Fire Sale Dump Trailer

[665.0coupe]

Not that this will be a truly interesting build, but I figured I would post it since it's the ending for the remains of MattS Cummins that burned up. The fire story is discussed in Fire experts opinion needed thread.

I bought the frame, rear axle, and dump bed from xr-nut after he pulled the running gear for his square body Chevy build Pumpkin Spice.

The plan is pretty simple, pull the frame rails together and make a truck bed trailer with a dump body that I can use mainly for hauling firewood.

I didn't get a picture of it on the trailer, but here is where is has been sitting for a couple of weeks before I've had time to get started.

I started today by stripping the rest of the of the frame of the old wiring, brake lines, drive shaft, shocks, and a few brackets.
One of the things I don't like is how high the bed sits. The bed floor is 48 inches off the ground. The truck has 6 inch lift blocks that I assume are factory. I cut the u-bolts and took the blocks out. I'll go to town tomorrow and get new u-bolts made. Here is the new ride height and the pile of removed stuff.

I snagged an aluminum tool box off FB marketplace for $50 a couple weeks ago that will house the batter for the pump and maybe the pump. I'd like to keep the pump out of the tool box to I can put chains and straps and other stuff in there. But it may be the easiest place to put the pump. Lastly, here is where I left off tonight. I already have the pump, trailer wiring, hitch, jack, and battery cable stuff. Tomorrow I will get a battery and get the hitch welded on, wiring should go quick, and I'd like to get the pump mounted.

 

[ANGELO]

I have a dump bed f350 that's waiting to be made into a trailer. What size bed is that

 

[665.0coupe]

I have a dump bed f350 that's waiting to be made into a trailer. What size bed is that

It's 8 feet long. Not sure on the width.

 

[MattS]

Nice! That bed will dump a ton of weight! Glad it's going to end up getting used. Can't wait to see the finished product. There were brackets on the DS of the frame for a pump. That ginger must have taken them.

 

[Burns]

Excited to see where this goes

 

[665.0coupe]

Nice! That bed will dump a ton of weight! Glad it's going to end up getting used. Can't wait to see the finished product. There were brackets on the DS of the frame for a pump. That ginger must have taken them.

The pump I got has a 12 quart tank. After looking at the cylinder and seeing that it is a triple stage, I'm wondering if my pump will have enough volume. The brackets were still there. I assumed that's what they were for. I guess the old set up was alright, but I would be worried about stuff coming off the tires and hitting the pump.

The truck defiantly got used The frame is cracked behind the DS air bag, there are broken leaves on both sides, and the hitch has been overloaded a time or two. I may try and address the cracked frame, but the leaves will get run as they are. The hitch may get taken off to save weight.

Today I got the hitch and jack welded on and the tool box mounted. It's officially a trailer! It got to dark before I took a picture. I'll take one in the morning. There is a lot more room in the tool box than I thought. I think I can mount the battery and pump in the toolbox and still have room for straps and chains.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I can't believe how long you left the frame. You're gonna hate that every time you have to back around any sort of turn or corner.

 

[665.0coupe]

This is where I left off last night, after getting the hitch welded on and the tool box mounted.

I messed with the wiring a little today, but didn’t get a lot done.

I can't believe how long you left the frame. You're gonna hate that every time you have to back around any sort of turn or corner.

From the front of the tool box to the middle of the ball is 5’2”. It may be a little long, and if I don’t like it, I can cut it down more later. One of the reasons I cut it where I did is because the frame comes back up at that spot. That makes it easier to get the hitch a good height off the ground without having to add a bunch of structure.

 

[aczlan]

I would have probably put the jack in the middle, or at least on the inside of the frame just so it's less like to get swatted if you turn sharp.
Otherwise it looks good.

Aaron Z

 

[665.0coupe]

A couple weeks ago I got the pump and the battery mounted in the tool box. I ended up putting a couple pieces of 1x3 tube under the tool box because the aluminum floor was pretty flimsy. There is still plenty of room for straps and chains.



I need to get some hydraulic lines made but I wanted to go weigh the trailer first. Then I found out that the front wheels from the truck are different than the rear wheels. The rear wheels are coined and the front wheels are flat and have a smaller hub bore. Two of the rear tires were ruined in the fire and the fronts are still good.

This week I got the good tires swapped onto the rear rims and got the hydraulic hoses made. Took a couple hours this morning to get everything buttoned up, then towed it to the elevator to weigh it. According to their scale it’s 3400 pounds.

 

[Projectjunkie]

Is your ford an actual f350? Ttb or factory d60? I've never seen an f350 extra cab 4wd

 

[665.0coupe]

Is your ford an actual f350? Ttb or factory d60? I've never seen an f350 extra cab 4wd

It’s a TTB F250. These doors and fenders are in better shape than the originals.

 

[665.0coupe]

This weekend was the first use of the trailer. A buddy had a hackberry tree in his yard that he wanted gone. The first load was about 3000lbs according to the grain elevator scale. The trailer had no issues dumping the load. I did smash the new tail lights because the tailgate chains don’t have a way to hold the tailgate level with the bed when open. I thought this was something I could fix later, but I guess I need to fix it sooner.

 

[MattS]

If you put the chains like this it will keep the tailgate flat or close. They were marked with a paint pen on the right link. But I'm guessing that is long gone.

 

[665.0coupe]

If you put the chains like this it will keep the tailgate flat or close. They were marked with a paint pen on the right link. But I'm guessing that is long gone.

Hmm, maybe I didn't have the chain in the correct place. I tried that and it just wanted to go over center. I'm going to make some additional plates and weld them up at the top.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Why not just weld a tab on to protect the lights and keep the gate from getting hung up?

 

[chaplinfj60]

very cool bud... love it.

 

[aczlan]

Why not just weld a tab on to protect the lights and keep the gate from getting hung up?

Probably because after it takes the lights off, the tailgate will jam on the trailer hitch.
I might mount the lights between the frame rails just to protect them, will probably need corner markers on the bed and a set of triple lights in the middle (if the cops care about lighting out there).

Aaron Z

 

[arse_sidewards]

Probably because after it takes the lights off, the tailgate will jam on the trailer hitch.

I figured he was smart enough to solve both problems at once.

Just weld a pipe from the hitch to the frame or something.

 

[665.0coupe]

Why not just weld a tab on to protect the lights and keep the gate from getting hung up?

I'd like to have the additional chain points anyway. But it probably needs light protection also

Probably because after it takes the lights off, the tailgate will jam on the trailer hitch.
I might mount the lights between the frame rails just to protect them, will probably need corner markers on the bed and a set of triple lights in the middle (if the cops care about lighting out there).

Aaron Z

I'm not sure if it would jam against the hitch or not. It might hinge back to stay vertical and miss the hitch. Either way, I'd like to have it stay horizontal. This will stay mainly on the back roads, so I'm not to worried about it. There is plenty of sketchy farm use stuff around here that this is pretty normal.

I figured he was smart enough to solve both problems at once.

Just weld a pipe from the hitch to the frame or something.

I figured I was smart enough to not smash the lights in the first place, but here we are.

 

[MattS]

I figured I was smart enough to not smash the lights in the first place, but here we are.

How bad are they? I might have a set in the garage from when I did the same thing. But I hit them with the skid loader.

 

[665.0coupe]

How bad are they? I might have a set in the garage from when I did the same thing. But I hit them with the skid loader.

I took the others off and replaced them with LED trailer lights a couple weeks ago. That is what I smashed. They are completely destroyed. I’ll grab any set from vato-zone and get them replaced.

 

[MattS]

I took the others off and replaced them with LED trailer lights a couple weeks ago. That is what I smashed. They are completely destroyed. I’ll grab any set from vato-zone and get them replaced.

Gotcha. Between dumping material and backing into the pile and snow hitting it I think I put 2-3 sets on it.