Tilt trailer laws

UncleWillie

UncleWillie

Rarely serious.
Joined
Dec 29, 2010
Location
Vale
I want a new tilt trailer with hydraulic up and down functions. Powwr down would be useful in a lot of situations. A buddy tried to have one built, and was told power down was illegal, because it could be loaded wrong. Any trailer can be loaded wrong. Does anyone know if it is really illegal, and can show me the law, or is it just lazy builders not wanting to do it?
 
Lots of trailer manufacturers build them. I have a Hawke thats power up/power down and legal and titles, tagged etc.

I say lazy trailer builder
 
Ron said:
Lots of trailer manufacturers build them. I have a Hawke thats power up/power down and legal and titles, tagged etc.

I say lazy trailer builder
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I completely forgot Hawke built one. Unfortunately they dont build what I want, or I would buy one. I have had 2 Hawk dump trailers, and both were teriffic.
 
CarolinaHD said:
Well Willie, what do ya want?

Kraftsman makes a well priced tilt trailer, diamond c makes the nicest but damn they're expensive.
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I want a 25 foot, full width steel deck, drive over very low fenders, power up and down, no lights or cutouts on tail, Knife edge reinforced tail, with fully welded seams. No one that I have found makes one, and the guys we have talked to about building it say it is illegal. I may have to send Heath off to welding school.
 
i have a 2023 PJ trailer that is 22 ft long 102 wide deck over hydraulic tilt up and down. 14000# rated . They make them 25 ft long i think i seen on their web site. I love my trailer i have put several thousand miles on it in the last 6 months since i bought it. I haul everything from cars to 550 dump trucks and 5000 series jd tractors and mini excavators to skid steers.
 
UncleWillie said:
I want a 25 foot, full width steel deck, drive over very low fenders, power up and down, no lights or cutouts on tail, Knife edge reinforced tail, with fully welded seams. No one that I have found makes one, and the guys we have talked to about building it say it is illegal. I may have to send Heath off to welding school.
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why no lights, going into the repo business?
 
I do think in order to get a DOT Certificate of Origin - all required DOT lights are mandated. Including turn, stop and running.

With a knife edge they aren't going in the end.
With a full width they cant extend out the side without being a mandated wide load.
 
I had Copper River Fabricators in Concord built a 20' 14k trailer for me. They build all kinds of trailers based upon what I saw at their facility - it might be worth a call to see if they can build what you want.
 
YotaOnRocks said:
My guess is that he drags a lot of inoperable stuff onto his trailer and wants nothing to be able to catch on the trailer.
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Exactly
Ron said:
I do think in order to get a DOT Certificate of Origin - all required DOT lights are mandated. Including turn, stop and running.

With a knife edge they aren't going in the end.
With a full width they cant extend out the side without being a mandated wide load.
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I have seen them with lights cut in.
getstucksome said:
I had Copper River Fabricators in Concord built a 20' 14k trailer for me. They build all kinds of trailers based upon what I saw at their facility - it might be worth a call to see if they can build what you want.
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I'll look into it.
 
UncleWillie said:
I have seen them with lights cut in.
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Just thinking out loud.
A knife edge is going to sit on the ground and be drug across. So if lights are recessed they will be broke early and often.

What I did was had them frenched into the deck in a recess and had the manufacturer send me a wedge plate. It lays in the recess and extends beyond the lights 3-4" and creates a smooth drag across.

Just an idea - if you cant otherwise find exactly what you want.
 
UncleWillie said:
I want a 25 foot, full width steel deck, drive over very low fenders, power up and down, no lights or cutouts on tail, Knife edge reinforced tail, with fully welded seams. No one that I have found makes one, and the guys we have talked to about building it say it is illegal. I may have to send Heath off to welding school.
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loadtrail.com

TH | Bumper Pull Tilt-N-Go - Load Trail

loadtrail.com loadtrail.com
Look at the TH14 or TH16 with 102" wide deck and K02 or K00CD2 Hydraulic option. Only thing I don't like is the rear isn't knife edgy enough, but otherwise should generally check all your boxes.
 
Of course it isn't "illegal" but fudds will be fudds and if they think it's dangerous then that's their opinion. Have whoever you are talking to build your trailer with gravity down and tell them not to install a pump. Buy a $200 pump with a 4/3 valve in it and have your power down.
 
Ron said:
Just thinking out loud.
A knife edge is going to sit on the ground and be drug across. So if lights are recessed they will be broke early and often.

What I did was had them frenched into the deck in a recess and had the manufacturer send me a wedge plate. It lays in the recess and extends beyond the lights 3-4" and creates a smooth drag across.

Just an idea - if you cant otherwise find exactly what you want.
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I have a plan to armor the lights. I have had someone break my lights on purpose in a bad neighborhood, and had someone hit them in a parking lot. I want them to hit back.
jeepinmatt said:
loadtrail.com

TH | Bumper Pull Tilt-N-Go - Load Trail

loadtrail.com loadtrail.com
Look at the TH14 or TH16 with 102" wide deck and K02 or K00CD2 Hydraulic option. Only thing I don't like is the rear isn't knife edgy enough, but otherwise should generally check all your boxes.
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I want so edgy I can shave with it.
braxton357 said:
Of course it isn't "illegal" but fudds will be fudds and if they think it's dangerous then that's their opinion. Have whoever you are talking to build your trailer with gravity down and tell them not to install a pump. Buy a $200 pump with a 4/3 valve in it and have your power down.
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Always an option
skyhighZJ said:
Had a buddy with a tilt (yes it was up&down). It was a knife edge and the light boxes were up underneath about a foot forward of the tail. They ran a 4” C-channel across underneath and tucked all the lights in it. From behind with the deck down it was fully visible but tilted it was tucked up safely under the trailer.
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Nothing is safe under a trailer when you are dragging it through a creek, down a goat path, or letting the wife pull it.
 
My trailer tail lights are under the rear about about 2 feet they fold up when the trailer tilts the tail sits flush to the ground. Get on PJ Trailers web site and check them out.
 
getstucksome said:
I had Copper River Fabricators in Concord built a 20' 14k trailer for me. They build all kinds of trailers based upon what I saw at their facility - it might be worth a call to see if they can build what you want.
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This place is probably a few months out if I had to guess but hands down my favorite built trailers.
 
Just tell your builder you want a custom mount tail light. Use a steak pocket or whatever, so they are removable. Connect them with a short wire harness & plug. If they are Not in the way, leave them on. If they Are in the way, snatch them off. Just remember to reinstall them & connect the plugs. I bought a new car tilt-trailer one time. Gravity down, hand hyd. pump up. One I was looking at had no stake pockets. Salesman said No problem; how many you want? It was going to be built anyway, so I could choose my color & had the underneath primed too.
 
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