Need to haul some rocks, ideas?

[Blk88GT]

You still want to have SOME tongue weight, otherwise the truck/trailer will be unstable. With all the weight over the axles, you're going to leave the back end of the truck a little light.

Have you ever towed a heavy load (7000lbs+) with a lack of tongue weight? I have, and it's downright terrifying.

 

[Skyco]

I agree on the terrifying part- I have had 2 instances where a heavy trailer got to swaying- in one case the trailer wasn't built right- it contained a built in tilt over 75 ft crank up tower for emergency communications designed with too little tongue weight and one case where my dump trailer was loaded too far back at the quarry....
It is a helpless feeling trying to get a sway crazy trailer under control, it just can't be done in most cases, you've got to stop, hopefully in time. I was in two different vehicles and I think in both cases there is still a pucker in the seat fabric visible years later

 

[Blk88GT]

I used to have that problem with my old truck, which is why I upgrated to something a little heavier. I don't think you can ever have enough truck.

 

[Highbeam]

My PJ trailer has an owner's manual which directs the user to center the weight of the load on the center of the trailer deck. Meaning ignore the axles, measure the deck to find the middle and evenly load on either side of that line. The trailer axles are located such that even loading of the trailer deck will push the appropriate amount of tongue weight onto the truck. I scaled the empty trailer which weighed 2500 lbs total and 250 lbs of the 2500 was on the tongue.

I actually have a line drawn across the midpoint of the trailer deck to help me with this since the fenders create an optical illusion.

 

[Blk88GT]

I've found the same thing as you Highbeam, the center seems to be the sweet spot, ignore the axles.

I've got a design, I just need some decent weather to go pick them up.

 

[Blk88GT]

Well, I built some sides for the trailer with my dad yesterday. I ended up going 6 2x4s high all around the trailer. I just dumped the rocks inside it, and away I went. I didn't tarp the load (yeah yeah, I know) but I didn't even come close to half filling the thing.

I'm going to unload the rocks later with the tractor, hopefully I don't need to make another trip! Thanks guys.

 

[unreconstructed]

I hauled flat rocks for years with which I built a 1200 sq ft shop.
My trailer was a 16 foot utility trailer. I bought a dolly from Harbour Freight with the big pneumatic tires. I also bought a wheelbarrow and slimed the tires. I built a ramp out of wood for the trailer. I would either fill the wheelbarrow, or in the case of most of the flats, stack several on the buggy, run up the ramp and dump them. It took me about an hour to load what I gauged to be about 4000 pounds. I unloaded them in like fashion sorted by approximate thickness. I hauled the rocks in the winter, stockpiled them, and worked on the building in the spring/summer/fall. I did this for 10 years. I figured I loaded and hauled about 250,000 pounds.

I just had some 1 x 12 s bolted to my angle iron for sides--put some big rock on the back with no tail gate and never lost a rock.

I used some very large rocks to span the windows and door. I used some oil field tubing and a come a long to get those in my trailer.

The trailer loading process was really not that bad--a combination of weight and cardio workout. Really did not mind it that much.

I love rocks--except the ones growing in my pasture that have no stacking quality.

That's my rock story.

 

[Blk88GT]

Got any pictures?

Unloading the trailer with the tractor was a breeze. I drove up the ramps with the bucket down and took load after load back down the ramp and dumped them. It turned out great, but I still need one good load to finish it up.