Off road dump trailer options

[rd_macgregor]

I bought my MUTS last fall and have been using it to transport soiled bedding/manure from the horses. I really wanted a hydraulic dumper, but the MUTS isn't really all that difficult to crank up. I really like how well-matched it is to our RTV; it pulls easily, backs nicely (after some practice!) and follows through gates and such without having to swing really wide for clearance. I'm eager to get it back in the woods this summer.
I suspect any of the highway-legal dumpers would be less maneuverable in the woods than the MUTS is, so that is a reasonable trade-off for my purposes.

 

[ProjectKing]

I bought my MUTS last fall and have been using it to transport soiled bedding/manure from the horses. I really wanted a hydraulic dumper, but the MUTS isn't really all that difficult to crank up. I really like how well-matched it is to our RTV; it pulls easily, backs nicely (after some practice!) and follows through gates and such without having to swing really wide for clearance. I'm eager to get it back in the woods this summer.
I suspect any of the highway-legal dumpers would be less maneuverable in the woods than the MUTS is, so that is a reasonable trade-off for my purposes.

Yes it's a really nice trailer. Perfect size. The hand winching isn't too bad. Good exercise. If a person was gonna be dumping a lot a small 12 volt winch with synthetic line would be handy.

 

[hkbirdman]

I don't own one of these trailers. Still debating between this and a CAM Woodsman (which is no longer made).

Hi John - I know I'm replying to an old thread - but was wondering if you decided on an off road dump trailer. I think I am looking for a similar unit to what you mentioned. I'm thinking of 4' x 8' bed with overall width of appx. 5' -- and capacity of 3-4 tons -- with BRAKES. I will be using it by filling with my tractor and then hauling and dumping with same tractor to make woods roads on my property. Material to be hauled will be bank run gravel. Thanks.

 

[sea2summit]

Mike just posted a review of the RK trailer, fairly interesting and sounds like what we're talking about.

 

[BrokenTrack]

Hi John - I know I'm replying to an old thread - but was wondering if you decided on an off road dump trailer. I think I am looking for a similar unit to what you mentioned. I'm thinking of 4' x 8' bed with overall width of appx. 5' -- and capacity of 3-4 tons -- with BRAKES. I will be using it by filling with my tractor and then hauling and dumping with same tractor to make woods roads on my property. Material to be hauled will be bank run gravel. Thanks.

You should look into a Wallenstein Timber Talon. I have one and it works really well. Easy to load with a small Kubota in the pit, then I haul it with my Ford Explorer (or tractor or bulldozer depending on if the load is hauled on-road or off).

Last year I used it to build a heavy haul road on my farm. I even built a grader blade for it to get a nice smooth road after I hauled the gravel. With its walking beam suspension it really works well.

 

[John_Mc]

Hi John - I know I'm replying to an old thread - but was wondering if you decided on an off road dump trailer. I think I am looking for a similar unit to what you mentioned. I'm thinking of 4' x 8' bed with overall width of appx. 5' -- and capacity of 3-4 tons -- with BRAKES. I will be using it by filling with my tractor and then hauling and dumping with same tractor to make woods roads on my property. Material to be hauled will be bank run gravel. Thanks.

I still have not bought a trailer. I looked rather intensively for a while, but never really found anything that met my needs. I was looking for something a bit lighter than what you are looking for: Originally I was thinking 3000# minimum payload. Now I'm hoping for 4 or 5000#. I can't handle much bigger on my hilly terrain.

I'm also considering Forwarding trailers. That self-loading ability might be nice, but it's hard to justify just for personal use.

 

[John_Mc]

Resurrecting this thread. Just read back through the whole thing. There is some good reading here for folks looking for trailers to use behind their tractors.

Another Vermonter who I met through another forum decided to sell his Metavic M95 Forwarding Trailer. This is a log forwarding trailer with a hydraulic loader. (This one is the tractor version with the 13RF version of the trailer.) Boom reach is 9.5'. Lift at full reach is 600#, lift close in (4 feet) is 1500#. This one has the optional hydraulic power pack powered by a 5.5 HP Honda engine, so I can run it behind a pickup truck or larger ATV as well. It also has the 4000# winch with 100' of cable (I suspect I'll use my logging winch when I've got a lot of winching to do, but this should come in handy when loading logs.) He also added electric brakes, and mounted a brake controller on his tractor (which he operated manually). When I first spoke with him about it almost a year ago, this trailer was not for sale. I had considered ordering one set up the same way, but discarded this as too expensive to justify for my non-commercial logging use (and too small for a commercial operation). When I saw it listed last week, I was down to his place to buy it within 24 hours of hearing it was for sale.

(previous owner's photo)

As an added bonus, when I was looking at the Forwarding Trailer, what did I see sitting across the yard but the CAM Woodsman Dump Trailer. I mentioned this earlier in this thread. They are no longer made. I've been looking for a used one for about 3 or 4 years, but no one who owns one wants to sell. We agreed on a package price, and now I own both. Just need to replace the dead battery in dump trailer.

 

[John_Mc]

Gordon - I'll probably be looking at making something like the two-way clevis hitch you described in post #68 in this thread.

I'm curious how that has been working out for you. Has it caused any issues when you try to back up the trailer, or during braking while a heavy load is pushing you down a hill? I'm just wondering if the hitch "flips sideways" during these operations, and of so, whether that causes any issues for you.

 

[Rustyiron]

That sound's like a nice package John:thumbsup:
We will need some pics you know

 

[John_Mc]

That sound's like a nice package John:thumbsup:
We will need some pics you know

I'll get some. Waiting till I get a chance to actually put it to use. Pictures of it sitting in my yard are kind of boring.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Gordon - I'll probably be looking at making something like the two-way clevis hitch you described in post #68 in this thread.

I'm curious how that has been working out for you. Has it caused any issues when you try to back up the trailer, or during braking while a heavy load is pushing you down a hill? I'm just wondering if the hitch "flips sideways" during these operations, and of so, whether that causes any issues for you.

Congrats John !! You've been looking a long time - patients pays off, you got more than you were originally hoping for.

On that hitch - it can't twist or buckle when backing or breaking with the set-up I have. The pins are 90* to each other like a U-joint and there is a loose but close fit between the two clevis type joints so they are held inline by that and the pin. It acts like a normal pinned draw bar hook-up backing and braking.



gg

 

[John_Mc]

Congrats John !! You've been looking a long time - patients pays off, you got more than you were originally hoping for.

Yes, it's been a while, and I ended up with more than I ever thought I would (and of course, spending more than I ever thought I would). When I first saw the Metavic forwarding trailer for sale, I thought about it for a while, then decided it was still too expensive. I mentioned to my wife. The conversation went something like this:

John: Remember that forwarding trailer I was drooling over? There's one used on Craig's list. The perfect setup for me use.
Kim: Are you going to get it?
John: Too expensive. I just can't justify it, even at this used price.
Kim: Why not get it? You never buy anything for yourself.
John: <dumbfounded look>

(She's crazy. I just bought a well-used used Tacoma pickup a few months ago, mainly so I'd stop beating up the minivan hauling stuff around - though with my son a new driver, it did free both of us up from chauffeuring him around.)

On that hitch - it can't twist or buckle when backing or breaking with the set-up I have. The pins are 90* to each other like a U-joint and there is a loose but close fit between the two clevis type joints so they are held inline by that and the pin. It acts like a normal pinned draw bar hook-up backing and braking.

That's helpful. In looking at it now and thinking about it more, I can see that. My tractor drawbar has a fairly large hole in it, so I may have some slop around that pin, but I'm guessing that's not a big issue?

The receiver hitch on your winch looks similar to my set-up. Did you have to do anything different to use it with that? Any need to shim up with washers to fill the gap (I assume the insert's tab is thinner than your tractor drawbar), or do you just pin it in and go?

 

[Gordon Gould]

The receiver hitch on your winch looks similar to my set-up. Did you have to do anything different to use it with that? Any need to shim up with washers to fill the gap (I assume the insert's tab is thinner than your tractor drawbar), or do you just pin it in and go?

The receiver hitch had a 1" hole for ball bolt and was 3/4" thick. I welded on a 1/2" thick pad and with a 1" hole saw using the original hole as a guide made a 1-1/4 draw bar like end with a 1" hole. I bought a Cat 2 to Cat 1 (1" to 3/4") sleeve at TSC and cut it to length for a hole size reducer and used a standard Cat 1 3/4" pin like I use on the draw bar w/o the winch.

I kept the clevis fits close to keep from gouging up the pins. Shimmed with a 3/4 washer.



gg

 

[3Lfarms]

Does the joint rotate on the front of the trailer? It looks fixed. Doesn’t it bind up from the twisting when driving diagonally across a gully?

 

[Gordon Gould]

Does the joint rotate on the front of the trailer? It looks fixed. Doesn’t it bind up from the twisting when driving diagonally across a gully?

No it rotates freely. Even has a grease zerk. It is a common type hitch on off road trailers. If you run on flat ground you just need to pin it to the draw bar like this



gg