equipment/dump trailer

[Bob D.]

Looking for a trailer to haul my bobcat and i'm thinking of one of those low profile dump trailers. This would let me haul the machine and have something to haul bulk materials too. I've seen some side dumpers and also looked at one gooseneck dump trailer.

Interested in hearing pros and cons of a gooseneck. The one i'm considering is used but in very good condition and is about half the price of a new camline or ez-dumper with the same bed size. I'm not setup to pull this style trailer currently and wondering what it will cost to outfit my pickup.

[wbrooks]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

Bob, I don't have a goose neck but a friend does, loves it mostly for the style of camper.
The goose neck really buggers your ability to carry larger objects in your bed (sheet goods etc).

[ToUtahNow]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

My 40' Royal International was set up as a gooseneck or 5th wheel depending on what truck going was to pull it. It was like pulling a 20' pull trailer. My 26' equipment trailer was like pulling a 26' pull trailer. The disadvantage to a gooseneck is you can't borrow your wife's car to haul it. Go with the gooseneck.

Mark

[MR.FUDD]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

It depends a lot on how much use your p/u for other things that would require removing the gooseneck plate & if you want go through the hassle of removing it & installing it. We use ball mount for all our trailers, because we use F-450 dump flatbeds to move our equipment. We can haul the skidsteers on the trailer & the attchments on the truck. We use our dump trailers a lot to haul the trash away from our remodeling jobs. Trash haulers have gotten very expensive & this saves us a lot $$$$$. One thing to remember if your trailer is rated for more 10,000 lbs. you need a class B restricted or a class A CDL license to pull it legally even if you pull it with a p/u. DOT around here nails people all the time.

[Bob D.]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

It depends a lot on how much use your p/u for other things that would require removing the gooseneck plate & if you want go through the hassle of removing it & installing it. We use ball mount for all our trailers, because we use F-450 dump flatbeds to move our equipment. We can haul the skidsteers on the trailer & the attchments on the truck. We use our dump trailers a lot to haul the trash away from our remodeling jobs. Trash haulers have gotten very expensive & this saves us a lot $$$$$. One thing to remember if your trailer is rated for more 10,000 lbs. you need a class B restricted or a class A CDL license to pull it legally even if you pull it with a p/u. DOT around here nails people all the time.

Hadn't thought about the license issue, thanks for pointing that out. I drive truck many years ago (before there was a CDL requirement). In NJ you could (back then) drive anything up to 28000 LBs w/o air brakes IIRC on a regular drivers license. The rigs were had did not have air brakes, and they trucks were all tagged with farm tags since it was a farm operation so we did not fall under all the restrictions of commercial drivers. We hauled our own product and took it anywhere within 500 miles of home, so I did more than a few overnight trips.

I'll look up the licensing on the state website.

I do use my P/U bed often for hauling various things, many times sheet goods so the hitch would be a PITA there. Probably best to stick to a pull trailer for the number of times I foresee hauling the Bobcat around. My Dig-It backhoe is nice in that it is its own trailer. Just flip the tongue down; free-wheel the drive wheels; and away you go.

[DSurette]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

Back when I was thinking about getting a 5th wheel camper I found a couple of hitches that could be removed just by pulling four pins. I remember one was rated at 16000 lbs.

[SewerRat]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

Bob, if you have a chance to get a gooseneck for a good deal I wouldn't even consider getting a bumper pull trailer, especially for the weight you are considering hauling. In order for a pull trailer to pull correctly and safely you have to have the weight distributed correctly, with a little more weight ahead of the axles than behind. Most pull type dump trailers are in the 12' long range. I don't know what size skid you have but 12' doesn't give you much room to drive it forward or back to balance the weight. Now take into account the fact that a skid steer with an empty bucket and rear counterweight is very heavy in the rear. You could end up with a swaying nightmare, or turn the machine around and sag your truck to the stops. The difference in the balance issue is night and day with a gooseneck, because with the hitch being just ahead of the rear axle some of the tongue weight gets transferred to the front axle, instead of the bumper hitch tongue weight acting as a cantilever and actually taking weight off of the front axle.

As far as the ball hitch in the bed is concerned, that is an obsolete concern. We use the Turnover Ball from B & W Hitches and they work very well, the bed of the pickup is perfectly flat until you flip it up to tow something. Here's a link: B & W Trailer Hitches For clarification, I would bet that the gooseneck you are looking at has a 2 5/16" ball hitch coupler on the neck. Fifth wheel RV's use a 5th wheel type hitch that is more bulky and cumbersome to remove. I have not yet seen a gooseneck dump or flatbed with a 5th wheel style hitch, only RV's.

We have used and owned a lot of different trailers, including dump trailers, over the years, and given the choice you are faced with I wouldn't even look twice at a bumper pull.

[masterbeavis]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

Bob, if you have a chance to get a gooseneck for a good deal I wouldn't even consider getting a bumper pull trailer, especially for the weight you are considering hauling. In order for a pull trailer to pull correctly and safely you have to have the weight distributed correctly, with a little more weight ahead of the axles than behind. Most pull type dump trailers are in the 12' long range. I don't know what size skid you have but 12' doesn't give you much room to drive it forward or back to balance the weight. Now take into account the fact that a skid steer with an empty bucket and rear counterweight is very heavy in the rear. You could end up with a swaying nightmare, or turn the machine around and sag your truck to the stops. The difference in the balance issue is night and day with a gooseneck, because with the hitch being just ahead of the rear axle some of the tongue weight gets transferred to the front axle, instead of the bumper hitch tongue weight acting as a cantilever and actually taking weight off of the front axle.

As far as the ball hitch in the bed is concerned, that is an obsolete concern. We use the Turnover Ball from B & W Hitches and they work very well, the bed of the pickup is perfectly flat until you flip it up to tow something. Here's a link: B & W Trailer Hitches For clarification, I would bet that the gooseneck you are looking at has a 2 5/16" ball hitch coupler on the neck. Fifth wheel RV's use a 5th wheel type hitch that is more bulky and cumbersome to remove. I have not yet seen a gooseneck dump or flatbed with a 5th wheel style hitch, only RV's.

We have used and owned a lot of different trailers, including dump trailers, over the years, and given the choice you are faced with I wouldn't even look twice at a bumper pull.

Turnover ball FTW! All of my trucks are set up for gooseneck towing, but I don't have a gooseneck. For some reason Gooseneck trailers are 3x the cost of bumper pulls. I have seen Gooseneck trailers turned around on a single lane road! If I were to try that with my bumper pull trailer, I would be making a 20pt turn down somebodys driveway.

[barronnixon65]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

Looks like there's a lot of suggestions and opinions here about heavy hauling. I think I can use these suggestions for carrying my vehicle next month.

[alanmurfee]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

I don’t know about a gooseneck, but I will advise you to use the MAXUM Low Profile Dump Trailer. This is best to transport gravel or lumber for a new deck, or haul away brush from the hedge row you cut down.

[Bob D.]

Re: equipment/dump trailer

Bob, if you have a chance to get a gooseneck for a good deal I wouldn't even consider getting a bumper pull trailer, especially for the weight you are considering hauling. In order for a pull trailer to pull correctly and safely you have to have the weight distributed correctly, with a little more weight ahead of the axles than behind. Most pull type dump trailers are in the 12' long range. I don't know what size skid you have but 12' doesn't give you much room to drive it forward or back to balance the weight. Now take into account the fact that a skid steer with an empty bucket and rear counterweight is very heavy in the rear. You could end up with a swaying nightmare, or turn the machine around and sag your truck to the stops. The difference in the balance issue is night and day with a gooseneck, because with the hitch being just ahead of the rear axle some of the tongue weight gets transferred to the front axle, instead of the bumper hitch tongue weight acting as a cantilever and actually taking weight off of the front axle.

As far as the ball hitch in the bed is concerned, that is an obsolete concern. We use the Turnover Ball from B & W Hitches and they work very well, the bed of the pickup is perfectly flat until you flip it up to tow something. Here's a link: B & W Trailer Hitches For clarification, I would bet that the gooseneck you are looking at has a 2 5/16" ball hitch coupler on the neck. Fifth wheel RV's use a 5th wheel type hitch that is more bulky and cumbersome to remove. I have not yet seen a gooseneck dump or flatbed with a 5th wheel style hitch, only RV's.

We have used and owned a lot of different trailers, including dump trailers, over the years, and given the choice you are faced with I wouldn't even look twice at a bumper pull.

If I had bought this trailer after my last truck purchase, instead of 2 years before, I would have looked hard at a GN. I should have ordered the pickup with the GN hitch installed, Ford has a nice factory installed unit and it wasn't that much more to add it into the whole package. But once I had ordered it was too late, I was told they would have to order a whole new truck and couldn't caqncel the first one. This made no sense to me as it was only two days later and no way had they even got close to getting the parts lined up in the supply system to build my truck. And sure enough when it came in so did the first truck, which sat on their lot for about 2 months before some one bought it. Anyway, next truck (which is years away if ever), I'll get the GN hitch from the factory when I order my next truck and then look at switching my trailers over as money allows. I figure I'll only buy one more truck before I'm outta here, if that. This one might last me till the end.