Dump Trailer - start to finish

[GuglioLS]

Here is a project I have been working on & off this summer.
I needed a dump trailer to move dirt, wood, wood chips, rocks etc from one place to another. I have made 3 trailers so far in my lifetime, but have never attempted to make a dump trailer.
I have a fairly good "inventory" of scrap metal thats been collecting over the years. The scrap pile has grown to the point where I have enough material to start construction on something useful.
Last year I was exploring the woods near where we live on my ATV and came upon an abandon 1 ton van. I am sure it was stolen because it was pretty much striped and had been sitting there in the woods for quite some time. I took my tractor out to where the van was and used the FEL to flip it up on it's side. I removed the rear-end and hauled it back to the house where it sat for a while until I gathered up the courage & parts to make the dump trailer.
It took me a while but I finally started. I ran many ideas through what's left of my head until the light bulb finally went off.
Here is a picture of the rear end before I started.

>>>>>>All the images are thumbnails - click on them for full size.<<<<<<



The rims you see were scavenged from a junk yard - a free junk yard out in the middle of nowhere with a lot of stuff to choose from. The Tires I got used from one of the few independent full service stations left in Albuquerque for 25 bucks. The tires & rims were missing from the rear-end when I acquired it.

 

[GuglioLS]

Here are a few pictures trying to figure out the hinge for the dump bed. I needed to hinge the dump bed and also had to figure out how to build a frame for towing & keep it as low as possible all at the same time. My brain hurts!
Most dump trailers I have seen are huge and have a high center of gravity. I wanted to avoid this as much as possible.
I wanted the inside dimensions to be a little more than 4'x8' so as to be able to fit a sheet of plywood flat with a few inches to spare on each side. This is a multi purpose trailer for hauling many different type of materials, rocks, wood chips, dirt, & construction materials etc.
I wanted the bed to be as low as possible but still be able to dump the contents when needed.
Turns out the rear mounting ends of the leaf springs are 1" inside diameter - perfect for a hardened pivot pin.

I have a small milling / lathe machine and decided to round the edges of the hinge using my (very small) rotary table.

Here are all the hinge parts ready to weld.

After welding the hinge is complete:

Here I am testing the hinge to get an Idea of where I will have to mount the hydraulic cylinders to get 45* of tilt.

 

[GuglioLS]

Oh, forgot to mention here is one of the old flat bed trailers I built / rebuilt a long time ago (30 years ago).
It was pretty much shot, the axles & toung part were falling apart.
However it had a bunch of 3" channel metal so I took it apart to recycle the metal that was still good.

 

[GuglioLS]

So anyway, back to the trailer I am working on.
Here you can see I am fabricating the frame. This is what will be the support for the bed and leaf springs and give me something to attach the tong to for towing.
I used the 3" channel from the old trailer I took apart from the above photo. I "sandwiched" it together to make it into a square steel tube. Lots of welding. I ground off all the rust where it needed to be welded. I used my harbor freight MIG welder with 75% Argon 25% carbon dioxide. Using the MIG gives very pretty welds that penetrate very deep. The argon / Co2 gas keeps the splatter way down and there is NO slag. - I am happy with that welder.

In the background you can see one of my other trailers. Its the one painted Brown. I use it on the Jinma & ATV for collecting wood & wood chips. Its size is just right for the ATV but just a little too small for the Jinma. I have been using it to bring in the metal from my scrap pile over to the dump trailer construction site.

Here are my MIG welds:
I like the way they look and penetrate, now If I could only weld in a straight line!!!

 

[GuglioLS]

Now it's time to make the hydraulic cylinder mounts. I used 1"x2" steel bar. Had to drill 1" holes through it. It was pretty easy drilling those 1" holes using the mill as a drill press.
I like my Harbor freight Milling machine too, it's not the best / most accurate, but it's affordable and works great for the kind of projects I do around here.
Here are the finished cylinder mounts. The long ones are for the bottom & The short ones are for the top.
You can see I have one of the long bottom mounts inserted inside the 3" channel. The short top mount is ready for welding onto the 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" x 1/4" thick angle iron for the tilt part of the bed.

Here is a close up of how the lower cylinder mount will be inserted into the 3" channel & welded. I am not a mechanical engineer - so I hope by over building this part will not fail / twist bend etc.

This is the overall lower mount / support for the hydraulic cylinders prior to the two half of the 3" channel being welded together

 

[GuglioLS]

I got the tong mounted and then the actual tilt bed fabricated and ready to weld.
I used 2-1/2 x 4" I beams from the scrap pile for the tilt bed. My neighbor gave me those I beams a while back. He was cleaning up all his old "junk". The old saying "One man's junk is another man's treasure" is soooooo true.

I made the bed perfectly square by measuring diagonal on both sides and then positioning all the parts so the distance from diagonal corner to corner were exactly the same.
I then bound the whole thing together with ratcheting straps prior to welding.

 

[GuglioLS]

Mounted the Cylinders to all those parts I made with the 1" holes.
This is the lower cylinder mount:

This is the upper cylinder mount:

Here I have lifted the bed hydraulically for the first time - It works, no binding - time for a beer.

OK here is the scoop on the Hydraulics - Long story short?
My job requires that I travel allot.
I stay at the Holiday Inn and collect zillions of points.
I cashed in those points for Northern Tool gift certificates.
I purchased all the hydraulic cylinders, hoses & fittings from Northern tool with those certificates.
So far I am out 25$ for the used tires.

 

[GuglioLS]

After I enjoyed my Beer I went went out there and cycled the hydraulics a bunch. Just to make sure it was going to work. And to spot any potential trouble spots or interference that I had not planned on. SO far so good.


In the background you can see yet another of my home made trailers. It's a big one 8x16 flatbed. I used it for bringing home my Crate Jinma 354.

 

[GuglioLS]

Last one for today.
Here is where I am at as of 8/6/06 and all for $ 25.00

In the background you can see my wife and I have already started on this comming winters fire wood. So far we have about 2-1/2 cords. We need about 2 more cords to make it through the winter.

I welded on the stakes to support the sides & front. It's 18" tall from the top of the bed to the top of the stakes. The stakes are 1"x2"x 1/8" hollow tube. I used 14 ga diamond plate for the front.
I am out of diamond plate and now have to go purchase 2 pieces 8' long x 18" wide. That's going to hurt. I priced it and will cost me 128$ for a full 4x8 sheet of diamond plate. They will plasma cut it for me for 10 bucks extra - at least that parts cheap.
Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this so far.

 

[GuglioLS]

Ok - it stopped raining for a few minuets. So I got busy back at the dump trailer project.
I picked up the 14 ga diamond plate a few weeks ago. They plasma cut it for me, 2 pieces 18" x 8' for the sides and the left over piece 12" x 8' I will use for the fenders.
It's been raining here in Biblical proportions for 40 days & nights.
It's been lightning real bad as well so it's been tough to make any progress. But today I did.
Here is a shot of me welding a few rec-tube-ular pieces of steel together for the back of the trailer sides.


I welded from morning to night. It's late in the day as you can see by the length of the shadows.
In the upper left of the photo you can see how GREEN it is man I got to go mow one of these days.