Anyone using an aluminum dump trailer?

Treetopflyer said:
I just bought this 16 foot bwise
It’s rolls our Avant and sg40 down the road mostly and doubles for hauling excess wood sometimes or clean up /stump mulch. It weighs 4100 pounds empty and is 15k gvwr
I take the trailer off and on trucks all the time
It jumps on a log truck a crane truck a tow rig multiple time a day sometimes so I went with that power jack and that’s money well spent right there!! Whatever trailer you get I highly recommend it! That’s all I wanted to say about that go for hydro jack for sure! View attachment 97144
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I like the manual jack because when it's -10°f it warms you up
 
evo said:
I have an aluminum dump insert a custom made thing by a boat builder for a farmer. It was made for an f series pu and it works great. Built well with 1/4” thickness plate.
Thinking critically the two complaints are it flexes more than steel would, or I’d say ‘differently’. Have to take the tail gate off to dump and the flex makes this nearly impossible with heavy loads. Same in reverse.
It needs more thickness and gussets to get the same strength and durability as steel.
I rarely haul logs with it but I wouldn’t hesitate doing so. I wouldn’t want to drop logs into it though as it’s going to crack welds before it’s going to bend.
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If you saw my 20 year old dump insert it would make you even more grateful for your aluminum unit. 15 years on the coast now and it has rusted through 1/8" and 3/16" plate all over the place. Not really serviceable for heavy work anymore, looks bad.
 
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Merle Nelson said:
If you saw my 20 year old dump insert it would make you even more grateful for your aluminum unit. 15 years on the coast now and it has rusted through 1/8" and 3/16" plate all over the place. Not really serviceable for heavy work anymore, looks bad.
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I actually love mine, it’s really well thought out and made for the most part. The only three complaints are:
the tail gate hinge is on the top, so flappy style. To effectively dump anything you have to remove the tailgate. Which is kinda no big deal except for the lateral flex which can make it nearly impossible but doable to a stubborn tree worker.
The perimeter is all welded round tubing and only allows for 5/8ths ish plywood or sideboards. Which makes building a box questionable and a wiggly attachment.
That and the flex.

Where its amazing is:
It’s a dual ram vs scissor so it only sits 4” off the bed, the rams nest over the wheel wells. Which keeps the load low on the bed with minimal loss of volume.
The rams and hinge are pins with cotters, so 4 pins out and the main body can be removed by a stubborn tree worker solo without equipment. Just leaves the hydraulics and hinge bracket bolted to the bed.
It’s alum! I’m guessing it’s about 300/350 lbs for the insert - hydraulics hinges etc so it’s not like a constant 800/900# empty dead weight.
So works well in my f-250.
I’ve hauled 4000 lbs of rock and it still easily dumped.

One con is it’s so light sometimes with gravity down rams it requires a little manual push.
That and the switch wasn’t water tight and I was going down the road and saw the dump raise on the highway! So I rewired that, with a trailer plug and 3 way.
 
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