Recent projects with new trailer

   / Recent projects with new trailer #1  

mwemaxxowner

Platinum Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2020
Messages
597
Location
Pageland, SC
Tractor
BX 1880 with FEL and canopy
So, funny story about how I came to own my tractor, I was actually just shopping for trailers. I'd watched used trailers for a while, and I was going to have to spend $3k or more for something in good shape like I want.

Well the local Kubota dealership is also a Hudson Brother's trailer dealer. HB is a locally built trailer with a great reputation, and there have been a few Hudson trailers in my family longer than I've been alive.

I decided to browse their website for trailers, and while I was on there, they had "ZERO PERCENT FOR 84 MONTHS ON SELECT KUBOTA TRACTORS" all over the website. Well turns out a brand new trailer like I wanted was $3900, which to me is a no brainer on comparison to the current used prices. But, I wound up buying a tractor/trailer package.

A little while back, on one of my BX Owners Facebook pages, someone posted that someone gave them a load of gravel they could have for free if they hauled it off. He got creative and this is what he came up with.
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Then someone else commented below with this

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That got my wheels turning. "I can do this". I thought it looked functional, and also looked presentable enough. I would love a dump trailer, but the MRS has already said "NO MORE TRAILERS". I haul my own mulch, compost, top soil, gravel, etc from local places just a few miles from home. Until now in the bed of my truck.

I have a bundle of 16' decking boards I bought at a cull price from work because the bundle sat in a corner too long and became old and weathered. I got way more than I needed, and have been trying to find ways to use them all up while they're still in good shape. I treated them myself, so they are actually treated ground contact, and were with a load of 6x6's, which we treat the strongest of all our charges. (got permission to do that) I may have also spiked the strength of the work tank a smidge .

This is what I came up with:


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The initial plan was just to put these on when I need to haul something. For instance, I recently got a friend with a landscaping business and a dump trailer to haul me 4 tons of sand and he charged $160. I didn't realize how little 4 tons would be. Turns out the sand is only about $13/ton if I go get it. I'll deal with unloading the hard way to save $100/load. I believe I can unload mulch or dirt with the tractor and bucket.

I built these planks to be easy to put on and take off, either with or without the tractor. I can do it either way just fine and I can carry them by hand to their resting place if need be. But, at my ripe old age of 33, I'm getting lazy. Hence the purchase of this trailer and a $15k wheelbarrow.

I would really like to leave the planks on, except they go into the same stake pockets that I need to tie down my tractor. Today, I cooked this up. They are 3666# WLL HD D rings from Lowe's, and are through bolted through the cross members under my trailer. I currently have 4 placed convenient to the ideal location to haul my tractor when the trailer is empty. Tomorrow I want to place two further back on the trailer that will be front tie downs if I ever need to tie the tractor down with a ton or so of loose material in the way at the front. If I had the tractor parked behind a pile of material, I'd use the second set of recessed D rings, and the rearmost stake pockets on the trailer, which are still available with the planks on. Now I can leave the side planks on and still haul my BX.

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Anywho, two fun little projects recently that turned out really well (in my opinion anyway) and enhanced the abilities of my trailer a smidge.

If ever I haul a heavier tractor, car, truck, etc I can still pull the planks off and use the stake pockets.
 

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   / Recent projects with new trailer #2  
   / Recent projects with new trailer
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Yes, the gravel has to be covered. I'm not sure what made you think I won't tarp it. I'm fairly certain that it's the law everywhere for loose materials to be tarped.

I don't understand the second question. The side planks rest on floor that is already there with no gaps. Don't need two of 'um.
 
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   / Recent projects with new trailer #4  
In that second picture that I posted of yours, has a board running across your deck boards. At first glance it made the deck boards looked raised ahead of it. But in reality, that cross board is your tailgate. I stand corrected. Jon
 
   / Recent projects with new trailer #5  
Nice looking job. Looks sturdy and able to handle just about anything you might want to put on it. It would be easy to overload that with gravel though.

I am in the process of reclaiming the sideboards I made for my car hauler since I don't plan to use it that way again. Simple 3/8s ply some 2x4s and a little hardware and a tarp to move 5 loads of misc. stuff from the west side to the eastside, averaged 225 miles each way. It did the job and kept everything dry over the mountains.

The first pic with the Kubota and the gravel really belongs in

Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong

It looks to be a minimum of two yards probably pushing 3 loaded all the way to the top of the sideboards and not covered. Unless that is a 14k trailer, it is just a smidge overweight I would guess.
 
   / Recent projects with new trailer #6  
In that second picture that I posted of yours, has a board running across your deck boards. At first glance it made the deck boards looked raised ahead of it. But in reality, that cross board is your tailgate. I stand corrected. Jon
I actually thought the same thing at first, I had to go back and look at the picture again, it was an optical illusion.
 
   / Recent projects with new trailer
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Yes, it would be easy to overload with gravel, but, for example, it would haul plenty of mulch or compost. And it will still haul more gravel than my truck bed. Recently I hauled 4.5 yards of mulch for shrub beds.

I need 5 tons of gravel right now for my trailer shed. Two trips will do me just fine.
 
   / Recent projects with new trailer #8  
mwe, How do you equate 5 tons to yardage? Whenever I plan anything around my property I need to guess/estimate via yards versus tons. So I guess what I'm asking is how much does a yard of gravel actually weigh? With my 1 ton dump bed I can haul about 2.5 yards at a time and get it to dump; but I've never actually gone to the scales to get it weighed. Thanks, Greg
 
   / Recent projects with new trailer
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I'm not sure why some materials are sold in tonnage and some in yardage. Around here sand and gravel are sold by the ton. I figure up the volume I need and do a quick Google on what a yard weighs and estimate from there.

Google says 2400-2900/yard for gravel.

So, for example, right now I need about 4 yards of gravel for my trailer shed. I'll probably get 2 3 ton loads, spread that and go from there.
 
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   / Recent projects with new trailer #10  
mwe, How do you equate 5 tons to yardage? Whenever I plan anything around my property I need to guess/estimate via yards versus tons. So I guess what I'm asking is how much does a yard of gravel actually weigh? With my 1 ton dump bed I can haul about 2.5 yards at a time and get it to dump; but I've never actually gone to the scales to get it weighed. Thanks, Greg

To convert tons to yards:

Multiply tons by 0.714 to get approximate cubic yards.

So, 5 tons times 0.714 = 3.57 cubic yards

To convert yards to tons:

1 cubic yard is roughly 1.4 tons

To test, use the 3.57 cubic yards, times 1.4 = 4.998 tons




or


Just use this simple calculator. You fill in the type of aggregate/stone/etc and the size you want to fill and it tells you in tons or cubic yards how much to get. I use it all the time, when bidding jobs. It works.

 
 
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