I didn't want to mix this thread with the other where I was asking questions about it. My main purpose for this thread is to let people know about the trailer set up. There is a lot of info on the chutes themselves but very little on the trailers that I could find.
So... on the SO4 and trailer I purchased last week the chute itself seems to be well made. Every things works great just sitting in my driveway and its all easy to use and set up nice.
Ill start off with the good things about the trailer...
Its very easy to put together and very easy to move around. That's about all I can say on that.
Things I was not fond of...
The trailer came with just flat out trashed tires.... not usable in any way. If you are going to buy the trailer just put new tires in the budget right off the bat as part of the cost. Not only were they dry rotted and worn... they were like the cheapest tiger paw junk you could find. Even brand new... they are junk.
The hubs were loose on one side and VERY loose on the other. It was a quick fix but still frustrating to have to mess with after paying the money.
The hubs also are not mounted square to the trailer.
The trailer is flexed out of square Im assuming from welding but not 100%.
The hubs are low speed agriculture type hubs.
The hitch is also a dirt cheap and leaves a lot to be desired.
As a whole the trailer is kind of thrown together and sub par IMO. It would be ok to move from your barn to your pens then back to the barn but its not road worthy.
I have debated calling Priefert but at the end of the day they built it to do a certain task (which I may call and ask what that task is) and that task is not what most of use would probably use it for. So dont make the same mistake I did thinking I could pull it from place to place... even if I had to take it easy. That is not an option straight from Priefert. Its almost hard to believe the same company that designed the chute made the trailer. You can see the effort put in to the chute to be usable and I don't see 1/10 of that effort put in to the trailer.
So now the debate is should we modify what we have or start from scratch with a built from scratch trailer. I may call Priefert and try to at least get a trailer in better shape as far as the hubs being mounted better and what not just so at least if we modify it we would have a better starting point. If nothing else we could maybe sell it but I would feel bad pawning it off on some one else with out being brutally honest about how it works. I will follow up on how that goes.
So you can see from the picture attached how out of balance this thing is. So from point A to point D this thing is 127" long. From point A to point B it is only 45" long.
Priefert sends a bracket (I guess you can consider the "axle") that mounts at point B with one bolt. Its has slots cut horizontally in flat bar turned vertical that the ears with holes on the back of the trailer slide in to. When the ears slide thru the slots you put a linch pen thru. Not a bad deal but the trailer is about 4-6" wider than the "axle" slots. The trailer has enough flex that when I stab one side I have to grab the tire, lift it, and shove it in toward the chute to line up with the slot. The bracket is not a major problem but it is some what of a trip hazard for the operator while working cattle and the cattle if you have to use the side exit.
Then you grab the tongue and push down to pin the front to two brackets mounted to the front of the chute with ubolts. Again not a bad design but it takes every thing I have (6'3", #300) to shove it down low enough to pen it. It requires 2 people to do this, 3 would be even better. You have to watch your hands also because the trailer will smash your hands between it and the bar to open the head gate when it comes up. Im a little worried the handle will get damaged over time when you let it up trying to remove the trailer.
Our plan now, if we modify a Priefert trailer, is to go back to point C on the picture and weld a good have flat bar vertically to the back of the chute. There is some good iron there where we could over lap it and make it stick out as far as we wanted. We would cut slot just like the "axle" bracket Priefert sent so the trailer would slide in the exact same. That would make the balance much more favorable to pulling.
We would also need to part the trailer at point F and E to extend it. My dad has some solid 2" pipe we could shove in the parts we cut to help make the splice.
We would also need to add a jack because it would be too tongue heave to lift on to the truck now.
Doesn't seem to bad when you typing it.
If any one has any better ideas or sees some thing we may be missing I am all ears. That is the second reason for posting this... to get input from the brain trust.
I know it is not my dads first choice to modify the current trailer. He hates screwing with stuff like that because he has concerns with what he is starting from. He is worried by the time we do the splicing and stuff that it may get more out of wack than it already is. Plus, the trailer as a whole seems to be a little narrow for the amount of weight up high.
Its hard to tell right now if the side to side motion is from being out of balance due to the tire location or if its too top heavy. Right now it still bounces side to side, not a tail whip, at around 15 mph or so if you hit a little bump. It may take more speed to get a whip.
He wants to weld some hubs straight to the chute and make it where you can take the tongue on and off but we have not been able to get that idea totally usable yet.
So... on the SO4 and trailer I purchased last week the chute itself seems to be well made. Every things works great just sitting in my driveway and its all easy to use and set up nice.
Ill start off with the good things about the trailer...
Its very easy to put together and very easy to move around. That's about all I can say on that.
Things I was not fond of...
The trailer came with just flat out trashed tires.... not usable in any way. If you are going to buy the trailer just put new tires in the budget right off the bat as part of the cost. Not only were they dry rotted and worn... they were like the cheapest tiger paw junk you could find. Even brand new... they are junk.
The hubs were loose on one side and VERY loose on the other. It was a quick fix but still frustrating to have to mess with after paying the money.
The hubs also are not mounted square to the trailer.
The trailer is flexed out of square Im assuming from welding but not 100%.
The hubs are low speed agriculture type hubs.
The hitch is also a dirt cheap and leaves a lot to be desired.
As a whole the trailer is kind of thrown together and sub par IMO. It would be ok to move from your barn to your pens then back to the barn but its not road worthy.
I have debated calling Priefert but at the end of the day they built it to do a certain task (which I may call and ask what that task is) and that task is not what most of use would probably use it for. So dont make the same mistake I did thinking I could pull it from place to place... even if I had to take it easy. That is not an option straight from Priefert. Its almost hard to believe the same company that designed the chute made the trailer. You can see the effort put in to the chute to be usable and I don't see 1/10 of that effort put in to the trailer.
So now the debate is should we modify what we have or start from scratch with a built from scratch trailer. I may call Priefert and try to at least get a trailer in better shape as far as the hubs being mounted better and what not just so at least if we modify it we would have a better starting point. If nothing else we could maybe sell it but I would feel bad pawning it off on some one else with out being brutally honest about how it works. I will follow up on how that goes.
So you can see from the picture attached how out of balance this thing is. So from point A to point D this thing is 127" long. From point A to point B it is only 45" long.
Priefert sends a bracket (I guess you can consider the "axle") that mounts at point B with one bolt. Its has slots cut horizontally in flat bar turned vertical that the ears with holes on the back of the trailer slide in to. When the ears slide thru the slots you put a linch pen thru. Not a bad deal but the trailer is about 4-6" wider than the "axle" slots. The trailer has enough flex that when I stab one side I have to grab the tire, lift it, and shove it in toward the chute to line up with the slot. The bracket is not a major problem but it is some what of a trip hazard for the operator while working cattle and the cattle if you have to use the side exit.
Then you grab the tongue and push down to pin the front to two brackets mounted to the front of the chute with ubolts. Again not a bad design but it takes every thing I have (6'3", #300) to shove it down low enough to pen it. It requires 2 people to do this, 3 would be even better. You have to watch your hands also because the trailer will smash your hands between it and the bar to open the head gate when it comes up. Im a little worried the handle will get damaged over time when you let it up trying to remove the trailer.
Our plan now, if we modify a Priefert trailer, is to go back to point C on the picture and weld a good have flat bar vertically to the back of the chute. There is some good iron there where we could over lap it and make it stick out as far as we wanted. We would cut slot just like the "axle" bracket Priefert sent so the trailer would slide in the exact same. That would make the balance much more favorable to pulling.
We would also need to part the trailer at point F and E to extend it. My dad has some solid 2" pipe we could shove in the parts we cut to help make the splice.
We would also need to add a jack because it would be too tongue heave to lift on to the truck now.
Doesn't seem to bad when you typing it.
If any one has any better ideas or sees some thing we may be missing I am all ears. That is the second reason for posting this... to get input from the brain trust.I know it is not my dads first choice to modify the current trailer. He hates screwing with stuff like that because he has concerns with what he is starting from. He is worried by the time we do the splicing and stuff that it may get more out of wack than it already is. Plus, the trailer as a whole seems to be a little narrow for the amount of weight up high.
Its hard to tell right now if the side to side motion is from being out of balance due to the tire location or if its too top heavy. Right now it still bounces side to side, not a tail whip, at around 15 mph or so if you hit a little bump. It may take more speed to get a whip.
He wants to weld some hubs straight to the chute and make it where you can take the tongue on and off but we have not been able to get that idea totally usable yet.
