Side Loading/ unloading

[Eric]

Our lowboy is a non-detatchable so this is how we do it. Works out good for us, we do a lot of residential stuff so this way is easier on the streets. It is hard on the trailer though, we go through alot of wood. We usually re-deck the trailer every year. If anyone knows where I can buy Apitong wood please let me know, we've been using treated wood cause that's all we can find.
http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w109/ebeng5/?action=view&current=SideunloadJD.flv

 

[dayexco]

man, looks TERRIBLY hard on that trailer. why don't you at least block up the unload side with wood before you crawl off? apitong can be bought from load king in mitchell, sd.

 

[Dirtman2007]

Wow that appears to be putting some serious strain on that poor trailor. I sometimes side load the trailor, but the trailor is always lowered to the ground first. Now I see yours in not movable, but put some blocks under it or something to keep it from bending like that. I always swing back around and put the bucket on the trailor or other side of it and lower the machine off instead of just driving it off and down the side.

Just my way of loading though...

 

[ragerider]

I have done this over 50 times before coming off the trailer he should have swung around and placed the bucket on the deck that would be easier on the trailer. I was unloading a jd 450 this way a few months ago the lowboy was leaning badly and slid off the trailer that was fun.

 

[Eric]

Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. If you are unloading in traffic on the shoulder of th road, often times it is impossible to swing over. Like I said sometimes this way, sometimes that way. As far as blocking the trailer, good idea, the owner of the truck never does and he taught me so it never occured to me, we've always just done it this way.:beatsme:beatsme

 

[iron kid]

how big has any one side loaded 30 tons or bigger?
have break neck three axle talbert and a Ex 200 and 270 or D5m any thoughts

 

[Turbo21835]

I worked at a company where we had 4 trail king 50ton detach lowboys. The drivers would side load EVERYTHING. They said it was quicker. It was extremely tough on the trailers. An oak deck lasted 4-6 months. The excavators werent the ones doing the damage. Hell, the dozers and track loaders werent too bad either. It was side loading the 815s that was hell on the poor trailers.

I watched one driver side load a cat 433b sheepsfoot. He said it was quicker. He spent a half hour getting the damn thing on the trailer. Quicker huh :beatsme
I was running a JD650G doing some grade work on a site when a lowboy pulled in with the pipe crews trench boxes, and gravel box. The track loader was busy unloading structures from a flat bed. The truck driver came over and told me to push the boxes off the trailer, i told him no. He took the dozer, pulled up on the side, pushed everything off the other side and hit the road. The best I saw them do was take a Komatsu D85 dozer off the side. He went off the trailer blade first. There woulda been no problems what so ever, except for the ripper on the back of the dozer. It wedged between the beams on the trailer. It took him 4 hours to get the thing unstuck. Again, quicker than detaching :beatsme

 

[Turbo21835]

how big has any one side loaded 30 tons or bigger?
have break neck three axle talbert and a Ex 200 and 270 or D5m any thoughts

Ive seen quite a few Pc400s loaded over the side. We even had to do our Pc650 over the side. We worked up to a street and had to jump a quarter mile down the road. Jumpped the curb and set her down on the trailer, haulled her down the road sideways.

 

[rino1494]

We sideload/unload 99% of the time. We have a hydraulic detach and we drop it down to reduce stress on the truck and trailor. I don't put the bucket down, I just boom up and twist her around.

About 1 month ago we moved our 315 in on a job. There was no driveway. Had to cross a swale and right up a 10ft 2:1 slope. It was 15 degrees out and as soon as I touched the travel pedal she slid sideways right off the trailor. One track in the swale and the other still on the trailor. Had to detach the truck and walk the hoe out a bit and work my balls off to get it back on the trailer. Gotta love cold weather.

 

[iron kid]

ever seen a trailor bent or get sprung
so what your saying is if i lower the neck my ex 270 would not kill my talbert.
when i side load the 110 i block for ramps and under the trailor to help the flex on the tires
why would they side load any thing that big? hook and unhook 30min tops

 

[Dirtman2007]

ever seen a trailor bent or get sprung
so what your saying is if i lower the neck my ex 270 would not kill my talbert.
when i side load the 110 i block for ramps and under the trailor to help the flex on the tires
why would they side load any thing that big? hook and unhook 30min tops

If you have ever loaded a machine of that size or bigger on a hot summer day, as soon as the machine is turned the asphalt will begin to get ripped up or damaged. dozers are extemley rough on fresh asphalt.
Load it from the side, the machine never touches the road. If done right no harm will be done to the trailor.

 

[qball]

315 sideload

we were doing tie replacement on the cta tracks in the middle of the kennedy expressway. fri night to sun midnight. we had to side load up and over a lowboy with 4 315's, and 2 d5's to get over a 4 foot wall seperating the tracks from the road. kinda scary in 1 lane in heavy chicago traffic in the snow.

 

[tonka]

Our lowboy is a non-detatchable so this is how we do it. Works out good for us, we do a lot of residential stuff so this way is easier on the streets. It is hard on the trailer though, we go through alot of wood. We usually re-deck the trailer every year. If anyone knows where I can buy Apitong wood please let me know, we've been using treated wood cause that's all we can find.
http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w109/ebeng5/?action=view&current=SideunloadJD.flv

Um not to sound like a Jack Azz, but I'd just buy a detachable tongue lowboy and be done with replacing the deck every year! Just my 2 cents!

 

[Eric]

Too expensive, wood is cheap. Plus, not my stuff, I'm just an employee, and finally side loading has proved way faster and gentler on the the neighborhoods we go to. Don't laugh at this, but between the truck and trailer we don't have $12,000 in it. We drive only about 1600 miles annualy, not very much so it's not like we need a lot more than we have. The excavators/ hammers are the money makers. If it were up to me I'd have a big Pete with all the bells and whistles and a detatch, maybe when he retires I'll buy the company and do it my way!

 

[tonka]

Too expensive, wood is cheap. Plus, not my stuff, I'm just an employee, and finally side loading has proved way faster and gentler on the the neighborhoods we go to. Don't laugh at this, but between the truck and trailer we don't have $12,000 in it. We drive only about 1600 miles annualy, not very much so it's not like we need a lot more than we have. The excavators/ hammers are the money makers. If it were up to me I'd have a big Pete with all the bells and whistles and a detatch, maybe when he retires I'll buy the company and do it my way!

Ahha ok If its not yours and the boss wants you to do it that way, hell go for it son!

The pete and lowboy i used to drive in Cali!

 

[ror76a]

Too expensive, wood is cheap.

Even if you get the wood cheap, and cheap labor to re deck every year how much are you really saving (also consider that the time you are spending fixing the trailer you could be out making money) vs only having to re deck every 5 or 10 years? Might want to do what we did back in our side loading days - got tired of fixing the wood deck so we put steel over the wood. It is a little slipperier, but thats what chains & binders are for. I have got to say that I don't miss side loading, wouldn't do it to any trailer that I liked. I think that the hyd detach trailer we have now is almost as quick as side loading. What I really don't miss is having to fix the trailer :Banghead(broken welds, suspension, ect) and truck :bash(suspension, fith wheel ripped off) from it, although by the time we got rid of it we had found all the weak spots in the trailer and beefed them up to handel it.ointhead

 

[Eric]

Good points, I do agree. I doubt that a detatch is close to as quick, that whole process took about 55 seconds, I've run a detatch and it took a bit longer than that. As for the man hours, once again I agree,BUT we are a small company, 2 of us to be exact. In the 8 years he has been in business locally we have never had much to do in Jan or Feb,so thats generaly when we do all our major overhauls and maint on all the equip. We have only enough wood on the deck to fit under the tracks, not the whole deck, takes us less than 2 hours to change the boards out:beatsme not to bad. Chains and binders work good keeping it down, it;s the getting it situated and OFF that can be dangerous, because we rarely have a flat level spot to load unload. However if you happen to come across a decent detatch for cheap, please let me know. Thanks.

 

[Cat420]

When we rent something on tracks, I always make sure to have some junk wood on hand for the rental delivery truck. A few scrap 2x8s keep the road nice and the driver doesn't have to hurt his trailer unloading over the side.

 

[rino1494]

Eric, just keep doing what you are doing. Use what you got. If you had the money to buy everything you needed, you wouldn't have to work.

 

[Eric]

Hey Tonka is that a Manginni truck?? I thought they only hauled hay. Dang it that is a sweet ride!