Educate me on Trailers

[ebarker]

I spent a couple of years looking and thinking about trailers and I lucked upon a dealer that had just what I wanted.

For example, Pace ships a lot of 'standard' consumer cargo trailers but you can order just about any customization from a chart. The dealer ordered a custom but it turned out not to be what their typical customer wanted but exactly what I was looking for. So we managed to cut a deal after it sat on his lot a long time.

We got a Pace American 6x12, tandem axle, electric brake, extended height trailer. http://www.paceamerican.com/trailers/journey

The extended height is very important to us as we can roll a pit or road show nearly pre-configured and pre-packed. A critical dimension is the height of the door frame, which is less than the interior height. Interior height spec is nearly useless to us.

The wire rack in this picture is 5' wide, nearly 6' tall, 2' deep. There are several teams in this area that have transitioned to using this rack system but you need the extended height to get it done. Plus you don't bump your head when entering or walking around in the trailer.



This thing rolls in preconfigured, we set the sign and ready to go. It is wonderful. It sits on the trailer on the right side behind the side door. Between the rack and the back door sits the tool box. On the left side of the trailer is the robot cart preloaded with a showbot if necessary, and this year the bagged and tagged robot. We enter the side door to load specialty packages and other occassional stuff.

Everything is secured with E-Track down both side walls, about 40 inchs off the floor, E-Track D-Rings, and normal ratcheting straps.

Go here to see E-Track


It is way nicer to have electric brakes and tandem axles. It cost more but is definitely worth it if you are doing extended hauling or heavier loads.

The whole rig looks like this.



Ed

[Mark Sheridan]

Does any one know details on the NASA machine shop trailers?

I am pretty sure we will have a trailer next year but considering that my team is actually three schools with limited space; a portable small machine shop would be practical for my team.

[rsisk]

We got a 16ft utility trailer from Trailers Plus in Fontana (now in Redlands). We love it. They service it for us every six months.

We pull it with a Dodge Caravan with a towing package. Will be getting a truck so we can pull more weight in the trailer.

Would like to add a generator and lights (in and outside) as well as build in some storage of some sort.

Graphics were purchased from Two Pencil Designs for a very reasonable price and extremely good quality.

Here is a picture of the trailer with graphics....



Here is where we bought the trailer....
http://www.trailersplus.com/?gclid=C...FWcZQgod9ENVww

[Tom Line]

I strongly recommend dual axles and electric brakes. I have had single axle trailers where a broken spring has resulted in the trailer sitting on top of a tire on the ground. It's rare, but that second axle can be a lifesaver. In addition, on the occasion when you have to haul more than normal, you can.

I recommend electric brakes. Here in the icy north, having brakes that stop the trailer without pushing on your tow vehicle (surge brakes) are a wonderful thing.

[sanddrag]

Here's what we're currently looking at:

Our trailer will be custom built by http://www.heacocktrailers.com/

6x14 x 7 foot interior height (standing room inside) tandem axle
Rubber? Suspension as opposed to springs (they tell me it's better, less bounce).
Surge brakes.
Rear fold down ramp with torsion spring
Side door up front
Interior and exterior lights
Larger battery with solar charger/maintainer
Possibly a mount for a generator on the tongue and a power input and at least one receptacle on the interior and exterior
Side retractable awning
Full vinyl wrap
E-track at 2 or possibly 3 heights along the whole length of both sides, including interior of side door
A few floor mounting D-rings or similar.
Painted steel diamondplate floor.
Spare tire mounted on tongue. (I'm interested in hearing the pros/cons of where to put the spare.
Possible tongue-mount for barbeque instead of or in addition to (running out of space on the tongue).

What am I missing? We have the opportunity to order this once and forever more, so I want to make sure we do it right.

Like machinery, I figure you will always need a bigger trailer. But we don't want it so big we can't pull it with a normal sized vehicle, and we don't want it to be too much of a pain to park.

It will be parked outdoors year-round in SoCal. Our intention is that it will be multipurpose as follows:
- Hauling stuff to regional and offseason events
- Moving large and/or heavy things on rare occasions (a donated machine tool or Lego tournament tables for example.)
- Helping to support the expansion of robotics to all schools in the school district. We may do something like a mobile robotics minilab with many kits of Lego or Vex parts or computers or drawers of parts or things inside, that we could take to local schools for a day.

Our current possibilities for tow vehicles are a 2001 Ford Ranger 4.0L Extended Cab Automatic, and a 2000-something Honda Ridgeline. We may also have access to a mid-1990s Diesel Dodge Ram Dually Extended Cab, but we would need the trailer to be towable by any of the aforementioned vehicles.

Thoughts? I mostly concerned about the max size and weight to tow with the Ranger. From specs I read, we seem totally okay. Comments?

Also, we were looking at 7x14 rather than 6x14, but we thought the extra width would be hard to see/drive/maneuver.

[ayeckley]

Be sure you really, really want a trailer. Our second or third year we were able to use a 6' x 12' trailer that the school had. On paper it seemed perfect. In reality we found that it created more problems than it solved, especially at the Pittsburgh Regional. Towing it up and down hills on narrow, crowded one-way streets was a challenge, and parking it got very expensive (we were charged as if it were two cars). It's also a bigger target for theft since folks [correctly] assume it's filled with tools.

Since that initial experience we've gone back to hauling everything in school vans. It's probably not an issue except in certain cities.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Graphics were purchased from Two Pencil Designs for a very reasonable price and extremely good quality.

Here is a picture of the trailer with graphics....

Rich,

Your link seems to not be working, so here is one of mine.

[MrBasse]

You really need to know the maximum weight you will pull before you make any decisions. Is a diamond plate steel floor really that important when plywood probably weighs less, does the same job, and is ridiculously cheaper to replace? I've towed small trailers with a few different Rangers and I can say from experience that you shouldn't try to use a compact pickup to tow a full size load. Scariness definitely will happen, and that is multiplied when you have expensive and precious cargo (i.e. robots, tools and probably students too). The Ridgeline has a capacity of 5k lbs. so I would look past that option too if you are going to get a trailer like what you listed. You need a vehicle that can tow the trailer you buy, otherwise you have to buy a trailer that your vehicle can tow.

You have to remember that a lot more goes into towing than just weight. If you pull a shorter trailer with a shorter vehicle and load the trailer up at all, it is going to dance all over the freeway and stress the driver out until it ends badly. If you will ever go near a freeway, or plan to ever drive faster than 40 mph or so, buy a smaller trailer or a bigger truck.

[Retired Starman]

A couple of thoughts.

1. Don't forget to include the weight of everything you will throw in the tow vehicle when you are looking at the weight the tow vehicle can pull. Passengers and all that stuff in the back decreases the amount you call pull. People tend to forget that. Six people and luggage adds up.

2. Get a good tongue lock for times when the trailer is sitting by itself, either at the school or on trips at the hotel or venues. Some of the places we compete aren't the safest for a trailer. You might even want to get a Denver Boot to lock the wheels. Here is a site that has stuff to help. Don't know anything about them, just did a search. http://www.universalboot.com/

For those of you who don't have electric brakes, I suggest getting them. It is an easy after-market installation job. Did it myself on my box trailer. Even a moderate weight trailer will warp front disk brakes on a tow vehicle if you aren't careful. Much better to have the drag of trailer brakes help slow you down. Much safer too.

Dr. Bob

Chairman's Award is not about building the robot. Every team builds a robot.

[cpeister]

To add to Dr. Bob's post regarding locks,

If you are parking the trailer during an event and leaving it hitched to the tow vehicle, remember that locking the tongue to the ball isn't enough. You should also use a locking pin to attach the draw bar to the hitch receiver.

[Triple B]

David,
Sounds like a sweet trailer you are about to order but I would definately consider the extended height version. We have a standard height trailer and our crate has to go in on its side. good luck and see you in St Louis.
mike d

[Chi Meson]

I thought I'd pull up this old thread rather than start a new one. We are about to get a trailer ourselves. I'm looking at a 6 x 8 or 6 x 10 being the largest possibility. We are also considering a 5 x 8 (which has a side door and drop-down rear).

Various points in the previous threads suggest that folks would go bigger if given another choice. We successfully took 2 robots to IRI (from New England) in a dinky 4 x 6 rented Uhaul, so the 5 x 8 would seem "spacious" by comparison.

However, when looking at about 40 lined-up robotics trailers at IRI, the 6x10, to 6x12 size seemed to be the overwhelming favorite.

Smaller size is easier to pull and is less likely to be over weight. It's $1200 less, too .

Larger size is...larger.

What would you do?

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by Chi Meson

What would you do?

Once you go big, you can't go back.

Seriously though, it's a trade-off between variables, and you need to decide which variables matter to you.

My old team has borrowed a huge trailer, >12' for sure, from a sponsor. We can fit everything back there, and I'm sure if you asked us to use a smaller one, we wouldn't have known what to do.

If you have space, you'll find a way to fill it. If you want space, then I'd say go for it.

- Sunny G.

[ice.berg]

Our team had our trailer donated last year. Even though its nothing huge or extravagant it definitely gets the job done, so we are very grateful for that. Im not positive on the exact dimensions but its around 4X8X5 for the actual cargo area with just a single axle. We had our vinyl donated by the local graphics shop as well to spiff it up a little. One thing about this is make sure to do individual vinyls for each sponsor incase you need to add one or remove one. Inside we added some D ring tie downs and have a good selection on ratchet straps for securing robot and other materials while in transit. I think if you are on a tighter budget something like this would work quite well for you!

[Phyrxes]

Originally Posted by Chi Meson

I thought I'd pull up this old thread rather than start a new one. We are about to get a trailer ourselves. I'm looking at a 6 x 8 or 6 x 10 being the largest possibility. We are also considering a 5 x 8 (which has a side door and drop-down rear).

Various points in the previous threads suggest that folks would go bigger if given another choice. We successfully took 2 robots to IRI (from New England) in a dinky 4 x 6 rented Uhaul, so the 5 x 8 would seem "spacious" by comparison.

However, when looking at about 40 lined-up robotics trailers at IRI, the 6x10, to 6x12 size seemed to be the overwhelming favorite.

Smaller size is easier to pull and is less likely to be over weight. It's $1200 less, too .

Larger size is...larger.

What would you do?

One suggestion I have is as you are debating size, map out all the stuff you intended to tote in it to events and see how much floor level space you need for items like tool boxes, battery cart, bot, etc. Our major requirement was we wanted to be able to put a maximum height bot on a movers dolly and roll it right in so that defined our space requirements.