Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Let's Talk About Dump Trailers

Looks like I'll be getting a good-sized piece of land, soon (got a contract on it). Getting a good price, only problem is that it has some old junk on it (old lawnmowers, twisted windmill towers, yada, yada). Enough that I'll either rent a dump trailer, or perhaps buy one (rental is $500/week, I could buy one and probably turn it in a year and be out the equivalent of 3-4 weeks rental, tops).

The big brands down here seem to be Big Tex and Texas Pride. Thinking about a 12k-14k bumper pull, say 14-16 feet by 8 feet with 3 foot sides. Any thoughts or recommendations??

Buy a Big-Tex & use the HELL out of it. When finished pressure clean, spray it w/gloss black Krylon and get 75% what you originally paid.

I just purchased a trailer from Kaufman. Very good folks to deal with and they also deliver anywhere in the US.

http://www.kaufmantrailers.com/dump-trailers/

I don't know about these, but many of the truck conversions and dump trailers I've seen only go up to about 45 degrees. That'll dump marbles and water but not much of anything else. You need 70 degrees or more to dump anything that's even in the least bit sticky.

I never had no dayum trouble dumping 30,40,50 squares of hot sticky asphalt shingles.

Sombeeches just slid right out and I was gone the hell up outta that stinky ass landfill, it was miller time at logan's roadhouse and i had the free beera hookup then. lol

I've had plenty of problems dumping a plastic wrapped load of asbestos built up roofing off a truck with only a 45 degree dump. Try it with sand or dirt but have a good scoop shovel on hand. You'll need it.

get goin real good backwards.....


and then slam on brakes


works great

A good dump trailer sure can come in handy.

13 years ago designed and had custom built a heavy duty 20 foot hitch/ball pull trailer with removeable ramps. It will carry a big vehicle (Chev Suburban) and also haul/dump at least 8 yards of gravel (never tried a bigger dump load) and gross weight is high when so loaded. It has 24" solid sides with 24" expanded metal extensions (removeable) so, at 48" high, it also can haul a lot of firewood or whatever. The rear swing-away doors are 48" high and removeable. The bed goes up to at least 70 degrees.

With a trailer that long a guy has to be careful to not load too much weight forward in relation to the position of the hydraulic rams (double) because it can be difficult to get the initial lifting started. Also have to be careful not to get too much of the load behind the axles or you will induce swaying and cause yourself trouble going down the road.

I pulled that one with a 1 ton Dodge with Cummins diesel and 6 speed manual, and never had a problem, but when loaded heavy it would have been rough on any less truck. For your purposes and with hitch ball pull, I think the 16 footer (with heavy axles) would be better and would suggest the 2 5/16 ball and a solid slug. The 18 footer would be more versatile, but the extra 2 feet bring some issues.

The described trailer worked me weary sometimes, so after 11 years I sold it for 90% of the build cost. If I were doing that same size again, it would be a goose neck setup.

Another vote for the BIG TEX. Love my 12x8. I'm the envy of everyone else at the dump when I'm standing there pushing that button.
It says 10 but it's really a 12footer

Is it mostly metal crap? Around here they'll haul it off for free and take it to the scrap yard. Beats buying a trailer and busting your ass.

This^^

Dump trailer would sure be handy on a "good-sized piece of land".
Buy it, sell the scrap metal.
Keep the trailer for a year.
Bet you change your mind about selling it.
Agree about big Tex trailers.

I don't have one but I bet it will be like a front end loader on a tractor. You will wonder how you ever got along without one. miles

I bought a small one 6.5'X12' this last spring; a Longhorn. I use it to haul wood home for the winter's heating.

This is only an 8K trailer but it's handy as all get out.. If you're going to get a trailer (and yes, Big Tex units are excellent) you might want to think twice about getting a unit with a gross weight of 12-14K, unless you have something like a one-ton truck (F-350 or similar) and a special hitch. Your tongue weight on those can exceed 1500#.. (and yes, I know a F-250 properly set up can do it too).

One other factor - those are WIDE.. I looked at a couple of 8-10K trailers and the width, even with extended mirrors, made it harder to see what's behind it - especially when backing it up..

Another great option.. YES it does!!!

Seen a lot of mid 60's 2 ton trucks with grain beds sell for $1500 at farm auctions. Pull the end gate out and start dumping metal.

Yeah,I've seen the ads to take away scrap metal for free. I may just try that service. Thought the dump trailer might be helpful for other assorted jobs and even for transporting a skid steer or atv's. Figured I'd look at the12k trailers just to have the option for skid steer transport and for resale (I'd imagine the roofers around here would prefer the higher capacity). Of course, the heavier trailer will get stuck easier....

sheeeeyit, scrap iron and junk cars is (or was recently) paying about $200 per ton down here in Tn

I wouldn't be giving no toofless meth heads any phone calls to haul jack chit away for free.

sounds like you got some cash sitting around there, unless $500 for a day's work is chump change to you

I don't know how much junk you got, but I cleaned up the farm couple years back, 50 years worth of cars in weeds, junked implements, bout three dozen engine blocks, swing sets, rusty roofing metal, old lawnmowers, etc

made about 5 extra $grand over a few weekends, all winter work after hunting season....no snakes, no wasps, no ticks to deal with

Got at least one old truck and a boat trailer. Do the junkyards buy these without a title??? (I stipulated in the land contract that the seller has to provide a bill of sale for any old autos/trailers on the property, hoping it would suffice.)

Yes they will take them with no title. There's a guy here that has been doing it for years and advertises he hauls off stuff like that. He's not a meth head and has a big trailer. I've had him haul off lots of stuff on property I bought. Ask around I guess in your area.