Gridko Wins Heavy-Duty TRAILmakER Award with Live Drive PTO Trailer

Gridko, a company known for its innovative designs in heavy-duty roll-off and gooseneck trailers, has won the Heavy-Duty TRAILmakER Award 2026 at the NATDA Awards. This recognition marks a significant milestone for the company, which has been drawing on its decades of expertise in truck and heavy equipment work.

The award-winning trailer, showcased at the NATDA Trailer Show in Nashville, features a live drive PTO system that replaces the traditional pony motor. This system, which Gridko calls a live drive PTO, is a direct application of the direct drive principle used in the company's hook lift truck operations. The live drive PTO system connects the trailer's hydraulic system directly to a truck's power take-off (PTO), eliminating the need for a second engine and increasing the operating speed compared to a traditional pony motor setup.

According to the release, most roll-off and dump trailers use either an electric-over-hydraulic or fully hydraulic system. In both cases, the hoist is hydraulically driven, with the power source running the hydraulic pump differing between the two systems. Electric-over-hydraulic setups use onboard 12V marine-style batteries or the truck's own battery system with an onboard charger, while fully hydraulic systems traditionally rely on a pony motor for their power.

Gridko's engineering team sought to solve a problem that had not been addressed in the trailer industry. This question led to the development of the live drive PTO system, which integrates seamlessly with any work truck already equipped with PTO provisions. For trucks that do not have PTO built in, Gridko offers a clutch pump that bolts directly onto the vehicle, extending PTO-equivalent capability to trucks that were not originally built for it.

The new trailer design reflects Gridko's broader engineering approach, which emphasizes compactness and efficiency. The company's engineers selected a 16-foot gooseneck configuration paired with a reeving system, a cable and pulley arrangement that controls how the hoist lifts and rolls the container. This configuration offers a combination of load capacity, control, and a smaller footprint than most heavy-duty trailers on the market. The reeving system spreads the working load across the cable and pulley path, allowing a compact frame to handle the same duty cycle as a larger trailer without sacrificing load capacity.

The build was a full team effort, with Gridko's owners staying hands-on throughout. The company's head engineer led the design, and the production team, including welders, hydraulics technicians, and electricians, brought their decades of experience in commercial trucking and heavy equipment work. The result is a choice for fleets: the proven pony motor setup or a PTO-driven fully hydraulic system that adds speed and cuts the cost of running a second engine.

The Heavy-Duty TRAILmakER Award win also carried the trailer into NATDA's final round of judging, where Gridko was named the show's Overall TRAILmakER Trophy Recipient. Gridko designs and manufactures heavy-duty roll-off, gooseneck, and bumper pull trailers, along with Gridko cable hoists for roll-off trucks, for dealers, dumpster rental companies, waste haulers, contractors, and fleet operators across the United States.