Dump trailer

[Nat]

I sold my old dump truck because I can't justify the expense of tag and insurance for no more than I use it, and it was awfully slow on the road. Since I need a dump often I thought I would build me a dump trailer.
It seems like there is a lot of interest in dump trailers so I thought I would build it on this website as well as in my shop. I went yesterday and bought the steel. I got 6-20' sticks of 5" channel, 2-20' sticks of 2X2X1/4" angle - 4X8'X11gaflat metal, and 1 piece of 1/2"X4"X4" flat bar. Total cost was 642.00
I went on Wed. and bought the pump/valve/resivoir/motor, hitch and tongue jack. The cost for those was 497.00
I started this morning cutting the steel to length. The trailer will be 6' X 12'

[Nat]

Here I have the sub frame welded together sitting on the bucks It is just a 6' X 12' rectangle butt welded together

[Nat]

I always make an A-frame tongue because it stops the frame from racking. The tongue is made of 5" channel the same as the frame. Here is the tongue with the hitch and jack mounted

[Nat]

In this pic it shows how far the A-frame goes back under the front of the subframe, and how I terminate the A-frame. I also have the main frame welded together sitting on top of the subframe as it will be when it is finished. the main frame sticks back 1' behind the subframe

[Nat]

Here is a shot of the Pump. I got it at Northern, it's a 1800 psi, 1.6 gallon per minute pump with a 20' cord set. It will be power up, and gravity down.
The cyl is a 4" 2 stage cyl that I have had for years. The first stage has a 24 " stroke, and the second stage is a 3" stroke with 28" of travel. I'm not sure why the 2 stages don't travel the same distance, but it realy doesn't matter to me anyway.
I could have gotten a 4" X 24" cyl from Northern for 109.00, but the store closest to me doesn't stock it so I would have had to have them order it and no telling how long that would have taken. A 4"x 24" cyl would work good, but the 2 stage will give a steeper dump angle so that can't hurt, and like I said I already had it.
Here is a pic of the pump and cyl

[Nat]

I'll keep you posted as I get more done, but that isn't bad for 5 hours work. Later, Nat

[Pat]

Nat, I'll be looking forward to see this project develop. I thought I bought a dump truck. I agreed to the guy's price and told him I'd take it at his earliest convenience and then... So I guess I may be back to my thoughts of making a removable dump attachment to go on my 12,000 lb rated util trailer. It is dual axle with 4 wheel brakes. I was thinking of a side dump with a couple fold down jacks to support the side where you dump so as to not have all the load on the one side and stress the bearings, wheels, and tires.

One friend suggested a belly dump but I don't think there is enough clearance to avoid putting too much stuff in the way of moving out with the trailer.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] That looks pretty good, Nat. [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img] I have actually considered building a dump trailer a number of times. For small jobs, a six-foot wide trailer like that would be perfect. I could put a "wet kit" on my pickup pretty easy since both the main transmission and the transfer case have PTO doors on them. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] At one time I even thought about making a goose-neck dump trailer so I could completely jacknife it into small spaces with loads of sand and gravel. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[kerosenedrvr]

Nat,
please continue to update your progress, and continue to include pics. I am very interested in your trailer but lack metal experience. A set of drawings would be great also.

[Nat]

I worked on the trailer today and have the cyl mounted. There will be a lot of stress when the cyl extends so I made a truss on the bed side of the cyl. I will also do something similar on the anchor end. This fuzzy pic shows the cyl in place. The anchor end is 11" lower than the live end. I'm no engineer and don't know how to figure the lift capacity, but just guessing from a bunch of years of this sort of stuff, I'm sure the lift will excede the trailer limit of 10,000 lbs.
Later, Nat