<font color=red> A side dump sounds very innovative, yet how will you load the bobcat? Through a hinged or removeable tail board? Underbelly or side board ramp storage?</font color=red>
The gooseneck is twenty feet long. The JCB with bucket takes up the last eleven feet. It rides between the tires with the bucket riding on a widened flat spot at the end. This keeps the weight lower and it's easier for loading and unloading, closer to the ground and all that stuff.
I plan on using four foot ramps that are spring assisted fold ups.
The dump bed will occupy that nine feet between the skid steer bay and the front uprights of the gooseneck. So I'll have a nine feet by eight feet box that will dump off to the passenger side.
There are a couple of reasons behind the passenger side dump. First because I plan on the drivers side of the dump bed to be a fold down. This will allow the loading and unloading of palletized stuff. The reason for the driver's side for that is sometimes you park on the street and that's the side you can operate on without doing too much damage to the terrain with the skid steer.
Did I mention the forks for the JCB will ride behind the axles on the drivers side? I plan on them sliding in and being pinned where they'll available and yet out of the way. Across from them I plan on carrying the auger attachment. The twelve inch auger will ride over one set of tires and the sixteen will ride over the other.
And I still have that area under the dump bed where some tools can ride. Let's not forget there's also the area above the gooseneck that's just begging to become a productive part of the team.
<font color=red>On your other one, would removeable pins and dual hinges for the tail board work?</font color=red>
Good point. What most folks don't think about when they make a dump bed or trailer is that when there's a load there's some big pressure against the tail board. So all your conventional latching methods suck like a calf after a night without it's mama.
What I did to get around that is I ran a rod across the width of the bed. Some levers on that rod pulled, note, pulled L shaped rods in and out to latch the gate. It's not an original system but it does work. I've modified a couple of other fellas trailers with that latching system after they've seen mine in action.
On the passenger side of the trailer is a lever attached to the rod activating the L brackets. It cams over parallel with the bed and another little keeper comes down and locks it in place.
The logic of having the control for the tail board on the passenger side is it forces the driver to walk around the trailer and hopefully he'll see if there's a problem with dumping there. The lever and keeper pretty well insures that the lever won't accidently open at seventy on the expressway, not good.
Your mention of the sets of pins was handled by having three quarter inch bolts with nylocks for the top hinge points. You see I don't use it and didn't plan on using it much for hauling debris, just sand and such. So the tail board can be removed, just not as easily as some folks would like.
[<font color=red>I've got a goose neck and a dump would sure be convenient but one that large isn't in the budget. A makeover though could be doable. Think my 580 would be a tighter fit?</font color=red>
I think that would depend on the size of the case. (grin)
Nice tractor btw
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://photos.yahoo.com/wroughtnharv>me</A>