DIY Dump cart?

[raykos]

Hi all,

It's that time of year again when Mother Nature can be oh so beautiful, but then cause us grief...Fall. Which means cleaning up the leaves. Fortunately, I do have a lawn vac, and it works okay, but one of the things that's getting to be more and more of a pain is empting the cart. I'm using the method of pulling a tarp that's under the ground up leaves in the cart, but even though it works just fine, these old bones would like it better if I could just dump the cart and drive off.

I built my own "doghouse" to pull behind and collect the leaves from the blower using a standard 10 cubic foot cart, but the disadvantage is, the cart pivots on the wheel axle,(in the middle), and doesn't tilt far enough to allow the chopped up leaves to slide out.

So, I'm thinking maybe I could buy/build a really cheap cart, build a box to attach to the cart, and have the pivot point at the extreme rear, like a cyclone rake cart? And would it also be possible to somehow use the 3PH to tilt the cart upwards, and who knows, maybe even lift the cart to empty it?

Well, before I go any further, maybe somebody has already done what I'm thinking on doing? If so, any suggestions, plans, ideas, don't do's, etc. would be appreciated?

Thanks,
Ray

 

[excelagator]

I was thinking the same thing this fall about a small dump trailer. I have a 30 year old 4x8 tilt trailer. It tilts at the axle, so I will probably cut 2 feet from the back. This will increase the tilt angle. I have been thinking of using a hand winch with pulleys or a cheapo farm jack from HF for the dump power.

I have been thinking of linking my leaf blower via with some kind of ducting to a large bag made from cheap poly tarp. The "bag" could be placed on the trailer and filled. If you could not dump it you you could blow it out.

Note: these are "throne room" designs and nothing was drawn on TP!

Dan

 

[bobodu]

I suppose if all you're doing is leaves,you could rig a long tongue from the drawbar back to the trailer and dump it with the 3 pt.....keeping the top link short as possible.

 

[jimmer2880]

After owning a garden tractor (JD 318) with hydraulic lifting/dumping grass catcher, I have thought about how I would make a dumping leaf catcher.

Many years ago, I built a leaf catcher trailer from an old trailer bought at a sale. You are right, emptying it wasn't any fun.

Anyway.... I think I would figure out how to pivot the "catching" part of the cart near the center (both horizontal and vertical). This would make it so that large amounts of force aren't required to dump. Also, the amount of verticle lift wouldn't be that great.

I thought, that the dumping mechanism could be accomplished by mounting a small atv winch. Bolt an old wheel on the side of the trailer (wheel would be mounted rigidly to the "dumping" part of the cart. Then, wrap the winch cable around the wheel and mount. The winch would rotate the dump cart like a yoyo, then gravity back.

If you use this method, the roof could be hinged to automatically open/close during the dump action.

 

[Maxfli]

I have a 3 point PTO powered Trac Vac with pull Cart (not original) and it works great. The cart is a pain to dump though. Not enough angle in the full dump position. If I increase the dump angle I think I would have issues with the hose going to the cart. I would like to do away with the cart entirely. I saw a pic of TOOLGUY's setup a few year ago, and it looks like he did a great job. I think he modified his exisiting setup. Here is a pic from an old post.

The idea of some kind of Clamshell container with easy open capabilities seems like it would really work the best for me. I have been trying to find a inexpensive Plastic containter like that for some time, short of paying $500 for something I have not had any sucess.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

I suppose if all you're doing is leaves,you could rig a long tongue from the drawbar back to the trailer and dump it with the 3 pt.....keeping the top link short as possible.

I'm thinking something a little more elaborate...

Have the trailer tongue hitch to a hard mounted draw bar under the tractor. Have some kind of rig hooked to the 3 pt. hitch that will dump the trailer when the 3 pt. is lifted.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

Here's a quick and dirty visual of one version I'm thinking of. Keep in mind I'm just brainstorming here. Hopefully this will spark someone else to come up with an even better idea. I can already see that you'll probably need more travel in your cable than just the 3 pt. lifting will give you.

 

[radioman]

hmm sounds like a good idea with cable and pulleys. just one question though- how can we prevent the tension in the turns? just making a turn will want to make it dump as the bottom tongue hitch and 3 pt hitch center moves away from each other.

 

[bjr]

I like the clamshell idea, Hmm, maybe something like two rubber water troughs hinged together from the local "kinda like TSC" store. It might look a little crude but it would be something I could cut holes in and keep experimenting till it worked. We got to keep brainstorming here, we'll come up with something. bjr

 

[Iplayfarmer]

hmm sounds like a good idea with cable and pulleys. just one question though- how can we prevent the tension in the turns? just making a turn will want to make it dump as the bottom tongue hitch and 3 pt hitch center moves away from each other.

Good observation. I hadn't thought of that. I guess until one of us comes up with a better solution, I'll say you just have to build some slack into the cable to allow for turns. that would, of course, reduce the amount of cable you have available for lifting, though.

I also have in my head a sort of hybrid that uses the pulleys as shown for the initial lift and then a hinged rod with a wheel on the bottom of it that travels along a track to tilt the bed higher.

I did the drawing in Google Sketchup. If anyone wants the file to play with, PM me and I'll e-mail it to you.

I'm thinking there has to be a better way to convert the force from the 3 pt. into dumping force for the trailer. Pulleys and cables seem so primitive, and there are a lot of moving parts. Plus, there are a lot of stress points