New dump trailer build

[dave_dj1]

I figure since I use it for gathering my firewood it would fit here.
As some of you may remember back in 2011 I took an old camper frame and turned it into a 5'-8 x 10' 7K light duty dump trailer. It served me well until last fall when I over loaded it with some gravel for my driveway and the rear of the frame collapsed on the spring hanger due to rust in the frame, it was 2x6 rectangle tube, thin wall. Long story short I am building a new one, much heavier and a bit bigger.
This one will be built out of all new steel and the dimensions are 6.6'x12' with about 18" sides (more on that later)
6" channel for the main frame, 4" channel for the dump frame. I already have the cylinder I will use, it's a 5" bore by 30" stroke with a 2.5" rod, I have a DC power pack that I bought from a scrapper a good while back, it is basically brand new so I am going to try that. It will be power up with gravity down and my cylinder is a double acting so I will run a hose to the reservoir from the rod side of the cylinder to basically have more fluid on reserve. In the long term it will have a 6.5hp Predator (I have on shelf new) and a pump to run the dump and a crane of sorts to aid in lifting things into the trailer. I was given a pair of mobile home axles complete with springs, I bought new spring hanger kit from Redneck trailer supply and installed them, I soon found out that to convert the drums to take a regular rim and have brakes it was costly, I had Redneck make me some new #5200 axles with brakes I put them in today.
On with the pics, if you have any questions or want more info just hollar!

 

[Woodchuck71]

Looks good.
4" for dump heavy enough?Scissor lift or doghouse cylinder?

 

[babybart]

 

[Training Wheels]

I can't wait to see this thing come together!

Best,

~TW

 

[motorhead99999]

It’s getting nearly impossible to register a homemade trailer in ny unless you have receipts for everything

 

[Todd Loosli]

Don't know much about the trailer but you have a great truck to pull it with.

 

[avason]

NICE! How much $ you have into it?

 

[rancher2]

It’s getting nearly impossible to register a homemade trailer in ny unless you have receipts for everything

It's getting that way in NE also and the current homemade trailers that are registered are getting VIN numbers assigned to them also so the guys that used to just switch a plate around between trailer's will be over. Dot in this state likes to stop picks with trailers so you better have every thing right. Come spring there out in force getting you lawn guys

 

[Todd Loosli]

NICE! How much $ you have into it?

Probably be a little more than trefidy would be my guess

 

[motorhead99999]

It's getting that way in NE also and the current homemade trailers that are registered are getting VIN numbers assigned to them also so the guys that used to just switch a plate around between trailer's will be over. Dot in this state likes to stop picks with trailers so you better have every thing right. Come spring there out in force getting you lawn guys

In my area state troopers and sheriffs dept have a guy dedicated to just trailers

 

[dave_dj1]

Thanks for all the kind words.

Looks good.
4" for dump heavy enough?Scissor lift or doghouse cylinder?

I believe so, looking at the store bought trailers I see mostly 3" being used.
My last trailer was only 10' and that was 3" and she dumped some pretty heavy loads.

It's going to have a single 5" cylinder.
I have been telling people I had hoped to build it for $2000 but no matter how much I have in it it will be better than anything I have seen on the market.
As far as money, I'm not sure yet, I haven't paid for all the steel yet, I did give him 400 towards it so with that and the axles and the hitch, shackles, u bolts, safety chains, tongue jack, lighting and wiring I'm up to $1250 (all that stuff is here)
I am having the bed/floor bent out of 11 ga steel, it will be formed to include half the bed, up the side then bent over 2" and back down 1". It was ordered but that was before all this covid-19 stuff. I haven't checked with him yet as my wife fell and broke her hip a week ago Saturday and I have been playing nurse maid every since...lol
I'll keep it up to date as it progresses.
PT is coming for her tomorrow so I should get to sneak an hour or so in....lol

 

[tla100]

It’s getting nearly impossible to register a homemade trailer in ny unless you have receipts for everything

In Iowa also. Well, i bought '33 travel trailer frame with axles and wheels, maybe 5 years old, looked like new, I added a steel deck and dovetailed it. Wife brought in to get inspected at their set time, guy asks where receipts were. They never told me nothing about that. He basically told her we wasted his time, come back with all receipts. Luckily i had a couple steel bills and the Bill of sale and texted a pic and they did honor it. He said he could have been more of a **** with no receipts of spare tire, lights, side panels....but they never checked lights or brakes.

Good looking build!

 

[tla100]

I think I paid about $125 a 4x8 sheet of 3/16" treadplate steel.

 

[Woodchuck71]

Take care of your wife.
Looks like a good build.
Should be able to fit around 7tons of rock in there fully loaded?
Don't skip on tires!
Let us see the finished product.

 

[al-k]

Looking good, sorry to hear about your wife. Hard time for both of you, I've been there.

 

[dave_dj1]

Time for an update! The wife is recovering nicely and getting around on a cane so between her being more self sufficient and living on Corona time I have had some time to spend on the trailer build. I got the hinges done, cylinder mounted, ready to mount the tongue jack
I've got the tilt frame mostly done, I did pick up some steel scraps today for some additional bracing from the center where the cylinder is mounted to the dump bed to help spread the forces. I picked up some hydraulic hoses and a few connectors so I can drag it outside ad test the cylinder.
ETA: I talked to my friend that I am getting the steel through and he was going to place the order for my floor/sides about three weeks ago but because of the pandemic he didn't which is fine. He said he has to order some for another dump trailer he is going to rebuild so he would order them then.
I am toying with the idea of putting down a 5/4 PT deck and add some stake pockets and running it that way for a while.

 

[dave_dj1]

Well I hooked up some hoses to the DC power pack and dragged it outside to test it. I was shooting for 43 degrees on paper, got 42.2 in real life...lol
The power pack is one I picked up from a junker many years ago and it's been sitting on the shelf in the shed. It only has a 1/4" outlet and with the 5" cylinder it's a bit slow but down the road I am going to be putting a gas motor with pump and controls on it.

I welded in a bung so I could use the back side (rod side) of the cylinder for a reservoir, it seems to work fine.

Here's a short video showing how slow it is and the angle it achieved.

 

[nathan4104]

nice job!! i bet that's no slower than my Load Trail, i believe it's a 4" cylinder... (6x10)
Thanks for sharing your build!

 

[Blue Oaks]

Good work.

 

[rwoods]

Great looking trailer. Looks to have lots of thought put into into it. Plenty of reinforcements incorporated - stuff I like to see.
However, it looks to me like you might be using factory spring hangers. If they are made of the typical thin gauge material we see around here, they might be a weak point in your fine build. Below is a picture from last Saturday of one of our dump trailers that ripped off the hanger and tore out the sidewall of the tire. They call me into offload the trailer on to another. I was surprised to see such thin stock used on a heavy trailer. When I asked what brand of trailer it is (we have several), our mechanic, a retired engineer, said all of our trailers are pretty much like that and have caused him a lot of work keeping ours on the road - the twisting load when making sharp turns is greater than the design he says. My personal factory built flat bed trailer is a good ton and a half under the rating of the trailer in the picture, its hangers are 1 1/2 times thicker. Mine appear to be simply flat stock welded to the frame. Someone with your skills could remedy this weak spot easily - if in fact it is a weak spot.


Looking forward to following the completion of the build - well at least phase one - if you are like me there are more modifications to come. Unfortunately I can't fabricate , much less weld.

Ron

PS Looking back at your pictures and it looks that you may have heavier hangers than the ones on our dump trailers. Can't really say.