[GMHeatonC]

Curious if people just drive their cut tractor right over the mesh gate w/o bending it or do you place a wood support to prevent that. Tractor weighs 2k with mower deck. Also curious if mower deck will catch trailer when loading or do you slightly jack front of trailer up to overcome this?

 

[Mikey4]

Not sure about the mesh, but using a trailer ramp with the tongue jacked up and not connected to a tow vehicle is dangerous. The weight of the tractor will cause the trailer to do a wheelie. Maybe a scary annoyance. Maybe truly dangerous.

 

[GMHeatonC]

Thanks Mikey. Definitely plan on leaving trailer connected to truck was just thinking I can place a 4by4 under frt Jack and slightly elevate frt if needed to prevent belly mower from contacting ramp/trailer but not even sure if anyone else has that issue. Flipped a t/b mower one time when the mower deck hung on the ramp. One helluva ride.

 

[Alien5044]

Mikey4 has correctly pointed out that not being secured to the truck is a very dangerous practice. That tongue weight provided by the correctly attached hitch and safety chains MUST be there. Some trailers include vertical ramp supports right where the ramps connect to the trailer to limit the downward pressure on the rear of the trailer caused by the weight of the machine at the rearmost edge of the trailer.

Related to this is the all too common attempt to heavily load a trailer on an incline. Weight shift can cause unexpected skidding of the entire truck/trailer unit.

Common sense and caution are the best advice here.

 

[dave_r]

You might want to post a pic of the ramps here? Depending on the trailer and who made it, it's possible that the trailer may be capable of towing the tractor, but the ramps will be damaged or fail while loading it with a single vehicle close to the trailers capacity.

 

[GMHeatonC]

Have not bought a trailer yet but it's gonna have at least 3500lb axles and probably mesh gate but I do like the under gate support idea to prevent bending

 

[dave_r]

If you haven't bought the trailer yet, you might consider finding one that has a longer, better built ramp? For example, when I got my first trailer, a 6.5x12, it normally came with a 4' mesh ramp, but I got them to install a significantly stronger 5' split ramp (split because it's heavier), which also reduced high-siding the zero turn when loading/unloading it.

And when I upgraded to a 18' trailer, I made folding, split 6' ramps, so they would have the same slope as the first trailer.

 

[GMHeatonC]

Great idea and will check into this

 

[3 Legged Dog]

I faced the same questions when I bought a trailer for my SCUT, which weighs about 2,200 lbs with the loader and one implement.

I don't have a MMM, but I have a front-mount blower with a driveline that hangs low, and I only have about 6 inches of regular ground clearance.

I bought a PJ model UK142 trailer, 77"x14', with reinforced ramps rated for the full trailer load, and a 16" dovetail on the back. It's T/A, with electric brakes on both axles. Cal

 

[GMHeatonC]

Love the reinforced gate, is it heavy to raise by your your self cause I don't see any gate assist in the pic

 

[3 Legged Dog]

Love the reinforced gate, is it heavy to raise by your your self cause I don't see any gate assist in the pic

The gate is spring-loaded. It takes very little to raise or lower. And the ramps have a built-in support stand.

The dovetail gives me all the loading clearance I need.

You can't get these features at a big-box store. You have to go to a trailer dealer. Cal

 

[GMHeatonC]

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. Lots of ideas to chew on before my trailer purchase