Dump trailer for hauling firewood need opinions

[Zachary]

I’m looking into buying a dump trailer to haul firewood, my utility tractor, and mulch among other things. I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to either a Lamar or Sure Trac 7x14. I like the telescopic hoist on the Sur Trac but the Lamar is built heavier. Prices are within a few hundred dollars of each other. Anyone have experience with both? Looking for feedback on which one to get. Thanks

 

[panolo]

I’m looking into buying a dump trailer to haul firewood, my utility tractor, and mulch among other things. I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to either a Lamar or Sure Trac 7x14. I like the telescopic hoist on the Sur Trac but the Lamar is built heavier. Prices are within a few hundred dollars of each other. Anyone have experience with both? Looking for feedback on which one to get. Thanks

Do a forum search. There are a couple threads on it.

 

[sevensandeights]

Not sure what climate you live in but the older Sure-Tracs had terrible powder coating. In addition, I would never buy a dump trailer with dual horizontal cylinders. The Sure-Trac I borrowed before I bought mine always had trouble dumping loads. I would routinely have to shovel the load to the back to get it to dump. Scissor lifts probably don't have this issue but I've never used one.

I have a N&N fully galvanized dump trailer. I drove to Canada to get it and did well on the exchange rate about 3 years ago - not sure where the rate is now. Had to pay 13% tax but it was refunded a few months later. Front mount 3 stage telescopic lift. I went with a 6X12 10k GVW so no worries about having to register in combination with my 3/4 ton diesel truck.

 

[homemade]

The 7x14 with 12k axels are pretty popular around here. I’ve done lots of research and was between Bri-mar, big Tex, and pj. Bri-mar seem thin in the steel. PJ has had paint pealing issues in the past, but they might have that solved by now. Big Tex trailers have the same thickness of metal as the pj, but come with oil lube axels.

All in all, it was more then I cared to spend on a new one and used ones are harder to find then hens teeth. At least a good used one that is not bagged out, with bald tired and frame rusted through.

I’ve been looking at flat deck trailers. Something in the 16-20’ range with Ramps and a deck over, no fenders.

 

[muddstopper]

I built my dump trailer, but only because nobody sold what I needed at the time. To be used for hualing firewood, I think how much wood you can safely hual or tow behind the truck you are planning to use would dictate size. To hual your utility tractor, the trailer needs to be long and wide enough for the tractor to fit on and a trailer big enough to hual the tractor will probably hold more wood in weight than the weight of the tractor. In any event, a 10,000lb gvw trailer that will hual your tractor will provide enough capacity to hual about 2 full cords of wood.My dump is 6x10 with 2ft sides. It will hold a neatly stacked full cord of wood with just a little rounding. I have had 10,000lbs of gravel and it dumped just fine altho it did struggle a little at the start of the lift. It has a single 4in bore cyl. for the hoist. I copied my brothers 6x12 dump trailer design. I did shorthen the hinge point at the back of the dump to increase lift angle for better dumping and I also changed the angle of the hoist cyl to increase the lift capacity. I dont think his trailer would have raised the 10,000lbs of rock that was on my trailer and his is only rated for 7000lbs gvw.

 

[Zachary]

Appreciate the info guys. The reason I keep coming back to Lamar is they have the thickest floor of any I’ve found 7 ga which is about 3/16. The Sur Trac is nice and I like the telescopic cylinder but not interested in peeling paint and there frame isn’t as heavy.

 

[Ryan'smilling]

I'll never buy another powder coated trailer after the last PJ I had. The thing left sheets of paint all over the place. Bought it when it was 5 years old and after two years of owning it I could hardly find a buyer for it because of the rust. Took an $800 hit selling it.

 

[muddstopper]

One other suggestion I have is look for a manufacturer close to you and let them build what you want. There are several small trailer and truck bed building companies located close to me. I can spec out what I want and materials to use and they will build it for me. I used 2x4x0.250 tube to build mine and its brush painted with rustoleum from the hardware store. I have used it now for at least 10 years and it hasnt rusted anywhere except the bed where the paint has worn off. It sits out in the weather year round. My trailer has removable sides to make it more friendly for loading logs. I am giving my trailer a new facelift by adding a hyd boom lift with winch on the tongue. Its a project that gets worked on when I aint doing something else.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

It is difficult to understand a dumping trailer. My father bought one for about $5,000 and I was always welding on it. He spent at least $5,000 on rear differentials. If you live where it is flat then using heavy trailers make sense I guess. The 12' trailers that I have worked on usually weigh 4,000 to 5,000 lbs right. Why not just buy a truck that dumps? Here we are at 6,000 feet and anything heavy is a very big negative. I have removed pretty much all of the dumping ability from my truck to I can haul another cord of wood. I still have the dumping bed and all of the plumbing. It can be changed in less than two days. For wood I just have a flatbed style set up with stake sides. Thanks

 

[muddstopper]

I know what you are talking about pulling trailers in the mountains. There where a lot of places I couldnt pull my loaded trailer up because of the steepness and gravel roads and driveways. Then when you did get into a place you couldnt turn the truck and trailer around and had to back out. That was always fun with a heavy trailer. Then I had the problem of weight using a ton truck. I couldnt hual all the materials I needed to do a job, along with the machinery on the back of a ton truck. That is why I had to step up to a 4500 series truck to hual the equipment and a 6x12 dump for the materials. A big new truck came with its own limitations. Some of the areas I had to go into, the truck would have to be pulled into using a dozer. Nobody wants to pay $40k for a truck and then hook it behind a dozer and take the chance of the dozer man tearing your truck in half. That is where the trailer came in handy. Load the equipment on the trailer and let the dozer man pull the trailer. Every circumstance is different and personal needs vary. My needs have changed since those days, I sold the big trucks and still have the trailer. I dont haul the loads I used to and I dont work for other people. My 1/2 ton pickup pulls the trailer just fine and the trailer doesnt cost me to sit when not needed. If I was to go back into my old business again, I think I would buy a 4500series 4x4 truck with a dump and still keep my trailer. I could keep the trailer loaded ready to go and park it under a shed until I needed it. The truck I would need every day for different things and it would be impractical to leave it loaded all the time.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Mud I have 5 trailers maybe more. When possible I load a trailer and leave it loaded until delivery time. I have two F250 4X4 a C60 COE which was a F600 until it received a CL 9000 upgrade and a Ford Ranger. The F250 can pull a 10,000 lb trailer, but what and where they do it very important. I might want to move them a short distance in town, but they would break trying to bring one up our hill. The C60 has pulled 45,000 lbs up our hill many times with out a issue. Because trailers work so well under certain conditions am thinking about putting another together. A dump trailer on the other hand can be so heavy its like putting another pickup on your load when moving it. Thanks

 

[Sterling Bronemann]

The truck pulling the dump trailer is the biggest issue. 3/4 and up and you are good. They get heavy and have a lot of tongue weight when loaded. I pulled my neighbors' a few weeks ago. It's a SureTrac 14' I believe. Empty it weighs 5000. I loaded it up with some junk wood from my burn pile and some dirt/rock. Ended up being about 13k by the time I got to the dump. I about shat my pants. Only have a 17 F-150. It pulled it fine, but wouldn't want to roll down the interstate with that. Luckily the dump was only 10 miles away on 2-lane highway. No problems pulling or stopping, but wouldn't want to pull that much weight often.

 

[Wowzer]

If I had the money. I would buy a Millroad Aluminum Dump https://www.millroadtrailers.com/models. and then you wouldn't have to worry about another dump for a long time, there trailers are made very well. I really want one of their Utilities but my old man decided to go to another builder to get some options, we are now on month 6 and still no trailer because we are in the "Warranty" / "Repair" pile because we have already paid the guy.

But back to the dump trailer, there is a firewood seller here with a think 6x12 with 4ft sides deck over almost he uses strictly for firewood delivers it looks sweet but i don't think i would do the deck over with trying to load up your compact tractor