Unloading gravel from a flatbed trailer

NFA Fun · Jul 1, 2007

Kendall69, I have moved many heavy things that way...it works great. Think it would work for his application too. Good call.

Jim_in_Omaha · Jul 1, 2007

I have a loadhandler 2000. It works great in the truck, I don't think it would handle the 3 tons of gravel. My trailer is a 16' flatbed. The boxed section is 10'. I built it only to haul gravel. Some of the gravel I get is 3" rock for base. The suggestions are giving me some ideas.
Thanks..

Corm · Jul 2, 2007

A buddy of mine has an 18 foot flat bed wooden deck trailer. When he built the trailer years ago, he allowed the middle two boards to be loose, only secured to the trailer bed with one bolt on each end of the trailer. When he hauls gravel, or dirt, he just backs up to where he wants the gravel to be, hooks a chain to the two boards and then to something solid (I've seen him use a trailer hitch from another truck), and then drives ahead. The boards are pulled out, and most of the gravel is on the ground. The bit that is left is easy to shovel towards the 'hole' in the center of the trailer. This method won't leave the gravel in a nice neat pile when you're done, but it works well for him. If you are hauling gravel for a driveway, it spreads it while unloading, kinda handy.

Corm

Jay4200 · Jul 2, 2007

Kendall69 said:
Work like the Egyptians. Place some 2” pipe down on the trailer, then place some plywood on top of the pipe, load the gravel on the plywood, secure the load, when you get home unsecure the load back up and hit the brakes. The whole load will roll right off the trailer.

Brilliant!!

JayC

Renze · Jul 3, 2007

Jay4200 said:
Brilliant!!

JayC

I dont think so... the plywood will end up on your driveway, with the load of gravel still on top...

Anyways, it's easier to box blade the load of gravel off the plywood when the plywood is no longer inside the trailer....

kyspartan · Jul 8, 2007

call the quarry tell them how much rock you want. a guy shows up, and dumps it where you want it. cant think of anything any easier

river rat · Jul 15, 2007

jinmalover said:
call the quarry tell them how much rock you want. a guy shows up, and dumps it where you want it. cant think of anything any easier

What a great idea! (I like the way you think)

milkman · Jul 15, 2007

It's not as big as a three ton trailer, but it sure works good for half that much, I can unload in about a minute, unload about half then pull ahead a little and unload the rest. I think it was money well spent.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/47861-what-would-you-call.html

tree farmer · Jul 15, 2007

milkman said:
It's not as big as a three ton trailer, but it sure works good for half that much, I can unload in about a minute, unload about half then pull ahead a little and unload the rest. I think it was money well spent.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/47861-what-would-you-call.html

Many years ago, when I was a kid, we had 2 old 2 ton IH trucks that we used for everything on the farm. When it came time to fill the upright silo, we attached a homemade device, similar to milkman's on the back of each truck. We used a heavy rubber coated canvas material for a slip sheet. When the truck was backed up to the silage blower conveyor to unload, a small 110v motor with very low gearing was attached to the end of the roller and switched on and off as needed to move the green chop to the back of the truck. I remember having to coat the wood deck with a few fresh "pasture patties" for the first load, so the load would slide. After a few loads, the wood deck was smooth as a gym floor. I can't remember if we ever tried it on rock, but we did try it on hay bales one time. Broke about half the bales and got yelled at by our parents.

Guess we should have patented it at the time.......Dan.

Jim_in_Omaha · Jul 16, 2007

milkman said:
It's not as big as a three ton trailer, but it sure works good for half that much, I can unload in about a minute, unload about half then pull ahead a little and unload the rest. I think it was money well spent.
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/47861-what-would-you-call.html

I have one of those for my pickup that I bought to get loads of mulch from the recycling center for my wifes gardening stuff. Handles 1700lbs without a problem and I have a plastic insert bed liner which helps. The bed on my trailer is 10 foot long in the boxed section and I haul up to 3 tons of gravel. I guess I have my doubts that it would work for that heavy of a load. I thought about trying it and using some of that 4 mil vapor barrier plastic folded over once under it to make it slick.