Off-loading material from a flatbed trailer

[MossRoad]

In an attempt to make my rural life easier, I purchased my first ever tractor equipped with a FEL… (Kioti CK2610 if it matters)

Following that purchase, I’ve invested in a flail mower, pallet forks and various other minor improvements to make my tractor “mine”…

That being said, the purchase of an 8 to 10 thousand dollar dump trailer is currently off the table…

I have a small Aluma 638LW (63” wide, 8’ long) with a removable loading ramp… the trailer‘s GVWR is #2000… enough to transport my current needs…

View attachment 783447
(this isn‘n a great pic of the trailer but it’s all I could find)

I’ve hauled 1/4 yd of 3/8” chips, 1/4 yd topsoil and as much compost as would fit… I’ve attached 12” sideboards to keep material from escaping…

Everything goes great til I get home, the trailer is 63” wide, my tractor bucket is 66”… I don’t want to approach from the side as there are rather expensive-to-replace aluminum fenders in the way… so, out come the shovels for offloading… a real pain in the back…

I‘ve mulled this over and have come up with what I hope is a workable, albeit Rube Goldberg style, solution… something akin to a ”truck bed cargo unloader” (this setup won’t work on my trailer as the bed height won’t allow the crank handle to clear the ground)
View attachment 783448
Instead of rolling the “tarp” off the back, If I were to use a section of chain link fence to cover the trailer bed, cover that with a tarp, then load whatever on top… I could use my tractor and a chain to hook on to the front of the chain Link and pull/roll the load off the back end…

sound like this might work?

Convert the handle to a ratchet.

Or adapt a large bolt head to it and use a cordless impact gun to crank it.

 

[ZTMAN]

That crank system won’t work on my trailer… the bed is too low to allow for the rotation of the handle… bummer…

on to your issue… I’ve read that if you place a large sheet of vinyl (I.e. old billboard covers) under your conveyor it makes the handle MUCH easier to rotate… regardless of the load…

I use that set up on my trailer. Your right, the handle is too long. I JB Welded a socket in the end of the bar that the tarp wraps around and use a rachet with a cheater bar to unload. Works great on my 4x8 trailer that I use to haul dirt and firewood at the camp. I did staple a scrap piece of vinyl to the deck to reduce friction. My deck is wood. If yours is aluminum, it should not be needed.

I actually had hopes that my Milwaukee Impact Wrench would do the job, but not enough torque.

 

[2manyrocks]

Adapting to a socket and using vinyl to reduce the friction were both smart ideas.

 

[MTGreen]

Maybe not a good plan if the hitch slips off the bucket and tears up some hydraulic lines, and it looks like some hand shoveling is needed.

The thought was a hook and chain here so that doesn't happen

 

[setxjeff]

That crank system won’t work on my trailer… the bed is too low to allow for the rotation of the handle… bummer…

instead of a handle install a large nut on the end of the roll up pipe and use a 3/4 harbor freight ratchet. I took the handle off my gooseneck horse trailer and put a 1-1/4 nut on the end of the jack shaft. when using the 3/4 ratchet it cut the effort in half and you did not have to do that awkward full turn, just ratchet it back to the comfort zone.

 

[two_bit_score]

sound like this might work?

It might. Try it in various increments and see.

 

[ksJoe]

If you're a welder, you can make your current trailer into a dump trailer.
I have a standard 5x8 trailer I made dump. I added a piece of C-Channel to the frame above the axle, and built a toungue to extend back to that channel, with a heavy hinge on it. It uses a hand crank winch to raise it. My first attempt I had a single pass of cable and it popped before lifting 2,000 lbs of gravel. I reworked it with some pulleys to get 3 passes of the cable and now it will dump 2,000 lbs of gravel easily.

I also added cross bracing to strenghen the trailer and replaced the tires load range E radials.

 

[S854]

Quite a few clever solutions… here I thought I had a unique situation with my flatbed…

I still have a month or two of cold Montana weather before I get outside in earnest…

I’m gonna roll these ideas around in my head, maybe combine a couple and, hopefully come up with something that will save my back…

 

[ZTMAN]

I was at the camp today and took a few photos of the load handler mounted on my camp trailer.
That little trailer is a tilt as well, but the material would not slide off as easily as I liked, so that is why I got the load handler.

 

[2manyrocks]

Wax your vinyl flooring and see how easily the material unloads.