ford33
Well-known member
You do excellent work. That trailer is awesome.
The fender design is nice too.
The fender design is nice too.
Roll Off Trailer Build
- Thread starter f150skidoo
- Start date
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
I did have some more spare time this past week so I have a ton of pictures to upload for you folks. I welded on some 3/16"x5" flat bar to the cross members then some 2"x2" square tube for the guides. I made the runners 3/4" wider then the rails on the roll off (3/8" per side). Since i'm building this trailer from no plans or even measurements off of production made roll off trucks, I'm essentially just (winging it). Its inevitable that their will be some design flaws. The roll offs rails never touched the ground and the tips were 4" from the ground. I thought this might of been a issue a while back but did'nt do anything about it, since theirs other roll off truck that their rails don't touch the ground and the bin just climbs up the rear rollers until it gets onto the rails. My issue was to get the bin climb up the rollers, I would have to do large angled front which would cause clearance issues with the front hooks. So the easiest, cheapest and the best solution for function was to lengthen the roll off frame. I welded on a piece of 2" square tube to the end of the frame and did multi pass welds then ground them flush so you can barely tell i stretched the rails. The tips of the rails are now only 1"-1.5" from the ground so the nose roller of the bin can easily climb the rails.
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
The other evening my cousin came over who works for a company that services and installs batteries on electric fork lift. He has all the tools for making battery cables, so he made me up the wiring for powering the winch, the cable he brought me is 5/8" in diameter. Next was to make up the nose roller mounts for the front of the bin. the mounts are all 1/4" plate and the roller is 2" 3/8" wall DOM tubing with a 1.25" pin that's been drilled for grease ways.
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
after I got the nose rollers all tacked up I wanted to test the setup on the trailer to make sure everything works before I weld it all up. It worked pretty good except for one minor issue which is when just the nose roller is on the rails and your on a bit of sideways angle the roller likes to slide sideways and jump off the rails. To resolve the issue I just added a piece of 1/4" flat bar to prevent the issue.
I took a quick video on my cell phone of the trailer in action. The video doesn't do it justice, so when the trailer and the bin 100% done I'm going to buy a GoPro (or a knock off) and Ill make a good video with multiple camera angles.
I took a quick video on my cell phone of the trailer in action. The video doesn't do it justice, so when the trailer and the bin 100% done I'm going to buy a GoPro (or a knock off) and Ill make a good video with multiple camera angles.
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zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I've said it before and I'll say it again, GREAT looking build.
xtremek
Well-known member
Really nice. 
Another question, if you don't mind. What did you you use for cross members under the bin? Is that what you'd use for my dump box?
Another question, if you don't mind. What did you you use for cross members under the bin? Is that what you'd use for my dump box?
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
That works really slick!
Man, that winch really hauls *** once the box is up on the rails.One word.
badass.
badass.
STClurker
Well-known member
looks cool, I am curious about a couple things, what is the working load limit of the cable on the winch? and how are you securing the bin to the trailer once it's on there? it looks like if the cable breaks the bin could possibly come off.
not knocking your project, just wondering
not knocking your project, just wondering
ford33
Well-known member
Very nice. You are a craftsman.
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
I've been extremely busy lately so I haven't had much time to work on the trailer. But this weekend I managed to completely finish the trailer (not including bin). It took me 3 days to wire the trailer but their are a lot of lights and brakes, as well as fishing all the wiring through the frames tube is a PITA. I ended up adding a tool box light that switched with the LED flood lights that's beside the winch. I also pulled the trailer on its maiden voyage and it pulls straight as a arrow. I was extremely curious on the trailers weight so I chained my hoist scale to my skid steers forks and lifted the trailer completely off of the ground and it weighed in at 2371 lbs.
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
I don't know what the working load limit is on the cable but its should be a minimum 1.5x the winches max pulling force of 12k lbs so probably be 18,000 lbs if not more. For securing the bins front nose roller locks into the 3/8" plate mounts on each side of the winch. On the rear of the bin there will be 2 pieces of 3/4" round bar that will hook into the hooks that are between the 2 rollers on the roll off frame. So their will be 4 points of contact that secure the bin to the trailer, as long as theirs a little bit of tension on the winch cable pulling the bin into the stops/locks it won't go anywhere.
one sweet trailer.
lilscorpion
Well-known member
That’s freakin awesome!!
Super job on the trailer.
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
It's a real beauty, nice work!
STClurker
Well-known member
please check into it, my wrecker has a 12k lb winch on it (as do most tow trucks), the wll on the cable is typically around 3500 to 4k lbs. to safely pull more that that a ****** block is used to double the capacity. also pulling up at the angle you look like you are plus the weight of the load can put a serious strain on a cable.
again, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence.... I just don't want to see anyone get hurt.
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
please check into it, my wrecker has a 12k lb winch on it (as do most tow trucks), the wll on the cable is typically around 3500 to 4k lbs. to safely pull more that that a ****** block is used to double the capacity. also pulling up at the angle you look like you are plus the weight of the load can put a serious strain on a cable.
again, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence.... I just don't want to see anyone get hurt.
I appreciate you enlightening me on this subject, I did some research and you are 100% right. You would assume the cables WLL should mach what the winches capacity is. Luckily I built the roll off with a tie down directly below the winch so I can easily use a ****** block. Since my winch holds 100 feet of 3/8" cable but I really only need 16 feet would it be worth taking off the existing cable and switching it with a shorter length of 7/16" or even 1/2" cable to increase my safety factor?
STClurker
Well-known member
I would, you get the most pull off the first layer anyway (5wrap minimum). Most flatbeds only have 50' of cable anyway. I don't believe a bigger cable would fit on the winch but I can't say that I've ever tried.
txvwnut
Well-known member
Witches are rated or setup for whatever diameter cable is currently on it. Leave the amount of cable that is on it, if you remove some cable the diameter will get smaller and slow the cable speed down. Not that it would be a big negative to you use but I’d still just leave it as is. If you get a fray then shorten the cable past the fray. Plus large diameter higher WLL cable will also need a bigger drum to go around as they won’t wrap to a small radius. Real rolloff trucks use a large diameter cable but is acuated by hydraulic cylinders in a block and tackle type setup with large radius sheaves.
Your trailer build is phenomenal for someone that says he’s never seen a rolloff.
Your trailer build is phenomenal for someone that says he’s never seen a rolloff.
STClurker
Well-known member
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
Finally got around finishing up the bin this weekend, First picture shows how the rear of the bin secures to the trailer. The last two dump trailers I built I wasn't crazy about their rear doors latch design since my first 5'x8' used spring latches which could auto latch if you swing the door around, but if their was a lot of pressure on the doors it was PITA to unlock the doors. My second trailer used a cam style trailer latch but it would freeze up in the winter so I would have to dump hot water on it to free it up. This bins latch can auto latch if you just swing the door around, but the latches long handle will make it easy to unlock with weight against the door. With the latch only having 1 moving part it shouldn't freeze up in the winter. Since the latch is lifting up on doors pin and the weight of the long handle is preventing it from releasing if you loose the safety pin the door will still remain locked. The bin weighed a bit more then I wanted, So the bin plus trailer is a hair over 3600 lbs so 6900 lbs payload. When I build the flat bed (won't be for a month or two) i'm really going to pay attention to its weight so hopefully it won't be more then 1000 lbs.
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
Ya I made one. I did have it in my previous version of my signature but I have to many "build threads" to keep all the links in my signature. I only link all the best builds in my signature.
6'x10' dump trailer build
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=364070
moab11
Well-known member
Looking good!
What is your plan for dumping the bin on the trailer? It looks like the rear frame rails will get in the way of whatever is getting dumped out the back of the bin.
Or is your plan to use the winch to slide the bin back first, then open the gate to dump the contents?
What is your plan for dumping the bin on the trailer? It looks like the rear frame rails will get in the way of whatever is getting dumped out the back of the bin.
Or is your plan to use the winch to slide the bin back first, then open the gate to dump the contents?
OOBER
Well-known member
Looks professional. Great build!
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
that's exactly what I plan on doing.
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
Finally got around to building the flat bed, The decks usable size is 92" wide and 13.5' long, when the bed is flat on the ground its 8" tall. The flooring is 2"x8" pressure treat, I made a small dog house in the front for clearance of the hook since the front of the bed stops within a inch of the winch.
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zmotorsports
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Trailer turned out great. I thought the dump box was awesome but I really like the flatbed and especially the ability to have either with one platform.
xtremek
Well-known member
I just did this on another thread, but it applies here as well.
C_F
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I just did this on another thread, but it applies here as well.
I'm gonna go with
to not overwork the bowing guy. 
OP
f150skidoo
Well-known member
The roll off setup is pretty damn handy, maybe a hooklift.....
Yeah it looks like it would be.
Design and build a leaf shredder, there's a guy in another thread that will but it!
Scotian55
New member
I realize this is an old thread, but i'll ask anyhow. I remember seeing your video on youtube some years ago and its since been stuck in the back off my head, as i appreciated the quality of work that had gone into it. Today i was interested in the subject of roll off trailers again and was lucky enough to stumble onto this forum to get a closer look at how you put the thing together. I've spent quite a bit of time pausing and zooming in on your video to get a better look. I opened this account so i can actually get a good look at your pictures.
So ill ask this: - How many hours do you have into this project?
- About how much $ did you spend on it?
-Is it worth building to replace the need for two trailers?
Ive the idea of building a goosneck set up with around a 20ft bed, 3 7K axles so i can comfortably haul equipment, and build the rails to the roll off industry standard. I have a small excavator i run on the side that the dump would be handy for, and like the idea of dumpsters as a more passive income. Also am always hauling equipment / steel / industrial tools.
Some tidy work for a bricklayer! haha
So ill ask this: - How many hours do you have into this project?
- About how much $ did you spend on it?
-Is it worth building to replace the need for two trailers?
Ive the idea of building a goosneck set up with around a 20ft bed, 3 7K axles so i can comfortably haul equipment, and build the rails to the roll off industry standard. I have a small excavator i run on the side that the dump would be handy for, and like the idea of dumpsters as a more passive income. Also am always hauling equipment / steel / industrial tools.
Some tidy work for a bricklayer! haha
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f150skidoo
Well-known member
Its been a while since I built the trailer but I spent several weeks in total building everything. I don't remember how much it cost me but I would guess it was $5-10k. A roll off trailer is worth it if you want to have multiple bins and have a HD truck to tow it around with. I ended up selling the trailer and went back to a flatbed and a dump trailer. The two reasons I sold the trailer was it was to heavy for my truck and in my province I had to get annual safety's on the truck and trailer which I didn't want to deal with for a trailer I only used a few times a year. The main thing I hated about a roll off was it was difficult to line the bin up to the trailer since you have multiple articulation points and you can't see the rails in your mirrors. If I were ever to build on again I would build a hook lift since you can still load them if your not aligned straight.
Scotian55
New member
Nice, thanks for your reply. Im with you on the hooklift. The only restriction i can see there is you would add a fair deal of weight with a hooklift system, which would cut into your payload. It may be negligible though, depending on how its constructed.
Its the same in my province in regards to the safeties, however they are due every two years. We also have to pay for tags every year, to the tune of 180$ for the weight class that i have to register it in. In Quebec they pay to register a similar trailer once and thats it... I like this idea as you only have one trailer to maintain and register.
If you are willing to share, how much did you get for the trailer when you sold it?