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New dump trailer

old-iron-habit

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Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
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Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
I'm looking to purchase a new bumper hitch dump trailer. Looking at 14', 14,000 lb to 17,500 lb. with 24" sides with skid steer ramps. I would love to here what's brands are failing and which are holding up and what's been failing on you guys. I also am interested in what you would have got or not got for accessories also. Thanks in advance.
 

moosefd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2010
Messages
50
Location
oklahome
I have a 2014 14 ft Load haul with a scissor lift that I have had about 6 months. I bought it used ,I think the guy that had it before me didn't do any maintenance to it. When I saw it I thought it was a diamond in the rough. There was no structural damage to it cleaned it up and put new tires on it. I also straightened out the roll over tarp which was all twisted and bent. All I can say is so far this thing has been great. I hauled some 3/4 gravel last week and one load was 6 plus tons I was worried it wouldn't .dump it but it did just fine
 

dist3

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Joined
Mar 23, 2008
Messages
110
Location
Connecticut
Occupation
Equipment Manager Enviromental and Site Contractor
I have a 2014 PJ lo profile. 14' with scissor hoist. No issues or complaints.
 

old-iron-habit

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
Occupation
Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
So far I am leaning toward the Midsota HV-14. It has a 8,000 lb axle option which gives it a 17,400 GVW. I like the sealed wiring harness that is still run inside the tubular frame. All connections out of the cord are shrink tubed and sealed. Some of the manufactures told me I don't need a sealed harness as they protect the wires with the frame. (southern manufactures that do not know what salted roads are like.) The Midsota comes with 16 ply, H rated 17.5 tires. They have a 7 gauge floor and choice of either 12" or 16" cross member spacing. They are pricing the 12" option for me. Every other new and used trailer I checked on had or comes with a 10 gauge floor. The two used ones I looked at were both bowed down between the cross members. Hard to find a used one. They are pretty handy so hardly any on the used market unless they are well abused. The Midsota HV is a bit more pricy. Around $10,000 with all the options I want, but the extra heavy duty and GVW should pay off for the extra $1,500 over the other brands optioned the same. It is also made in Avon, MN so the factory is within 150 miles from here and the people claim to understand what it takes for them to hold up to salt, ice, and snow conditions. Still talking to ABU in N,D, to. They make a great trailer, I have a 2006 ABU, 26,500 GVW tandem gooseneck, but the salesmen was not very enthused on talking about the larger axle option.
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,057
Location
Delton, Michigan
I guess I'm not much help since I just realized my dump trailers manufacturer is no longer in business. Ours is pushing 20 years old, and resembles it I suppose. It's a 6x12 low profile, 10k GVW. We bought it for the dual purpose of moving our skid steer and material. Neither of which is does excellent, but it's always gotten the job done.

Things to note when shopping: rear lights and how well they are protected. There isn't a single light that hasn't been smucked and replaced. All of ours hang out from the trailer and are vulnerable to everything from equipment related damage, lack of ground clearance or even a stray piece of debris falling over side of box while dumping.
Our floor is bowed between cross braces from hauling landscape rocks and concrete debris. The road salt has disintegrated our fenders, but the frame and body have faired very well. The less than ideal wiring on this trailer has led most of it to be replaced due to excessive corrosion.
If you tend to haul equipment on it a lot you'll probably wish you had bought a dedicated equipment trailer. The tailgate is a pain in the butt to remove by one guy for everything from loading /unloading equipment or to dump the load. It's pinned top and bottom for dumping, but it doesn't work anywhere close to how it should. Much easier to just pull it off. The pins holding the tailgate have all been replaced and are in need of repair again. The equipment ramps are side mounted and heavy as required which makes moving the skid steer way more complicated than it should be. Ours is electric over hydraulic dump, power up/power down. That was a mistake. Get gravity down if you can, save your batttery. Our charging system has never worked right, battery lasts about 4 dumps and then needs an overnight recharge by our battery charger. With the power down, if the battery is below a certain voltage, the dump bed stays up. Been caught in that situation before.

In all, I will keep this one and repair/maintain as necessary. It's about to head to the shop for some repairs/PM work and minor upgrades.

To buy another, I would be looking for what you are, and watching put for the flaws nine carries
 

old-iron-habit

Senior Member
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Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
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Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
Thanks colson04, you bring up a couple of good points that I had not thought about. I would have no need that I can think of for power down. I need to verify what it has. I did spec the onboard 110 volt charger. The dealer told me that I could expect 7 to 8 dumps on a full battery and he also said that the truck connector charging has never keep up well on any of the electric dumps trailers they sell. I believe that, as neither of my trucks do a decent job of charging my 5th wheel camper batteries when in tow. I need to look again at how the LED lights are protected. I like the rubber mounts in cans. I will have the ramps for equipment but I have 3 other equipment trailers up to 19 tons better suited for equipment moving. I wanted the equipment ramp and tie down option mostly for throwing one of the smaller antique Cats in the bed when I travel to shows and have the popup camper on the pickup.
 

colson04

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2016
Messages
2,057
Location
Delton, Michigan
We bought our trailer because it was the smallest , cheapest, new dump trailer that could haul our bobcat 753. Not a good purchasing plan. No attention was paid to the options it had or didn't. It had ramps, tie downs, sufficient size and enough GVW so it was bought. While it has certainly worked out and we won't get rid of it, I wouldn't do it the same way twice.
 

Junkyard

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
3,621
Location
Claremore, OK
Occupation
Field Mechanic
OIH I'm curious to see what you end up with. I'd like to have something similar myself. I may not go that big but learning what to look for is helpful!
 

1965IHdiesel

Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2016
Messages
15
Location
Under a shady oak tree
We have a 14' 14,000 lb load trail, nice trailer, got it in trade for a job we did. Don't use it a lot, but it is handy. It has a roll up tarp, which is nice, power up and down, which as mentioned above can get aggravating when the battery is low. I suppose maybe it is to pull it down if you still have weight to the back?
I dont like where they put the slots for the stake pockets, they are in line with the sides, so if you add an extra board, it either hangs inside or outside of the trailer wall. Not a big deal, but could have been thought through better IMO.

If I was to buy one new, I would probably get drop axles, because it's pretty tall with straight axles. Its nice to have the ground clearance when dumping, but kind of a pain when loading a machine. It has 6' ramps, and they could be longer. I don't load anything into it when its raining :)

It has a type of drop leg jack in the back you can use to support the back of the trailer since the ramps dont have legs, kinda nice i guess, but dont use them to much. It also has a three-way gate.
The heavier axles and 17.5 tires would be nice!
 

old-iron-habit

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
Occupation
Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
I ordered my dump trailer today. I ended up going with the Midsota HD. The dealer explained that the 8,000 lb. axle option raised the trailer bed from 24" to 28" as they are a straight axle instead of a drop. They also decrease the trailer width from 84" inside to 80" due to the big tires. That could be a show stopper for folks with big skid steers with wide buckets but will work fine for me. The 12" on center cross members was only a $120.00 add. The rear drop legs added $110.00. On board charger added $100.00. Caterpillar classic yellow paint at no extra charge. Other than that the rest was no charge. Just over $10,000 delivered to the dealer. Still got tax and registration. The brakes on the 8,000 axles are 1.5 times the size of the 7,000 lb axles. Lights are LED using a sealed wiring harness inside the tube frame, lights are rubber mounted in cans. As mentioned before the floor is 7 gauge, sides are ten gauge. Ramps are included in the base price. He had a couple on order for his stock so they were able to substitute mine for one of his spec'd ones so my delivery moved up from a 7 to 8 week lead time to be getting it around the 10th of May. I'll post pictures when I get it while it is still pretty.
 

Junkyard

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Jun 5, 2016
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Claremore, OK
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Field Mechanic
I'm anxious to see how it turns out. I'm in the market for one, your logical approach to the process may save me some time and a mistake or two!

Junkyard
 

barnbuilder

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Joined
Jul 6, 2014
Messages
134
Location
Waxhaw, NC
Can't wait to see some pictures and read your review. Looked at their website and have some nice trailers. So with the 8000lb option you have to drop to an 80" width? I have an 80" bucket so that won't work.
 

ericscher

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Joined
Sep 12, 2014
Messages
196
Location
Central Ohio
PJ builds a good trailer and has lots of upgrade options.

I would say that if you do nothing else, at least upgrade the axles to a heavier oil-bath Dexter with disk brakes. And buck up on the wheels/tires to make sure that when you are fully loaded you've still got 20% of the capacity left for whichever item is your weak link.
 

old-iron-habit

Senior Member
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Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
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Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
PJ builds a good trailer and has lots of upgrade options.

I would say that if you do nothing else, at least upgrade the axles to a heavier oil-bath Dexter with disk brakes. And buck up on the wheels/tires to make sure that when you are fully loaded you've still got 20% of the capacity left for whichever item is your weak link.

The dealer said that PJ did not offer a axle upgrade on there bumper pull 2 axle trailers. I have friends with PJs. Until recently they never painted the bottoms, rust is rampart here with the salt, many dogtracked. I do believe they are better now but they are not for me. My money will not go that route. I already got 17.5s with 16 ply tires and 8,000 axles ordered on my trailer. The dealer I ordered my Midkota from sells PJ also and had 20 of them on the lot and really wanted me to take one off his hands. Not comparable at all that I could see. The Midkota cost a bit more but is twice the trailer. Read the whole post and you will see the differences like the 7 Ga floor, 12" centers and 8,000 lb axles instead of 7,000. The PJ is 10 Ga and 16" centers only. Look at the tail light cans on both trailers and see which ones might stay on when bumped. And then the Midkota is built in Minnesota and I am all about buying a better trailer locally.
 

old-iron-habit

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Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
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Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
Got it a few days ago. Not been home since until now. I will take pictures today before I get it dirty. First (top priority) job is to get rotted manure dirt hauled from sister's farm to wife's garden. Will post pictures tonight. They also added the tarp mounts at no cost. Roll tarp if I want one can be stuck on in 15 minutes and costs $314.00. Not sure I need it but good to know I can add one easily anytime.
 
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