noteven

HotRod has some excellent suggestions. If you winch directly to the bike and not to a seperate chock/trolley you need a nice bridle that evens the pull. I think the winch in the image is a Warn portable of some kind. As you know the trick to unloading down a ramp is to make sure the momentum of the roll-off does not stop with the back wheel off the ramp, front wheel on the ramp, and your feet 24inches off the ground ... it's one of those Wile E. Coyote "Oh no..." moments... ask me what it musta looked like when I tipped a tall trailie over like that and tumbled off down the little grassy incline into campsite #8 below us ... bike in a heap half upside down off the ramp. I popped up to my feet in #8 and looked to see if Brad was in has lawn chair so I could say "Just dropped in for coffee..." but the playoff hockey game was on so the area was like a ghost town which is why I was going for a ride... I digress...It was a bit of a wrasslin effort to stand the bugger up again... so if you go mechanical assist you need to make sure the system moves the machine all the way to the ground... or holds the bike upright trolley chock style so you can pull it a bit to get it flat on the ground... try to avoid bolting down toe catching hazards to your ramp or floor... they have a way of interrupting the trajectory of a needed foot placement.... the extension and ramp angle reduction method sounds good and simple to start with...

The skid steer is hard on the lawn during mowering ops...

Like all things to do with "property" "storage" "acreage" - thoroughly research, investigate, spreadsheet the exact machine "yer ever gonna need", then go 30% bigger.

had a Maxbrake fail on our Dodge won ton, installed a Prodigy somethin somethin to get us by to finish the trip. No like the "mind of it's own" control, replaced with a DirecLink controller compatible with a future electric over hydraulic system - works great with electric brake trailers - this truck pulls 5 different ones from time to time - also happy with it

Hi Chad are you going to work on this repair yourself if possible?

Hi CrazyCooter - I looked back through the posts - I can view the video of you rocking the upper 5th wheel plate by hand. That design is a bit of someone outsmarting themselves adding motion (a gimmick) to a coupling that is already provided by the truck's 5th wheel trunnion pin. It is not going to help with chucking (as you know) as it slams to a stop steel on steel when it runs out of travel... around our place we and the welder would fix that in about 10 minutes plus paint dry time - but it not my truck... If the seller of that mis-design gets into stand off mode with you won't resolve it and you feel like putting your energy into a good fly fishing trip rather than a squabble over a trailer hitch - if you could safely fashion a solid wedging setup that would stop that motion and test drive you could weld it solid afterwards if the rest of the Trail air meets your expectations. The forces on your trailer's frame are going to be less than the hammer action it is receiving now if it is solid.

When I play the video I can only see a big music note but I can hear the sound of some clunking - and the dog barking a warning about that hookup ...

Nice shakedown trip report. The rig looks great in the sunshine... An option to get your ATV unloaded to run for parts would be to dolly off the trailer, cage your parking brakes, start up in gear declutched (manual trans benefit) and idle the truck ahead till you have room to offload, shut off in gear (manual trans benefit). Have your "swamper" walk beside and throw the chocks under the wheels where you shut down. Not recommended on 8% grades . Spare filters, spare air governer, spare alternator, spare belt(s), kit of air fitting furls and o rings and stuff. If you have it along you never seem to need it...

The nose of our Carriage trailer goes straight up from the pin prolly many others that do the same without the aero shape. I don't think your 385 will notice a flat or aero front trailer all that much BUT where will you carry the bikes ?

In the second set of pics it looks to me like it is going to miss the hood of the Jeep as the trailer articulates. It can't get closer as you swing through a turn than it is straight ahead, right? So the only thing is "dip clearance" where the trailer and truck bend "in the middle" on the horizontal plane - like an open drain across a lane or "The World's Steepest Approaches" which are found at fuel stations because big long vehicles hardly ever go in and out of those... A test with an observer on the ground who knows to holler "Whoa!" before sheet metal contacts fiberglass would be in order ... um drive the jeep to the ditch location then load it for the test or you might already have "clearance" when you get there :lol: Front wheel pockets sound like an excellent idea if you only need an inch or three...

It is a self steering axle attached to the vehicle at 2 points so it doesn't hinge at the tow vehicle connection like a converter or trailer. It has brakes and auto steering to allow you to reverse without castoring the wheels over. It swings the trailer out in turns like 5th wheels set way back of rear axles on the rv HDT trucks featured on this forum. Allows you to tow a nice hoss trailer or rv 5th wheel etc with your paid for low mileage 8 litre Suburban you found in a barn, lady driven... - now back to original programming -

Maybe use anti-seize compound on the screw threads ? ... said the guy from road salt country

The 385 is looking good.