Stable timber trailer with hydraulic crane for ATVs

Forest owner Rudolf Pritsch built his dream car – and thus proved that an ATV can be used properly in the forest. The vehicle has a hydraulically operated crane; The hydraulic unit is also responsible for adjusting the tandem axle, with which the center of gravity of the load can be adjusted to different tree lengths – up to 5.20 meters after all.

When designing his timber trailer, Rudi Pritsch wrote down four requirements in the specifications:

1. All activities required for moving wood should be able to be carried out quickly and easily by a single person.
2. The car should be pulled by his ATV.
3. It should be able to hold as much wood as possible.
4. At least for empty runs, it should be street legal.

Since Rudi would have had to make compromises when it came to commercially available timber trailers, he built the vehicle himself – a nice challenge for the co-owner of a road construction company in which he works as a master mechanic in a workshop with four employees who are responsible for the construction and repair of construction machines and excavators is.
There were plenty of components for the ATV timber trailer in this area: A powerfully dimensioned tandem axle is used as the basis, which was originally designed for 4 tons (!) – as well as wheels and tires, these are special covers by Nokian for logging operations. Four drum brakes, which are controlled via an overrun brake, ensure sufficient negative acceleration.
The loading is done by a 4,000 capacity Binderberger forestry crane with four swivel cylinders and the corresponding mobility (commercially available ATV timber trailers usually have two cylinders). The gripper is a device weighing around 60 kg that is designed for small timber-moving cranes. So that the vehicle does not tip over during loading and unloading, the vehicle has two hydraulically operated outriggers – truck accessories, lightened by 150 kg for this purpose.
The highlight of this timber trailer is another detail, which is also operated hydraulically: The tandem axle can be moved along the main frame, so that with timber lengths of up to 5.2 meters there is always a central center of gravity and the correct vertical load is always applied to the trailer hook.

Modifications to the ATV

In order to be able to pull around 2 tons (!) of payload out of the forest with the ATV, which weighs just 400 kg, some modifications were also necessary on the vehicle: The Outlander, whose standard trailer mount can handle a maximum vertical load of 24 kg, was given a beam under the Chassis to reinforce to 50 kg.
Rudi got a lot of tips on the construction of the ATV from the Can-Am dealer and conversion professional Günther Voit in Mainburg Sandelzhausen, and the entire construction was agreed with the TÜV in Mainburg right from the start – no wonder that the acceptance with 700 kg unladen and 1,500 kg total weight went smoothly.

cost and availability

Rudi built his timber trailer as a one-off; built extremely robustly, the vehicle has a comparatively high dead weight – but can also do a lot, simply due to the complex crane and the axle adjustment. While commercially available trailers with a crane can be purchased for around 6,000 euros, this vehicle costs around 10,000 euros. If the versatility and high payload are worth it, contact Can-Am dealer Günther Voit in Sandelzhausen.

more comments

Interested readers can find the complete article in ATV&QUAD 2012/04 from page 38. Interested readers can find another article about a timber trailer with hydraulic crane at
> Timber trailer with hydraulic crane
The article also contains more information and a video about ATV and quad trailers and their use
> Trailers for ATVs and quads

–

Market overview of timber trailers for ATVs

ATV-Hanger: > ATV-Haenger.de
ATV Expert: > Baumgartner
Bosski: > Bosski
Bosski: > Cars 4 you
Brard & Sarran: > Brard & Sarran
Own constructions: > Haas & Sohn
Own constructions: > HP Geländewagentechnik
Own constructions: > Iron Baltic
Own constructions: > Motax.ch
Own constructions: > Schulze forest and garden technology
Own constructions: > Two-wheeler Voit
Fritzsch: > Motor devices Fritzsch
Iron Baltic: > Iron Baltic
Logic: > Logic Germany
Reil & Eichinger: > Reil & Eichinger
Vreten: > Niedermayer machine trade
Wood Jack: > Baumgartner