Fargo, N.D. — Farmers know the benefits of a low-boy utility trailer. Add a live rolling rubber floor with a 9,400 pound carrying capacity and you have a pretty handy tool.
With a working width of nearly seven feet and useable floor length better than 16 feet, the Advanced Nimble Trailer System (ANTS) can haul big bales, small implements, boulders, animal carcasses, water and fuel tanks, gravel and just about any other mid-sized load you might encounter on the farm.
The built-in tarp fastens all the way around the walls of the box.
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The fact that the live rubber floor rolls the full 16 feet fore and aft takes the hassle and risk out of loading and unloading.
ANTS inventor Niel Somero of Davis Village Solutions in Michigan said that when the rolling floor is put into the winch mode, it also serves as a conveyor belt that allows a 7,000 pound cargo to be pulled up the ramp and onto the flat floor.
“One of the unique characteristics is that you can dump it on side slopes or down slopes. You can even dump it parked on an up-slope,” said Somero, who was at the Big Iron Farm Show in Fargo, N.D., to debut the new trailer.
He said the live conveyor belt floor means the trailer box doesn’t have to be raised to dump a load.
Somero said the belt can unload the entire cargo without having to tilt the trailer. The operator can hydraulically tilt the rear of the trailer right down to ground level if he wants, such as when loading a tractor.
“The head board, or the wall at the front of the box, is attached to the conveyor belt,” Somero said.
“As you roll the floor back to dump, the head board also travels to the very back of the box. And you can adjust the speed it rolls.
“If you want to load a dead implement, you just hook the chains on the head board and roll the floor to the front. It pulls the implement right along with it. Static pull for the winch is 7,000 lb.
“It’s totally self-contained, with an 11 horsepower Honda gas motor, electric start, 12-volt battery and hydraulic hoist for the trailer lift. The trailer is rated for 14,000 lb.
The trailer itself weighs 4,600 lb, so that leaves a 9,400 lb. payload. Cubic capacity is between three and five cubic yards, depending on the density of the material.”
The trailer carries a list price of US$22,500.
