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Iron Bull trailer comments?

Wades_76_cj7

Wades_76_cj7

RZR guy, NO I am not gay..
Joined
Jun 13, 2020
Member Number
1987
Messages
1,169
Loc
KC MO
Looking at buying a new Iron Bull 14k dump trailer for my side gig. Anyone have any experience with them? Good or bad? I would like to go with a gooseneck 14k but it just isn't in the budget. It will get used for compost, bulk mulch, junk and brush removal. I am not going to deal with hauling gravel since it's just not economical with a dump trailer unless it's decorative rock or for personal use.

Link to the model I am looking at: Iron Bull 14,000 lb Equipment Trailer
 
Looks nice, that's one of the better brands if I recall correctly...

I really liked the diamond C tailers I've seen.

Im not sure if you're willing to travel to get it, but it seems the best prices are in north Texas and west Texas, I went with "thetrailerguys" and couldn't have been happier
 
My buddy has a 14k iron bull he got for cheap because a tree fell on it, he's been moving 20k+ lbs loads of dirt around his property with no issues.

He was working at a trailer repair place and he said iron bull, maxxd, Lamar and diamond c were the best. I like the rail design on the Lamar and maxxd the best.

I had a maxxd 14k 14' I got on sale for $7500 with every option. I don't think you can go wrong with that.



The iron bull is a different design and much lower.

Stay away from PJ and load trail, imo.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
The iron bull is a different design and much lower.

Stay away from PJ and load trail, imo.
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I actually went to this dealer to look at a 14k gooseneck PJ for $12.6. The welds that showed on the PJ when standing by it weren't terrible but the bed was up and I poked my head under to look at the welds and they were terrible underneath. :shaking:

The Iron Bull they had next to it was 14k bumper pull and they are $11k. Comes with the tarp kit for that price. The Iron Bull has a 7ga floor as well. Seems everyone else is 10-12ga floor unless you option it as 7ga. Welds on the IB looked much nicer and the mega toolbox it had was really nice. divider inside to keep chains and straps from banging against your pump and battery also.
 
Ive handled a couple. Dont look much different than anyother production trailer. I assume they were just labeled different.

Not bad or lacking by anymeans.
 
They seem to be nicely thought out. It was my #2 choice when I was looking at a "car" trailer
 
Weird.

I looked at one before getting my maxxd, it was a 16k, 17.5s, hydraulic jack, ect, so was almost double the sticker price of mine on sale. They use a 7g floor and have the boxed top rail. I didn't look too close beyond that. The local rental guy likes them.
 
Check with C&M Farms Trailers in Higginsville. They constantly have people coming to them to buy trailers because they apparently beat prices all over the place. IB is a brand they sell.
 
In order from best to shit:

-Diamond C
-Delco
-everything else
-Load trail

Texas pride use to be the best bang for the buck, but dont expect anything fancy. Tiger is garbage.
 
JNHEscher said:
Check with C&M Farms Trailers in Higginsville. They constantly have people coming to them to buy trailers because they apparently beat prices all over the place. IB is a brand they sell.
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that is actually where I looked at the PJ and Iron Bull. :beer:


Iron Bull is def a frontrunner right now.

I also found a Maxx D gooseneck on FB. looks like a 2021 14k. It has 3' sides though. Not a deal breaker but if I am loading crap with my tractor it's a little harder to see over the taller sides. Easier for me to overload as well. Although from what I am reading on Maxx D website they use a 6" cylinder on their hoist with 17k capacity vs everyone else's 5" cylinder bore.

The gooseneck will be a little more money but it will handle being loaded heavy and turn much shorter if needed.
 
Depending on dot situation gooseneck may make you stand out to them as all are over 10k.
 
Projectjunkie said:
Huh, Lamar seemed to be the lightest duty pos from the bunch, and maxxd top shelf, worlds apart from what I've seen
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yeh, When i looked at lamar....they painted a car trailer that had removable fenders.....with the fenders on, then took them off to ship.....to PA, in winter time....needless to say there was flash rust anywhere that was touching.
 
Texas pride is fine from what I've heard, but they make their own axles, which can kinda screw you if you need parts.

I kinda wish I had gone gooseneck. Would have been nice for hauling heavy shit like big skid steers. Makes it harder for everyone to ask about borrowing it too :laughing:

I don't know what to say about Lamar, I have heard a few people say they were one of the best. Although any new trailer I've looked at is kinda shit when you really pick it apart. Same thing my buddy says who works on them all day. You just have to pick the lesser of the shit :laughing:

I've also noticed that they all really cut corners on a basic 16' 7k car hauler. Most don't even paint the bottom at all then just pierce holes in the frame with a torch for wiring. :homer:
 
Been looking hard at that MaxxD gooseneck. Will probably go look tomorrow or Friday after work. it's 2 hours away.
 
The Maxx D sold about thirty minutes before I left the house to go look at it. Oh well.

I ended up buying the Iron Bull trailer that I initially asked about. Pulls great so far empty. Hoping to get some work for it this weekend. Little brother says he needs some river rock hauled in for his landscaping and he's a lazy fucker with a good job. Lol

Posts are worthless without pics so here's the obligatory Walmart pic under the lights. :flipoff2:
IMG_20220304_191947234.jpg
 
Took it to the local diy bulk soil/mulch/gravel yard today to get some gravel for my driveway. Local quarries aren't open on weekends so I paid dearly. Was supposed to be roughly 5 ton, 5-6' wide loader bucket scoops. Drove home with it, it was def heavy but never crossed scales so no idea how much #. Hit the button in the driveway and it won't lift it. Uh oh. :laughing:

Thankfully I was at home and not on a paying job. That would have sucked. I helped lift with the tractor loader and it went on up. By my math that trailer will hold just over 7 yards. I figure I had about 5 yards on it. It was 3/4" minus. Whatever is called. AB3?
IMG_20220305_135533224.jpg
 
The surprising it didn't lift. That might be over 6 tons, but not much, looks dry.

My buddy and I have probably put over 10 tons moving wet clay in his 12' iron bull around his property and it always dumped.

Check the battery voltage. It may have been down and the charging through the plug isn't much.
 
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I'm not surprised it didn't lift. Most won't unless the load is over the back axle. What type lift does your IB have? I'm guessing scissor. I used to rent a PJ 14K GN with a scissor lift. Any load near its 5 ton capacity that wasn't sitting on the back axle wouldn't lift. Some guys rig a high lift jack to get the first foot or so then it will lift with a rated load.

Texas Pride has a great youtube video on lift types that is worth watching. I chose the end dump based off their video. I can put some useable pin weight on the truck now and it will still dump.

I have heard good things about the IB trailers.
 
I was a little disappointed it didn't lift it easy but it was pretty full. I think if it had been more towards the rear over the axles.
 
Looking at some references for the KC area plus it being 3/4 minus (more fines pack/fill more) puts it at more like 1.4-1.6 tons per yard. So could have been 7-8 tons of material.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Read my post, I think you need to check everything out. Your load looks mostly rearward also.

I doubt you were near 16k lbs of rock, even if it was wet.
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The battery voltage was not 100%. The pump was whining but I couldn't tell if it went into bypass or just stalled.. It did sound different than when I hit the down button. I left it on the charger all day after and overnight tonight. I thought it would charge more thru the truck charge circuit but it doesn't seem to charge much at all.

That said I want to add a solar trickle charger so I don't have to keep it plugged in. It has an onboard 5A trickle but I don't always have 120v power close by.

Any recommendations on solar trickle chargers? I was gonna double side tape the solar panel to the toolbox lid so it would most likely be in the direct sun.
 
They won’t haul gravel . I’ve used one of those trailers 1000s of times on tree jobs and rental/construction over the last 8-10 years they absolutely can’t handle gravel and it is way too much for them . Also , those back doors that swing out like that have a learning curve be very careful they love to fall down when you’re unloading and if you don’t keep a real close eye when it does by the time you see it you’ll have ripped a hinge off one of the doors . I wish I’d seen this sooner there’s a newer rear door design that’s a lot handier I’ve welded on more of those back hinges than I care to admit . The other style flips up over out of the way but it won’t work if you’re loading tree stumps etc in there as it won’t clear the back unless it’s the swing out style . They’re handy as hell and wonderful for hauling a skid steer or mid size tractor around but can be tricky loading and unloading .
 
Wades_76_cj7 said:
The battery voltage was not 100%. The pump was whining but I couldn't tell if it went into bypass or just stalled.. It did sound different than when I hit the down button. I left it on the charger all day after and overnight tonight. I thought it would charge more thru the truck charge circuit but it doesn't seem to charge much at all.

That said I want to add a solar trickle charger so I don't have to keep it plugged in. It has an onboard 5A trickle but I don't always have 120v power close by.

Any recommendations on solar trickle chargers? I was gonna double side tape the solar panel to the toolbox lid so it would most likely be in the direct sun.
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I don't know, my maxxd came with a solar panel :flipoff2:

Just Google trailer battery solor panel, I can't imagine they're too different. I want to add one to my tilt also.

Leadfoot21 said:
They won’t haul gravel . I’ve used one of those trailers 1000s of times on tree jobs and rental/construction over the last 8-10 years they absolutely can’t handle gravel and it is way too much for them . Also , those back doors that swing out like that have a learning curve be very careful they love to fall down when you’re unloading and if you don’t keep a real close eye when it does by the time you see it you’ll have ripped a hinge off one of the doors . I wish I’d seen this sooner there’s a newer rear door design that’s a lot handier I’ve welded on more of those back hinges than I care to admit . The other style flips up over out of the way but it won’t work if you’re loading tree stumps etc in there as it won’t clear the back unless it’s the swing out style . They’re handy as hell and wonderful for hauling a skid steer or mid size tractor around but can be tricky loading and unloading .
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They will haul gravel fine if your expectations are realistic. You can only really put usually 3 or 4 yards in. If you need more than 1 or 2 loads, it usually makes more sense to just call a dump truck.

This was my load, stuff wasn't too wet. My buddy did dozens more that were wet as shit an had it spilling over on all sides.

Wasn't happy but dumped.

20210803_103119.jpg


Dirt is heavier than most rock btw.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
I don't know, my maxxd came with a solar panel :flipoff2:

Just Google trailer battery solor panel, I can't imagine they're too different. I want to add one to my tilt also.



They will haul gravel fine if your expectations are realistic. You can only really put usually 3 or 4 yards in. If you need more than 1 or 2 loads, it usually makes more sense to just call a dump truck.

This was my load, stuff wasn't too wet. My buddy did dozens more that were wet as shit an had it spilling over on all sides.

Wasn't happy but dumped.

20210803_103119.jpg


Dirt is heavier than most rock btw.
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Yeah so they can’t possibly be profitable loads or expected to haul gravel that would be worth the time or effort and it is very hard on the trailer . So I wouldn’t waste my time trying unless it’s exactly what you mentioned , personal use . When I can have 17 yards hauled by a dump truck for a small fee on top of fuel costs with something much more suited for the job it just doesn’t make sense. And besides that
, sometimes 17 yards doesn’t go very far 3-4 yards is kind of a joke when the nearest quarry is a 30-40 minute drive one way you have an entire day wrapped up in what a dump will do in one trip . After a couple times doing it we never did it again . When you live in a rural community and 3-4 of your friends/acquaintances haul rock for a living it would be pretty silly if you know how little you make per load on a full 15-17 yard run .
 
More often than not this will get used for dirt, mulch, brush, junk removal, decorative rock.

I agree it just doesn't make sense to haul gravel in a dump trailer unless it's personal use and you don't need much. A ten wheeler is much more economical per ton.
 
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