small tipping trailer

Rgillard · Mar 9, 2006

Hi guys,

I really want to build a small tipping trailer for my tractor lawnmower. Why? just for the craic. the body is going to be 750 mm wide by 1300 mm long and Im not sure how high. I also want to use a hydraulic ram powered by a steering wheel pump. I have the chassis made and am in the process of locating the ram. Has anyone any tips or suggestions before I start on the tipping mechanism. I have a model drawn in PRO/Engineer and ill try put that online too. any tips would be appreciated. I did try put this up in build it yourself forum but there was something wrong with the link.

Regards
Ronan

TheKid · Mar 10, 2006

Since you are using a power steering pump you might be able to modify a rack and pinion steering box off a small car to work as the hydraulic ram.

Joe1 · Mar 10, 2006

Ronan:

What are you describing as a tractor lawn mower?

If you're going to tow this with your garden/lawn tractor, you're going to be limited to weight, probably 400 - 500 kilos max or the trailer will push the tractor around. With that limited weight could you just use a removable lever to lift the front end with muscle power? Once it starts and the load shifts, gravity will take over.

I'm curious how you'e going to power the power steering pump. Will you use a battery and electric motor to turn the pulley or somehow run it off the tractor. If this is off a CUT, you will still need something to power the pump.

Would a manual mechanism off a floor jack work. A lot easier to build.

Sounds like an interesting project. Pictures would be nice.

I spent 4 or 5 days in Ireland in 1973 and two weeks in 1975. What a glorious country you live in, even if you have a lot of soft Irish weather.

Good luck

Joe

Joe1 · Mar 10, 2006

After rereading your post and your biography, sounds like the complications are part of the reason for the project.

Enjoy it.

Joe

Henro · Mar 11, 2006

<font color="blue">Why? just for the craic. </font>

Craic /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Rgillard · Mar 14, 2006

craic is an Irish expression for a having a laugh or fun. I am having a problem with my internet at homw so i cant post pics yet..The tractor is just a castlegarden lawn mover nothing fancy. I have acquired an electric power steering pump from an opel astra so I am going to use that instead of having a motor turning a pump.(too much to go wrong)..Will put up pics soon

Ronan

Rgillard · Feb 20, 2007

Hey Guys,

This project has been lying around my garden not making progress.Most of the reason is that I travel a lot with work and only get a few days here and there.. I have decided that I will buy a power pack in order to bring the project along. This trailer that I am building is quite small and putting a hydraulic powerpack on it is serious overkill. However, in the future I plan on building a larger tipping trailer for the back of the pickup (Ifor Williams Trailers - Product Range - TT85) I was thinking I could set it up so that it would be interchangeable for both trailers.

The pump I was thinking of buying is quoted below.

12V, 1.6KW MOTOR
2.1CC/REV PUMP
PRESSURE LINE RELIEF VALVE
PRESSURE LINE CHECK VALVE
SOLENOID OPERATED LOWERING VALVE 12 VDC
5 LITRE CYLINDRICAL TANK HORIZONTALLY MOUNTED

How would I work out my working pressure from this information. I am using a 18" stroke cylinder with a 3" bore...The trailer is going to be customised into a grass catching trailer. I have a decent sized lawn and running to and fro to the grass heap gets tiresome. This will not be very heavy when full. Also I might use it to get dung from my neighbour for putting around the veggie garden. I see 3-400KG max weight.

Has anyone any advise or any calculations that I can use to try and pick the most useful pump. The dealer says the duty cycle is 1min 20 secs in every 10 mins. Is this the maximum running time before the motor has to be left to cool or else the motor will burn out?

I am attaching the manual from the dealer.. If there is any more suitable configurations in there I would appreciate the help..Remember I am buying it so that I could use it in a bigger trailer! I have added an MPEG of how I will design the tipping mechanism using Pro/engineer.Save the ZIP file to your computer first and then open it as I dont think TBN lets you open MPEG's directly. When I try and open it in TBN it comes up as a blank ZIP file

Thanking you in Advance,
Ronan

Rgillard · Apr 18, 2007

i went ahead and built the body for the trailer. Here are some pics of the building and end of the job. I still have to add a mechanical tipping mechanism and change the material of the back door to something that will allow air but not grass to go through it. some early testing showed that while it gathered the grass it was being blown back out by the air coming from the mower. When i am happy that the trailer wil work i can go ahead and get the tipping mechanism done and at least i will have a realistic weight to work out my working pressures

Rgillard · Apr 18, 2007

Here in Ireland we are having great weather and there was a builders holiday for a week which meant my brother got the lend of a 3 tonne excavator.we decided to use it to get around the shed finished.nearly ready for concrete now

BTDT · Apr 18, 2007

I think your on the right track with your trailer. Expanded metal or some screen over a cutout in the back of your trailer should work for letting air out. Are you going to put a tarp or something on the top? The duty cycle of pump motor will probably work for your small trailer. They have some on larger equipment trailers over here that work on same principal, power up, weight/gravity down. Good luck.