I rented a fun new toy for a special adventure this weekend (sorry, no spoilers... but definitely a GRM worthy pickup).
For just $91, this magic trailer drops all the way to the ground and lets you load up to 4500 lbs. of stuff onto it, then raises back up for travel with a hydraulic ram.
How did I live so long without knowing these existed? And how do I stop myself from spending $91 every time I want to move something now?
And yes, I looked up the price to just buy one... looks like I'm borrowing a $10,000 trailer. 
I've only seen them in the narrow build so it not useful most of the time for the stuff I trailer.
One of my vendors specializes in forklifts and electric equipment motor rebuilding. He's got a dual axle version that's SO cool. Both axles are on rams as well as the gooseneck arm setup. Looks crazy complicated.
guys that sell big safes use them ,
and I have seen a model made for Harleys since they are pretty heavy to push up a regular trailer ramp ,
There was also a thread here ( I think) of an Australian design that used simple hydraulics ,
If anyone was building them I would love a simple car hauler one !
found it
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/trailer-designs-and-my-latest-whacky-design/153439/page1/
The closest I've seen to this was when I bought a car from a guy who had an airbagged car trailer. It dropped all the way down and I don't think he even needed ramps. Great idea for so many reasons.
It's not a problem for you floridians but winter with these sucks. The hydraulics freeze and the joints wont move so you can't use it
When I bought my 2200# mill, I rented one of these. It was a godsend. The guy/place selling the mill had an enormous excavator, so he just hung the mill to the underside of the bucket and picked it up like it was a bag of groceries, but sadly I had no such equipment once it got home. Took the pyramid-building approach of using multiple pipes as rollers to get it off and into position.
I don't really have any idea what I would have done had the trailer deck been 18" off the ground. Pucker factor would have been much, much, much higher.
So yeah, those things are great.
I never realized there were hydraulic roll-back trailers, which seem to be popular around here (if your car costs more than $50k)
https://www.futuratrailers.com/index.asp?page=xcomingsoon&sef=&noredir=1
As cool as they are, we've found that a $40 set of truck ramps and some 2x12s works just as well and takes about as much time and effort.
Mr_Asa
UberDork
7/9/21 2:03 p.m.
NorseDave said:
When I bought my 2200# mill, I rented one of these. It was a godsend. The guy/place selling the mill had an enormous excavator, so he just hung the mill to the underside of the bucket and picked it up like it was a bag of groceries, but sadly I had no such equipment once it got home. Took the pyramid-building approach of using multiple pipes as rollers to get it off and into position.
I don't really have any idea what I would have done had the trailer deck been 18" off the ground. Pucker factor would have been much, much, much higher.
So yeah, those things are great.
This is the most common use case I've seen them in action for. Mills and lathes and other heavy stationary equipment.
I want one of these trailers where the axle moves forward to drop the deck down.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
Tom
How is the balance of that trailer? It looks like the weight would be further to the back than optimal especially if you had to load a car with the engine towards the rear or is that just the photo making it look worse than it is?
In reply to Tom Suddard :
Sounds like someone got sick of messing around with ~$500 chinese routers/tiny-mills :)
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Well, apparently. We've been waiting for updates for like three months.
In reply to psteav (Forum Supporter) :
I've been busy! Didn't you notice we got GRM+, a rebuilt 350Z engine, etc.?
The horrible terrible miserable 6040 Chinese router isn't going anywhere. And I have managed to cut stuff with it! 
In reply to Tom Suddard :
Jealous as hell if you're getting a real mill!
I'm almost begining to see how useful one could be for auto stuff.
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Those big trailers are made by Landoll and are amazing for rigging equipment. Our local rigging company has one and it is impressive how much that helps with that.
I tried to find a link but I can't. Not sure if they went out of business or what. There used to be a trailer company called Texas Rollback and the axles on those slid to the front and it dropped like a Landoll. You moved it by unlocking the axle holding the trailer brake and backing up. I always thought they were cool. Bat fruitless search took me here eventually https://fabplans.com/
I guess it's good that I have way too many partial projects to start another one now.
In reply to dean1484 :
The deck is only 10' long, and I'd say the wheels are centered on the flat part of it. I haven't towed it with any weight yet, but empty it's miserable. Somehow it bounces around like an empty boat trailer while weighing probably 1000 lbs.
I find the car trailers similar to this fascinating. Is it Bill Cuttitta who usually tows to the Challenge with one?
What'd you buy that's massive, a mill? I checked the local rental places when in dragged mine home. Definitely would have been easier than my landscaping trailer.
Make mine pneumatic, please.
New York Nick said:
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Those big trailers are made by Landoll and are amazing for rigging equipment. Our local rigging company has one and it is impressive how much that helps with that.
I tried to find a link but I can't. Not sure if they went out of business or what. There used to be a trailer company called Texas Rollback and the axles on those slid to the front and it dropped like a Landoll. You moved it by unlocking the axle holding the trailer brake and backing up. I always thought they were cool. Bat fruitless search took me here eventually https://fabplans.com/
I guess it's good that I have way too many partial projects to start another one now.
I came up with a CAD file that I could manipulate parameters to try to make it work by modifying something like an RV trailer frame. My problem is that I want to do it with a bumper-tow. With the hitch point that low, I can't get the geometry to work. I finally got the deck to the ground but the axle had to slide the whole way to the front, which means when you start to slide it back and lift with a load on it I think it would just rip the ball off or lift the tow vehicle. 40 feet worth of 8000 lbs being leveraged with 4 feet of tongue is (let's see, carry the 5, account for bounce and acceleration...) somwhere north of 100k lbs.
I remember when they delivered my 40' container in downtown L.A. The way he was able to get it slid in the perfect spot was impressive, even using a little english by pulling the trailer away at an angle to squirt it over into place, then adjusting the last inch by backing the trailer into the corner of the box and pushing.
My offering to the tool gods is loaded up; it's time to go on an adventure!
That thing is cool!!! I could use a smaller version for things like a riding mower or if you are moving engin/trans combo or tool box's. That would be so useful.
