Is This The Ultimate Forklift Trailer?

Article by Truckbody & Trailer

Sometimes a low loader just doesn’t get low enough. TRT’s new Tri-axle Widening Forklift Trailer meets very specific requirements for an Australian customer.

As warehouse stacking heights head into the 20–25m range, forklifts are getting bigger, heavier, and crucially, the height of their masts also increases. That’s giving manufacturers and distributors of these new-generation forklifts a headache.

TRT Trailer Sales’ Jeremy Carden says that in the past, road carriers could legally cart loads beyond 5.2m in height in Australia. The rules have changed, with unpermitted load heights now topping out at 5m. That’s an issue for dealers wanting to ship tall forklifts.

Forklifts, especially high-reach units, also need to carry ballast as low as possible, resulting in minimal ground clearance. That means the approach angle for transporters must also be very shallow if they are going to be driven onto the transporters. This rules out conventional low loader trailers and brings in purpose-built forklift transporters.

TRT’s new generation of forklift transporters can get the deck height down to 350mm using airbags. Jeremy says the very large airbags used on this trailer, the second TRT has built, give it a 300mm suspension stroke. “That’s actually more than a lot of traditional forklift trailers on hydraulic suspension.”

The impressive Tridec suspension from the Netherlands also allows five different ride heights, giving operators maximum flexibility. The BPW axles end in 22.5in diameter super single wheels fitted with 385mm-wide tyres.

Widening trailer copes easily with 2.5m machinery

Wide Loads

This trailer’s party trick is that it is a widening trailer. It can travel closed up under the 2.5m width limit on Australian roads, where this unit is headed, but it can widen out to load forklifts 2.5 or even 2.6m wide without the need for lifting gear.

“TRT has taken the Tridec cassettes and developed a box beam widening system to turn the trailer into a full axle widener,” Jeremy says. “What that allows the operator to do when he gets on site is to basically lower it down, widen the trailer, and the Hardox infill decks lower hydraulically. This means a 2.5–2.6m wide machine can be loaded straight through without any lifting gear, from the ramp all the way through.”

“This will really open doors for operators that were having to use access gear on a forklift trailer. Now, they can also look at moving excavators, motorhomes, and reach stackers.”

The decks are full Hardox all the way through, and TRT has applied an especially grippy grit finish on the loading ramp and beavertail. “We’ve gone for a full cold grip deck surface coating,” Jeremy says. “It’s a media applied to epoxy resin that creates a grippy surface with about a five to six millimetre upstand. It also lasts a lot longer than the standard non-skid.”

Jeremy notes that it’s also ideal for small electric forklifts and other equipment, as it gives the driven rear axles traction, especially in wet conditions, on the ramp before they reach the flat and smooth main deck.

Hydraulically lowered floor infills and a super gripply loading ramp

Rated Weights

The trailer is rated to a GVM of 36,000kg with a GTM, or group axle mass rating, of 21,000kg. That gives the TRT tri-axle trailer the capacity to load single-piece items up to 23 or 24 tonnes, Jeremy explains.

The tare weight is just under 10 tonnes, so adding a prime mover of between 9 and 10 tonnes brings the total close to a 36-tonne GVM overall.

As this design is the first of its kind, TRT had to consider what it would be capable of when travelling loaded in a widened state. “We had to look at what that meant for the structure of the trailer,” Jeremy says. “What we’ve done is given it a reduced design rating when it’s fully widened out to 3.55 metres — 15 tonnes over the tri-axle group.”

TRT Sales’ Jeremy Carden

Features and Equipment

The trailer features a full suite of Hella lighting, with all recessed side markers on quick connects for easy replacement. There’s a full control manifold for the trailer’s hydraulic functions powered by the truck’s PTO and pump, but it also comes with a full-function Elsema remote control.

“What this means is the trailer can be a one-man operation,” Jeremy says. The operator can get up close to each area, such as behind the ramp or outside the cassettes, when loading and unloading. The PTO also powers a 16,000lb worm drive winch on the gooseneck.

“What we’ve also done for the customer is put a dead eye lug down below it, rated to 15 tonnes. That’ll easily give them the ability to two-part the winch for loading dead machines or heavy machines that may need a bit of a hand to get up the ramp.”

The trailer equipment also includes open-top chain boxes on top of the wheel cassettes and a lockable 900mm toolbox under the winch. At the front of the trailer, either side of the gooseneck, there are also eight 10mm twitch holders.

Twitch holders