Dump Trailer: Single lift vs Double lift

[Diamondpilot]

Same here, my dump trailer is rated at 10k but registered for 9,990 lbs. Around here 10k and higher means more registration money and an annual inspection like a car which cost $45.

You guys are getting screwed. Here in Indiana I have 2 trailers registered. One is 7,000# car hauler and is about $40 per year. The next is a 9,000# boat trailer. Its about $70 per year. The last one is a 18,000# boat trailer and its around $110 per year. No inspections need on any of them.

Chris

 

[David_Kb7uns]

I had it even better. I bought a 10,000lb. gross weight dump trailer.

The Oregon DMV let me register it for whatever weight I wanted. If I registered it for 10k, I would need special plates for my truck, which would cost ~$250 per quarter.

OTOH, if I registered it as 8000 lb, I needed only my regular plates for the truck and the trailer was $90 for four years. The only problem is there is a hefty fine for going over 8k on the trailer if I get caught.

I chose the 8k registration because my truck only rates to tow 7200 lb.

Have a 20ft 14k Load Trail tilt deck and Load Trail 14k dump trailer and registered them both for 8k in oregon. Was told at DMV that if I need to go over those weights that you can get a trip permit. The OR DMV website says $5 for 10 days. If you get more than a few heavy trailers then the HU plates would help but the DMV quarterly weight mile rates are high!

David Kb7uns

 

[Duffster]

This is only true if the truck your towing it with also has a GVWR of 12,000lbs or more.

He is correct for CA. The trailer over 10k needs a class A CDL.

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

I am in the market for a dump trailer with GVWR in the area of 14,000 lbs. I'm looking at 'Sure Trac' and 'Bri-Mar' brands. Some trailers use two pistons to lift the bed and others have a center single lift arm. The SureTrac dealer advocated a "gravity assist"(?) benefit with their trailers that is supposed to be faster lift and drop time. Can anyone please explain pros/cons to the different lift systems?

The best of the two will be the 'hoist' type unit that uses a larger single cylinder within the operational confines of a cage to lift the deck. Reason why? The hoist removes lateral straight from the hinge points on the trailer and channels all of the energy produced by the hydraulics to lift the bed.

A dual cylinder system when first collapsed exerts some pretty ugly forces laterally against the hinge pins, when the pins resist this strain, the cylinders swivel upward, still pushing out until they have swiveled up.

From my experience, you will love the 'hoist' type unit a lot more in the long run.

 

[Dmace]

A dual cylinder system when first collapsed exerts some pretty ugly forces laterally against the hinge pins, when the pins resist this strain, the cylinders swivel upward, still pushing out until they have swiveled up.

Very good point!
I never thought about that but it's true since the hydraulic pistons are laying flat when fully down so when they expand, that force before the bed lifts is completely on the hinges.

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

The manufacturer of my tilt deck has gone out of business so I have to do the conversion to a dump box myself. I'm not clear on what you mean here. Are you saying to stay away from a double acting cylinder and pump, or to stay away from electric over hydraulic?

The simplest and easiest method is this. If you have a battery on the trailer itself already, then make sure that your RV accessory circuit on your trucks plug is active and running at least a 30amp, if not a 50amp breaker (it's the big 10 gauge wire running into your 7 spade Bargman RV plug on your trucks trailer plug) and then run that wire from your trailer plug to the positive terminal on your trailers battery for the pump.

It's like hooking a hose between two barrels. The voltage from the trucks battery will travel into the trailer battery and bring it up to a full 12 volt charge whenever you hook it up and tow it.

Have built thousands of trailers with this system and nobody has ever had a failure to my knowledge. run a 50 amp circuit and even if you trailer battery is dead, it will have enough juice to operate the pump under normal load conditions.

I have heard arguments in both directions about this... and i am sure i am creating the NEXT thread that will never die... (see tire pressure! YIKES!) but i sat and talked with engineers from Ford, GM and Dodge at the SEMA show, while showing them how we ran it at H&H and every one of them said, "Yep, that'll work fine for keeping a trailer battery up."

There you go.

 

[JB4310]

The simplest and easiest method is this. If you have a battery on the trailer itself already, then make sure that your RV accessory circuit on your trucks plug is active and running at least a 30amp, if not a 50amp breaker (it's the big 10 gauge wire running into your 7 spade Bargman RV plug on your trucks trailer plug) and then run that wire from your trailer plug to the positive terminal on your trailers battery for the pump.

It's like hooking a hose between two barrels. The voltage from the trucks battery will travel into the trailer battery and bring it up to a full 12 volt charge whenever you hook it up and tow it.

Have built thousands of trailers with this system and nobody has ever had a failure to my knowledge. run a 50 amp circuit and even if you trailer battery is dead, it will have enough juice to operate the pump under normal load conditions.

I have heard arguments in both directions about this... and i am sure i am creating the NEXT thread that will never die... (see tire pressure! YIKES!) but i sat and talked with engineers from Ford, GM and Dodge at the SEMA show, while showing them how we ran it at H&H and every one of them said, "Yep, that'll work fine for keeping a trailer battery up."

There you go.

That must be how my 5 ton EZ Dumper is set up, as I never had to charge the trailer battery in five years of service.

JB

 

[TheTrailerGuy]

That must be how my 5 ton EZ Dumper is set up, as I never had to charge the trailer battery in five years of service.

JB

Yep, it's now pretty common in the utility and dump market. Has always been how they did in the RV trailer industry and we boys finally started bolting batteries on our open trailers and had to play catch up.