Deckover dump trailers - Any experience

[Crusarius]

That is a good point. its a quick easy way to lay down a really nice finish. Painting you need someone skilled with a paint gun. Otherwise it looks like poo.

[Gary_C]

I have dealt with many paint experts from every large paint company and for steel products the story on painting is the same from all of them. Put your money and effort into prep and primer. That generally means sand/bead blasting to bare metal, apply a very good zinc rich epoxy primer and then top coat with the color of your choice. Leave no gaps in the final film.

Also part of the problem is proper design. If the manufacturer overlaps two pieces of metal and then bolts or tack welds together, moisture is going to wick under that joint and destroy the joint. Painting before assembly is preferred for those joints but not possible if welded. Dump doors on trailers are particularly bad where you have a frame of steel with a flat plate welded over. 

[moodnacreek]

If you keep stuff like I do powder coat is not an option because you can not work with it. Where the rust has not run under it yet it will not come off like paint will.  Permit me to blow my own horn; I did autobody work from my teens until 1999 when I went sawmill full time. I have 3 small trucks on the road: 1971 f350, 1991 f350 and 1992 ranger. Doing your own body/paint work on the same vehicles for 30 years and more in a salt state will teach you what lasts and what does not.

[Crusarius]

My dad had a 72 blazer he did all that to. It lasted as a plow truck That truck lasted 30 years. It was a sad day when it finally disintegrated beyond repair.

[flyboy16101]

About 2 years ago I bought an Appalachian 14,000 gvrw, bumper pull, deck over dump for the same reasons you are looking at and I have been very happy with it. Instead of fold down sides they build theirs with wooden removable stake sides which has made strapping things down a lot easier. I had it custom built at 16' long instead of the standard 14'. The only real issue I have is that the axles are further back than I usually like and it makes the trailer very easy to over load the tongue, I can't back my skid steer on it has to be pulled on because of this. A friend of mine recently ordered a Diamond C low profile dump in 16' and has the same tongue heavy issues, so I guess that's something you have to live with for the length.

I choose the make I did because I did not want powder coat, I have owed an equipment trailer and a dump trailer that had it, as well as having friends who have had almost every major make of trailer and none of the powder coat has lasted more than 2 or 3 years. Like others have said they just aren't doing the prep work right. The areas it dose stick though it really sticks to the point that most sand blasters have issues removing it and it makes it almost impossible to do a decent job repainting one.

Like others have said it is a little nerve racking to load and unload equipment on. I have the 8' slide in ramps which help but not much I would not use shorter ramps. I also added two removable side wind jacks to the rear as stabilizers for loading equipment. I would prefer to have the low profile dump but it would be very impractical for loading bigger logs as I would either have to sling them in or let them slam in which I don't like to do. I also par-buckle a lot of bigger logs which is nice with the deckover. The final modification I made to it was to make the rear corners/ tail gate removable to make it easier to load and haul logs, this was an option from the factory but i was too cheap to pay for it at the time and didn't think I would need it, I was wrong. I ended up needing to hang 6+ inches over the back because of the tongue weight issue when hauling 12' logs.


 

 

 

 

 

 

[barbender]

I like that trailer, I've thought of just pulling the sides off mine and setting it up the same way.

[moodnacreek]

If you use forks, your trailer and truck sides need to come off.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Sides are wooden and come off of mine. I also have a set of log stakes that drop in the pockets when hauling logs so I can load with forks or the grapple bucket easily.

[Sedgehammer]

That's why I built a beaver on my over axle dump . I've loaded my 970 bobcat (11K) many times with no issues and my ramps are only 4' long

I am thinking of making the side fold down . I think i'll make them electric/hydraulic to make it easier

The electric brakes on mine work great . Stopped my heaviest load to date (28k) down a steep incline to a stop sign



 

[barbender]

Dang, Sedge! That's quite the unit!👍👍

[Southside]

Guy showed up today with a brand new 18' Diamond C gooseneck. Dang impressive trailer. Haven't scaled it yet but he had in the neighborhood of 1,500 - 2,000 BF of White Oak logs on it. She wouldn't dump until I removed one but it wasn't creaking either. 

[Walnut Beast]

They offer and he

 

 probably didn't have the 8" three stage telescopic option with the 13hp Honda motor. They mount it on the front also on different models