Tilt Deck Trailer Discussion

[tobyw]

It's pretty well established that I am old, overweight, out of shape, and that in no uncertain terms my laziness knows no bounds. To that end, I have begun to look for a solution to having to deal with the heavy and awkward ramps on my flatbed trailer, and the seemingly obvious solution is to delete them... Now to get it out of the way immediately, I am not advocating trying to load/offload without ramps on an otherwise average flatbed trailer; my hat bill simply is not flat enough for that sort of thing. However, a tilt deck trailer seems to be a viable option, and having used a couple of variants over the years I wanted to get some input from other folks that may have as well. And more specifically, I'd like to kick the ball around the different pivot designs out there. I seem to consistently run across (3) primary designs:

This one tilts the entire top deck, including the fenders, and pivots behind the rear axle:



This one also tilts the entire top deck including the fenders, but pivots at the base of the A-frame:



This one tilts the deck in between the fenders and pivots between the axles:



Out of these (3) designs, I have my eye on what I would consider to be the right answer, but would love to hear any feedback from others on tilt trailers before I pull the trigger...

[Roman]

Which ever is cheapest

[Deputy Dodge 413]

Spring under axle trailer, dovetail, rear stabilizer jacks, lockers engaged, no ramps needed. Dove tail may drag slightly when dropping into a parking area, but that's what the volume know on the radio is for.

[TJDave]

Like Cory said, I never used the ramps on my dovetail trailer for anything with 35"+ tires.

At work we have two 12K trailers. One tilt, one with ramps. The tilt is the trailer the driver's always grab first if what they are hauling runs. It is similar to your 3rd pic. The trailer with ramps has a winch for broken down stuff. Have to keep it plugged in when sitting, or use a solar charger.
I'm sure you could MacGyver a way to make a winch work with a tilt deck trailer.

[Jay W]

We have 3 tilt decks at work. One is a deckover hydraulic Big Tex. For sure the best system but not the cheapest. The second is like your #1. It's a Summit, gravity tilt, the worst of the 3 we have. The last one is like your #3. It's a Big Tex, gravity, works great for equipment. The only down side is the tilt part of the deck is only about 77" wide even though we have 83" between the fenders. If you're in Yakima and want to see them in person, let me know.

[tobyw]

Appreciate all of the feedback. Good bad or otherwise the decision has been made and the trigger has been pulled... She's a 2026 (yep, title says 2026 as we sit here in February of 2025 ) Versatile Trailers 7k tilt deck with an overall bed length of 14' and 82" between the fenders. I had initially spec'd a 16' unit but just as I was about to write the czek, a shipment of new trailers arrived and there were a couple of these little 14' units on it. A short time later I was test loading the Donkey onto one of them and ended up deciding I liked it better. In my humble opinion, I prefer the U-haul approach to trailers: less is more. Plus, having such a small trailer keeps the neighbors from wanting to borrow it to haul their crew cab dually loaded with firewood

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Just as Jay W noted, the tilting portion of the deck is only about 77" in width so the tires stick over a bit while loading, but once the front settles down the perimeter framework is 82" wide and there is no issue. Out back I may end up gluing on a 4" wide strip of checker plate to widen the area where the tires roll, but honestly it's not going to keep me up at night:

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My back already feels better

[Roman]

Ooooohhh, the LJ wears it nicely!