18/08/2026
So a couple of weeks back, I did a little post about trailers and keeping them road worthy. A couple of other points were raised, including tyre condition and date, and having a correctly mounted number plate, in between lights for visibility at night.
So why would you want to use a trailer rather than a tipping truck? Well, firstly I would say load capacity. A 3500kg trailer will typically weigh around 900kg, assuming it’s about 10’ x 5’6”, as my old one used to be. It had a carrying volume of about 5 cubic metres, so you can still overload it. Also you don’t need such a big vehicle on the front to tow it, most 4wd will pull it, although it’s Importent to check on each vehicles plate, as some hilux for example were only legally allowed to tow about 2500kg, our old one was limited to that. A trailer will fit into gaps say a transit won’t, and can be more manoeuvrable. So there are big advantages to a trailer setup for chip rather than a tipper truck, especially if your loading log as well, as you have better access around the trailer rather than loading at the back.
However it’s not all advantages to the trailer. The biggest disadvantage as I see it would be the need, if you were taking a chipper on a job as well, to have two vehicles, one to tow the chipper, one to tow the trailer. Which can lead to issues in restricted parking job sites.
So is a trailer better than a tipper truck? For us, it was, we could transport more chip in a go and as we all had 4wd it was never an issue for vehicles. We had that covered. But not everyone has that option. But to me it is an option worth looking into.