Flat Bed Trailer or Gate and side rails?

ckingclean

ckingclean

Cleaning with Aloha
I'm building a small trailer rig and need some help choosing a trailer please.

I'm mounting a hydro tek hot water skid, two hose reels, a tool box, and some kind of 5 gallon chem. storage.

I can get a flat trailer with no rails or a landscape type trailer with 1-2 foot angle iron wrap around side rails and a wire mesh gate that can fold down. Which would be a better option? The rails might make it easier to contain things in the trailer, but I think might make access to the reels and machine more difficult. I also want it to look as professional as possible.

What do you guys think?

Thanks,
Chris
 
I like the siderails, with the expanded metal or boarded sides. I would take the ramp off the back, and put the hose reels and chem buckets back there. I would also have some brackets made to hang your boots upside down, so they don't get water and other crap in them, and mount them on the angle iron.
 
BUNN said:
I like the siderails, with the expanded metal or boarded sides. I would take the ramp off the back, and put the hose reels and chem buckets back there. I would also have some brackets made to hang your boots upside down, so they don't get water and other crap in them, and mount them on the angle iron.
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Thanks for the reply. Taking the gate off is a good idea. I have been told to put the skid centered over the axle. I'm afraid if I do this, and put the reels in the back, there won't be enough weight on the tongue. Would it be ok to put the machine a little forward of the axle to even it out? I won't be hauling water, as it is always available at our job sites with decent pressure.
 
Try to keep 60% in the front and 40% in the rear. What size tank are you planning on using? If it will be a bigger tank it would be better over the axle.
 
I'm pretty new at this but even a small float tank makes sense no matter how "decent" you think the water supply is. I'd also mock up the trailer unit complete with water and all gear. With a bathroom scale under the trailer jack to check tongue weight. Make sure it falls within the correct class hitch for your vehicle. I've run a trailer with too low tongue weight and it can be enlightening on a busy highway.
 
ckingclean said:
Thanks for the reply. Taking the gate off is a good idea. I have been told to put the skid centered over the axle. I'm afraid if I do this, and put the reels in the back, there won't be enough weight on the tongue. Would it be ok to put the machine a little forward of the axle to even it out? I won't be hauling water, as it is always available at our job sites with decent pressure.
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Mount your skid up front....that is where the softest ride is.....Tank over axles.Hose reels on the back or on the curb side of the trailer....You might wana put somthing else on back...
 
Lightning Gene said:
Mount your skid up front....that is where the softest ride is.....Tank over axles.Hose reels on the back or on the curb side of the trailer....You might wana put somthing else on back...
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That's right!! That's how I setup my trailer.

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IndyExterior said:
I'm pretty new at this but even a small float tank makes sense no matter how "decent" you think the water supply is.
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I'm starting to realize that! I had a 4.5 gallon float tank installed on the machine and it was almost sucking dry on our last job that I thought had good pressure.
What size buffer tank would be best? I'm trying to keep the weight down. The machine is 5.5 gpm at 3500 psi.
 
I see why you want to keep the weight down, can you post a pict? Let us see your rig and i am sure you will get a lot of input....Hopefully all good LOL
 
Matthew has a very efficient rig above. I have a 100 gal buffer and a 1.5" dump valve on the bottom. When complete I dump all but 10-20 gal so I don't have the extra weight to haul around. It also gives me some water to rinse my roof wash pump and hose reel. Water is a little over 8lbs a gallon so do the math.
 
I met this guy in Hawaii 2 weeks ago. We were there for 12 days and he was the only PW'er i ran into, and trust me I was looking. Glad to have you here.
Here is a pic ....i couldn't resist.
 

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Wow, you never know when people are taking pictures of you!
 
Here is how ours is setup. Nate put the tank and both skids over the axles with the gas cans and the chemical buckets on the front. We never run with less than 100 gallons in the tank....waiting on water does suck, ALOT. If we have a full day we are out of the shoot with a full tank no questions asked. We had a 5x 8 when we started in 2006 I will post that photo below as well as our current rig.


<BR> NEW RIG - 2 SKIDS AND A 300 GAL WATER TANK

<a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/nnlj/?action=view&current=DSC03596.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/nnlj/DSC03596.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>




<br> OLD RIG 5 X 8 W/ 195 WATER TANK & LANDA SKID

<a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/nnlj/?action=view&current=trailer.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/nnlj/trailer.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/nnlj/?action=view&current=unit.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e101/nnlj/unit.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
I like the ladder rack!
 
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