Dump trailer update

   / Dump trailer update #1  

GrantMO

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Messages
327
Location
KC area
Tractor
Kubota L3410
I was wondering if you guys who bought a dump trailer in the last year or so would mind letting us know what kind you got and what you like and don't like about them.
18-64320-TractorsigK.JPG
 
   / Dump trailer update #2  
I've got a 14" dumper from Bri-mar. It's got the elec brakes and 2 hyro pistons.
Also have the ramps for carrying the my tractor arounds.

Likes, HEAVY DUTY unit, I think it weighs nearly 2ton.

Dislikes, just a few not overly concering though... the sides are only 2' tall, good for rock, mad for mulch. The CG seems to be to far forward, but I know why this is...so when you raise the bed up to dump the CG doesn't cause the trailer to flip.

Can wear out some tires quick is you do a lot of turning on hard surfaces. Also, be sure to check the lug nuts often... they can work there way loose and then it's bad news.

gary
 
   / Dump trailer update #3  
This may be a dumb question but what is a CG?

Kub
 
   / Dump trailer update #4  
Center of Gravity???????
 
   / Dump trailer update #6  
I have a 6x10 hydraulic dumper built by Premier, a little company in Hagerstown, MD. It's rated at 10,000 lbs with dual 6000 lbs axles and dual electric brakes. It has a single hydraulic piston that is very adequate. Weighs 2200 lbs. Battery/hydraulic box allows bed to raise and lower with lid up. Can spread dump with removable tail gate. Diamond rio fenders.

Many options available. Priced with competition. One thing I don't like is the paint (all black), needs to have a real good paint job if not kept inside, otherwise it would rust away.

Kub
 
   / Dump trailer update #7  
I think your right. Thanks
 
   / Dump trailer update #8  
Well, your guess was better than mine, I wasn't even close. Thanks.
 
   / Dump trailer update #9  
I've built and repaired dump trailers.

As mentioned below the center of gravity is a real consideration. After all when you dump all of the weight goes aft of the axles for that short minute of time. And as we all know it isn't the fall that kills you. It's the heart attack that comes with the first quarter of an inch of drop. It's the same with a butt heavy trailer.

Paint on trailers is another consideration. A good paint job is expensive. Materials alone can run two hundred dollars or more per unit for automotive paint versus oil based paint for metal. That doesn't include the fact that good automotive paint these days is even more toxic and therefore requires more expensive equipment to handle it.

I had to smile at the comment on the size of the sides of the trailer. A bud of mine sent out a crew with his brand new office demolition truck. Twenty four foot long bed, four foot high sides, and a hundred and two inches wide. He had finally got far enough ahead to get a real truck and was happier than a pup with two tails. The guys loaded it up with brick. About two thirds the way up it broke the frame on the truck.

Something a very conservative guy like me has to always consider is what's really going to happen with something I make versus what the customer says is going to happen. I like sending the trailer out with short sides. After all someone sometime is going to decide that it can be filled to the top.

Keep in mind sand and gravel usually weighs about twenty five hundred pounds a cubic yard. An eight foot wide bed twelve feet long will have almost ten thousand pounds if only filled one foot high.

The one I made uses a Harsh scissor lift. It's a twelve volt unit and rather expensive but heck for stout. I wouldn't sweat an instant recommending it.

That one was made with a surplus eight feet by twelve foot truck bed. The downsides we've found with it is the bed is above the wheels. My buds who relieved me of it do remodeling and they love the wide bed for hauling materials. but they hate the height since the bed is above the wheels when hauling off heavy stuff like brick or tile.

So if you're gonna have one that you are hand loading consider one where the bed rides low between the tires. That way you can put up a ramp and wheelbarrow stuff up if you have to.

I'd also consider where the controls for the dump are. The remote control for the dump mechanism is the same used for winches. That is handy.

What I did with the tailgate and the dump control was to put them on the passenger side. Two reasons for that up front. One was to get the operator away from traffic. Two was most of the time the operator will be the driver of the tow vehicle. So by putting those two things on the opposite side of the trailer I force them to at least walk around the load before dumping it. Hopefully they'll notice something they should have been looking for anyway as they walk around it.

Another thing to consider in a dump trailer is how the tail gate or gates work. Most of them come with the doors folding back out of the way. That's great for hauling debris. A hint though, for the unwary. Make sure each and every time those doors are secured back against the sides before initiating dumping action. I've had more than one come into the shop after the doors swung back as they naturally would while dumping. Of course that means the door hits the ground before the bed is fully dumped, crunch, big time.

The other problem with the folding doors is if the load is against them sometimes the mechanism holding the doors closed can be almost impossible to release without relieving the pressure. Unloading half the load by hand when you have a dump trailer is frustration on steroids.

Of course the same thing can happen with a conventional tail gate too if it isn't designed right. So when you're looking at a trailer look at the tailgate and how it works and what that will mean to you. If you're hauling bulky things like remodeling demolition or yard debris as in cut up trees you don't want the same tailgate mechanism that you'd want if you're hauling sand and gravel and vice versa.

Something to consider if you're going to be hauling materials like sand or dirt is the surface of the floor. If you ever want to hear a snot slinging fit drive up after a dump truck has dumped a load of masonary sand for the bricklayers and he didn't clean the bed before getting the sand. All it takes is some dirt and you have a load of cushion sand and the supplier isn't going to be paid for that load. And the cussing he'll get will probably ruin not only his chances for the lottery but the hereafter if he'd ever had a chance for either.

They sell poly something or another liners for the beds of dump trucks and trailers. If you're hauling materials this should be considered. You will dump cleaner and easier each time. Some rust will catch some dirt and even though your trailer bed is pointed straight up half your load won't come out. And again frustration and aggravation will be dancing on your head when you have to get out a shovel after spending the big bucks for a dump trailer.

Another nice thing about the poly liner is it's thick enough to absorb some of the shock when bulky stuff like rocks and bricks are machine loaded into the trailer. Most of these trailers have sides made of fourteen gauge and decks of eighth inch. You'll have to work overtime denting it with your shoe. But heaving a twenty pound boulder up and over and in will give you a dent in the floor that will catch dirt and make dumping a hassle on those days when you really don't have time for hassles.

I know I worry about the whatevers whenever too much. But someone has to /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
 
   / Dump trailer update #10  
I looked at dump trailers and decided not to get one because of the load shift behind the rear wheels when you dump it. I could just see the rear of my PU jumping off the ground when I dumped.

Seems to me that and enterprising tinkerer could design a system that not only dumped the load but slid the box forward as it dumped keeping the weight as close to the rear axle of the trailer as possible. Maybe even have a counter weight that shifted forward ahead of the axle to counter the load shift.
 

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