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cocodrie |
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Mississippi Delta | Has anyone ever had any experience with belly dump semi trailers? I need to haul a good bit of gravel and was looking at options. The doors on these appear to be air operated, so I wouldn't have to have a wet kit on my trucks. I've heard there are two kinds of dump trailers.........those that have been turned over, and those that haven't been turned over,,,,,,,,yet, so I thought this type trailer may suit me better. Just need to know what to look for etc. Thanks. | ||
krantz |
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NM | They are great for gravel... you can set the doors and run a windrow of gravel down a road and I have yet to see one turn over. There is usually two end dumps tuned over in this area a year. | ||
Smoothlander |
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Belly dumps are great for gravel, sand and small rock if you are looking to spread. If you want to pile get an end dump. | |||
eddiedry |
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Wheatley, Arkansas | A belly dump will work spreading gravel as long as you don't have any sharp corners to make, that is about all a belly dump is good for. If you ever plan to stockpile gravel, lime, dirt, or any other aggregates the belly dump is a negative. I hear all the talk about dump trailers turning over, and we have been there ourselves. That being said, we've had our 22' dump trailer in about every imaginable situation and have yet to turn it over. The old story about turning over dump trailers doesn't seem to hold up to scrutiny when you're talking about 20-24' trailers. As for a belly dump........I would look closely at the welds in the upper front and rear corners of the box, the welds where the suspension is attached to the frame rails, and the area around the kingpin, including where the kingpin plate is welded to the frame rails. I would also look closely at the slopes that the gravel slides on for wear, if thin or worn through, they can be easily plated over. The air cylinders could possibly need rebuilding as well as the airlines going to them. I would look very closely at the suspension for bent or broken components from dragging over a large pile of product. Good shopping! | ||
DidSomeoneSayDonuts |
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waaaay east central Colorado | We use our belly dump to fill pivot tracks with rock. As mentioned above, you can adjust the opening width. For filling ruts, just set it narrow and adjust speed. It works best to have someone either walking or on a 4 wheeler beside to guide speed ;) We used to use it to transport manure over a distance. It worked well for that, but the payload wasn't as good as with our end dump. Belly dumps are definitely designed for gravel. Ours is air operated as well. Be warned, that big ol' tank that's on the trailer takes a while to pressurize. If there's no valve to isolate that tank, I recommend it. If you gotta fill that big tank before your brakes will release, you'll get tired of that real quick ;) That's all I can think of that hasn't been covered by earlier posters. Good luck. | ||
srsu99 |
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Central / West Texas | We have had one for at least 10 years, works well. The dumping around corners is kinda true, but we have never had a problem doing this. Ours is air ride. The old one was a challenger and spring ride and it would beat you to death when empty. The bags on the new one dump when you push the activate switch in the tractor. Man you would have to haul an awful lot of material to wear the sides out or some really abrasive stuff. Only problem I have with ours is that it will hold way more than you can legally haul. It could have been 2 feet shorter sides and still gross 80k. If you fill it full of a2 road base it will scale around 100k. | ||
srsu99 |
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Central / West Texas | On the air thing I usually start the tractor and then eat breakfast. By the time I am done the huge tank setting over the tandems is ready to go. lol | ||
Beefmn |
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Blue Earth, MN | But, it was operator error. Before buying one, operate the gates to check wear on pivot pins and bushings. Ensure the doors line up correctly when closing. If it has spring suspension, check the equalizers for wear. If it has a stinger on the back end, check the rear subframe for cracks or welds. I wouldn't be affraid to see welds and fish plates on an older trailer, just make sure repairs were "done right". Make sure the air dryer and oiler are present and functioning, if not replace them. It's not too hard to stock pile with one, can easily dump a pile about 20 feet long not much wider than than the wheels, then just push it up with a loader. Edited by Beefmn 1/31/2010 08:28 (90mack1a (Small).jpg) (90mack2a (Small).jpg) Attachments ---------------- 90mack1a (Small).jpg (70KB - 588 downloads) 90mack2a (Small).jpg (56KB - 536 downloads) | ||
play in the dirt |
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south central IOWA | Someone should have told that driver it was a belly dump and not a side dump!!! | ||
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