Dump Trailer - Good idea? Good price? Am I nuts?

http://www.govliquidation.com/auctio...&convertTo=USD
I've seen these go without any bids on them... minimum $150 bid.

Back around Thanksgiving, they had two of these trailers, still no bids.

From what I understand, these 1.5 ton and the 3/4 ton trailers have a dump bed... you can pull some pins and it'll dump everything. I'm trying to get one on the cheap. Some of these even have radial tires on em, instead of the mili type tires. They sell pintle type hitches for less than a benjamin. If you click on top of that page where it says location, you can pick out the nearest base to you, and see if they have any for auction coming up! Couple of Benjamen's beats a couple thousand for a trailer. Some even have sidewalls, and a frame/tarp cover.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Hmm, some interesting options.

Junie, that DR insert is very cool, but my loader is too small to reach that high safely.

Speaking of that "tractor," I know it's a ridiculous size, and I should clarify that it would NEVER be used to pull that trailer. Never considered it. It's WAAAY too small. I won't even use that tractor to pull an empty hay rack down a small hill - it'd be suicide.

The trailer would be used to haul the tractor: load the tractor on the trailer, haul the tractor to the pile, load the pile, haul the pile home & dump it, repeat as needed, and return to pick up the tractor and haul it back home. It'll take a while to load a trailer with that tractor, but it's faster than doing it by hand, and it's what I've got.

That's another thing to consider. My most likely source of organic material to compost will be manure and bedding from stables that have no means of handling it themselves - i.e. I'd have to load it myself. So I'd need to get my tractor there. I can't help but think it'd be good to have a trailer that could serve both purposes - transport the tractor and haul and dump the load.

The trailer I was looking at originally does have electric brakes on both axles. The bed floor is 26" off the ground, and the box is only 24" deep. It's 80" wide and 144" long. Mostly, like say, I'd be hauling manure or yard waste - even if I filled it, how much can that weigh? 144 cubic feet = 5.33 cubic yards. A cubic yard of wet manure and bedding weighs, what? Say 500 lbs, which I think is high. So even if I heap it some, that's maybe 3000 lbs. That should be okay. That's not any heavier than I run when I'm pulling my horse trailer and 2 horses and tack. I think maybe Fordy was envisioning me towing that sucker to a quarry and saying, "Filler up!" Yes, that would be bad! Very bad. I won't be able to get close to filling it if I'm hauling gravel or sand or whatnot.

Ross, thanks for the heads up - before I proceed with anything, a call to the DMV might be a very good idea.

Oregon Woodsmok, good call. A little searching reveals that the exact same one can be had new for $5K.

Got some thinking and researching to do!

Lots of great insights - thank you, everyone!

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"So folks out there - plant your victory gardens... this time, the war is against inflation." --highplains (from here at HT)

My random, hopefully-entertaining and educational blog: Black Cat Farm

That's probably a tad big for your equipment - only a tad tho, not really too much. I've lusted for a dump trailer myself, if you can afford it, should work great for you.

--->Paul

Ever bought from here? How does "shipping" work?

This is a Easy One. Go get you a Dump Trailer(that is if it does not put you in a bind money wise). I would not pay $4500 for a 4 year old one if you can get a new one for $5k. Talk him down to a price that you are happy with or go get a new one.

Look at it this way---doing this sounds like something you Want to do, probably will enjoy it---kinda like a Hobby. Some people go pay $20k for a pleasure boat just to ride in once and a while----thats a Hobby that will Suck some Cash out your pocket. I got a few friends that went and bought Harley's for over $20K and they ride them once and a while sounds like a waste to me but that is their "Thing". You going to get you a $4K dump Trailer to haul your "Stuff" home with, to compost, to help out with the cost of fertilizer and its spomething You Really want to do. If you change your mind in a year or two, you will probably be produced more than enough compost to pay for the trailer-----Then you can resale the trailer and make some more money----A No Brainer-----------Go Get It!!!!

You are quite a salesman...now your making me want one!!!

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www.salmonslayer-simplelife.blogspot.com

I got one of these a few years ago and I love it. It's lightweight, 5x8, the bed tips and the sides come off easily. It's rated to 1700# or so. It holds 1 1/2 yards no problem, and it's a good height and width so shoveling's easy with one of the sides off. I've only ever used the dump to drive my mower on and off of it. I think I paid $1200 new.

The place that sold it built the sides the right way, without spaces between the horizontals. I hit it with a coat of stain, put cleats on the posts and got a tongue wheel from Napa. We never knew how useful a trailer would be until after we got it, and I can't see ever getting rid of it.

We have one too, LOVE it! Gets used a lot, by us and neighbors borrow it too. Very handy to have, but if it is raining we have to use the horse trailer to haul stuff we don't want to get wet. Got a load of compost/bark mix for our orchard last year, sure was handy to be able to haul it 2 hours, then dump the pile and spread it at our leisure! We use it to haul compost from our old farm to the one in progress too, plus firewood, gravel, trash, etc. Ours has double axle and breaks, but we have to be careful not to overload it. Previous owner (my brother!) overloaded it and bent the axles, had to replace one right away when we bought it. He gave us a good deal though.

One of these would be nice.

http://www.karavantrailers.com/4-way-tipper-trailer.pdf

Can't see a reason I would ever want to have it front dump though.

It is a little smaller (7500 GVWR) than what was originally posted and still should be big enough to haul the tractor.

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If the grass looks greener it is probably over the septic tank. - troy n sarah tx

Our existance here is soley for the expoitation of CMG

Nice Trailer, would not get much change back from $7000. Might find a used one.

A $5,000 new trailer is cheaper than a $4,500 used one. Paint is good, all the parts are new, and you can always get the dealer to wire it up to the truck and make sure everything works, for no charge, if you say you won't buy it unless he'll get 'er all ready to go out on the road.

i think you would be better off buying a old 3/4 or 1 ton truck with a dump insert or bed on it and getting a trailer to haul the tractor on

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/cto/2146497023.html

You don't have enough truck to safely use that trailer. No one owns a trailer like that and doesn't load it to capacity and it's all over in an instant. You would need a 3/4 or 1 ton to have enogh frame and brakes, the motor really matters the least.

Dump trailers are incredible. Inserts or converted pickups are junk, the truck isn't made to take it. A good insert mounted on a good trailer will work better.

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"Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self confidence"
Robert Frost

http://www.trailerworldalabama.com/t..._trailers.aspx

I got this in 6' (wide enough to haul the lawnmower) x 10' but had them put mesh sides 4' high instead of lower. Cost about $1100+ tax, local made. Just have a V8 van to tow it- fine full of bags of leaves but if it has rained lately can't fill it to the brim with bark chips at the lumberyard (which let me use their scales to find out how much a scoop plus weighs). Also since this has no trailer brakes I drive it very slowly coming home filled to max weight- if I had to slam on brakes to not run over a dog cow or child the trailer might keep coming into the back of the van and I'd run over the dog or kid anyway.

So far: only problem is not having emptied out the last load (mushroom compost this week/month) when I have time in daylight to go get more of something. So a dumptruck would help, but then I'd have piles of stuff all over and have less chance to move the load to a new place after I'd pitchforked or wheelbarrowed 1/2 or 1/3 out in a first location.

Also- metal mesh sides weight decreases my payload- dunno if wood sides would weigh more or less.

Oh and zant- you can borrow it; if I can come along for the ride, you help me unload what's in it when you ask for it, and if I get to meet your gf!

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US Army veteran, military retiree spouse, and military; civilian; British NHS; and VA doctor.

Well, if you have to pay for shipping on a trailer, you might as well just buy one from the new trailer guy in town. Doubtless shipping would be several times more than the trailer. NC does have military bases, at least a dozen listed in the Govt. Liquidation list... here's an upcoming one... http://www.govliquidation.com/auctio...&convertTo=USD out of Ft. Bragg.


Driving to the nearest installation and picking something up is the cheapest way of obtaining the goods.

I bought three pallets of tents. Supposed to have been 7 tents, turned out to be 7 canvas tents, (two rotten material), 7 tent liners (same kind of tent, just lighter material) and two coated liners. Pay with a cc, wait for the site to send paperwork, and go pick up your goodies. Relatively painless.

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming