later in life instead of always needing one bigger and nobody wanting your old trade in, forget the pony motor idea, I"ve got one with and one without a pony motor and they can put the pony motor where the sun doesn't shine as far as I'm concerned.   Run it off a wet kit off the truck and save yourself headaches beyond belief, I haven't switched the odd duck over to wet line yet but its gong to happen one of these days, probablly the day it doesn't start again and needs a carb adjustment like usual.   Make sure the deck is long enough to haul what you need to haul on it or haul multiple pieces, they upped the rating in Iowa we can haul with more axles and now I can haul my small excavator and small cat at the same time and on my two axle lowboy the bed is two feet short and they both won't fit but on my three axle one it will.    Have it so you can drive up on the back deck, sounds stupid but makes life easier, I have one of each and hate the one I can't drive up on the back deck from the main deck, one is tapered and the other has a straight up design and goes over the back axles, I didn't think it would matter when I bought it but it does.   Have an open well over the back axles  instead of enclosed and covered, makes life better for uses and also service of the bakes and lines, worlds apart for resale.    Have a neck long enough to still allow fenders or mud flaps on the truck without wiping them off every time you turn, my triaxle does the two axle doesn't and we need to take the mud flaps off the truck every time and it gets old.    Go with a level deck instead of the raised center deck they are too limited in what you can haul.    Don't buy a cheap deck over design trailer instead of a detach, you'll hate it over time and nobody wants one for you to trade it in on and your stuck with it, also safer to load and unload in all kinds of weather on a detach, like snow and ice and don't need to worry about laying over a piece of equipment off the side of a detach like a deck over trailer.    Check under the lowboy to make sure the supports are not all bent from hauling too heavy of stuff on it, I was just to a richie brothers sale a month ago and they had a nice looking triaxle detach and from the top it looked good and once you looked under it all the supports were bent and cracked from someone overloading it and it was junk, never would pass dot inspeciton in anybodys life time thats why it was there on the sale, scrap iron basically.   If its free you don't want a ground bearing traler, most buy them and after getting stuck in a bad place and not being able to hook back up or unhook it once or twice most get rid of them and go non ground bearing.   Avoid the cheaper ones like witco or some of the others, seen a lot of them blown out and frames shot and over time they have a lot of fatigue cracking due to cheaper steel used and lower grade materials but they work as a startrer trailer if need be just don't load them up to the max rating all the time, they rate them over a longer deck load than the better ones, say so many pounds in ten feet of deck, witco will rate them the same pounds in 15 feet of deck instead, big difference.   Buy one thats 8ft six inches wide not 8ft, as my wife puts it that six inches really matters, she hauls all my stuff for me and is the trucker, the old 8ft deck everything hangs over even if its legal and the wider deck you seldom need outriggers except for the larger excavators and things.    The very last thing to remember when buying a lowboy, never buy what you need today, always go bigger, your equipment will never get smaller and tomorrow you'll be glad you bought a larger one today, that way you don't end with two trailers like me.    You'll get used to any of them but the rodgers has the nicest hookup system than all of them, I own a rodgers and talbert but eveyone who needs to use one will go for rodgers evey time, the reason being, its wider and longer decked and triaxles and hooks up the nicest for detaching and has the long neck on it so they don't have to take the mud flaps off the truck eveytime.     The longer neck also means its easier to see when you go to back up and rehook the neck on the trailer.     As my wife says, I'm married to the boss I get the good one [rodgers] the rest of you can have the other one and you can fight with it.   Also if you have a choice between air cylinder to run the latch mechanisms or hydraulics go with hydrualics, they work better than the air ones, both of my trialers are air and I'm wanting to covert them both to hydraulics to run the latches on the neck.    Also go air ride suspension as well instead of leaf spring or walking beam.   There in five minutes or less thats the sum of all knowledge I've aquired over time for trailers and if all esle fails buy what you can afford and whats available and over time you'll figure out what it was you should have bought because you hate the one you did buy, done that now 5 times and from here on out it'll be rodgers and no others but thats just me or shall I say my wife and crew, so I was told anyhow.

Meadows Miller

Gday

Norm It looks a good buy from where Im sitting Mate  ;) do you have a pic of the rig ive got a soft spot for stars  ;)  ;D

Trucks are Cheap as chips over your way atm and im also hearing of a fair few Petes headn down this way due to that and our dollars even with yours  atm to give you an idea a new KW here will set you back $330000+ and for something the same in a 5 yo rig about 150 to 200k with a million on the clock nothing like the $40 to 60k mark that you can pick up a good used Pete plus  $40k to get it converted plus on roads so its looking a good option to alot of blokes down here atm to import I have also seen some awesome trucks going for less that 20k which is only alittle more than a good motor rebuild will set you back here too   ;)

Regards Chris
4TH Generation Timbergetter

isawlogs

 I am always a little weary of new paint ...  ::) I would really need to have a looksee under that lowboy. It sure would fit for what you are going to use it for.  :)
A man does not always grow wise as he grows old , but he always grows old as he grows wise .

   Marcel

Gary_C

Marcel is exactly right on that one. You have to look used lowboys over real good and that one is a long way away for one thing.
What you can't see will hurt you.

I would not worry about the ground bearing ones. I've learned to live with one and I get into some soft spots. This morning I buried a couple of short planks while unloading and had to dig them out. Sometimes I have to unload or load on the side of a road if there is no better place.

Advice coming from a parking lot in Danbury, WI on a borrowed wireless connection.  :) :)

:D :D

Oh DanG. The login timed out. Well I know how to fix that.  ;D
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

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