Dump trailer - scissor lift or telescoping cylinder?

[lhansman]

I am in the process of finalizing my third (and hopefully last) dump trailer purchase. The previous two dump trailers I have owned were both scissor lifts and they seemed to work fine. However my second dump trailer (a 7'x14' Moritz) has been a great trailer but I have to be careful not to load to much fill at the front of the trailer as twice I have had to shovel some material out of the front before it would dump. It seems to me that a telescoping cylinder at the front of the trailer being ahead of all the weight would be better able to dump a heavy load since the scissor is mounted in the middle of the bed and so the material at the front has more leverage on the hoist mechanism. However with a telescoping cylinder there are a lot more seals to worry about so I wonder if long term it might be problematic. I have dumped hundreds of loads with my scissor lift dump trailers and never had a leak. What are your thoughts on scissor lift versus telescoping cylinder for a dump trailer?

My first dump trailer was power up but gravity down. On two occasions I was a little behind in my greasing of the scissor lift mechanism and I could not get the dump box to come down on its own. My second and current trailer is power up and power down which has always worked. Even the few times that I almost killed the dump battery dumping a heavy load there was always sufficient reserve power to bring the dump bed down. The Load Trail 16' dumper I am looking at comes standard with power up and down and for $150 extra I can also have gravity down. Do you see any advantage to purchasing the gravity down option?

I look forward to the TBN expertise in assisting me with finalizing this decision.

Regards,

Lauren

 

[SLHawkins]

Telescoping cylinders have been on dump trucks for years, I don't think they are any less reliable than the single stage cylinders in use today. However, I have not seen too many of the larger size trailers with a single telescoping cylinder at the front of the bed (I have seen several with dual cylinders midway). You'd have to sacrifice some tongue space or trailer length to accomodate the cylinder and linkages. One advantage of gravity down is if you use all your power going up, you do not have to worry about the trailer being stuck in the raised position due to a dead battery (I thought the folks at the fayetteville, NC landfill would never let me back in after that little incident...lol). I don't think there are any difference in stability or tipping capacity. Is there a significant price difference?

 

[4shorts]

Lauren I bought a new N&N galvanized dump trailer this summer. It's got the telescopic three stage hydraulic cylinder that's power up, gravity down. Two 3500 lbs axels with brakes on all four wheels. Two way tailgate. It's lifted everything I put in it. Yes I've modded it. I installed the wireless remote for the dump. Mud flaps, fabricated aluminum ramps, spare tire mount, aluminum guard over the top cover, D hooks inside, chrome centers on wheels, mounted shovel and high mount led lights on the rear. I'm happy with mine. It's built like a battleship and built in Quebec.

 

[Stimw]

Back in the low 70's I worked for a major semi trailer manufacturer, Fruehauf.
They sold up to 38' aluminum dump trailers that had 5 stage cylinders. The cylinders used graphite coated cord for packing with spanner nuts.
When we would repack the cylinders we just changed the packing and tightened the nut back up.
The trailers had a box in the center front of the bed for the cylinder. If dirt got stuck on one side of the box the trailer could fall over on flat level ground from the uneven weight!

I had to pick up a trailer that had fallen over and bring it back to the shop and repair it. They had the bed back down but the frame and bed were so warped that the right rear wheels were off the ground going down the highway. I had to take it easy bringing it back to the shop because it was teetering and bouncy.
The company had a SERIOUS frame rack with air and hydraulic jacks and large "I" Beams in the floor and up the walls that we used for that type of repair.

 

[94BULLITT]

One of my customers drives a truck for a living. He pulls a 24' dump trailer with it. It has a telescopic cylinder. He can haul 24' tons in his trailer.

I have a 78 F-350 with a 12' dump. It has a scissor lift. It has never had problems dumping anything.

I think a telescopic or scissor lift will work fine if it is engineered properly.

 

[bcp]

Is there a significant price difference?

Looks like $600-1300 per cylinder at Surplus Center.

Telescoping-Hydraulic-Cylinders


Looks like $1200-2000 for complete scissors dump system:

Hydraulic_dump_kits_trailers

 

[CJONE]

We have 3 and the scissor lift will not lift a full load of gravel or green firewood so we go with the twin cylinder on all the ones in the future. The + side of the scissor is it dump to a greater angle but if it can't lift then it does not matter I guess! CJ

 

[Diamondpilot]

We have 3 and the scissor lift will not lift a full load of gravel or green firewood so we go with the twin cylinder on all the ones in the future. The + side of the scissor is it dump to a greater angle but if it can't lift then it does not matter I guess! CJ

My uncle has a 14,000 # Brimar that has no trouble dumping 10,000 to 11,000# of material. I believe its twin cylinder setup.

Chris

 

[CJONE]

My uncle has a 14,000 # Brimar that has no trouble dumping 10,000 to 11,000# of material. I believe its twin cylinder setup.

Chris

One load of gravel I was way overloaded and it was loaded heavy to the front to take weight off the trailer tires. It lifted it no problem with the twin cylinder set up. I know the scissor lift would not even begin to lift it. CJ

 

[Waldershrek]

Been looking at Griffin dumps and have been wondering about scissor vs twin rams myself. Keep the replies coming.


From what I'm gathering the only advantage to scissor lift is it lifts from the center so as not to tweak the trailer from side to side like a twin ram setup would if one cylinder was slower than the other?