New-Style 5th Wheel Stock Trailer

New-Style 5th Wheel Stock Trailer WAGONS/TRAILERS Stock Trailers 20-3-29 "It holds more cattle than other 5th wheel trailers of its size because it's 14 in. wider inside," says Kevin Fry, Diamond, Mo., about the new-style livestock trailer he built last year as a FFA senior project. The 50-ft. long all-steel ground-load trailer went on to win a grand champion prize at the Missouri State Fair last summer. Now Fry, 19, has started building the trailers to sell. He built his original unit in about six months out of a stripped down refrigeration trailer. "I tore the left side of the trailer off to use for the top of the new trailer and discarded everything else except for the 7700 Hutch running gear and front grid section," he explains. "My dad, John Edwards, and I next came up with a new design for the bottom of the trailer. There are no I-beams underneath it. It has top and bottom cross members to hold the self-supporting treadplate floor. The design gave us an inside width of 100 in. from a total outside width of 102 in. Inside width on most commercial trailers like this is only 86 in." Fry made vertical side supports out of 1 by 2-in. steel tubing and fitted them with commercial steel slats. He mounted new 22.5 Low Pro tires on the running gear's original rims. The trailer weighs 13,500 lbs, surprisingly little given its all-steel construction. In comparison, a 40-ft. steel gooseneck typically weighs about 12,000 lbs. The original refrigeration trailer weighed 16,800 lbs. A trucker who's pulled the original trailer thinks the design will be very popular. "It pulls as straight as a string," says Rick Newman, Carthage, Mo. "Kevin did a re-ally outstanding job." Fry sells trailers for about $17,000. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kevin Fry, P.O. Box 448, Diamond, Mo. 64840 (ph 417 325-4455).

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