Hay Trailer Extension

One of our local contractors, Rob Wood, asked me if I’d be able to do an extentson for his hay trailer.

It only needed to be about a metre longer, and there was no need for a deck on it.  Pretty quickly, he’d worked out that with a small modification he could carry three extra bales per load.  With his original set up he could carry six round bales on the bottom with three stacked on the top.  With the extension he now carries eight bales on the bottom and four on the top – increasing his capacity by a third and meaning that he can now do in three loads what it used to take him four.  It’s a genius way of maximising his capacity to earn, and please his customers.

Rob wanted the extension to be easy to fit and remove, and easy to slide inside the trailer channels.

After having a look, I cut two 100 x 50 x 6mm RHS channels, 1600 mm long to slide into the trailer.  The idea was that 600mm would slide into the trailer and 1000mm would be the chassis for the extension.

I cut three more RHS channels in 3mm wall thickness the same width as the trailer.  After setting up the chassis channels I placed the three RHS channels on, made sure everything was square, and then tacked in place.

It all looked good so I welded it up.

To finish it off, I got 100 x 10mm flat bar and welded it to each end and along the back.  The same dimension flat bar was also used to go on the trailer side so the tail door latches would hold it on and allow a quick connection to the trailer.

To take it off, all Rob needs to do is pull those tail door latches down and the whole extension slides out.

I splashed some paint on it – job done!