Dump Trailer

[Iplayfarmer]

I think for the design I've about decided on a four wheel dump cart. I've got a co-worker that has an old Dodge Omni in his back yard that I can strip for parts after I till his garden for the fall. Sounds like a fair trade for me. I get to play in the dirt in exchange for some good junk.

I looked it up on The Tire Rack and the Omni wheels are 4 lugs on a 4" circle. This just happens to be the standard trailer wheel lug pattern that I found on various trailer manufacturer sites.

I figure that I can take enough of the front hub mechanism to accomodate a steering system with tie rods to the tongue.

I'm also very seriously considering a winch dump mechanism rather than hydraulic. I've thrown that idea around in my head and the more I think about it the more I like it.

 

[rambler]

A few ideas I had about building a dump trailer awhile ago was to make it a bottom dump.

First is I'd use some car axles with leaf springs on a solid frame. Best deal would be to find a mini truck that's thrashed. No engine, body or anything else besides the axles and frame. It would be easy to adapt the front wheels to turn with the hitch. Four tires would make if very stable and it would be big enough to haul two yards.

Framing up the sides is pretty straight forward and should be simple enough.

I thought of two ways to dump, but never went any further than just think about them. Both require double doors that open in the middle and lengthwise.

The difference is how they open. One way would be to have a quick release latch that you could open from the seat of the tractor. Pull a lever or a chain or something and it pulls the locking mechanism. Maybe a pin or a latch similar to a safe. Have a rod go up and down the length of the opening to hold all the weight, but when pulled, it opens up. Simple mechanical advantage and leverage should be able to handle the weight without any issues.

Then when the dirt drops out the bottom, the back axle drives over the dirt as you go back for another load. The bottom doors will need some sort of spring or counter weight to close or at least get the doors out of the way so they are not ran over if they are too big to just hang. Again, I didn't work out any details.

Eddie

That's almost exactly what my 1st cousin & uncle made for hauling sand/ gravel. Used an old old pickup frame, it's 2 wheel. I load it up with 6 or so dumps of my 5' loader. It is all wood frame, & the latch mechinism is just as you say. The doors are only 2x10s or so, so it only works with sand or gravel, lumps of dirt plug it.

I should mention we bought it at my uncle's auction.

Works pretty well. You want it kinda tall, and you want it skinny & long, opposite of an end dump. The springs were left on, lets it rise up a bit while dumping.

I should get a pic or 2, if I remember. I'm in the middle of harvest, I forget......

Active thread, I only read this far....

--->Paul

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Alright, I need a reality check. I've been thinking more about the winch idea and I want to post the reasons and have you all tell me if I'm even thinking straight...

Having decided to go with a four wheel design, I also decided I want the dump trailer to be self contained. I don't want it dependant on the tow vehicle for hydraulics. (I would have had to add hydraulics to my smaller tractor for this purpose anyway.) So I'm left with either buying a DC electric hydraulic power pack or buying the winch. I have the ram, but I would also have to buy a valve. A cheap power pack would be $300 and the valve would cost $75. The winch would be about $190 from surplus center and it would include the controls and everything.

In addition to cost, I think that I can design the dump mechanism to work better with the winch. I think I can set up a design that uses a pulley block and doubles the pulling force for the first part of the dump and then automatically kicks over to a straight pull about a third of the way up. This way I get the force when I need it at the beginning of the dump, but I maximize the speed. I'll post more about the winch dump mechanism in a later post after I work out the details.

 

[jimmysisson]

Plus, you can use the winch to pull stuff (logs, etc.) INTO the trailer if you rig it right. Keep us posted.
Jim

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I hope you'll all forgive me for resurrecting an old thread; but since it's my thread and it's still the same project, I'm taking the liberty. I spent the winter running plans through my head for this dump cart, and I think I'm about ready to start welding.

Thanks to all who helped me out with the design by answering questions on this thread...http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/98085-tandem-axle-trailer.html

I've given up on a fancy suspension system. It would have been fun to build, but I have to be honest about what I'm doing with the trailer. I really won't have much "rough Terrain" on my little 1 1/2 acres. That's really the only place I'll use it, and if I end up needing some all terrain dump cart, I guess I'll re-manufacter or build another.

Tires/axles: I've decided to use old rear tires from a couple of riding lawn mowers. This is mostly due to availability. I found a guy that has an old lawn mower grave yard, and he's giving me some tires in trade for some other old parts and pieces that I'm trying to get rid of. I've decided to go with four wheels on tandem axles. The axles will be 3/4" cold rolled steel. In fact, I'm going today at lunch to pick them up from the steel place.

Size: I've nailed down a size of 3' wide by 4' long by 18" high for the bed. The 3' width is basically to keep it about the same width as the tow vehicle... a riding lawn mower. I'll eventually build additional sides I can add to increase the height of the bed. I'll mostly be hauling grass, branches, and twigs...light stuff. I will still haul dirt and occasionally manure.

Dump: I do want to use hydraulics for the dump. I'm going to make the trailer self contained. I haven't bought one yet, but I'm going to use an electric over hydraulic power pack and a deep cycle marine battery. I'm watching a few power packs on e-bay, and I'm going to call the local truck recycler to see how much they are locally. I'm going with a single 2" cylinder. It's 24 inches retracted and 36" extended. I figure with an 8.5" rise on the cylinder I can get plenty of lift.

Wish me luck. I hope to have some pictures of materials posted soon and then some progress updates.

 

[2310 guy]

Pics would be great. I'm also wanting to build a dump trailer but I don'k know where to start. I have an old ford ranger I want to use as a donar.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Progress update: Phase 1) Gather materials.

I picked up the cold rolled 3/4" rod from Pacific Steel to use as the axles. I also got some 3/4" schedule 40 pipe to use as bushings in various places on the trailer. I'll probably use bushings for the dump hinge, but I may also use bearings. Total bill for the rod and pipe was $48. This is for 20 feet of each. I won't use that much, but it's still what I had to spend for this project.

I bought eight 3/4" bearing pillow blocks off of e-bay. They should be here sometime this week. I'm going to use them for the axle bearings. I'll only need four for the axles, so I may use bearings for the dump. Total cost for the bearings was $33.

Pros? Cons? anyone.

I already have the cylinder. I actually have a pair, but I'll only need one.

I've been watching e-bay for used Hydraulic power packs, but they are all selling for nearly as much as I can get one locally. This is one thing that I'd like to get local, because our local truck slavager will warranty parts. I'm planning to take a little trip on my lunch break to talk about a pump. He's already quoted me a price of $125.

I'm also supposed to go pick up the tires here soon. I was going to go last night, but I spent some time freeing up space in the shop so that I could have room to build a dump trailer there. I'm doing a partial trade with the guy for stuff that I have, so the four tires are going to cost me $25

Total Bill So far...$206

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I got one of the transaxles off of the old mower. I was thinking I would take the wheels off, but the more I look at it, the more I think maybe I will just use the whole transaxle. The wheels turn independantly of each other. I won't have to use new bearings or new axles, and I'll have the option down the road to maybe run something off the input shaft...manure spreader? I'll have to see what the second transaxle looks like. If they're even close to the same, That's probably what I'll do.

I was going to start welding on the frame last night, but I got caught up cleaning out the shop some more. One more day of waiting for parts to come and my shop will be all cleaned out.

The guy who is getting me the hydraulic pump said that he can't get it pulled until Thursday. I guess that's life. The good news is that he's going to include all of the hose with it. That should save a few pennies.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I got the other mower and pulled the axle off of it. It's a little bit different axle than the first one, but the bolt holes line up. The nice thing about this second axle is that all of the different gears are built into the transaxle. The first one had a variable drive pulley and the gear box has only forward, reverse, and neutral. With the variable gears, it will give me a lot of options for using the output.

I've attached two pictures of the two axles.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The metal that I'm using for the framework is going to come from these old ATV racks (see attached picture). My brother used to work at an ATV dealership. The four wheelers come in on these metal racks.

The tubing has 1/16" walls. That's not going to hold up the world, but it will hold at least as much as those axles will.

As coincidence would have it, the narrow sides of the racks happen to be the same width as the bolt holes on the axles. How lucky can I get?

I spent about a half hour and cut one of the sides off. I'm calling it quits for tonight, but I've got some serious momentum now.

P.S. The bearings that I'm probably not going to use anymore happened to come today in the mail. I may still use them for the dump hinge. I'd love to get some opinions on that, though.