LD1
Epic Contributor
Just bought a Dump trailer made by forest river out of Elkhart Indiana. Anyone ever heard of them. A local dealer carries their line of trailers. And after looking for many many months on craigslist for a decent dump trailer, and all I was seeing was used trailers for more than I could get a new one for, I decided to buy a new one.
Model HDLPS612TA3, Very last trailer on the page http://www.forestriverinc.com/OpenTrailers/DumpTrailers/Default.aspx?page=specifications.
Price was good. Came with a Roll top tarp, nice ramps, batter included. Very nice trailer.
So I got it home and just had to try it out, so I loaded 7 MX5100 scoops of dirt. By my estimation that should be somewhere around 8k on this 10k trailer. Should give it a good work out.
Well, no go. IT wouldnt actually dump until I raked out about half the dirt with my backhoe. Pretty disappointing. IF this thing can only dump ~3-4 bucket loads of dirt. I was expecting more.
So all day at work I was contemplating what I was going to do. Should I have spent $800 more for a 7x12 with dual cylinders? Should I up to a 5" single cylinder for ~$300 (and could probably sell the old one for $200).
So when I got home today the first thing I decided was to measure all the pivots, and get my dimensions and angles, and calculate the theoretical capacity. Cylinder at 18.5 degrees and 3000psi should give me a vertical push of 11,500#. Certainly it should have dumped my test load last night
I was about ready to throw a pressure gauge on it when I decided to crawl back under there and use my phone to take a pic of the cylinder tag (it was on the top where you couldnt see it).
Sure enough....its only a 3" cylinder. Which at 18.5 degrees only has a vertical lift of 6500#. And probably 1500# of that is the dump body itself.:mur:
Every single 6x12 dump trailer of various MFGs I was researching all use 4" cylinders. INCLUDING the specs on this one as you can see in the link above. With forest river trailers, only the 5' wide ones get the 3" cylinder. All the 6' versions get a 4". And all the 7' (and 6.8') get twin 4's.
So I gotta wonder if something changed? or if someone just grabbed the wrong cylinder at the factory?
Will call my dealer tomorrow to see what he has to say. He had another identical 6x12 on his lot that was actually stacked on top of the one I bought, still needed final assembly and wheels put on, etc. I'll have him check and see what it says. And if all else fails I'll call forest river directly. Because this 3" cylinder isnt gonna work for me at all.
SO just wondering if any of you all have dealt with forest river? can confirm any details like it IS supposed to have a 4"?
Model HDLPS612TA3, Very last trailer on the page http://www.forestriverinc.com/OpenTrailers/DumpTrailers/Default.aspx?page=specifications.
Price was good. Came with a Roll top tarp, nice ramps, batter included. Very nice trailer.
So I got it home and just had to try it out, so I loaded 7 MX5100 scoops of dirt. By my estimation that should be somewhere around 8k on this 10k trailer. Should give it a good work out.
Well, no go. IT wouldnt actually dump until I raked out about half the dirt with my backhoe. Pretty disappointing. IF this thing can only dump ~3-4 bucket loads of dirt. I was expecting more.
So all day at work I was contemplating what I was going to do. Should I have spent $800 more for a 7x12 with dual cylinders? Should I up to a 5" single cylinder for ~$300 (and could probably sell the old one for $200).
So when I got home today the first thing I decided was to measure all the pivots, and get my dimensions and angles, and calculate the theoretical capacity. Cylinder at 18.5 degrees and 3000psi should give me a vertical push of 11,500#. Certainly it should have dumped my test load last night
I was about ready to throw a pressure gauge on it when I decided to crawl back under there and use my phone to take a pic of the cylinder tag (it was on the top where you couldnt see it).Sure enough....its only a 3" cylinder. Which at 18.5 degrees only has a vertical lift of 6500#. And probably 1500# of that is the dump body itself.:mur:
Every single 6x12 dump trailer of various MFGs I was researching all use 4" cylinders. INCLUDING the specs on this one as you can see in the link above. With forest river trailers, only the 5' wide ones get the 3" cylinder. All the 6' versions get a 4". And all the 7' (and 6.8') get twin 4's.
So I gotta wonder if something changed? or if someone just grabbed the wrong cylinder at the factory?
Will call my dealer tomorrow to see what he has to say. He had another identical 6x12 on his lot that was actually stacked on top of the one I bought, still needed final assembly and wheels put on, etc. I'll have him check and see what it says. And if all else fails I'll call forest river directly. Because this 3" cylinder isnt gonna work for me at all.
SO just wondering if any of you all have dealt with forest river? can confirm any details like it IS supposed to have a 4"?
