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Kansas | Well Dave, I havn't had a real load in that trailer yet to really give a good judgement about it but I can tell you what little I have used it so far I like it.
I previously owned a circle D trailer. I was content with that trailer except for thier mickey mouse latches. They need a redesign. They hide a spring inside a piece of tubing to hold the latch up to lock thier gates and when that gets some time and age against it the spring will rust and deteriorate and self destruct and the latch will not stay up. Also, their latch design can easily get sprung and we had a bar that we used to unlatch and relatch the rear gate. It was a PITA to say the least. Thier welds on thier hinges was less than vo-tech quality and I had to redo every one of them within the first 4 years of ownership. Thier steel was plainly light. A cow would kick the side and put in a dent.
Other than that the rest of the welds held, the paint was as good as any and it pulled easy and was a decent trailer.
I was against owning another because they have not changed thier latch design and I tell everyone that asks me the same thing. It is a weak design that needs redone. Period.
I looked at hillsboro. Nice nice trailers. Dad bought the very first cattle trailer from hillsboro back in the early 80's when we decided to quit using the truck and a loading chute. We still own that trailer although it needs a new floor........again. Never ever ever ever let someone talk you into putting treadplate steel in a cattle trailer for a floor. We thought it would be ok because that is what the trucks had but it is a joke and the cattle cannot stand up on it, worse than wood, and it doesn't last.
The downfall of hillsboro? A few more peso's and a guy could own about any aluminum he wanted. They are dang mighty proud of thier trailers, which they should be, they are nice, but I'm not dumping the entire 2007 profit into one purchase if you get my drift.
Travalong. Well, that's what lil brother has. But he bought the advantage with no nose cone. I wanted the nose cone for supplies for the kids for when we take livestock to the 4h fair. I also was against the travalong because they are now putting in the translucent roofs and I do not think that they will last.
He got the wood floor and put the mats in. Swears they are the greatest thing since sliced bread. I don't know. I got my titan 6 to 8 months after he got his travalong so we will see who's last longest now and what problems we each encounter.
I wanted a solid steel roof and I wanted the nose cone. I had two dealers I was anticipating working with and both supplied the titan and it was thier biggest push. I also wanted to give the rumber a try once and I just closed my eyes and wrote the check for the difference.
Now, lil brother with no nose cone, translucent roof, wood floor and mats, has about 2 grand less invested in his trailer than I do with a steel roof, rumber and a full nose cone. Also, his sides on his "advantage" series travalong are some sort of a stainless steel that are supposedly not supposed to rust. Longer life. We will see although I will admit, He cleans that trailer religously so it may not get much of a testing trial like one would want to see.
I seen no Diamond D dealers in the area so I never looked at thiers. I was against an aluminum from the get go for price and because I am a do it yourselfer person and last time I tried welding aluminum it looked like someone stuck silver bubble gum on the seam and it lasted about as well too. Therefore, I stick with what I know I can repair.
That's about it for the list of ones Id looked at. I kinda had a thing for travalongs and titans for some time. I always thought they made nice trailers and I've seen the ones at the fair with some age and time on them and they seemed to last people really well with any kind of care given to them at all.
Rusty sides do not bother me. Biggest reason I got rid of the circle d and moved up was because of the latches being no good and because in another couple years the floor was going to need replaced. I knew of one stringer under there that was missing and was going to also need replaced. My hopes and thoughts with the rumber floor is that this trailer with a little tlc and care will outlast the old one by a wide margin. Especially now since we got a latch system that doesn't require a "beat em pipe' to operate.
Don't know how if any I helped but if you have any other questions i will do my best to answer them.
Rich
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 (Hillsboro 2.jpg)
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 Circle D II (590 x 443).jpg (54KB - 1587 downloads)
Hillsboro 2.jpg (60KB - 1551 downloads)
SUNP0080.jpg (82KB - 1604 downloads)
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Stock Trailers again.......
