The pallet is a good idea I should have thought of that. Most trucking companies will not deliver to a house so whoever you're shipping to will have to pick it up a the terminal

 

the trailer is approx. 4'x7' long x2'-6" high...I can put it on a crate...as a matter of fact I went to a Honda dealer and asked what they used to ship their 4 wheelers and he took me to look at some stackable tubing that Honda used....I could modify it and keep my weight down but it is still going to be long and bulky. Even thought of putting it on a crate and securing it down that way....hate to make the tongue bolted but I might have to to keep the costs down.

 

7 foot is way too long for shipping that way. Bolt the tougue on and get the size down to a standard pallet size, make them stackable(put more than one trailer on the skid) and I'll bet you can get your shipping cost way down.

 

Okay, here's my suggestion, for what it's worth... assuming the trailer is less than 40" wide.

1. Make the tongue bolt on to reduce the overall shipping length, wrap in cardboard for shipping.
2. Ship with the wheels on, and make a brace to go under the front of the body to keep it level.
3. Have a peice of particle board or fiberboard cut to fit the top of the trailer (1/2 sheet should work well)
4. Get a manual strapping machine and strap the trailer to the pallet with the tongue underneath the trailer and secured to the pallet.
5. Shrink wrap the pallet, around and over the board on top.
6. This should give you a pallet that is 48" x 40" x 36" high (including the pallet). You now have stackable pallet that you could go three high (108") in a standard 110" high trailer. Your total cube is 40cu' (l x w x h /1728).

Without seeing the trailer that is the best advise I can give you. I work for a new company and have assumed shipping and receiving duties and have gone through what you are now going through and my background is product development and packaging. Hope this helps.

 

May as well get you thinking ahead for full production. On those measurements you would be able to get 78 trailers on a 53' truck. Assuming you can go to either coast with a full truck for ~$1800 that gives you a total shipping cost of $23 and change per trailer.

 

Any way to see what this trailer looks like?

 

These are very good ideas....only one problem....I don't have a dealer to ship to (right now anyway). So all my shipping is done on an individual basis. Getting it down to a pallet size is a good idea..I will have to compromise having an all welded trailer, but I may have to do that to keep the costs down. Thanks for the good ideas

 

If you want to see what this trailer looks like go to 4wheelertrailers.com

 

That's not a bad looking trailer. If the consumer did a little assembly, i.e. bolt on the tongue and wheels then it looks like you could seat the beads of tires, then deflate them, nest them in the trailer body and make it even more compact for shipping. I know I'd rather do a little assembly than pay additional $$ for shipping.

 

The tires will actually fit inside the trailer without deflating them so I would'nt have to let the air out to ship. I am still thinking about designing a bolt on tongue....it would surely help on shipping