My attempt at making a off-road trailer.

[looknlearn]

(I call it off-road cause I don't foresee getting it registered.)

I haven't had a trailer and have wanted one for quite some time so I recently collected enough stuff to start welding one together. The only thing I regret thus far is not getting a truck axle instead of a car axle. I tend to over build things and this appears to be no exception. I know it is not the typical trailer design, but I kind-of am combining some ideas I have in my head and this is what is coming out. If there are some glaring design flaws, speak up, cause I may have missed them. It is going to have a tilt bed to make it easier to shovel a load out but not requiring all the weight to be on the tongue like a dump trailer would have. Cost so far(Cost of steel :$151.16, cost of axle :$ 60?(can't remember exactly), a few cut-of wheels and welding wire: about $20 bucks maybe, Labor is free cause I enjoy it. Here are a few picture of what I have done so far.












This far is just from scrap I had laying around.










A view of how I notched the bed rails for strength.

 

[Milton Burro]

No suspension?

 

[looknlearn]

No suspension?

I figured since it was a low speed trailer it wasn't crucial so since I didn't have some I did without. Do you think it will be fine?

 

[dex3361]

Whether you need a suspension or not depends on how fast you are going to be traveling and how much it weights. I cant tell how big the bed will be but it looks like the tongue may be a bit light for supporting the amount of weight that a box that size could haul. I could be wrong and a picture give the dimensions.

 

[looknlearn]

Whether you need a suspension or not depends on how fast you are going to be traveling and how much it weights.

My tractor has a max speed of seven miles per hour. Weight, I don't know.

 

[dex3361]

How big is the box?

 

[looknlearn]

6 ft wide by 8 foot long.

 

[moored4]

The only thing I regret thus far is not getting a truck axle instead of a car axle. I tend to over build things and this appears to be no exception. I know it is not the typical trailer design, but I kind-of am combining some ideas I have in my head and this is what is coming out. If there are some glaring design flaws, speak up, cause I may have missed them. It is going to have a tilt bed to make it easier to shovel a load out but not requiring all the weight to be on the tongue like a dump trailer would have. Here are a few picture of what I have done so far.



I don't see a pivot joint anywhere unless you plan on having another whole box on top of this one that lifts. If that is the case then I do not think the lower box frame is strong enough to hold the top box and pivot without bending.

 

[looknlearn]

The bed is gonna get more cross members to stiffen it up. My plan is to hinge it at these points.

and then at the front to let it rest on the piece that is braced in. Those small chunks of steel are just for a shim for the picture.

Think it will work or do you think I'll get to much twist in the tongue?

 

[radioman]

I figured since it was a low speed trailer it wasn't crucial so since I didn't have some I did without. Do you think it will be fine?

yes it will be fine. most lawn dump carts have no suspension anyways

 

[DAY]

yes it will be fine. most lawn dump carts have no suspension anyways

For that matter, TRACTORS don't have suspension!

 

[moored4]

The bed is gonna get more cross members to stiffen it up. My plan is to hinge it at these points.
View attachment 211356
and then at the front to let it rest on the piece that is braced in. Those small chunks of steel are just for a shim for the picture.
View attachment 211357
Think it will work or do you think I'll get to much twist in the tongue?

When I first looked at your post i did not Zoom in on the hinge point and it looked like it was welded there but now I see it's not. :thumbsup:
Do you plan on installing a hyd.ram to tilt this?

 

[looknlearn]

When I first looked at your post i did not Zoom in on the hinge point and it looked like it was welded there but now I see it's not. :thumbsup:
Do you plan on installing a hyd.ram to tilt this?

When I either find one or work long enough to buy one. Right now I am just allowing for it in the future.

 

[bcp]

Have you done a test tilt? The bed length, pivoting near the center, looks like a very low dump angle that may not be self-emptying.

Bruce

 

[looknlearn]

Have you done a test tilt? The bed length, pivoting near the center, looks like a very low dump angle that may not be self-emptying.

Bruce

I don't expect it to self empty. I just figured if it tilted it would be easier to shovel out a load than if it didn't. I don't want to move the bed forward because of the added tongue weight. I want some tongue weight for traction but not too much if it is loaded. I may mess around with it some before welding on the hinges to determine where the axle is exactly in relation to the bed.

 

[moored4]

I don't expect it to self empty. I just figured if it tilted it would be easier to shovel out a load than if it didn't. I don't want to move the bed forward because of the added tongue weight. I want some tongue weight for traction but not too much if it is loaded. I may mess around with it some before welding on the hinges to determine where the axle is exactly in relation to the bed.

I'm a little older now and my back is still in half way good shape I still would prefer to shovel from the trailer standing instead of bending over. I think I read somewhere that if you lift bending over you increase the force on your lower back by ?100 times?.

 

[Rio_Grande]

I look forward to seeing it loaded. The toung concerns me and I think your balance needs to be a bit forward. Typical on a road trailer is 60/40. at that I can pick up the toung of my woods trailer when it is loaded with wood and move it around (if I dont pile it heavy in the front) I figure I can lift 100lbs easy enough. Not sure what tractor u have but 200 lb of toung weight is just getting warmed up.

To each his own while I may not agree with the design tour craftsmanship looks good.

 

[PapaPerk]

Looks good! Will make a good off road trailer for your tractor. You don't need suspension for a off-roader.

If you decide you want a steeper dump angle you can always install larger diameter tires.

Axle placement looks good for an off-road slow speed trailer. If you bias the axle towards the rear it would be difficult to dump. You have it centered and that looks good to me.

 

[LD1]

Looks good so far.

The wa it appears though, the trailer is going to be built MUCH heavier than either the axle or the tractor will handle:thumbsup:

And you dont need a suspension for a off-road trailer for behind a tractor.

Here are a few pics of our wood hauling trailers. 10-15 years of abuse of hauling 3/4+ cord of wood and no problems yet. They do have truck axles though, and large tires to help them float/roll when conditions are less than desirable. No tilt though:confused2:

 

[looknlearn]

I'm a little older now and my back is still in half way good shape I still would prefer to shovel from the trailer standing instead of bending over. I think I read somewhere that if you lift bending over you increase the force on your lower back by ?100 times?.

That is why you are supposed to only lift heavy loads with you knees, back straight. I am not sure how well it will work dumping. I may just shovel it out flat or tilted a little. I guess I'll see when it is done.