Which dump trailer to buy?

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Sounds nearly exactly what I've got. Wonder what the difference is.
Sean, i have a similar issue that I’ve been chasing since I got my dump trailer. (Way smaller than yours). The 7 pin just does not give enough to keep a charge beyond 4-6 dumps. (Short 30 min runs between trips). My truck has 30a fuse for the trailer tow charge. It’s a 14-16ga wire? 25’ long, there won’t be much juice flowing at the end of that. I’m glad others have good luck with theirs. I added welding cable from the truck battery to the trailer battery using a big Anderson plug (and fused correctly). Now the alternator only puts out 14.x volts which is not correct to charge a deep cycle but gets it close. Maybe a big starting battery would be better than a deep cycle? Sandhill, that’s a nice looking set up. You’re more ambitious than me, restacking it in the trailer!
 
A big deep cycle is your best bet. Preferably 850 amps or more. In the 29 years I’ve been delivering tree length using dump trailers I’ve gotten the best results with Deka batteries. Right now NAPA batteries are built by Deka. Last Monday I delivered 10 , 2 cord loads with only 10 miles between dumps. When I got home I put the charger on the trailer because I knew I’d pushed things. In 3 hrs the charger was on float.
 
I do plug the trailer in some days when it sits to be sure.
The spare is accessible when the box is down. The opposite side has expanded metal for tool storage of some sort. Anything there would be totally exposed to road slop when wet. I'm not set up for flats yet. The jack in a case for the RV would work when empty, but what good is that? The fire extinguisher went with the 5500 when sold, and not sure of the lug nut size. I need to get up to speed there.
Having done two two cord loads I may limit to 1 1/2 cord for less tongue weight, a better balanced load, and less tire scuffing. Most customers get a cord or less. They simply don't have the room for more at one time. I've also had more rentals prior to Covid, and they get 1/3 cord for the fire pit, whether it is the renters buying direct, or the rental company supplying and re-marketing.

Stacking: Yes, that took awhile, close to four hours actually. I played Pandora and got to work. Kind of enjoyed it, especially when considering how I did deliveries in the past. The trailer is 82" x 16' x 4' high, 400+ cu. ft. which by the numbers should hold two cord loose. Not sure how I would load it, or how it would dump. I have used the conveyor to load it. That works. I may go to that, as with eight pallets for two cord, it stacked out seven and three fourths pallets. Not much of a savings. I thought it would be more like half a pallet savings. It requires moving the splitter, moving the conveyor, loading and then getting the conveyor lined up with the PackFix when done. There might be an hour and a half, maybe two hour saving.
There is a wow factor from the customer when stacked in the trailer, and when dumped, piled row upon row on the ground. Yesterdays customer text several neighbors stopped by as he and his wife were stacking and requested contact info.
We could see and smell Lake Michigan across the road from where we were. When we left we drove along the lake shore. Several cottages were being worked on, many appeared to have new foundations, having probably been moved back from the eroding bluffs.
I probable could not have gotten in this spot without Margaret spotting me. Most customers don't visualize the foot print needed to swing the trailer tail to the point they want when encountering gates, sprinklers, mailboxes and parked cars. I think I measured 19' for the truck, 5' trailer tongue, and 16' trailer.
It's all part of it. It's doable or it's not. Then there's overhead, and being flat side to side. I still can't believe how tall this 4' box gets at full height. It dumps firewood at half that however.

If I start doing more frequent loads I'll research the jumper packs. They look pretty handy rather than switching batteries out. I'll take a look at what battery came with the trailer. I would assume having three double hydraulic functions, jack, tailgate and power up/down dump, the battery should be a decent one. I did get a new deep cycle for the RV a year ago.

Thanks for the tip on Deka, it's not a name I've heard of and would probably not considered it otherwise.
 
Deka is the house brand from East Penn MFG. They do all their mfg in one location. It’s a very large outfit. We have an East Penn retailer about 30 miles from here.
 
A big deep cycle is your best bet. Preferably 850 amps or more. In the 29 years I’ve been delivering tree length using dump trailers I’ve gotten the best results with Deka batteries. Right now NAPA batteries are built by Deka. Last Monday I delivered 10 , 2 cord loads with only 10 miles between dumps. When I got home I put the charger on the trailer because I knew I’d pushed things. In 3 hrs the charger was on float.
You must be running at least a group 31, maybe even bigger? That’s my next step, move up from the Group 24.... it’s just too small.
 
Not the same type of trailer, and granted there isnt enough room in a dump trailer without modifications.... I replaced the single 12v battery on our RV with 2 6v Golf Cart batteries. We can go quite a while dry camping when needed. There are 12v Golf Cart batteries as well, but the 6v in series gave us better numbers than the single 12v.
 
In a couple of my dump trailer's I tried group 27 deep cycle batteries never had a problem with them dumping the trailer multi times but they didn't seem to last for what they cost. I have had the best luck with group 31 starting batteries that are used in a lot of semi trucks. I buy the most CCA that I can find. I just replaced the one in my pickup box trailer that is a dump and the battery was ten years old. It would still dump the trailer but only a couple of times before it was dead. Buddy was using the trailer so I just replaced the battery. I use a lot of group 31 battery's around the farm.
 
In a couple of my dump trailer's I tried group 27 deep cycle batteries never had a problem with them dumping the trailer multi times but they didn't seem to last for what they cost. I have had the best luck with group 31 starting batteries that are used in a lot of semi trucks. I buy the most CCA that I can find. I just replaced the one in my pickup box trailer that is a dump and the battery was ten years old. It would still dump the trailer but only a couple of times before it was dead. Buddy was using the trailer so I just replaced the battery. I use a lot of group 31 battery's around the farm.
I have 2 group 31 batteries that power my 12k winch on the deck over. They get charged off the charger, then off the truck till it's time to use it. Flip a switch off to isolate from the truck and use them. Rarely do I charge them in-between pulls. (For obvious amp draw reasons) Think this is year 4 on them. They arnt deep cycle just Normal batteries for a Semi truck. Don't know what group is in the dump, I'll have to check then. I just assumed it was a group 31.
 
Pulled the battery. Small sticker says K-20 and in printed 27 something. So I assume it is a group 27. There is a welded metal open bottom tray and tie down. Don't think a group 31 would fit without mod. There is room to add one however.
The RV battery is a West Marine stickered group 27, middle of the road deep cycle. Nothing for dry camping.
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Took empty truck/trailer to scales.
I love this trailer, however...
The ball weight empty is half the truck receiver hitch rating, and a neg. 100# on the steer.
A weight distribution hitch would help on the big loads, placing weight forward on the steer axle and rearward on the trailer axles.
I'm just going to limit myself to cord and a half loads, which can be better distributed and still keep 11-12% on tongue.
The next one will be a gooseneck.
 
If you buy a GN you need to be in it for the long haul. I love mine but on a trade in or private sale they have a limited market. I’m looking at a new PJ . The trade in on my 10 year old 18,500 lb GN dump is less than if it was a bumper pull, even though it was almost $2,000 more when new. That being said, I’ll buy another GN.
 
Took empty truck/trailer to scales.
I love this trailer, however...
The ball weight empty is half the truck receiver hitch rating, and a neg. 100# on the steer.
A weight distribution hitch would help on the big loads, placing weight forward on the steer axle and rearward on the trailer axles.
I'm just going to limit myself to cord and a half loads, which can be better distributed and still keep 11-12% on tongue.
The next one will be a gooseneck.
Thats interesting, I would have expected more weight to go on the tongue. The cam dealer was explaining that they wanted 15% of the weight to be carried by the tongue if we were to load it to max capacity. I've had it loaded full of chestnut and hickory with my first load and it towed very well and didn't sink the back of the truck much. No idea of the weight, but it was quite heavy.
 
The trailer has a gvw of 15,400.
Axles are two 7k.
Trailer weight per book is approx. 5,710 or 5,720 if I remember right.
10% would be 570. Half again would be 750 + 35, 785.
Here is the real numbers with a topped off tank, and I'm not in the truck.
With two cord stacked I did nine rows, 37.5" high x 82" wide.
I could start a foot further back and still make it, and I could go eight rows and higher, 42"
Next time I do two cord I'll check the scales. This time it was raining and pushed loading back. I didn't want to scale on Saturday morning before the delivery
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I keep my delivery circle small and do run into battery drain down issues after 6-7 loads. On my first dump trailer I ran heavy gauge wire to the rear bumper with quick disconnects such that the battery on the trailer really was no longer necessary but it was a bit of work and expensive and only worked with that truck. I added a solar charger on a later dump trailer and had great success. Jumper packs have made me a bit lazy and I haven't installed a solar charger yet on my current trailer but it's on my to-do list.
 
The trailer has a gvw of 15,400.
Axles are two 7k.
Trailer weight per book is approx. 5,710 or 5,720 if I remember right.
10% would be 570. Half again would be 750 + 35, 785.
Here is the real numbers with a topped off tank, and I'm not in the truck.
With two cord stacked I did nine rows, 37.5" high x 82" wide.
I could start a foot further back and still make it, and I could go eight rows and higher, 42"
Next time I do two cord I'll check the scales. This time it was raining and pushed loading back. I didn't want to scale on Saturday morning before the delivery
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Seems your a tad over the 15% mark lol. My truck hitch is all in at 750lbs tongue weight without a distribution hitch. I have an Anderson hitch I just got a bit ago, not much to it, biggest thing I liked about it is I don't have to take it off to back up, works well up to 14k. Which is the biggest trailer I have atm, and keeps me within the 20k GCWR of my 3/4 ton truck. (Er well close enough to it.) Unfortunately I don't have easy access to a scale, sure would be handy for figuring out axle weights.
Cheers
 
Not sure I posted this before, but rented a dump last year and they had a little Honda 5-6 horse maybe. It dumped a lot faster than the battery power trailers I have used in past. Don't see many around tho.
 
I really like that the tongue area is clear. There is a diamond plate box, low in the tongue for the battery, for emergency electric brakes and hydraulic pump unit. The hydraulic jack is behind the box and bolted to trailer frame, not the tongue. I can drop the truck tail gate with the trailer at any angle. There is diamond plate next to tool box, all of which is solid to walk on, including the box lid. The foot of the jack is mostly obscured, so I do a double check to make sure it is lifted, and tow with hydraulics in tailgate mode. This is because the cabled hydraulic controller does not have an on/off mode. In tailgate mode, the gate is locked down. If for some reason the unit was activated the hydraulics would run but not function a device.
A gas powered pump would have it's advantages and disadvantages. Certainly an advantage for heavy usage.
I've done fourteen deliveries is all, mostly one cord or less. A cord and a half load, two two-cord loads. So far some tight spots, rubbed a thousand miles off scuffing when backing. So far so good.
For over a cord and a half, a bumper pull is NOT the way to go. In my case, the pickup is personal use, with a roll up aluminum tonneau cover. If the truck was a dedicated delivery, then a gooseneck for sure, no question.
I did remove the rear tie-downs for firewood deliveries.
Tire scuff here is from two tries. There are front steps in the background to the left, and Lake MI across the street beyond the pines. The 12' flatbed truck was easier to get in these spots, but took almost two hours to unload by hand.
Two days later his neighbor, beyond the pines, called for a load, and another called to inquire and schedule when they're in town next.
Get this trailer paid off and then, hopefully next year, a processor.
IMG_4836.jpgIMG_2211.jpg
 
I jinxed myself. Went to deliver 2 loads back to back and on the second, the pump stopped about half way up. We were able to coax it 3/4 up then dumped while pulling out, although with a longer spread. After troubleshooting, I found the holder for the power wire had corroded off in the 7pin, so was not charging from the truck. Had a spare connector, so 30 mins later, we had juice again. It would be nice to have a charge state indicator on the battery box.

I wonder if one of the breakaway box indicators would work?


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