Lowbed mechanical to hydraulic conversion

[850xpeps]

Been pondering changing my mechanical lowbed into a hydraulic one. Figured I’d post to gj boys and see what funky ideas you had. Can’t seem to find pictures on my phone but I’ll find one on the net that’s the same as mine. It’s a 97 aspen.


Found link to track share when I purchased it.

http://www.trackshare.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85109

 

[3rdgendslmech]

Dont have a lot of experience with mechanical lowboys but we had 2 rogers and a talbot with a foot and pin locks. We finally got a newer trailer in 06 that wasnt ground engaging. Seems like a lot of work and re working to turn it into a hydraulic trailer

 

[850xpeps]

Dont have a lot of experience with mechanical lowboys but we had 2 rogers and a talbot with a foot and pin locks. We finally got a newer trailer in 06 that wasnt ground engaging. Seems like a lot of work and re working to turn it into a hydraulic trailer

Ya I don’t want to go ground support. With soft ground and **** not interested in that.

 

[tdcisco1]

Question; does Aspen build a non ground engager, if so get an eyes on one and see if the tower could be adapted to your present gooseneck. I would speculate it would turn out extremely labor intensive retrofiting one. the lift mechanisim exerts some severe stress within the g/n , just wondering if material thickness is up to the task. Btw i spent a number of years at a lowbed plant building and repairing. Any sketches of what your thinking ?

 

[850xpeps]

Question; does Aspen build a non ground engager, if so get an eyes on one and see if the tower could be adapted to your present gooseneck. I would speculate it would turn out extremely labor intensive retrofiting one. the lift mechanisim exerts some severe stress within the g/n , just wondering if material thickness is up to the task. Btw i spent a number of years at a lowbed plant building and repairing. Any sketches of what your thinking ?

No sketches yet. Neck material on a hydraulic neck would be no different than mine. Keep in mind lifting with a machine on wouldn’t be as hard on the neck as riding down the hwy.



Here’s one lowbed neck I took photos of.

 

[3rdgendslmech]

you'd probably want to go with a pony set up because trying to connect and disconnect all the lines with the jeeps would be a hassle trying to get loaded and unloaded. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it would come with a pretty good price tag to do. One of our drivers busted the lock ears off of one of our older rogers trailers...Rogers fixed it but advised heavily that it be done by them because they used Xrays and all their welders were certified since those ears were basically what kept the trailer together.
Like I said not that I'm saying it can't be done, I'm just thinking time, money, downtime and safety wise it might almost be easier possibly cheaper to sell that set up and get a hydraulic unit.

 

[850xpeps]

While selling mine would be easy as lowbed are hard to get here and pricey... that also makes purchasing hard. Mine is also 9’6” and I want a lowbed that width as well so that will also be hard to find.

I wouldn’t attempt something I don’t think I’m capable of doing. I also understand the pressure those front two clips hold when fully loaded.

 

[850xpeps]

This design is simpler and doesn’t have anything to do with modifying the pins or hangers that carry the weight.