This ain't no Garden of Eden

[silverdollar6]

You wouldn`t believe how much I have learned just by following the projects on these forums. I think that your wildlife fence sounds like a good idea, but I am not sure if a bird fence will work.

 

[jinman]

I hauled a few more loads of sand yesterday. I think about 7 more loads on he low side and I can switch to hauling topsoil. With the topsoil, I won't be hauling it up and out of my sandpit, so I should be able to put another yard into the trailer; however, it will be about 10 times as far to haul it. Here's a couple of pictures of my dirt piles. The first one shows 7 loads and the seccond shows 11. As I raise the bed, I'm able to move the tractor forward and look under the trailer bed where I can gage how fast the sand is dumping. That way I lay down a bead of sand 7' wide and 18' deep for about 20' long. I then start lowering the bed and driving off. I'm normally almost halfway back to the sandpit by the time the trailer makes it all the way down. Then I unhook and get busy filling the trailer. Unhooking or hooking up doesn't take long. The UP/DOWN control for the trailer is a small box with two buttons and two magnets on the back of the box. I just clip it to the ROPS.

 

[EddieWalker]

Hey Jim,

I just read through your thread on your trailer, and enjoyed it very much. I don't have one, but I noticed some of the same problems that you encounter with it that I do with my dump truck. I haul five yards with mine. With sideboards, I can get another yard, but I run into too many problems with that extra yard. I can't even count the times I've sunk the rear axles in a soft spot. When that happens, I dump the load and hope that I can drive out. If not, it's time to get the backhoe and a chain.

Do you have a coating on the trailer or any issues with material sticking to the corners? On mine, the rust is pretty severe, so it holds allot of material in the corners. Once that starts, it just keeps building up until I get the shovel out and clean it up.

I found out about Hammerite paint on the Heavy Equipment forums. A guy there paints it on his dump truck bed and said that everything that he hauls just slides right out. I bought a gallon last year and was very impressed with the results. It dries to a glass like finish. It's very hard and bonds to rust, so it's ideal for dump truck beds. A gallon with shipping is close to $80, so it's not cheap, but it works and I just bought another gallon to coat my bed for this years hauling.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=1523&familyName=Hammerite+Rust+Cap+"Smooth+Finish"+Cans

I'm also going to try painting it on my backhoe and loader buckets. They will both build up with damp clay .

Eddie

 

[jinman]

Jim,
Would this be a good time to ask about your avatar picture?
I have wondered about that story for quite some time.

J, you would not believe how many people have asked me about the avatar. I've answered that question many times here in these forums and in PMs as well. The photo is a crop of a photo my wife took of me cleaning up after a dozer cleaned out my pond. The dozer could only stay 2-1/2 days and left me lots of loose dirt. I worked many hours scraping the sides of the pond. I've included several wide shots of my cleanup and a shot of the pond when full. The pond is about 12-1/2 feet deep when full.

 

[JB4310]

Jim, that trailers really getting a workout, the only concern I would have is with all that sand under there, it may be hard to keep your garden watered. My brother prefers the raised beds as you mentioned and always has a very bountiful crop.

That's just an observation, as I know almost nothing about gardening.
I am myself seriously considering my own "victory garden"

JB.

 

[jinman]

Do you have a coating on the trailer or any issues with material sticking to the corners? On mine, the rust is pretty severe, so it holds allot of material in the corners. Once that starts, it just keeps building up until I get the shovel out and clean it up.

I found out about Hammerite paint on the Heavy Equipment forums. A guy there paints it on his dump truck bed and said that everything that he hauls just slides right out. I bought a gallon last year and was very impressed with the results. It dries to a glass like finish. It's very hard and bonds to rust, so it's ideal for dump truck beds. A gallon with shipping is close to $80, so it's not cheap, but it works and I just bought another gallon to coat my bed for this years hauling.

Hammerite Paint

Eddie, I made the link clickable in the quote above. Thanks for that tip. The bed of my trailer is made from 4'x7' sheets of metal. The rear sheet is already about 1/3 bare metal in the middle from sand erosion. I was thinking of trying a very light coating of used motor oil or diesel from a spray bottle to inhibit rust. Does the Hammerlite not erode away? Inside the trailer, the big D-rings also contribute to sticking in the corners. With sand, it's not too bad, but I can imagine that clay might be hard to keep going.

I really like the versatility of this little dump trailer. I'm also impressed with how fast it raises a load. It is just perfect for a controlled dump and spread with the tailgate open. So far, I have just left the tailgate open the whole time. That keeps me from getting too big a load. What I have learned is to keep the load as far to the rear as possible to keep off some of the tongue weight. When I saw my drawbar bowing down, I realized my tongue weight was too high. Now, when I load, I put about three scoops in the front and then load the middle and rear of the trailer. If I load the rear first, the tongue will lift since I don't have it tied down.

I really like the way the trailer is made because the wheels are on the outside of the bed instead of directly under it as a dump truck would be. This keeps the center of gravity low and the wider track of the axles is very good when the bed is raised. Going slow with the bed raised when the trailer is empty feels very stable. That way I can drive and lower the bed without worrying about tipping over. Of course, I have pretty smooth ground and my tractor doesn't pull that fast. I would bet that a 4wd pickup and one of these trailers would give a dump truck like yours a run for its money. I wish I was closer to you. We'd give it a try to see what you thought.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

How do you add pictures? I tried with insert image but it didn't work.

I would like to post one of my garden, its about 1/2 planted.

Thanks

 

[EddieWalker]

Jim,

I don't know what oil or diesel fuel will do for helping the material slide off bed. It might work, but my guess is that you'll never know it's there. My experience is with clay, so it may or may not apply to your sand. With the clay, it starts to stick on the inside corners, with the top of the bed, where the bottom, side and back of the bed come together being the worse. With dry material, it's insignificant, but with moist clay, it just keeps building up. Each load will leave a little more behind then the last load.

When I painted on the Hammerite, I went from having to shovel out the clay every five to ten loads, to going all day and not having to shovel any clay out. If all is going well, and depending on how far I'm hauling the clay, I can get a load off ever ten minutes or less. A really good hour will be 8 loads, or 40 yards. On my best days, I'll work ten hours with 35 yards an hour being pretty good. A random guess based on a hunch, I imagine that I moved 3,000 yards last year this way.

I need to do it again this year, but still have about 60 to 70 percent of it on my dump bed. Again, that's just a guess. I have dips, dents and even a few holes in my bed. I have rust and allot of pitting on my bed too. The Hammerite smoothed out the pitting, filled in the dips and made the dents less severe. I think this second coat will make it even better then the first coat. It will add to the low areas and make the bed even smoother. At least, that is what I'm wishing/hoping for. If nothing else, all I really want is for it to work as good as it did last year.

I don't know how long it will last to sand. My guess is it won't last as long because sand is more abrasive then clay. Since you asked, I'd say you should be able to get at least half as much material as I did, probably allot more. If you find that you are sticking and having to clean out your bed with a shovel, you'll agree that $80 is cheap.

It's not like any other pain that I've seen before. It feels like roofing tar when it's wet. After it dries, it's VERY HARD and smooth. Kind of like slag or a hard glass. Or at least the smooth finish is like that.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

How do you add pictures? I tried with insert image but it didn't work.

I would like to post one of my garden, its about 1/2 planted.

Thanks

Welcome to Tractorbynet, Carolyn.

To add a picture, click on "Post Reply" in the lower left corner of the page (or start a new thread), type whatever message you want to type (as you've done), then scroll down to the "Additional Options" section, and click on "Manage Attachments". That will bring up another dialogue box, click on one of the "Browse" buttons, find the picture on your computer that you want to post, open it, (you can repeat the procedure if you want to add more pictures), then click on "Upload". When you see your picture(s) has been uploaded, close that window, then click on the "Submit Reply" button below the Additional Options section instead of the one right under your reply.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Ok, will try to post a picture.

My garden has only been out about 2 weeks so not much to see yet.

It's about 80 ft by 50 or 60 ft. This year I'm setting up soaker hoses on a manifold type dealie, 5 to each manifold. I have 4 more rows to plant. Hubby topped it off with additional soil in the winter, we have quite a bit of sand so it packs down over time. Then he added fertilizer and lime, think its going to do the trick. But here it gets very very dry and my big beautiful tomatoes end up rotting on the bottom from getting to dry then to wet, so I'm trying the soaker hoses to keep uniform moisture, wish I could neaten them up better. I have 4 more rows to plant. Today I added corn and another row of green beans for a later crop.

I have out radishes, buttercrunch lettuce, head lettuce for the first time. Red, yellow, and green bell peppers, 200 onion sets out, a dozen cabbages, carrots, turnips, beets, a row of green beans, squash, cukes, cantaloupe, and so far 17 tomato plants out, both determinate and indeterminate, and a couple of cherry ones.I need to add some eggplant yet. I tried leeks last year with no luck, but last year was a poor crop year for me.