Equipment trailers are an important part of any rental center's equipment inventory. Trailers are essential in moving heavy and bulky equipment from the rental center to the job site. There are many types of trailers available today. Following are items to consider when purchasing a trailer for your rental inventory.
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Capacity: Examine the products that you currently rent out, and look at equipment you wish to purchase in the near future. Make sure the trailer you purchase has sufficient capacity.
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Bed size: Make sure the trailer you purchase is large enough to haul your equipment.
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Brakes: Check your local regulations to see if electric brakes or hydraulic surge brakes can be used.
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Maintenance: Make sure the trailer you purchase is easy to maintain and comes with a complete maintenance manual. Be sure to check the tire pressures on each tire daily.
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Other features: Make sure that the trailer you purchase has lights for turn signals/brakes. Another important feature is having a jack stand to put in place when the trailer is not hooked up to a towing vehicle. Know in advance if the trailer has a 2-inch hitch or a 2 5/16-inch hitch, and make sure that the hitch is adjustable in height to accommodate various hitch heights. The trailer deck should be very sturdy and have a significant understructure to support the products loaded on the deck. The trailer should also have several tie down locations on it for strapping down the equipment loaded on it. Another small but important feature is that the trailer have a license plate bracket to mount the license plate on.
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Will you rent the trailer out to customers? Many rental centers prefer to do their own deliveries and will not rent out their trailers. On the other hand, many rental centers see opportunity for additional rental income by renting trailers to customers. If you choose to rent trailers to your customers, make sure the trailers are easy to tow and operate. Also, be prepared to give complete operating instruction for the customers' convenience and to protect your business from liability.
A relatively new trailer concept to the rental market is one in which the bed drops completely to the ground. This allows one person to load/unload heavy equipment in a safe manner. Equipment that is ideal for this type of trailer include trenchers, personnel lifts, scissor lifts, rollers, concrete saws, appliances, lawn mowers, tillers, pianos, vending machines, skid-steer loaders and more. This type of trailer is also good for equipment with low ground clearance.
Trailers are a vital asset to any rental center. With thorough investigating before your purchase, you can choose the right trailer for your rental center.
Bob Yoder is Workforce sales manager for Bil-jax, Archbold, Ohio.
Premco Products
The newly patented forklift trailer Model 1012 from Premco Products has a 6- by 12-foot deck and a 10,000-pound carrying capacity. It has a larger self-contained hydraulic system, heavier duty all-steel tubular chassis, larger loading channels and bearing, diamond steel deck plate, built-in lockable storage and power supply compartments. The chassis encases the wheels, eliminating the need for fenders while at the same time holding the patented quadra spring suspension. The trailer is powder coated and comes standard with four-wheel electric brakes.
Circle 185 on reply card.
Rogers
Rogers' original dropside deck design with shallow crossmembers and deck plate allows the contractor to move various earth-moving machines on the 15-inch loaded deck height without extensive breakdown. The 55-ton trailer features 110-inch swing clearance, 25 by 8-foot, 6-inch deck, removable side brackets, three air-ride axles with an air lift, a 10-foot, 1-inch booster assembly with multi-position camber plates and a detachable axle. This dropside deck also features sloped ramps ahead of tires and trunnions to facilitate the loading of an even wider range of equipment. The company's patented No Foot self-lifting gooseneck operates on low hydraulic pressures utilizing standard truck-tractor PTO and can easily and safely raise or lower the deck under full load.
Circle 186 on reply card.
Bil-jax
The Workforce 5,000 pound Escalate equipment trailer from Bil-jax features a load capacity of up to 5,000 pounds and is recommended for hauling heavy equipment, such as lawn mowers, scissor and personnel lifts and compactors. The trailer's entire bed lowers to the ground to facilitate loading, eliminating the need to tilt the trailer and risk operator injury when handling heavy equipment. The ramp grade is six degrees, which allows equipment with low ground clearance to easily be driven onto the trailer.
Circle 187 on reply card.
SmithCo
SmithCo issues a new mechanism on its side-dump trailers that has a greasable spherical bearing. This new design allows the bearing bushing to stay in full contact with the lower hinge saddles during the daily twist and turns these trailers experience. The hinge lock is held in place with a new spring-loaded pin for ease of operation. This pin reduces the time to change dump sides and eliminates the need for pins with retaining clips. The handles on the hinge locks are tipped with a red rubber grip that allows the driver to see from the rear view mirrors which side he is set to dump toward.
Circle 188 on reply card.
Landoll
Landoll Corp. introduces the Model 135 and 150 fixed gooseneck beavertail trailers. The Model 135 is a two-axle 35-ton capacity trailer and the Model 150 is a triple axle 50-ton capacity trailer. Designed to load and haul either light or heavy construction and rental equipment, the trailers feature four-beam frame design with a longer beavertail that reduces the loading angle. The beavertail is equipped with self-cleaning adjustable spring-assisted flip-over ramps.
Circle 189 on reply card.
Best Trailer
Constructed especially for use with trenchers, roto tillers and other small equipment, this trailer from Best features 1,500-pound GVW and a 4- by 6-foot deck size. It also offers a 10 1/2-inch deck height and a 2-inch ball coupler. Its low deck height allows for easy loading of equipment.
Circle 190 on reply card.
Hendrickson
With the introduction of Intraax AAZNT 46K, Hendrickson delivers platform trailer operators weight savings and low-maintenance advantages of an integrated air-ride suspension system. The company developed a platform slider system that delivers a durable and low maintenance air-ride package, which weighs substantially less than comparable mechanical suspensions. The platform slider is designed to fit I-beam centers of 37, 38, 43 and 44 inches and can accommodate 49-, 60- and 72-inch axle spreads.
Circle 191 on reply card.
Fontaine Trailer
The Triple Telescopic Trailer has the capability to haul extra long loads. The multiple length adjusts to carry loads from 53 feet to 105 feet. A 48-inch deck on the middle section can be secured to the payload. This helps reduce trailer flex while operating the trailer in the extended positions. The company has also placed air-actuated locks on both sections for easy adjustments to trailer length.
Circle 192 on reply card.
Edco
Transport saws and all other necessary equipment and supplies to your jobsite with Edco's new water tank trailer. The 500-gallon capacity water tanks on the trailer provide a large water supply at the jobsite. Its 56- by 96-inch cargo area has room to transport a 36-inch concrete/asphalt saw as well as other equipment and supplies.
Circle 193 on reply card.
Tiger Line
The two-wheel trailer Safety Tow is designed to allow one person to easily load and unload heavy cargo. It features a winch attached to the tongue enabling the tilting of the bed for load stabilization. This same feature allows the bed to be tilted to the ground for easy roll aboard loading. The Safety Tow is available in payload capacities up to 4,000 pounds. All of the units are equipped with a ball coupler, electric brakes, DOT-approved lighting with a 4-pin connector and safety chains.
Circle 194 on reply card.
Trail-Eze
Trail-Eze introduces a sliding axle tilt trailer with load capacity of 70,000 pounds distributed and 40,000 pounds concentrated in 10 feet. It has an overall length between 42 to 53 feet with a spread axle of 49 inches and width of 8 feet, 6 inches. The upper deck length is 115 inches with the main deck length being 31 to 37 feet and the fold-under tail is 26 inches. There is straight loading to the upper deck with wheels remaining on the ground and two separate tilting cylinders offer a 7-degree load angle on the 48-foot model for loading ease.
Circle 195 on reply card.
Bri-Mar
The 12-foot Tilt Trailer comes with an 11-degree load angle, allowing equipment to be loaded and unloaded with ease and without damage to the equipment or the trailer. The 82-inch width between fenders makes this trailer suitable for just about any piece of equipment — commercial or residential. It has a 6,000-pound GVWR and comes standard with 8 tie down locations, diamond fenders, specially designed cushion cylinder electric brakes, 7,000-pound drop leg jack and pressure treated wood decking.
Circle 196 on reply card.
Croft Trailer Supply
The TTB01 trailer light and electric brake test box is designed as an aid for testing trailer lights and electric brakes. One person can visually test brake, tail, right and left turn signal lights along with the electric brakes on a trailer. The test box includes a 12-volt negative ground sealed battery, 1 amp trickle charger with automatic circuit breaker, a 6-way round/4-way round and 4-flat connectors, a handheld control unit with a 30-foot cord as well as a separate power switch with a circuit breaker.
Circle 197 on reply card.
Towmaster
Towmaster offers its T-14DD and T-16DD drop deck trailers, which feature 14,000- and 16,000-pound capacities, respectively. The deck is 84 and 82 inches wide, and 16, 18 or 20 feet long. Brakes are electric and the finish is acid etched with polyurethane undercoating.
Circle 198 on reply card.
