Forest River Dump trailer

[Oldpath05]

("Dont know what their intentions are (either dealer or MFG), but if I could buy back this trailer at a nice price and no warranty....then work my magic on it to make it bullet proof, that would be a worthwhile proposition. But will see what they say when I return the cylinder and title")

I like this possibility the best, especially if 6x12 trailers are on the hard side to find at a good price. I like that size 6x12 so if you can get it at a good buy back price, I don't think it would take that much brain storming magic to bulletproof it. Something like structure improvement is not to hard, I've done it alot over the years.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

I wonder how long the floor will hold up? How about the axle and sleeper mounts? Dump bed hinges? Are those areas better engineered/executed than the amazingly and obviously under engineered cylinder mount?

 

[LD1]

I wonder how long the floor will hold up? How about the axle and sleeper mounts? Dump bed hinges? Are those areas better engineered/executed than the amazingly and obviously under engineered cylinder mount?

Dont know. Thats the gamble. But it specs out pretty similar to others. 10ga floor and sides, axles are not made by forest river. Rather they are lippert 5200# axles. Rear hinges are 3/4" and greasable, bed cross members are 16" centers. Where the cylinders push on the dump body, that area look pretty well done. I really think I found the one weak area on this trailer. Aside from the fact that the cylinder really should be pushing backwards instead of forward. The little 6" channel iron with a think 1/4" gusset. Had that gusset been made from 1/2 or 3/4" material, I dont think there would have been any issues at all. With a 4" cylinder and 2500psi, bout 30,000# is trying to push back through that mount. With their undersized 3" cylinder, its only about 17,000. So while the 3" cylinder wouldnt do this damage under a static condition....I have to wonder, what about when you get a sticky load of dirt in the air, and backup and pull forward and hit the brakes sharply to try to dislodge it?

But it is sounding like buyback is not really an option. IT sounds as if they may want the trailer back for inspection at the forest river factory. And according to the dealer who called them bout this issue, they are claiming the trailer was overloaded was the reason for failure. Sorry, I dont buy that answer. IF I overload a trailer, worst I would expect to happen is a fail to dump and the relief opens. NOT self destruction of the trailer. Sure, I upsized the cylinder.......but with their authorization to do so, and only to match what their specs show, and match the cylinder that they used in the past. So I wonder if they re-designed that mount to be lighter since dropping to a 3" cylinder?

Dealer is going to weigh the load to try to debunk their "overloaded" theory. But I highly doubt that there is more than 6k of dirt in that trailer.

 

[kevin37b]

Channel iron is not designed to be loaded like that . That took some real engineering . Did you look at it with the bed up , or crawl underneath it ? Looks like they go to the drop pile for the most important pieces .

 

[KennyG]

All sounds bad. Just for information, Forest River is probably the largest RV manufacturer in the US. They make about 20 different brands. (I'm not sure how many because they have been buying out many of the traditional RV companies.) My understanding is that they are very cost competitive but get low marks for quality and customer service. Some of their brand names may be higher quality than others.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Dont know. Thats the gamble. But it specs out pretty similar to others. 10ga floor and sides, axles are not made by forest river. Rather they are lippert 5200# axles. Rear hinges are 3/4" and greasable, bed cross members are 16" centers. Where the cylinders push on the dump body, that area look pretty well done. I really think I found the one weak area on this trailer. Aside from the fact that the cylinder really should be pushing backwards instead of forward. The little 6" channel iron with a think 1/4" gusset. Had that gusset been made from 1/2 or 3/4" material, I dont think there would have been any issues at all. With a 4" cylinder and 2500psi, bout 30,000# is trying to push back through that mount. With their undersized 3" cylinder, its only about 17,000. So while the 3" cylinder wouldnt do this damage under a static condition....I have to wonder, what about when you get a sticky load of dirt in the air, and backup and pull forward and hit the brakes sharply to try to dislodge it?

But it is sounding like buyback is not really an option. IT sounds as if they may want the trailer back for inspection at the forest river factory. And according to the dealer who called them bout this issue, they are claiming the trailer was overloaded was the reason for failure. Sorry, I dont buy that answer. IF I overload a trailer, worst I would expect to happen is a fail to dump and the relief opens. NOT self destruction of the trailer. Sure, I upsized the cylinder.......but with their authorization to do so, and only to match what their specs show, and match the cylinder that they used in the past. So I wonder if they re-designed that mount to be lighter since dropping to a 3" cylinder?

Dealer is going to weigh the load to try to debunk their "overloaded" theory. But I highly doubt that there is more than 6k of dirt in that trailer.

My gut tells me you have closer to 10,000# of dirt.

Reason i say that is i just had 15,000# of top soil delivered. It worked out to 7.5 yds measures by me in my Kawasaki Mules bed that holds 16 cu/ft.

What you look to have loaded is 5 to 6 yds.

 

[LD1]

Channel iron is not designed to be loaded like that . That took some real engineering . Did you look at it with the bed up , or crawl underneath it ? Looks like they go to the drop pile for the most important pieces .

Yes I looked at it, and thought it was indeed a weak area. but didnt want to touch it because warranty issues.

The place I got it had a few left-over carry-on bran trailers there as well. The gusset, instead of a ~6" x 6" triangle of 1/4" plate....it is another piece of 6" channel iron behind the one the cylinder mounts to.

And I still think their cylinder is mounted backwards compared to most. But it is what it is. I forwarded pictures on to their warranty manager, as well as letting him know i am still interested in the trailer if they decide they want to just be done with it and cut their losses.

But yes, I agree they skimped on the most critical area of the trailer, but everything else about it looks very well done. Ive been doing alot of dump trailer research since this whole debacle, and its at least $2000 for a comparably equipped trailer. There are several 6x12 or 7x12 out there for just a little more, but by the time I add (build) ramps that dont come standard, the roll top tarp, battery, etc.......

On paper this is a very good value. Ramps (that are smoother punched steel so easier to load a ZTR), powder coated, batter included, tarp, 10ga floor and sides, lippert axles, 16" OC cross members, nice lockable box, etc etc. IF this trailer came standard with a 4" cylinder and $10 more metal where the cylinder mounts....it would be unbeatable IMO.

 

[LD1]

My gut tells me you have closer to 10,000# of dirt.

Reason i say that is i just had 15,000# of top soil delivered. It worked out to 7.5 yds measures by me in my Kawasaki Mules bed that holds 16 cu/ft.

What you look to have loaded is 5 to 6 yds.

Forgot to update:

I did find out what the weight was. Total was 8080# as pictured. According to the title the empty trailer weighed 2540. So ~5500# of dirt as pictured.

This is the same amount I had on when it wouldnt dump at all with the 3" cylinder. After raking some of it out with the hoe and finally getting it to dump, the resulting pile was isolated from my main dirt pile. Scooped up the exact same dirt and reloaded (+/- a few shovel loads) and thats whats on the trailer as pictured when it failed.

The trailer is only 6x12. so in order to have 5 yards of dirt, it would have to be level full to a 2' high mark. The sides are ~18". So even level full to the sides of the trailer is only about 4 yards. And its clearly under that even.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Forgot to update:

I did find out what the weight was. Total was 8080# as pictured. According to the title the empty trailer weighed 2540. So ~5500# of dirt as pictured.

This is the same amount I had on when it wouldnt dump at all with the 3" cylinder. After raking some of it out with the hoe and finally getting it to dump, the resulting pile was isolated from my main dirt pile. Scooped up the exact same dirt and reloaded (+/- a few shovel loads) and thats whats on the trailer as pictured when it failed.

The trailer is only 6x12. so in order to have 5 yards of dirt, it would have to be level full to a 2' high mark. The sides are ~18". So even level full to the sides of the trailer is only about 4 yards. And its clearly under that even.

It looked a lot deeper than 18"

I would say if you could get it for $2500 and do the mods it would be a good value.

 

[lexluther]

No criticism here...I shopped hard for a dump, this looks like you get what you pay for. The $5k trailers I thought were cheap unless they were tiny.