Lowboy (trailer)
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A lowboy (low-loader in
British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
, low-bed in western Canada and South Africa or float in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and eastern Canada) is a
semi-trailer A semi-trailer is a trailer without a front axle. In the United States, the term is also used to refer to the combination of a truck and a semi-trailer; a tractor-trailer. A large proportion of a semi-trailer's weight is supported by a tracto ...
with two drops in deck height: one right after the gooseneck and one right before the wheels. This allows the deck to be extremely low compared with other trailers. It offers the ability to carry legal loads up to tall, which other trailers cannot. Lowboys are used to haul heavy equipment such as
bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large, motorized machine equipped with a metal blade to the front for pushing material: soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous track ...
s and large industrial equipment.


History

The first lowboy trailer was invented in the 1920s; it featured a
rivet A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...
ed gooseneck and solid rubber
tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...
s. The first detachable gooseneck trailer, referred to as an RGN (Removable goose neck), was invented in 1958.


Types

The lowboy trailer comes in several types, for a wide range of tasks. Some types are: * Fixed gooseneck (FGN): allows a longer deck length and has the lightest weight. These are lower trailers than normal, with low-profile tires, usually with drop ramps in the rear to facilitate loading of equipment, but are not actually considered "lowboys". The neck is arched in such a way that, when lowered, it becomes a ramp, thus allowing the front tires of equipment to be pulled onto the deck. * Fixed-neck: the neck is fixed to trailers; offers the lightest weight, but sacrifices the ability to detach and load over the front * Hydraulic detachable gooseneck (hydraulic RGN or HRGN)): fastest and easiest to detach, at the expense of weight and deck length. It is the most common and versatile of lowboy trailers; the gooseneck is detached using large hydraulic cylinders to raise and lower the trailer and a small cylinder shores the neck to the truck, removing the neck so a large piece of equipment can be driven over the front onto the deck of the trailer for transport. The hydraulics can be run from the truck auxiliary or from a pony motor mounted in the neck of the trailer. * Mechanically-detachable gooseneck (mechanical RGN or MRGN): while usually lighter than the hydraulic detachable gooseneck, users sacrifice ease and speed of detaching. Used for long specialty hauls. * Mechanical folding gooseneck (MFGN): The deck folds down to ground level to provide a ramp for trailer loading.Mechanical folding gooseneck
- Retrieved 2012-04-06


Features

Lowboy trailer features include:


Suspension types

* Spring ride: lowest cost; however, it has a rougher ride and adds more stress to the trailer * Air-ride: smoother ride, adding to the life of the trailer frame. Air rides can also be adjusted for a higher or lower deck height. * Hydraulic suspension: an oil-filled system, allowing wide variation of axle movement * Independent suspension: a double wishbone, hydraulic suspension, which offers more stability, greater steering angle and more travel


Structural types

* Main
structural steel Structural steel is a category of steel used for making construction materials in a variety of shapes. Many structural steel shapes take the form of an elongated beam having a profile of a specific cross section. Structural steel shapes, sizes, ...
type:
mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...
rolled Rolling is a Motion (physics)#Types of motion, type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an Axial symmetry, axially symmetric object) and Translation (geometry), translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the ot ...
beams save money; although being around heavier, they also reverse
camber Camber may refer to a variety of curvatures and angles: * Camber angle, the angle made by the wheels of a vehicle * Camber beam, an upward curvature of a joist to compensate for load deflection due in buildings * Camber thrust in bike technology * ...
after a few years due to the much-lower strength of the main beams. * T1 or A514 beams save weight and allow more versatile engineering of the trailer; they are cut to the highest-strength shape possible and welded together.


Gallery

Image:Rawcliffe Ballasted Outfit.JPG, Two
MAN SE MAN SE (abbreviation of ''Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg'', ) was a manufacturing and engineering company based in Munich, Germany. Its primary output was commercial vehicles and diesel engines through its MAN Truck & Bus and MAN Latin Ame ...
ballast tractor A ballast tractor is a specially weighted tractor unit of a heavy hauler combination. It is designed to utilize a drawbar to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large trailer loads which are loaded in a hydraulic modular trailer. When feasible ...
s pulling and one Mercedes pushing a transformer on 10-axle
lowboy A lowboy is an American collectors term for one type of dressing table, vanity, or duchess ( Australian English).Lowboy is a "collectors term for a dressing table made in 18th century America often with a matching highboy ". It is a small tab ...
Image:Talbert Lowboy Trailer.jpg, A lowboy trailer carrying a Link-Belt lattice crawler crane. Image:65_Ton_Lowboy_Trailer.jpeg, Another view of a lowboy Image:Dieplader1.jpg, Lowboy with a Volvo tracked
excavator Excavators are heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, dipper (or stick), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. They are a natural progression fro ...
Image:LOWBOY_WITH_MTVR.jpg, Lowboy trailer attached to an Oshkosh MTVR of the
U.S. Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary warfare, exped ...
Image:Military_lowboy_trailer.jpeg, Military lowboy trailer Image:Parowóz na lawecie.jpg, Steam locomotive on lowboy


See also

*
Dolly (trailer) A dolly is an unpowered vehicle designed for connection to a tractor unit, truck or prime mover vehicle with strong traction power. United States Classification by axle configuration There are several types of dolly bogie: * Full trailer ...
*
Flatbed trolley A flatbed trolley a common form of freight transport in distribution environments, for moving bulk loads. Trolleys can aid in reducing effort required to move a load by allowing the user to pull or push instead of lift and carry. A very simple des ...
*
Flatbed truck A flatbed truck (or flatbed lorry in British English) is a type of truck which can be either articulated or rigid. As the name suggests, its bodywork is just an entirely flat, level 'bed' with no sides or roof. This allows for quick and easy load ...
* Heavy capacity flatcar *
Heavy Equipment Transport System Heavy Equipment Transporter System (HETS) is the name of a U.S. Army logistics vehicle transport system, the primary purpose of which is to transport the M1 Abrams tank. It is also used to transport, deploy, and evacuate armored personnel carriers ...
(HETS) *
Long combination vehicle A road train, land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a trucking vehicle used to move road freight more efficiently than semi-trailer trucks. It consists of two or more trailers or semi-trailers hauled by a prime mover. History Early ...
*
Oliver Danson North Oliver Danson North (1887, Willesden Green — 11 November 1968, Haslemere) was a British engineer and automobile designer in the early twentieth century, working for Scammell Lorries from 1922. Career He was responsible, most notably, ...
*
Roll trailer A roll trailer is a trailer platform that requires towing by a powered vehicle. It is commonly used for the transport of heavy static goods and materials in the maritime shipping industry. Roll trailers are similar to shipping flat racks contai ...


References


External links

* * {{Authority control Trailers Freight transport