Dan Walters of Nashville, Ind., transformed an abandoned UTV into a tow-behind dump trailer. “The trailer started life as a 6x4 John Deere Gator diesel model. A 2002, to be exact,” he says. “My wife’s family had bought it gently used around 2008, and it’s lived a hard life since then.”
He brought it home around 2018, welding a square tube ‘spine’ up its unibody to overcome a severe case of rust that had it bowed nearly in half. “We used the gator like this for a few more years until my mother-in-law passed away, and then the whole homestead was virtually abandoned,” he says. “The Gator was mine if I wanted it, so it came home with us. We used it without any updates for another few years.”
Eventually, Walters decided to swap the Gator’s diesel engine into a 4x4 Kawasaki Mule. “The Gator was effectively relegated to the scrap pile until I started selling parts from it,” he says. “The plastics, steering, the main gearbox and pulleys, and so on. I was left with just the chassis and wheels.”
These scrap pieces inspired a vision for a simple dump trailer for use behind a garden tractor. “I don’t consider myself a hoarder,” he laughs. “I simply see potential in things others would consider trash. Which is exactly what a hoarder would say.”
Walters set to work by cutting the trailer in half. “From there, all I needed to add was a wagon-style tongue, and I had a utility trailer. But knowing it was a dump bed from the factory (with an electric “cylinder” which was also borrowed for the Mule), I wanted an easy way to be able to dump it.”
His idea was simple. “If you redirect forces, it’s not difficult to turn a pulling force into a pushing force,” he says. “A bell crank, basically a lever on a fulcrum, allows a hand-crank winch to push the front of the bed up on its hinges.”
The final result has proven well worth his effort. Says Walters, “Once I had the basics, it was only a little more grinding, welding, and painting before a completely mechanical upcycled dump trailer was born.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dan Walters, 8127 Old State Rd. 46, Nashville, Ind. 47448 (ph 513-739-8646; easterracing@gmail.com).