Anyone have a hydraulic dovetail trailer

Bama Ray

Member
I am in the market for a dual tandem hydraulic dovetail trailer ...anyone have one that they can recommend or tell me what to stay away from
 

PJ makes good trailers and they have hydraulic beavertail, but they don't offer paint, powder coat only. Kaufman offers paint, which lasts a lot longer than powder coat.
 
I own one. It is a Mustang brand. I really like it. The main thing to look at is how the tail is latched/locked up. They have many different ways of doing that. Mine does not have a very heavy load Hauling rating on the tail. It will lift 10K with the tail. It is the latch mechanism that is not as robust as I would like it. I think it is only rated at 2500# haul capacity setting on the tail. My brother's Load max has a heavier haul rating on the tail.

Keep in mind you will want a longer trailer than one with a dove tail and ramps. I messed up. I always had a 30 ft. trailer. The common configuration is a 25 foot bed with a five ft. tail and four foot ramps. So you get a 9 foot slope when loading. With a hydraulic tail trailer you will usually have a nine foot tail. So your loading slope is the same. You only 21 foot of flat deck. That useable flat deck of only 21 foot makes it tight at times. I will get a 32 or 34 foot trailer the next time.

Some other options you should look at:

1) Lower profile trailer package. On mine you have steel deck plating over the Dual tandems tires/axles. The cross member as slotted in the top I beam. This makes the trailer four inches lower. With a nine foot tail this makes the load angle noticeably flatter.

2) Brakes, I will only own electric over hydraulic with drum brakes. The reason is that the strictly electric brakes that use the magnets, do not have much stopping power backwards. I have been drug backwards down some lanes when the truck brakes locked up and slide the entire truck an the trailer brakes would not hold. The hydraulic brakes work better. I will not have hydraulic disk brakes on a trailer. For some reason they drag more and the hubs/wheels get hot when pulling at freeway speeds. I often jump in and do not stop for 300-400 miles. The first trailer I had with the hydraulic brakes was a disc brake model. The hubs would smoking because of the disk brake drag. Disc brakes never fully release. Drum brakes will stop you and do not drag.
 
Thanks for the info on the disc brakes ...I know I want electric over hydraulic. I am looking a several brands. We have 2 local gooseneck trailer builder but they don't build a hydraulic dovetail.
 
(quoted from post at 12:07:02 09/03/19) I am confused by the statement that paint lasts longer than powder coating. I have always thought it was the opposite.

Paul, it depends on the application. Powder coat is perhaps less likely to wear away to abrasion than paint, but since there is almost never primer under powder coat, once you get a ding in it that goes right through, to the steel it will rust very quickly because it will hold moisture under the plastic.
 
I have a 14 yr. Old Corn Pro I think is powder coated looks brand new. Except where I threw wet grass on wheels. Never been shedded.
 
I have a 2014 PJ that "was" powder coated. Was is what it is now. Big hunks of it peal off all the time. My 2002 painted one looks better than the powder coated one .
 
I wanted one unfortunately they are too heavy, luckily I found an all aluminum deckover with full width ramps very happy with it. Also picked up a shocker hitch an awesome combination.
 

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