Chit, drvn4wood distracted me! I read Greg's thread title and wondered what kind of cutting boards he found now (that was you right?)
If you stack it, you can haul two cords! I don't stack it often, unless we are far from home and there is two cords of wood!
Yep, burned the last box of those about 10 days ago, back to firewood now, just as the cold seem to be finding us.
I'll cheer with you whatever trailer you buy! But I would also feel better telling you what I experienced so you have the best info. I bumper pulled an 18 foot 7000 gvw trailer for about 10 years. Sold it to buy the one I have now. If you will be hauling on roadways 50 mph plus you will find a fully loaded bumper pull to be a little wobbly back and forth. Not a big deal, I filled it, I'm sure over filled it, and just watched it wobble. I went after the new trailer initially just because of fewer sons around and wanting a dump, and also a little more capacity so i could spend more time cutting and loading instead of trips back and forth. My trailer is 14,000 gvw, but weighs almost 4000 empty. If you can afford to wait a little, the gooseneck is a huge benefit. I went initially after bumper pull, but the more I researched, the more I liked the concept. A cord of tightly stacked green firewood is 4000-5000 pounds, and myself and two buddies found we could usually cut and stack two cords in about 2-3 hours if it was a drive up site. And thats usually all we feel like doing in one stop anyway. So thats how I got to 8x16 14000 gvw. However, with a max load, the gooseneck will transfer maybe a 1/4 of the load to the back axle of the truck, and I can say to me it feels like the truck is not laboring any more than when I had the prior overloaded at 8000-9000, and the front end is not as high up either. Plus the turning radius of the whole rig is also very much improved. Lastly, fully loaded, the low point on the end of my truck is higher by maybe six inches in comparison, and this was key as one of my cutting partners has a driveway with a dip that bottomed out my former trailer at the hitch no matter what we did. Even heavy tail stacking didn't do enough. I don't sell trailers, and I get no gooseneck patent fees, but I will tell you that you will not regret the decision in the long run should you decided to go with one! I posted on here when i was researching, and many guys helped fill in the blanks for me if i can go back and find that thread. For me, the best logic is what capacity can your team produce in one trip, what are the average hauling distances, how much total wood do you participate in getting for your team each year, what other functions than wood do you have, and how much money could you swing? So for me, that was 2 cords, 10 miles, 30+ cords, misc landscape jobs I use to pay for the gear and to haul a 30 HP diesel fair tractor, and I budgeted to stay under 10k: What I got was: 8x16' Load Trail Gooseneck Dump Trailer Did not get tarp kit (as firewood doesn't blow out!) Got spare tire Two under deck ramps that will handle 10k, plus four tie down rings welded in Drop sides, and two way tail gate (barn door or pick up style) For $8000 Then bulldog gooseneck turnover ball with install For $659 So I think taxes, title etc... ended up $9300. Got $1500 for my old trailer I sold privately, and estimate I have saved maybe $200 in gas with lesser trips, and produced maybe 5 cords more firewood in the same amount of total time now that I can make fewer trips and can dump rather than pitch it off. And I'll end with this. A hard working dude with ANY kind of truck/trailer/car trunk can heat his home easily. I have cut, and sold wood for a number of years and it took me 20+ years until this trailer made sense. I started pick up only, then single axle 4x8, then double axle 7x18, now this one. So will look for your visit in Spring and you can kick the tires all you want.
Im seeing a trend developing here at FHC.... Brothers helping brothers, friends helping friends, and the furtherance of community on all sides! Great stuff, Greg!
Another great find by Greg. Hey, there may as well have been a big sign stuck in the ground in the logs saying "GREG - take me home!". LOL Good eye spotting it and good stuff too. EDIT: BTW, Back in the years when we lived in So. CAL (Los Angeles), the term 'drive by' meant something very different than here....
Having done both bumper pull and goose neck over the years, I am a big fan of goose necks and would never go back to bumper pull. We pull hay, tractors, horses, and cattle (no firewood, it is local-grown!). They track so nice and tight, and put the weight on the truck right where you want it. We just added a 30K B & W (pronounced BMW by my wife, causing considerable confusion the first time she said it) to a new-to-us truck for $750. This ball can be adapted to 5th wheel, but I don't see us ever going that route. We checked some flip-over installs before going with the B&W, and are glad we went this route. Greg, looks like a great load on there - with a little care that trailer should last you a long time!
True. In here the big difference(besides the obvious) is they've already been slayed, but there's at least chainsaw carnage to consider within the colloquial connotation.
First off sorry Greg for turning your score into a trailer thread.. Easy to to with nice equipment like that though.. And thanks a ton for your help! I really appreciate it and I'm gonna take you up on your offer when we get close to purchase time.. I've pulled both bumper a gooseneck heavy, empty, and in between. Goosers definitely pull better so I haven't ruled it out by any means. I could probably more than get by with a 6x10 9900 dump which is why I was looking 7x12 or 14 12 or 14k as a little bit of overkill. I currently have a 7x16 sure trac 7k that I plan on keeping for cars and smaller equipment. I will definitely look at the gooseneck but with rear bags and proper hitch I've loaded the heck out of my buddies heavy bumper pull and it pulled pretty well. I'm gonna keep looking and hope to buy in the spring barring ant set backs with our little one who's gonna be here within a few weeks.. Here's my current setup..
Excellent! Is that a whinch on the front of the flat bed, if it is, that could be a very fun feature! I've seen a guy on line that made a boom thing for a trailer like mine so he could whinch up logs. But mine staying stock for now Talk soon!
