Looking to make a good decision. Just bought my first sled, now I need some input on what trailer to buy. I am looking to buy an open two place, and right now I'm leaning towards a Triton. My biggest question is to get a tilt or a drive off / on. 
Trailers?
- Thread starter ICB
- Start date
Looking to make a good decision. Just bought my first sled, now I need some input on what trailer to buy. I am looking to buy an open two place, and right now I'm leaning towards a Triton. My biggest question is to get a tilt or a drive off / on.
Hands down drive on / off over a tilt... no question. I sold my last trailer and bought a drive on / off this winter from another snowest member, best decision I've made. Someday I'll go enclosed but for now the open trailer is fine. I dont believe mfg matters too much as they are all built about the same, lots of used ones around this time of year for $1-1.5k depending on year, condition etc. Make sure you get something long enough, I got a 14ft'er and am glad I did, the 12's would have been too small for my needs.
-DallanC
What he said ^^^^^ IF you will only be using it for your snowmobile. I had tilt, now have enclosed drive on drive off. With the tilt I could haul my garden tractor, kid's four wheeler, etc. Unless I want to build a second ramp (or at least cover the existing one in plywood) I can no longer haul the garden tractor or four wheeler. Part of your answer might be in what else you would use the trailer for. If it's strictly for the snowmobile, drive-on, drive-off is better in every respect.
Personally, I'd go with a used tilt trailor. They are cheaper and lighter. It can be a pain pulling the machines off, but I think the cost savings makes that worth it.
Drive-on/off. Soooo much slicker to roll up to your spot drop the ramps and cruise right off. And not have to screw around with the whole tilt thing when your back at the end of the day and tired, your just put down the ramp and drive right up. Tilts suck.
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AkHockey10
Well-known member
Triton or Aluma is what id go with. Super light weight, my little Jeep tows it with two fully wet mountain sleds on it. Honestly, it feels like im not towing anything.
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bullfrog123
ACCOUNT CLOSED
Hand down the drive on/off. That is all I use nowdays, my tilt hasn't been used for sleds in 2 yrs (gets used as the brush hauler) around the house these days, unless I can sell it if anyone is interested.
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Ollie
ACCOUNT CLOSED
I have been using a triton tilt for 5 years now.
I have the lift piston and ski glides for it. The piston will hold the trailer in the tilt position till I want it to go down.
Piece of cake. With my sleds having reverse you just tilt the trailer and drive the sleds off backwards.
I leave the trailer in the tilt position and when the day is done I just drive it back on the trailer, then tilt the trailer down.
With a drive on, drive off you usually have to slightly jackknife the truck and trailer and then use ramps for on or off.
I have the lift piston and ski glides for it. The piston will hold the trailer in the tilt position till I want it to go down.
Piece of cake. With my sleds having reverse you just tilt the trailer and drive the sleds off backwards.
I leave the trailer in the tilt position and when the day is done I just drive it back on the trailer, then tilt the trailer down.
With a drive on, drive off you usually have to slightly jackknife the truck and trailer and then use ramps for on or off.
I've had both...actually my old man had the nice on/off and my poor azz has a tilt BUT if you get a on/off it HAS to have the salt shields that fold out into ramps otherwise you have to carry that dam ramp from the back to front everytime. It doesn't sound like that big of a deal but once you've had the shield/ramp you'd never go back.
Triton and Flow are top quaitly, Sled Bed and Aluma are better priced and Karavans are just cheap but it's a trailer and it does the job.
Triton and Flow are top quaitly, Sled Bed and Aluma are better priced and Karavans are just cheap but it's a trailer and it does the job.
tilts are just funner..
defenitely get a 2 place.. having a single sled trailer is not cost effective..
i was in the same boat earlier this season.. 1st sled, what kind of trailer to get?
i went with a spirit tilt 2 place.. used. $500 was a hell of a deal to pass up..
tilts are lighter and easier to manuever around i think, when not trailered up.. like moving it around your back 40 over there in bubba land..
defenitely get a 2 place.. having a single sled trailer is not cost effective..
i was in the same boat earlier this season.. 1st sled, what kind of trailer to get?
i went with a spirit tilt 2 place.. used. $500 was a hell of a deal to pass up..
tilts are lighter and easier to manuever around i think, when not trailered up.. like moving it around your back 40 over there in bubba land..
Go drive on drive off all the way. I can put my wheeler on there as well. Tilt sucks. I got mine on ksl classifieds for $800. It does have the small golf cart tires but I hope to change that soon. It was in great condition. I do need to stain the deck but its been too cold to do that yet. A cheap way to get ski glides is buy an old truck bed liner and cut it up to fit on the ramps. Works great. I got mine for $20 and put it on both my rear and front ramps. Now the sled goes up without the skis getting stuck and the wheeler goes up the ramp just fine. Unless it is rainy then I need a little more speed to make it up the ramps on the wheeler. They are a little slippery. Then take the left over pieces that are usually small by the wheel well section and cut it up for traction on the deck.
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Looking to make a good decision. Just bought my first sled, now I need some input on what trailer to buy. I am looking to buy an open two place, and right now I'm leaning towards a Triton. My biggest question is to get a tilt or a drive off / on.
I had a two-place drive-on-drive-off Sled Bed a few years ago. Best open trailer I've ever owned, great quality, pulled very well, big enough for two big mountain sleds .... If I was buying an open trailer I'd definatley get another Sled Bed, 2 or 4 place.
Definatly spend the coin on a quality aluminum trailer....I've had my Triton with a Top-Cap for 4-5 years and it's been great. The cheaper trailers have cheap lights and bearings that always cause trouble. You get what you pay for. For a 2-place it's just personal preference on tilt or drive on/off. Most sleds now have reverse so the tilt makes more sense than it has in the past. A nice big shield on front will keep things much cleaner, and if they are ramps that is even better.
I have a old tilt, works great except I need one of those tilt pistons that Ollie spoke of
otherwise it can be a challenge loading solo.
+1 for old truck bed liners. Find your local Rhino-lining store,
and say "do you have any old truck liners.. I have a recycling project"
It works, and they'll let you look around and probably take whatever for free,
remember they have to pay to get rid of them.
Get lucky(or unlucky depending on brand loyalty) Too bad I had to cut it in half to get it
home...
otherwise it can be a challenge loading solo.
+1 for old truck bed liners. Find your local Rhino-lining store,
and say "do you have any old truck liners.. I have a recycling project"
It works, and they'll let you look around and probably take whatever for free,
remember they have to pay to get rid of them.
Get lucky(or unlucky depending on brand loyalty) Too bad I had to cut it in half to get it
home...
Lemme throw out another "drive on / off" reason. One place we sled you have to park along a plowed road, no lot to unload in. It used to be really hard to get sleds from road level up the plowed bank of snow to go sledding. Now you just hug the snow side tight and the front ramp can lay down on top of the snow next to the road allowing for easy unloading.
-DallanC
-DallanC
What is wrong with a drive off tilt?
I had a 2 place drive off split tilt trac pac, and it was a great trailer. I now have a 3 place triton and I love it, but I miss the ease of using the tilt to load after a long day of riding, and it had a v nose with ramps to drive off.
I had a 2 place drive off split tilt trac pac, and it was a great trailer. I now have a 3 place triton and I love it, but I miss the ease of using the tilt to load after a long day of riding, and it had a v nose with ramps to drive off.
I can load solo onto my trailor using a cinder block. It is heavy enough to hold the end down. When the sled tips the trailor forward, the block just falls off.
In my opinion, spend as little as possible on the trailor (just dont get a maintenance nightmare) and save your money for gas or parts. A nice trailor wont make your sled go faster.
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I've got a tilt trailer. They suck compared to drive on drive off. If you do get one invest in a strut to keep it down and I also agree with truck bedliner. It works great and it's usually free.
Double Tilt
I picked up a Double tilt,4 place with salt shields/ramps on the front...
In my humble opinion one of the slickest set-ups for an open trailer....
I had two other 4 place trailers,got tired of messing with the ramp on the back,still had the ramps/shields on the front, gotta have them to protect your toys,,,,,,,,,Dido on the old bedliners for ski slides,,cheap and well worth the effort.......
I picked up a Double tilt,4 place with salt shields/ramps on the front...
In my humble opinion one of the slickest set-ups for an open trailer....
I had two other 4 place trailers,got tired of messing with the ramp on the back,still had the ramps/shields on the front, gotta have them to protect your toys,,,,,,,,,Dido on the old bedliners for ski slides,,cheap and well worth the effort.......
