14ft Ifor

[doobin]

How long will it be before we see the steering axles on some of these trailers.
It's common place on large commercial trailers and agri now too.

Won't happen. It would need the truck to have steering sensors and some way of controlling the trailer axles. Either way would eat in massively to the payload of the rig. Let's be realistic- trailer tyres are pretty cheap, and there's not many places a comparitively tiny 3.5t trailer won't fit.

 

[Quattromike]

The agri setups I've seen have trailing axle with guide steer so the wheels just castor to the direction they are being pulled. Not. All that complex but there is a weight consideration

 

[Shovelhands]

My last tandem Ifor, tippers aside, was a beavertail. I stopped buying the beavertail when they pretty much buggered up the design, allegedly due to a change in tail light rules. I can’t remember why, but we tried a Triaxle 16’ flat after that, might genuinely have just been what was in stock at the time, I can’t remember.
I was always of the logic that tandem was adequate, more payload etc. And those arguments are very valid. However my experience of the Triaxle has led me to stick with them. A new one arrived just last week. I get much much less tyre wear and tyre failures with the Tri than I did running Tandems.
Get the hitch height perfect on it and it’s a dream to tow and looks much better when running at full weight.

 

[Justme]

I tow a triple axle Ifor loaded to the max.
Its super stable, does not suffer from pitching or snaking.
More load flexibility.
Brakes/tyres & suspension are rated for 4500kg so plenty of spare capacity.
Yes you will get tyre scrub if you tight turn reversing but then thats user abuse for not knowing how to use a triple.
Harder to move off road.
Better on speed bumps.

For high loads, long distances & speed triple wins.
For small tighter accesses then twin or single if payload is enough would be better.

 

[Grahams]

I tow a triple axle Ifor loaded to the max.
Its super stable, does not suffer from pitching or snaking.
More load flexibility.
Brakes/tyres & suspension are rated for 4500kg so plenty of spare capacity.
Yes you will get tyre scrub if you tight turn reversing but then thats user abuse for not knowing how to use a triple.
Harder to move off road.
Better on speed bumps.

For high loads, long distances & speed triple wins.
For small tighter accesses then twin or single if payload is enough would be better.

I agree with all that. I reguarly run fully loaded between 400 and 500 miles and was finding I often go blow outs on twin axles, especially in the summer. So bad that I carried three spares. Once I changed to triple axles the blow outs stopped almost completely. Yes you do get scrubbing on the back tyres, but I'm still getting through less tyres overall and it is a lot safer, especially on "smart" motorways.

 

[jd6820]

Just got an 18ft Tri-axle Ifor ourselves for delivering conventional bales. It rides grand and stable on the road and easy to tow. I agree with the comments on braking across three axles being better than two. Think ours has the taller optional extra wheels mentioned earlier and LED lights which seem good. Turning is as other have commented challenging in small yards where we deliver, but it does get in and turn round no bother you just feel the resistance more.

 

[DaveDCB]

All good except for you loose payload capacity by adding a 3rd axle.. so unable to tow a 2.8 ton digger or a 3ton dumper anymore.. thus pointless on a plant forum you can buy a lot of spare tyres for the cost of a 3rd axle too

 

[Lancs Lad]

All good except for you loose payload capacity by adding a 3rd axle.. so unable to tow a 2.8 ton digger or a 3ton dumper anymore.. thus pointless on a plant forum you can buy a lot of spare tyres for the cost of a 3rd axle too

£490 to be precise...

 

[Justme]

All good except for you loose payload capacity by adding a 3rd axle.. so unable to tow a 2.8 ton digger or a 3ton dumper anymore.. thus pointless on a plant forum you can buy a lot of spare tyres for the cost of a 3rd axle too

110kg, hardly a deal breaker. Even a twin GX GH or GP 126 cant carry 2.8t.
You have to drop to a 105 range to get 2.8T capacity. Cant see any Iffor that can carry 3t.
Plus the 2.8 digger will have extras like QH or even buckets / fuel too ruling out any Iffor.

GP126 Skids

155/70R12C

3500kg

780kg

GH126

185/70R13C

3500kg

765kg

GX126 Skids

155/70R12C

3500kg

765kg

 

[GazCro]

110kg, hardly a deal breaker. Even a twin GX GH or GP 126 cant carry 2.8t.
You have to drop to a 105 range to get 2.8T capacity. Cant see any Iffor that can carry 3t.
Plus the 2.8 digger will have extras like QH or even buckets / fuel too ruling out any Iffor.

GP126 Skids

155/70R12C

3500kg

780kg

GH126

185/70R13C

3500kg

765kg

GX126 Skids

155/70R12C

3500kg

765kg

When you're at or close to the limit 110kg is actually quite a big difference if you wanna stay on the right side of things imho.

 

[Smiffy]

When you're at or close to the limit 110kg is actually quite a big difference if you wanna stay on the right side of things imho.

Tbh if you running that close to things I bet you would be overweight half the time regardless.
It is so easy to inadvertently add 110kg to a trailer without thinking.
I've dug best part of 100kg of mud out a 2.6t machine.

It is far to easy to overload in this game unless you are doing exactly the same thing every day.

 

[Shovelhands]

If you are already overweight then what’s a few extra kilos between friends

 

[Justme]

When you're at or close to the limit 110kg is actually quite a big difference if you wanna stay on the right side of things imho.

You missed the point.
Carrying a 2.8T you are already over loaded on an Iffor.
Unless its the smallest one & then can you actually fit one on without over loading one axle?

If you have a pre 19-01-2019 BE licence you would be better off with a mini 5th wheel or a triple converted to elec brakes & up rated MLPM.

 

[GazCro]

You missed the point.
Carrying a 2.8T you are already over loaded on an Iffor.
Unless its the smallest one & then can you actually fit one on without over loading one axle?

If you have a pre 19-01-2019 BE licence you would be better off with a mini 5th wheel or a triple converted to elec brakes & up rated MLPM.

I wasn't talking about towing 2.8 ton but the fact that if you are looking for maximum payload 110kg for an extra axle you don't need is pretty costly. Having said that if you're talking about dropside 12/14 ft ifors with all the sides off you'll probably be ok for 2.8 if you leave the ramps at home.

 

[CPS]

If you have a pre 19-01-2019 BE licence you would be better off with a mini 5th wheel or a triple converted to elec brakes & up rated MLPM.

Tell me more please?

 

[hiluxman]

Tell me more please?

I think its along these lines;

You can tow 'any' trailer over 750kg

But after 2013 it's any trailer over 750kg but no greater than 3500kgs

 

[Lancs Lad]

Tell me more please?

No ..isn't he on about the 5th wheel extra allowance? From what I understand with a 5th wheel trailer if your pickup payload is a tonne this is then added to towing allowance so thus 4.5t..if my mate was to be believed .but requires airbags and electric brakes I think ..did make me think.

 

[Justme]

No ..isn't he on about the 5th wheel extra allowance? From what I understand with a 5th wheel trailer if your pickup payload is a tonne this is then added to towing allowance so thus 4.5t..if my mate was to be believed .but requires airbags and electric brakes I think ..did make me think.

I was actually talking about both options.

If you can get Iffor or an engineers report uprating the triple to 4500kg as per the axle limits with active brakes & the vehicle can take it a pre 19-01-2013 BE licence holder can tow it.

Or as above the pin weight on a 5th wheel is actually vehicle weight so a post 19-01-2013 BE can tow a real 4500kg (ish) as only 3500kg is via the trailers wheels.

Best option is say a 6T vehicle that had a 12T GTW down plated to 3500kg but keeping the full GTW with active trailer brakes on a pre 19-01-2013 BE licence. In theory you could get a real trailer weight of 6.5T (not much payload left after 5th wheel unit is fitted).

Or just take the C1E or CE tests & have what you need.

 

[Gunners]

Cant we all just run tractors and haul what we want on red diesel on a car licence and be done with it chaps?

 

[doobin]

Cant we all just run tractors and haul what we want on red diesel on a car licence and be done with it chaps?

Why not, everyone else round here seems to!!!