Your Essential Checklist for Purchasing a New Plant Trailer

Posted on: 9 September 2019

Plant trailers are the perfect choice for heavy haulage of plants. These trailers are specifically designed to ensure safe and efficient transportation of heavy plant items.

Like other trailers, plant trailers come in a variety of sizes and configurations to ensure that you can find something the matches your transportation needs. In determining the best plant trailer for your particular application, there are many things you will need to consider.

Here's your essential checklist for purchasing a new plant trailer.

The Dimensions of Your Trailer 

The efficiency of a plant trailer largely depends on its dimensions. 

Plant trailers come in different dimensions, and it is important to choose a product that can accommodate the size of your plant items but is also easy to manoeuvre on-site.  For instance, you can't use a trailer that is only 4 metres wide to carry and transport a machine that is 5 metres wide. Likewise, it doesn't make sense to purchase a trailer that is 5 metres wide when your gate is only 4 metres wide. 

The Payload of the Trailer

One of the key things to think about when choosing a plant trailer is the amount of weight that the trailer can safely and efficiently carry. This is called the payload of the trailer. 

In determining the right payload for your trailer, you should consider the weight of the items that you intend to carry on the trailer. The plant items that you carry on your trailer must never exceed the payload of the trailer if you intend to ensure the safe and efficient transportation of loads.

The Aggregate Trailer Mass

This is the total weight of a fully-loaded trailer that hasn't been hitched to the tow vehicle. It determines your choice of a tow vehicle for your trailer. You should never tow a fully loaded trailer using a vehicle whose tow capacity is less than the aggregate trailer mass. 

If you already have a tow vehicle for your trailer, you should use the vehicle's towing capacity as a guide to select the best trailer.

The Braking System

As you will be using your plant trailer to move heavy loads, you should buy a trailer that has brakes. This is critical to ensure safety during the transportation of the loads. 

Braking systems for plant trailers are either mechanical or electric. Electric braking systems are optimised for efficiency while their mechanical cousins serve as effective fail-safes for emergency situations. This will help to ensure optimal safety when transporting heavy loads on plant trailers.

This guide is intended to make the plant trailer buying process smooth and easy for you. If you are still undecided about which plant trailer is best for you, feel free to consult an expert.

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