LOUISVILLE, KY -- Trail King Industries has added two products to its lineup, one a result of an acquisition of another company and the other an enhanced version of an existing product.

A conveyer-equipped hopper-bottom grain trailer comes from Trail King’s purchase last year of Dakota Trailers, whose name it has dropped but whose plant and products it’s keeping, explained Rick Farris, vice president, sales and marketing, during a press conference at the Mid-America Trucking Show. They’re branded as Trail Kings now because that name is better known throughout the country, research has shown.

To a Dakota-produced AHTC-model grain trailer the company has added a Convey-All belt-type apparatus that deposits loads into high storage silos and elevators that don’t have below-ground bins to receive the commodities. The conveyer section beneath the trailer’s hoppers can be reversed to load into a pit or below-ground auger.

Using a hand-held remote, a driver runs the conveyor’s belt and adjusts it up or down and side to side; it can extend up to 19 feet. The conveyor is foldable and removable, so the trailer can be used for hauling where hoppers only are needed. The conveyor is made of stainless steel, so stands up to rough weather and thus can be stored inside or sit outside, Farris said.

Blade hauler

A second-generation trailer for hauling wind-turbine blades joins a lineup established in 2003, Farris said. Called TK85EFX, the vehicle has three remotely steered rear axles and a four-section frame that extends from 53 feet to as long as 156.4 feet.

A five-section version can extend to 178 feet. That trailer can carry turbine blades as long as 70 meters or 200 feet, Farris said. The center-beam steel frame can be adjusted to handle blades of varying lengths, though the trend is to the longer types.

The rear tridem’s axles are mounted on turntables, which hydraulically move according to inputs sent by sensors on the king pin above the tractor’s fifth wheel. The tighter the tractor turns, the more the axles swivel to follow it in tight maneuvers. The axles automatically lock into straight-ahead position above a set speed.

The forward gooseneck is detachable to allow adding other extensions for hauling longer products. A variety of options are available to accommodate haulers’ needs.

Steel columns and power-generation nacelles are carried on heavy-haul trailers which Trail King also produces. Wind turbines are a growing business as government-led pushes to clean power continues, Farris explained, and thus the new product.