Just purchased a tri axle dump. It has a new steel bed and they forgot to put banjo eyes and chains on the tailgate. What size do you recommend. 5/16 or 3/8? Has anyone put them at the top also so that the tailgate can lay down when hauling brush or stumps? I thought it would be a good idea to have two at the top and two at the bottom.. WS
I don't think I've ever seen that. I think trying to dump stumps over a laid down tri-axle tailgate is just asking for trouble. That's what barn doors are for...
^^^this... stumps tend to get hung up in the chain and its not good when this happens...
Howdy WScott.It can be done with one length of chain on each side of the bed.I used 3/8 chain on my dump trailer.The second pic is the top hinge.Third is the bottom hinge.It works pretty good.It's a 1961 20 foot Trailmobile dump trailer.It's hauled everything from corn,soybeans,wheat,dirt,stone,demolition debries,trees&stumps .Good luck with it WScott
Have you ever considered an automatic tailgate? Recently on a demolition project I've been working on a subcontractor brought a tandem with an extended frame and box with a tailgate that uses either hydraulics or air to raise the tailgate above the sides of the box. This way you don't have to worry about something falling out of the box on top of you when you go to open the barn doors. Here's something similar to what I'm talking about hope it helps. http://valew.com/images/dumptrucks/High Lift Gate.jpg
stumps would get hung in that too...
i would just take the tailgate off but that is dangerous or convert it to a barn dor when i clear land i just take the tail gate off of my single axle and load it so that nothing will fall out
I've been hauling stumps, logs and limbs all mixed together in my single axle for the last week, just folded the tailgate down and away it went... there is a chance that you could have a stump snag on the gate chain, but it hasn't happened to me yet. I thought about taking the gate off, but it makes hauling a tree top more difficult.
I have 2 dump trailers with conventional gates, 2 dump trailers with barn doors, 1 dump trailer with a high-lift gate, and 1 tandem dump truck setup just like Td25c's. For off-road or very short distance debris hauls I prefer the convertible gate setup even though once or twice in every hundred loads something will hang in the chains. It adds 5 feet of bed length and can be set with a little up-angle. The high-lift was a great disappointment. You have to be careful how you load it and that things don't pile up when you dump or they will catch in the gate and it is usually much harder to dislodge than from the chains. The barn doors are best for on highway debris haul but aggravating for sand and gravel
The setup TD25 shows was the standard deal for years around here. We hauled lots of stumps that way. The tailgate itself has to be very strong or you are sure to bend it. Anymore, running with the tailgate laying down will be an instant stop by a cop so we just don't do it anymore. We are required to have a closed back end on the dump.
That's why we only use the gate laying down off-road or on very short hauls. That bed was built in 1977 so it's not really old.
lifts like this are seemingly standard for silage trucks around here, but recently I saw a truck with the same sort of set up hauling brush, only thing was, the lift was setup so that it raised about 6 feet above the bed. granted you have to be carefull about the way you load, but the extra clearance he had was way better than the gate shown here. I believe in the Ag section of the forum there are some pictures of this sort of end gate as well.
DOT here doesn't allow you to run with NO tailgate or with it down... Unless your a state DOT dump truck... still can't figure that one out...
Same here in SC; I guess they figure they don't do enough work to worry about My highlift tailgate goes up 4.5 ' but things will still turn over as they slide out orwhen it starts to pile up. The highlift works much better than a conventional gate for debris and is practical for on highway use which the dropped gate is not. The primary advantage over the barn door is lazy drivers don't have to push the door around. From a safety stand point a single barn door exposes you to no danger of falling objects if you're smart. I have pulled a friends trailer with double doors but don't see how you can pull that for long without getting crushed.
Thanks everyone for your input......... However, the original question has not really been addressed. If you have some pics of configuration of the chains , send them. What size do you recommend. 5/16 or 3/8? thanks again
My chains are wwelded to the top corners of the gate,then run down through a loop of square tubing at the bottom corners. There is a slotted channel bracket at the top and bottom corner of the bed. to lower the gate for debris you take the chain out of the loops at the bottom and run it straight from the top of gate to top of bed; to use for spreading you put chain through loops and in slots at bottom of bed. Mine are 5/16 and have been broken many times though I think that has prevented more costly damage. That truck is on a jobsite I probably won't visit this week though if I do I'll try to remember to take pics; they'll look much like the ones td25c posted.
Here are some pics of my truck, it has a double hinged high lift gate on it. Air rams (behind the gaurds on the outside of the box) lift the gate two and a half feet above the top of the box and swing it forward at the same time. The bottom of the tailgate ends up even with the back of the box and way above it. The second hinge farther back allows the gate to go even higher when somthing hits it. It also allows you to dump rock or dirt without having to raise the gate. I have had stumps and trees in there that were taller than the gate when it was raised and they still came out thanks to the second hinge. The last pic is of the transfer I have been driving just to show you how high the gate goes, on my truck the gate will hinge at the top and go another 90 degrees until it points straight up.
tailgate 3/8" chain Barndoor style I buy kits from my local Godwin dump body dealer for $305 plus freight. It takes about 6-7 hrs to install, count on double that the first time. Great system and works great. I think they have a picture on their website. Anyone can order it. I have even converted slant tailgates to straight and put these kits on it. If anyone wants anymore details, let me know
Thanks for that info. I just bought a dump truck and was considering fabbing some barndoor brackets. Now I can either just save the time and buy these or. ..ahem. . . .have another option to consider on the design of mine.