RGN's - Mechanical vs Hydraulic

ever see what happens to a pony motor in Flin Flon Manitoba in Feb? Took 2 D 7's up there, mine , I chipped away all the ice and snow and detached. Buddies, we fought for 3 hrs getting it to unfreeze (granted it was -45 without the wind chill), but I live in WI and am used to it. Been running a mech since 2006 and am happy. Sure, it takes some extra work to pick it up, but it all depends on how your ramps are designed. I also have a front loadable deck which allows me to put on a partial for extra $$$. If you're going heavy, go hyd. I try to go as light as I can, so it doesn't bother me that much, but sometimes I can get a little "nuts"......

 

also, I have 17.5in tires on mine (which I hate), but it also allows me to get my deck height down to 15in. So, all those permits everyone else needs for overheight go into my pocket

 

on my 9 axle trailer it is a mech. both the short neck and long neck.
The collars for the main deck are heavy,easy to pinch a finger. But I did like it.
I'm currently renting a 3 axle mech. I put blocks under the deck when I drop it so it's not so hard on my driver line when picking it up lded.
If and when I buy another trl. it might be a hyd.
Each one has it's pros and cons.

 

used one for reichmann out of illinois and our motor set up was a starter motor running a hyd pump all located on the tounge of the trailer and we just ran a connecting wire of proper guage to some battery terminal stubs that the show put on the outside of a battery box,also had a two hole kingpin set-up

 

Good day, where do you hail from? I am currently a company driver with wide/ heavy load experience, if you are looking for trailers.....if I read that right.... do you need drivers. Currently in the the north east area around Philly. I responded to a forum add, had some exchanges with said add, but, he feel off the map.

 

There you go Rob...time to start your own fleet!

 

I will agree on the ramp design.
just had mine re-worked and it makes a huge difference in picking up the trailer.

I am most likely moving from a mechanical DD to a 50 ton mech extendable when /if I get back to Denver

 

I would never run a Mech RGN ever again.
Harder on the truck, even with well designed ramps, and if your trying to lift it back up on ice, you're almost always going to be chaining up your drives, even with 4 way lockers.

I run a 10 axle (2-2-3-2) Drop side rail now, with a hydropack for the trailer neck and the booster.
No worries about having them freeze up so long as you run a lightweight hydraulic oil, and keep water out of the gasoline.

Hydros gives you more options in the way of ride height, depending on brand and neck style, you can have anything from 5 positions, to infinite if its a shim style neck lock.

It also gives you the ability to use the deck itself to block up a machine on a rail beam, or lift up the deck to repair electrical wiring, or an air leak.

Some of the places i've had to go into, or the hills i've had to climb have required me to leave my Jeep somewhere and run overweight on my drives simply to make the corners, or to have traction to climb the hills.
Amazing how much traction you can get when you have 4 way lockers, open lug construction drives, and 32,000kg (70,000lbs) on the drives.

 

Agreed, I cant count how many times i had to jump out of the truck, mid-turn, in an intersection with a crown in the road, to lift my rails just to make the turn without grounding out. Takes less than a min to do with a hydro... real important when you have the whole intersection blocked on a green light. Had to do this just yesterday, went from position 1 all the way to 4 to clear it. After i cleared the turn, parked in the center lane and lowered if back down. Whole operation took less than two mins, if that.