Gravity-Powered Dump Trailer

Gravity-Powered Dump Trailer TRACTORS Accessories No hydraulics are needed to tip Mark Yax’s 4 000-lb dump trailer All he has to do is pull a rope from his tractor seat to release the half-cubic yard load Once it’s empty the hopper usually swings back into the locked position If not a second rope pulls it into place “I can dump without getting off the tractor and hooking it up is easy; no hoses involved ” says Yax Yax also appreciates his minimal investment in the trailer “I bought the hopper for only $350 ” he says “The sides are 11-gauge steel but reinforced around the top with 1/2-in steel It came complete with safety chains All I had to do was remove the caster wheels ” Yax used 2 1/2-in square steel tubing for the frame and the tongue and mounted a pintle ring hitch The axle is the most unique component It’s a 1930’s truck I-beam front axle “I once bought an engine from a guy and he had the axle laying around ” recalls Yax “He asked if I wanted it and I told him to throw it in the trailer It sat behind the barn for 25 or 30 years before I decided to make some use of it I cut the springs off and used the spring mounts to bolt underneath the dump hopper ” Yax had planned to shorten the axle which would’ve been a blunder he admits “I put the axle on and it only cleared the hopper by a quarter inch ” he says “I had forgotten the offset of the rim ” To mount newer wheels on the old axle hubs Yax had to redrill the spindles He also drilled a hole in the bottom of the hopper for a 2-in pipe fitting “I mounted a coupling to the outside so I can use it as a water source for remote pressure washing ” says Yax “It also allows me to drain it if the hopper catches rainwater ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Mark S Yax 36755 Pettibone Rd Solon Ohio 44139 ph 440-668-6296; valmarktool@aol com

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