News and Events

Transfer trailers add capacity and versatility

Source: Heavy Equipment Guide | By Lee Toop, Staff Writer, Heavy Equipment Guide |

City construction work regularly contends with traffic, close quarters and tight spaces. Hauling material to job sites can prove to be a challenge, especially when it requires many truckloads to get the job done.

While truck and trailer combinations are one way to get more material moved more quickly, pup trailers aren't an ideal solution - they allow a single truck to deliver twice as much product, but are also too big to maneuver in tight spaces. That's where transfer trailers come in.

A transfer trailer is essentially a second box that rides on a trailer behind the truck, just as a pup trailer would. The difference is that the transfer trailer can be dropped at a point near the job site, adding maneuverability for the truck, while still carrying the same amount of material.

Steve Reeves, sales manager with K-Line Trailers, explained that these trailers have become popular with a variety of operations, most notably in paving and aggregates delivery. The ability to deliver that additional weight with one truck is ideal for those sectors.

"They are very unique - you can take 38 to 40 tons and pave a highway, and leave your trailer on the side of the road," Reeves described. "You can haul as much legal weight as you're allowed, put it in a tight space and not worry about it."

The concept is pretty simple: a truck is fitted with a dump box that pairs with the box riding on the trailer and is equipped with a high-lift tailgate. The box on the truck and the one on the trailer are both filled to local weight limits and can then be hauled near to the site where material is to be delivered. Then the driver can unhook the hydraulic and electric connections to the trailer and leave it behind while they drive to the site nearby and dump the first load. Once completed, the driver can then return to the trailer, transfer the entire box from the trailer into the truck box, and return to the site to dump a second load. Then the driver returns, places the transfer box back onto the trailer, hooks up and heads off for another load.

An operator who is good at swapping boxes can do so in a few minutes, Reeves said. There is some precision needed to get it right, but the trailers are designed to make it easy.

"When you come back to the trailer, your truck box is obviously empty. Then you back the truck up to a set of horns that stick out the front of the trailer, which go into a set of pockets on the back of the truck box tailgate," Reeves said. "Once you're mated to the trailer, you hook up hydraulics to the back of the truck box, which then allows you to have hydraulics to the transfer trailer. The trailer is on a hydraulic motor and chain, which moves the trailer box into the truck box."

The transfer box is pushed onto the truck using a hydraulically driven chain on the trailer, with wheels that ride on tracks within the truck box. Once in position, it's locked in place, the trailer can be left behind and the transfer box carried to the job site. When dumped, it returns to the trailer and the process is done again, this time in reverse.

This type of system is an excellent option for certain sectors of material hauling, paving especially, Reeves noted. In a fast-paced situation where asphalt is needed quickly and efficiently, the ability to haul up to 40 tons and maintain the truck's maneuverability is a big benefit.

"When you're paving a road, you're not dumping in one spot, you're backing in to a paver, putting your box on a 25- or 30-degree angle, and you're being pushed down the highway running material into the paver - and then you do the same thing with your trailer box in there," Reeves described.

These units are less useful for short hauls from point to point, and the overall height can be a challenge for construction or demolition use - the overall height of the box makes loading the trailer box for hauling material out of a job site more difficult, Reeves noted.

Transfer trailers do have plenty of moving parts, so it's important to keep maintenance in mind when purchasing one. "If you don't look after it, it's not going to last. Wheel torques, wheel seals, hydraulic chain, greasing - general monthly or weekly maintenance and greasing is a must," Reeves said.

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COVID-19 Advisory

In accordance with Health Canada recommendations and to ensure the safety of our valued employees and customers, we are undertaking these and other measures:

• Asking staff to participate in prevention through washing, distancing, self-assessing, and homestay if needed
• Disinfecting high touch point surfaces and cleaning regularly in high traffic areas
• Requesting visitors not come here if you have a cough, fever, have travelled outside of Canada within the past 14 days, or have been exposed to COVID-19

Visits to K-Line will be by appointment only; please contact our Parts or Service Managers: 604-856-6222 Sales 604-856-7899
Thank you for your support,
K-Line Trailers Management

All Decked Out

Source: Supply Post | By Linda Horn |

Photo Caption: Marsolais’ specialty trailer is a combination of a custom single axle BC/AB jeep, a 55T double drop hydraulic gooseneck with a 10’ deck section, a SA articulating pin-style booster, and a one-of-a-kind deck/rail extension.

Stephane Marsolais began as an owner operator in St-Esprit, Quebec — a little farming town about a half hour from Montreal. He began driving for Mullen Trucking around 2001, finally making the move to Alberta in 2008.

“The West was booming at the time,” Marsolais explained.

A Better Way

In 2012, Marsolais came to the realization that he needed a better way to move equipment and rigs across Canada. At the time, he was hauling for Alberta-based Mullen. Marsolais is a highly knowledgeable owner operator, who understands how to make the most out of every aspect of his trailer

“Doing permits in the office at Mullen gave me the knowledge to spec the perfect trailer for the work I had to do,” Marsolais explained. “With the help of Tony Nathan, P. Eng (K-Line’s Engineering Manager), we built a trailer capable of moving many types of equipment and rigs,” he said.

A Better Combination

Marsolais’ specialty trailer is a combination of a custom single axle BC/AB jeep, a 55T double drop hydraulic gooseneck with a 10’ deck section, and a SA articulating pin-style booster. He later purchased a 23’ pin-on rail/cantilevered deck extension for the lowbed, and a boom stand for the booster.

Marsolais went to K-Line seeking a versatile product that would allow him access to the most number of hauling markets. With the trailer he specified, he was well positioned to take advantage of regulatory idiosyncrasies through multiple hauling jurisdictions. K-Line worked with him to identify those markets, and the dimensions and weights that could fit the most universally. Marsolais thought through literally every aspect of his trailer design with the K-Line design team — he had a look in mind, as well as a way of operation.

K-Line’s modular design easily allows customization. After implementing the 23’ rail deck and extension, Marsolais said, “I haven’t stopped hauling since I got it!” He uses all of his pieces on a regular basis.

“I’m very happy about my trailer and I believe that I have the perfect trailer to work from Western Canada running all over North America,” Marsolais explained. “The K-Line pin joint system can fit all Western Canada 55 ton trailer makes,” he continued. “It helps me to be very versatile as many carriers use these trailer makes,” he said.

On one particular load at Mullen on a rig move to Sarnia, Ontario, Marsolais used the rail plus 2 section, as well as two Mullen sections, and was able to stay under 4.2 meters.

“It was road banned in Ontario,” Marsolais said. “We were not able to use the county road to get around the low bridge of the 402, 401 and 400,” he continued. The K-Line combination has allowed his rig to stay under pilot car rules in BC and Eastern US. “This trailer is pretty light,” he said.

A Better Operator

Marsolais takes care of his equipment on a daily basis, and in the long term proving his pride of ownership. He recently took his combination back to K-Line for a factory refurbish, including paint refresh and a few extra additions to help make day to day rigging even easier.

Marsolais operates with only one truck, and one pilot truck. The pilot is driven by his girlfriend, who also has her Class One. In 2015, Marsolais bought a Kenworth T800 — “the perfect match for my trailer,” he said.

Last year, Marsolais switched carriers to Chilliwack, BC-based Triton Transport. “I’m very happy,” Marsolais said of Triton. “We are busy and have once again started making money,” he said.

About K-Line

Langley, BC based K-Line Trailers Ltd. is an innovative company with many years of custom transport equipment design and manufacturing experience. K-Line’s products include dump bodies, lowbeds and multi-axle heavy haul trailers, side and end dump trailers, specialty transport trailers, dual powered road trains, wind blade trailers, and mining equipment for use throughout the world.

K-Line’s sales, design, and production staff are transportation sector and fabrication specialists have helped make K-Line an industry leader in design, manufacturing and service excellence. For more information about K-Line, visit www.klinetrailers.com.

Company Announcement

Rob Wiebe, P. Eng. – General Manager

It is with great pleasure that we are able to recognize the efforts and dedication of Rob Wiebe with this promotion to the position of General Manager. Rob is one of our most tenured designers, having started with K-Line in 2003. Throughout his years with K-Line in various roles, he has steadily proven his commitment and always exhibited a willingness to take on greater responsibilities. His previous role as Engineering Manager has flourished under his leadership and allowed K-Line to successfully take on a variety of new major product lines over the past decade. Rob’s dedication and knowledge has been integral to the development of new engineering systems and in particular ensuring the quality of K-Line’s growing product lines. Throughout this process, Rob has acquired valuable skills and a deep understanding of K-Line which will enable him to help lead the team forward and provide the support needed to expand and respond to ever changing markets. Rob’s commitment and unflagging enthusiasm for ensuring that the job gets done right has earned him the recognition and promotion to this new role.

Tony Nathan, P. Eng. – Engineering Manager

Tony has been in the transportation design field since the early 1990’s and came to K-Line in 2009 as a Sales Engineer. Building on a formidable knowledge-base in the lowbed market, while at K-Line Tony has readily embraced expanding his repertoire to include on and off-highway mining bodies and has worked diligently to help assure K-Line’s position as a leader in those markets. Tony has demonstrated a commitment to all tasks under his supervision, and developed a keen eye for the full spectrum of K-Line’s activities from sales and marketing, through to design, production, and long-term service. In addition to this, Tony has proven himself invaluable as K-Line’s compliance officer and is a keen advocate for the transport industry through his roles in the BC Trucking Association and the Canadian Transport Equipment Association.

Bob Shore – Sales

While Bob is the newest member of the K-Line team his connection to the company and the transportation industry go back at least 30 years! Bob has endless energy and an amazing depth of knowledge of the transport industry in BC. Specializing in Parts and Purchasing for close to 25 years, Bob knows first-hand the details and unique characteristics of what makes a K-Line Trailer worthy of its reputation for reliability and performance. Bob will be visiting customers throughout the interior of the province over the coming months to introduce himself and become familiar with their trailer needs. We are very pleased to welcome our friend Bob to his new role at K-Line.