Old Pickup bed as trailer

[ron45]

Hello, is this a good idea for a DIY dirt hauling trailer to use w/kioti? Some one is giving me an old truck axle. Don't know the make yet. I want to be able to use the loader bucket to tow, and raise the tongue to empty the trailer. I figure the truck sized tires and some suspension should get the bed up high enough to dump it by raising the tongue. Is there a hitch configuration what would make raising via the ball easier. That seems to be the iffy spot in my idea.

It would be easy to burn a hole for a 2" hitch. But I'm unsure if you could dump it by just raising it with the hitch ball and bucket. It's a fairly nebulous idea right now. I do own a welder, but I'm not a very good welder. Pickup beds should be fairly easy to find. But I have no idea what people pay for them. Anyone done this or something simpler. I don't want to get into a separate hydraulic system for dumping the thing. I have a mile of road that needs material in places. I am thinking that a trailer save so much back and forth w/kioti.

 

[k0ua]

Hello, is this a good idea for a DIY dirt hauling trailer to use w/kioti? Some one is giving me an old truck axle. Don't know the make yet. I want to be able to use the loader bucket to tow, and raise the tongue to empty the trailer. I figure the truck sized tires and some suspension should get the bed up high enough to dump it by raising the tongue. Is there a hitch configuration what would make raising via the ball easier. That seems to be the iffy spot in my idea.

It would be easy to burn a hole for a 2" hitch. But I'm unsure if you could dump it by just raising it with the hitch ball and bucket. It's a fairly nebulous idea right now. I do own a welder, but I'm not a very good welder. Pickup beds should be fairly easy to find. But I have no idea what people pay for them. Anyone done this or something simpler. I don't want to get into a separate hydraulic system for dumping the thing. I have a mile of road that needs material in places. I am thinking that a trailer save so much back and forth w/kioti.

This is just my opinion but were you planning on pushing the trailer you make backwards with the bucket on the Front end loader.. I am thinking that is going to suck . Or where you thinking of towing it from the drawbar then unhitching it and dumping it with the Loader bucket. I am a little unclear of your plan.

James K0UA

 

[not2old]

I have a trailer made from an old 3/4 ton Ford. I cut the frame and formed a tongue without modifying the box/frame. It will not dump with my loader without a lot of trouble. I have to get it centred perfectly and then lift until the trailer is standing on it's bumper to get gravel to come out and then move it a little and do it again. It just isn't worth the effort. Making the trailer with a shorter rear overhang is necessary and then a small loader might not lift it. I'm planning to add sides to my tilt deck car hauler and unload with the loader.

 

[ron45]

This is just my opinion but were you planning on pushing the trailer you make backwards with the bucket on the Front end loader.. I am thinking that is going to suck . Or where you thinking of towing it from the drawbar then unhitching it and dumping it with the Loader bucket. I am a little unclear of your plan.

James K0UA

At this point never having tried it, that's how I plan to do it. Drabar, unhitch, turn around, raise, seems kind of involved. I don't have trouble backing up a 2 wheel trailer backwards. Seems it might not be too much hard going front wards. But again this is uniformed conjecture. I appreciate your input James

 

[ron45]

I have a trailer made from an old 3/4 ton Ford. I cut the frame and formed a tongue without modifying the box/frame. It will not dump with my loader without a lot of trouble. I have to get it centred perfectly and then lift until the trailer is standing on it's bumper to get gravel to come out and then move it a little and do it again. It just isn't worth the effort. Making the trailer with a shorter rear overhang is necessary and then a small loader might not lift it. I'm planning to add sides to my tilt deck car hauler and unload with the loader.

I planed to raise the bed high enough above the axle to get a good tilt. But I sure do appreciate the heads up. I could also place the bed more in the direction of the tongue to help with that.

 

[k0ua]

At this point never having tried it, that's how I plan to do it. Drabar, unhitch, turn around, raise, seems kind of involved. I don't have trouble backing up a 2 wheel trailer backwards. Seems it might not be too much hard going front wards. But again this is uniformed conjecture. I appreciate your input James

Well maybe you have flat ground and can keep control of the trailer, by pushing it with the FEL. I could never do that here. Just too many hills and rough ground

James K0UA

 

[Ozykioti]

Re; Hitch configuration.
Have you heard of a "treg" hitch? It's used here in Oz for off road towing. It looks like a universal joint and would do what you need for lifting the trailer. I need to make some kind of dump trailer soon myself.

 

[Bird]

I have a trailer made from an old 3/4 ton Ford. I cut the frame and formed a tongue without modifying the box/frame. It will not dump with my loader without a lot of trouble. I have to get it centred perfectly and then lift until the trailer is standing on it's bumper to get gravel to come out and then move it a little and do it again. It just isn't worth the effort. Making the trailer with a shorter rear overhang is necessary and then a small loader might not lift it. I'm planning to add sides to my tilt deck car hauler and unload with the loader.

I didn't have a pickup bed trailer, but just an ordinary 5' x 10' trailer and a 7' x 16' trailer, and raising the tongue high enough with my FEL to try to dump the contents of a trailer just never did work well enough for me to try it more than a couple of times.

 

[ron45]

More unproven conjecture here, I'm thinking that if I lift the bed high enough off the axle, and move the center of the bed towards the tongue I can get enough room to dump it properly. The metal bed should help there too. But it I have to use a shovel some to get it out of there it still beats running back and forth as far as fuel usage and wear and tear on kioti.

 

[ron45]

Re; Hitch configuration.
Have you heard of a "treg" hitch? It's used here in Oz for off road towing. It looks like a universal joint and would do what you need for lifting the trailer. I need to make some kind of dump trailer soon myself.

That's pretty good news Ozy. I was thinking of something with a heavy chain if the ball didn't afford enough range of motion but I will look into your suggestion. The chain wouldn't be much good for the steering part. Thanks for the suggestion.