Dutch idea pays back
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by Iep van der Meer • A need for greater flexibility when handling return loads has led Dutch family haulage company Reijenga Transport of Witmarsum to design a multipurpose extending low-loader semi-trailer equipped with a pneumatically raising floor.
Brothers Sybren and Peter Reijenga run just two tractive units. Sybren shifts large caravans with a single-axled trailer; Peter, who usually brings back agricultural vehicles or equipment, uses a low loader or a semi-low loader trailer.
Because of the unpredictability of backloads the brothers wanted a trailer capable of accommodating almost any item. After fruitless talks with the larger Dutch trailer manufacturers, they approached Draco, a small but specialised trailer and bodybuilder based in nearby Sneek. Draco's solution has a 550mmhigh, 6.4m main deck which can stretch to 10.4m. It comprises two floor sections that lift on four air bags fed from the trailer's air suspension system to give a lifting capacity of 20 tonnes. This enables large agricmitural machines to be loaded via the ramps on the rear of the trailer. Once in position the trailer floor can be lowered to bring the load below the European 4.0m height limit.
Simple steel locks secure the floor in the high position but when the raising floor isn't needed the two sections can be removed easily and quickly using the Hiab crane mounted behind the tractive unit. The pneumatic lifting rams can also be removed, leaving Reijenga's original low-bed semi-trailer to haul pleasure boats or cylinders up to 10.4m long.
To enable the outfit to negotiate awkward dock or factory sites, even when fully extended, the trailer's two axles steer hydraulically.
Peter Reijenga has used the trailer for over a year with no problems. "It's very simple and it does what is required of it," he says, but our next one will have hydraulic rams under the second floor for greater stability.
The only drawback to the Draco trailer is its weight With 4.0 tonnes of raising floor and lifting system it weighs 15.5 tonnes, but Reijenga says he can live with that: "Most loads size out rather than weigh out anyway and we have the benefit of return loads," he points out. "One thing's for sure—it's a good idea that is paying us back."