“Made It Myself” Dump Trailer
“I built a heavy-duty dump trailer to haul everything from my garden tractor to leaves, brush, firewood, and tools. I think it’s the handiest trailer around,” says Kevin Wideman, Russellville, Mo.
He used mostly scrap steel to build the 10-ft. long by 6-ft. wide, 2-wheeled trailer. It has stake pocket sides and a wooden floor made from 1 1/4-in. thick deck boards. The body is raised up or down by using a hand-cranked winch mounted on the trailer’s tongue. The cable runs up over a pulley on top of a detachable 3-ft. tall lift pole, then back down to a chain attached to the trailer.
The trailer’s V-shaped tongue is off a scrapped Allis Chalmers Roto-Baler, and is fitted with a ball coupler that hooks up to the drawbar on Wideman’s tractor.
“It’s built strong and cost less than $150 to put together. My only cost was for some lumber, new tires, the winch and a hand-operated jack,” says Wideman. “It isn’t a full dump tilt trailer, but it tilts back far enough that I can easily unload a lot of things.”
Wideman says he started building trailers when he was just 5 years old. “I would take wooden produce crates that my uncle gave me and put an axle under them, and then pull the trailer around with my tricycle. I built my first ‘working’ trailer in shop class when I was 14, and then went on to build hay trailers for my dad. While in the military, I was transferred from Ohio to Florida and needed a trailer to haul my motorcycle so I converted an old boat trailer.”
He built the trailer’s frame out of excess steel from truck hydraulic hoist frames. “I welded together a pair of frames, adding spacers between them to get the correct width,” says Wideman. “Leaf springs were mounted behind the pivot point midway on the trailer’s frame. I welded two 3/8-in. steel plates at an angle to the tongue and used a 1/2-in. spring bolt to fasten the pivot point between the trailer’s frame and tongue.”
The trailer’s tailgate is made out of 1-in. angle iron and supports a welded-on skid plate that serves as a ramp. The trailer’s taillights are protected by a 3-in. angle iron housing.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Kevin Wideman, Russellville, Mo. 65074.
“Made It Myself” Dump Trailer “I built a heavy-duty dump trailer to haul everything from my garden tractor to leaves brush firewood and tools I think it’s the handiest trailer around ” says Kevin Wideman Russellville Mo He used mostly scrap steel to build the 10-ft long by 6-ft wide 2-wheeled trailer It has stake pocket sides and a wooden floor made from 1 1/4-in thick deck boards The body is raised up or down by using a hand-cranked winch mounted on the trailer’s tongue The cable runs up over a pulley on top of a detachable 3-ft tall lift pole then back down to a chain attached to the trailer The trailer’s V-shaped tongue is off a scrapped Allis Chalmers Roto-Baler and is fitted with a ball coupler that hooks up to the drawbar on Wideman’s tractor “It’s built strong and cost less than $150 to put together My only cost was for some lumber new tires the winch and a hand-operated jack ” says Wideman “It isn’t a full dump tilt trailer but it tilts back far enough that I can easily unload a lot of things ” Wideman says he started building trailers when he was just 5 years old “I would take wooden produce crates that my uncle gave me and put an axle under them and then pull the trailer around with my tricycle I built my first ‘working’ trailer in shop class when I was 14 and then went on to build hay trailers for my dad While in the military I was transferred from Ohio to Florida and needed a trailer to haul my motorcycle so I converted an old boat trailer ” He built the trailer’s frame out of excess steel from truck hydraulic hoist frames “I welded together a pair of frames adding spacers between them to get the correct width ” says Wideman “Leaf springs were mounted behind the pivot point midway on the trailer’s frame I welded two 3/8-in steel plates at an angle to the tongue and used a 1/2-in spring bolt to fasten the pivot point between the trailer’s frame and tongue ” The trailer’s tailgate is made out of 1-in angle iron and supports a welded-on skid plate that serves as a ramp The trailer’s taillights are protected by a 3-in angle iron housing Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Kevin Wideman Russellville Mo 65074