Unloading a Utility Trailer

[lzicc]

I have a 8' x 10' utility trailer. I am trying to find a way to unload loose material easily from it. I have a fairly large Kubota tractor and thought about trying this. Put 2 wood pallets on the floor of the trailer and connect a heavy rope to it. Get my loose material loaded, (limestone is what I need) bring it home, attach the rope to the tractor and pull the pallet out from the back which would pull the loose material. Any thoughts if this would work? We would be talking 2 ton of material.

 

[p_mori7]

Could you chain the tongue of your trailer to the loader bucket of your tractor, then lift the tongue to dump out the material ?

 

[rslaback]

Have you considered a loadhandler? I have one for my truck and it works slick. I know guys also use them on their trailers. Check their photo gallery.

 

[KEH]

Lot of possible varibles here. Are you going to be hauling bags of lime? If so, I assume you want to place the pallet of bags somewhere for temporary storage, other wise if you are going to immediately use the stuff it would be better to drive the trailer to the job sit and unload as needed to apply. Easier to unload from trailer rather than lift from the ground.

You will have to have a pallet or pallets at the front of the trailer or you will not have enough weight on the tongue. I assume you have thought of that and plan to drag the pallets to the back to unload. That's fine, but can you fasten the rope to the pallets in such a way that you don't tear up the pallet when dragging? What happens when you have one heavy pallet at the back of the trailer? The load will try to lift the tongue and may, depending on the load, pick up the back of the truck. A solution to that is to have jackstands or blocks under the back of the trailer at each side.

Another issue is what happens when you drag the load off and the pallet hits the ground. I think a heavy load will break the pallet.

Going back to having the pallet at the back of the trailer and the trailer supported properly. There are 3ph implements made with forks to handle large round bales of hay. Possibly the forks are the proper spacing to lift a pallet and they are not too expensive. You will have to find out how much the 3ph hitch on your Kubota will pick up and determine if it will raise high enough to lift the pallet.

Hope this helps.

KEH

 

[Blk88GT]

If you do what you're suggesting, make sure the tow vehicle has someone in it with their foot on the brake and out of park!

 

[lzicc]

I thought about lifting the trailer by the tongue but worry about doing damage to the trailer. I would leave the trailer connected to the truck to hold it in place. The pallets would be in the front of the trailer, I just don't how it will work. I would like to use a heavy tarp, but it would probably just rip.

 

[ydna]

I've dragged tarps out of my trailer before to achieve what you are trying. Have to be careful not to destroy the tarp though. Or your transmission if you just leave it in park. Need to put the brakes on I would think.

 

[jimindm]

Make sure the floor of the trailer is smooth. Install a peice of plywood if you have to. Buy commercial chain link fence, it is heavier gauge. Lay it in the bottom, and leave enough that it will go to the front of the trailer, up and over the top of the load. Make something similar to a fence stretcher, that will let you pull the load across the whole width of the fence. Attach that at both ends and pull it out.

 

[Kevin54]

Find someone with a small dump (1 ton contractors dump) and have them bring it and dump it where it is needed. Or hire a couple of neighborhood kids to unload it for some coin.

 

[gayler]

I work at a landfill and pallets at the front with a chain works great, but have someone hold a foot on the breaks. Lifting the front of the trailer with a loader works well also, but be carefull because chains can come unhooked. As long as the trailer lights and tag are not at the very back of the trailer it should be ok.

 

[Lippyp]

When you say loose do you mean proper loose as in dumped into the trailer from a bucket or in those big ton bags? If its ton bags then you should be able to drag them out with the tractor, if its loose I second the idea of lining it with a big hefty tarp, and then dragging that out, failing that buy a front end loader for your tractor and scoop it out with that. TBH two wons isn't that much to shft with a shovel, I unloade a ton of sand/gravel mix over at my holiday home this summer for a job I was doing and it took two of us about 15 minutes to shovel it out of the trailer, helps if you back it up to where you want it and then raise the front of the trailer with the jockey wheel and then just kind of push/shovel it off the back.

 

[GoodoleBoy]

Could you chain the tongue of your trailer to the loader bucket of your tractor, then lift the tongue to dump out the material ?

Bad idea unless reinforced ive bent one doing that with dirt on a 5x8.

 

[Dustball]

Just a thought-

How about cutting a piece of 6 or 8 inch PVC pipe in half lengthwise that is the same width as the back of the trailer. Attach a half piece to the back of the trailer to serve as a smooth corner.

Lay down a tarp long enough to cover the bed plus be able to reach the tires when wrapped around the back of the trailer (over the PVC half pipe) and then under the trailer.

When you're ready to unload, stick the tarp out over the back of the trailer and up to the trailer tires. Back up the trailer and the tires will go over the tarp and start to pull on the tarp. It's similar to the Loadhandler idea but using the trailer tires instead.