Converting small utility trailer into dump trailer?

[LS Tractor Owner]

I have a substantial need to have a dump trailer. I have to "resurface" our stone driveway. It is unaffordable for us to have the stone delivered vs. me picking it up. I can get the stone at a discounted price of $12 / ton if I pick it up. Otherwise it's $20 /ton plus $85 delivery fee. (Approx 15 ton loads, so a total about $25-26 per ton). When time permits, I can go get a few loads and do a little at a time. It would take a while, needing about 150 tons. So....

I have a 4x8 utility trailer that was used to haul a 350 gal water tank (2800 lbs). It has a 3500 lb axle w/ leaf springs. My question is would it be cost effective to try and convert this to a dump trailer or apply that cost to a new "real" dump trailer. I haven't even begun to price out the pump/lift mechanism, figuring someone here has either done it already or found it wasn't cost effective.

I also have a 7x16' 7000 lbs dual axle trailer. My other thought was to build a "box" on this trailer to contain the stone. Then I would drive the tractor up onto the trailer to scoop the stone out. (Would definitely take longer, but it's seat time) I can build a dirt ramp for the trailer or just use the ramps (more difficult due to the angle of the loading ramps)

The small trailer would only carry about a ton, the larger trailer maybe 2 tons, so cutting the amount of trips in half using the big one (that would be absorbed by taking longer to unload)

Any thoughts and input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tomplum]

Unless you are needing an uber amount of gravel, pay the $ and have it delivered. They will set the gate with chains and spread it where you want it with minimum spreading needed by your part. DIY you have the weight of the trailer on that axle and maybe you can safely cart a yard or so at a time. The first year at my place I paid about 1200$ for gravel. My trailer which is slightly larger than your small one has a load handler installed which is a good thing, but not for gravel so much. By me too you can rent dump trailers either from a yard or there is a farmer who has 2 or 3 to let at I assume a lesser rate. Then the question is also what you are towing with.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Unless you are needing an uber amount of gravel, pay the $ and have it delivered. They will set the gate with chains and spread it where you want it with minimum spreading needed by your part. DIY you have the weight of the trailer on that axle and maybe you can safely cart a yard or so at a time. The first year at my place I paid about 1200$ for gravel. My trailer which is slightly larger than your small one has a load handler installed which is a good thing, but not for gravel so much. By me too you can rent dump trailers either from a yard or there is a farmer who has 2 or 3 to let at I assume a lesser rate. Then the question is also what you are towing with.

Yeah, I would say "uber" amount. The total cost calculated for the delivery and stone was around $4000. My cost if I hauled it would be around $1800. The only local rental place wants $160/ day, so costs go up, plus I wouldn't be able to do it in a day. No farmers or other available access to a trailer available. My max towing capability is 5K, so limited there also.

 

[aczlan]

Yeah, I would say "uber" amount. The total cost calculated for the delivery and stone was around $4000. My cost if I hauled it would be around $1800. The only local rental place wants $160/ day, so costs go up, plus I wouldn't be able to do it in a day. No farmers or other available access to a trailer available. My max towing capability is 5K, so limited there also.

What size truck is that (for the delivered price)?
It may be cheaper if you can find someone with a 4 axle dump truck, or semi and dump trailer rather than a smaller dump truck, especially if its a ways to the gravel pit.

Aaron Z

 

[zzvyb6]

How far is it to the stone source ? I think you could build boxed sides on your dual axle trailer and get a few loads at a time. There are some clever ways to unload a trailer without having to dump by lifting. What about finding a used gravity wagon and sell it when you are done ? I see there are some small dump trailers near you for sale. Keep it clean and resell it when you are done.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

What size truck is that (for the delivered price)?
It may be cheaper if you can find someone with a 4 axle dump truck, or semi and dump trailer rather than a smaller dump truck, especially if its a ways to the gravel pit.

Aaron Z

That was for a 2 axle dump. They have belly dump 'semi' type trucks, they hold about 8 tons more, but also cost a little more for delivery. The gravel pit is about 6 miles away, so not a far drive. That's why the delivery prices are REDICULOUS....it's really close. The next quarry is over 35 miles away. They want $500 per truckload of 24 yards of crushed concrete. No luck on finding any any other trucks / drivers. That is a big problem out here...very limited availability of services. What is available, they charge crazy prices!

 

[3Ts]

I have a 7 x 16 trailer also and put sides on it and use it to haul bulk materials. I unload it by driving the tractor up the ramps and scooping up the material. There is a lot that I can't get with the tractor so there is a lot of shoveling by hand. However, I only do this about once a year and I'm giving serious consideration to a dump trailer. I'm getting to old to be shoveling that much by hand. But, in your situation, you're looking at 75 to 150 trips. I'd get a dump trailer. I've also considered putting a dump box on my 7 x16, but have not figured out the balance and keeping everything together when dumping.

 

[bigtiller]

Buy a 10ft long 7000 lb dump trailer and keep it for ever. Mine doesn't get used very often but it does come in handy more often than I thought it would when I bought it.

 

[Stimw]

Get ahold of one of the drivers and offer him ALL the loads for reduced or no delivery fee.
Assuming the drivers are owner-operators.
Even set up delivery when he is slow/no loads, at his convenience.
A lot of pits have a rotation schedule for deliveries if they have owner-operators and they might have dead time.
I am all for DIY BUT your numbers are huge and will be will require a lot of time.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I looked around and the cheapest 10' dump trailer is $4500. Way too much for me to outlay....I would have the trailer, but then couldn't afford the gravel. Craigslist appeared to have one very cheap($1400) but I think it's a scam....same trailer pic, but in two areas 500 miles away from each other.

The idea about the drivers / owner- operators would be great, however the local quarry has all company drivers and he owns the trucks (the quarry is a sub company of his environmental remediation company). The next quarry is over 35+ miles away in the city, I'm up in the mountains. We can't even get the service companies to come out here without substantial "travel charge"....some as high as $200.

I'll probably just use my bigger trailer and unload it with the tractor.

 

[muskieken]

Very simple. Build a 2 foot high Box inside Your utility trailer Take the Folding part off the back That way when you go unload your gravel You can just pull it out with a hoe off the back into your driveway. Reason I say 2 foot high is You're only gonna take a yard at a time 'cause that's gonna be about 2000 pound... Don't get greedy,,,,, You say you have more time than money,,, So it's only 6 miles from your house,,,,, You're not going to spend a ton on gas,,, In the reason I say a yard time is so you don't ruin your trailer... Make the rear part of your box Very simple so you just lift up The last panel It's only gonna be 4 foot wide That way you can spread your gravel... So Figuring you use 3 sheets of plywood, One for the floor One for the the sides Then The other one For the front and back Course that will leave you with a half piece leftover some 2 by 4 down the sides And in the corners Then some screws You're probably looking at 80/90 dollars to build the box At most.. And if you don't like it That's all you're out....

 

[HCJtractor]

You need 150 tons? So with your small trailer that’s 150 trips. That’s really foolish. I understand saving money, but factor in the wear and tear on your truck (obviously you don’t have a diesel with a tow package), wear on the trailer, tire wear, your time, having to spread it whereas a dump truck would go that. I can think of no reason to even attempt that. Heck, get a part time job for the hundreds of hours you will spend and pay someone to haul it.

 

[4570Man]

Converting a trailer to a dump trailer isn’t as easy as you seem to think. You’d be in less work to completely build it from scratch. With that out of the way it’s a completely ridiculous project. My dump truck will haul about 4 tons of rock way more than your trailer and when I need rock hauled I hire a bigger dump truck.

 

[tomplum]

I feel your pain. For me and hauling yard supplies it was always the area was too small to get into, or my equipment was non existent or too small to really get the job done. The load handler really did help quite a bit. I could get 3 yards of mulch, crank the stuff off for the crew to smooth out and be back in line for more in 20 minutes. Gravel will tear at the sheet and the weight is pretty concentrated to roll it off the bed easily. The little LS has helped a lot. So maybe tell us more about the road that needs all the gravel. Are you down to the base or will a certain amount of grooming refresh things? Are there other issues that make it problematic?

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I feel your pain. For me and hauling yard supplies it was always the area was too small to get into, or my equipment was non existent or too small to really get the job done. The load handler really did help quite a bit. I could get 3 yards of mulch, crank the stuff off for the crew to smooth out and be back in line for more in 20 minutes. Gravel will tear at the sheet and the weight is pretty concentrated to roll it off the bed easily. The little LS has helped a lot. So maybe tell us more about the road that needs all the gravel. Are you down to the base or will a certain amount of grooming refresh things? Are there other issues that make it problematic?

Cost is basically the biggest deciding factor here. By driveway, To clarify, is really a shared road, accessible to 8 homes. Of those 8 homes, 3, maybe 4 could contribute to the gravel. 1 other person will be able to contribute to any "labor" that is needed. The total road is just shy of a mile to the end. All of the "contributers" live on the first half. The road has not had any maintenance or additional gravel done to it for 25 years. It is down to the 'base' (which actually is very good condition), pretty much no crown, no top gravel.

With the wind happening over the past 2 years, and the irresponsible grazing and lack of any ground cover on adjoining properties, dirt has literally blown to our properties across the road. The drainage ditches have filled in and a 3' berm of dirt has formed. (I will dig that out and reform the drainage). Due to this dirt coating and lack of drainage, the road is a mud track every time there's just a little bit of moisture.

We will attempt to regrade the existing stone when fixing the drainage, but equipment is also limited (my small SCUT w/ boxblade and a neighbor's old articulated loader) (the neighbor was considering buying one of those DR graders or a land plane). We had contacted a local 'road contractor' who does maintanance on the county roads, he said he wouldn't even attempt to "regrade" the existing base....just rebuild 'a new road' on top. He ballpark quoted "about $60,000" .....forget that.

The objective is to eventually lay down 3-4" of stone on top of the existing base, naturally making sure it has a crown. This would be done gradually, we were thinking just to keep applying whatever we can, when we can, even if it's only an inch at a time (just to get a little bit down for traction). Eventually we would get done.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Very simple. Build a 2 foot high Box inside Your utility trailer Take the Folding part off the back That way when you go unload your gravel You can just pull it out with a hoe off the back into your driveway. Reason I say 2 foot high is You're only gonna take a yard at a time 'cause that's gonna be about 2000 pound... Don't get greedy,,,,, You say you have more time than money,,, So it's only 6 miles from your house,,,,, You're not going to spend a ton on gas,,, In the reason I say a yard time is so you don't ruin your trailer... Make the rear part of your box Very simple so you just lift up The last panel It's only gonna be 4 foot wide That way you can spread your gravel... So Figuring you use 3 sheets of plywood, One for the floor One for the the sides Then The other one For the front and back Course that will leave you with a half piece leftover some 2 by 4 down the sides And in the corners Then some screws You're probably looking at 80/90 dollars to build the box At most.. And if you don't like it That's all you're out....

Exactly my thinking, but just a bit wider (my FEL bucket is 50") so I could use the FEL to unload. They sell by weight at this quarry, so a ton to 1 1/2 would be my target.

 

[4570Man]

My experience at the rock quarry is they aren’t very precise loading small volume with a big loader. I still think it’s an insane project. Go apply at McDonald’s and you’d make more money than you stand to save here.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

My experience at the rock quarry is they aren’t very precise loading small volume with a big loader. I still think it’s an insane project. Go apply at McDonald’s and you’d make more money than you stand to save here.

At this quarry, they will use small bobcat skid steers to load small loads, pretty much on the money (w/in 100#) of what you want.

Do you have experience working at McDonald's? Tell me about your secret....

It might be "insane" to you, but just call me crazy then.... Nobody else is going to fix it, nobody else is going to pay for it...

 

[4570Man]

So you stand to gain $15 a trip before expenses are paid and you count the hour trip to go get it and an hour to spread it. So you’re working 2 hours for $10 really a little less assuming you don’t tear anything up? I’m pretty sure McDonalds pays like $9 an hour so yea I stand by my statement.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I can almost get 2 trips in an hour (about 35 min each) ( 1 1/2 tons each = 3 tons) so bump it up to saving $45/hr. ($15 per ton). I actually don't know how long it will take to unload, but my neighbor has hand shoveled a ton off his truck in <20 minutes. (He is definitely younger and stronger than me). I think I could have a ton and a half unloaded with the tractor in under 15 minutes. So even at an 1 1/2 hours ($45/1.5=$30), that would take 3.3 hours working at McDonalds... Oh...less taxes...so 4 hours to make the "savings".

8 hours x9/hr =$72 minus 30% taxes ($21) = $51.
8 hours hauling (8 hrs/60 min per trip and unloading)= 8 x 1 1/2 tons (12 tons total) equals to savings of $180. Maybe won't make 8 trips, we'll say only 6. That's still a savings of $135.

I think my math works out.