Agri Fab 10 cubic foot trailer modification.

[ebinmaine 67,503]

I picked up this trailer last fall from the side of the road. Didn't pay much for it and that was a good thing.

Solid as a rock but it needed two tires and did not have a tailgate and the paint on it is disgusting brushed on garbage.

During the modification the poor painting will be removed and the entire cart will end up orange at some point.

 

The biggest thing that I don't like about most yard and garden type dumping trailers is that to make it so it will dump with ease, the axle is centered.

That's perfectly fine if you live on flat ground.

We. Do. Not.

Multiple times we have put several hundred pounds in this trailer. Maybe even over a thousand pounds a few times. When going up anything but the most shallow of hills it actually pulls UP on the tractor hitch.

 

So I decided to move the axle to the back of the box which puts far far more weight on the tongue of the tractor hitch.

I'm going to be extending the length of the tongue with 2 inch square stock so I can get my turning radius back.

I'm also going to make a vertical 2 inch square tube that pivots at the bottom and has a wheel at the top and attaches to The Dumping cart via a cable and a winch.

 

When that part is done I'll take more pics. I don't have the winch yet.

 

Here's the beginnings of the project.

Before:

 

As it sits now with the axle moved back but without the 2 inch square extension beam.

 

 

This picture shows the bottom of the cart and a previous owners nasty paint job but also how far back I moved the axle assembly. Approximately 12 or 13 in.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2018 by ebinmaine

[AMC RULES 37,130]

 Think I would've lowered it's center of gravity too...

extending the axle, lowering the mount, will stabilize those heavy over loads. 

 

[ebinmaine 67,503]

Definitely true. But I have no way to do that here. No real fabrication methods.

[dclarke 4,032]

That should make it more stable for what you are using it for, nice work Eric! 

[ebinmaine 67,503]

Just now, dclarke said:

That should make it more stable for what you are using it for, nice work Eric! 

Thanks Den!

We moved a couple loads each of wood and stone yesterday. HUGE difference.

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,560]

Good idea and job so far!

 

But, orange paint? HHHMMM... Those future pictures you post when completed may ruffle some taste buds on this site... 

[O2B__ 7]

I hadn't thought of moving the wheels back. That might be the fix for my Chinese cart that dumps automatically with a heavy load on uneven ground. Good idea.

[ebinmaine 67,503]

8 hours ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Good idea and job so far!

 

But, orange paint? HHHMMM... Those future pictures you post when completed may ruffle some taste buds on this site... 

Thanks!

Orange is my favorite color.

And it isn't gr**n so I should be mostly ok.

 

 

8 hours ago, O2B__ said:

I hadn't thought of moving the wheels back. That might be the fix for my Chinese cart that dumps automatically with a heavy load on uneven ground. Good idea.

That was my motivation.

 

I'll keep posting pics as I work on it.

It'll have a winch dump mechanism as well.

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,503]

On 6/3/2018 at 8:34 AM, O2B__ said:

I hadn't thought of moving the wheels back. That might be the fix for my Chinese cart that dumps automatically with a heavy load on uneven ground. Good idea.

Definitely glad I did this!

 

 

Here's the next phase of the project, completed.

Some point in the next few weeks I will pick up a winch and make it so that it dumps by cable lift power instead of me lift power.

 

I extended the tongue by bolting a piece of thin wall 2in Square stock tubing that is about 25 or 30 inches longer than the existing tongue.

I chose that length for three reasons.

One is to put a little bit more weight on the trailer where it should be.

Another is...  based on experience with the log trailer that I built last year, I just happen to like this wheelbase for some reason. It's easier for me to comprehend backing it up.

And also, the extra couple feet of square stock tubing between the existing trailer and the coupler will give me plenty of space to work out where I need to mount the winch and vertical support.

 

 

 

 

 

I guess we're about due for some scraping and painting now.

 

 

 

 

 

[ACman 7,618]

I really like this wagon and the orange paint doesn’t bother me  .The best wood haulers we use at the farm are old manure spreaders . That’s what this build reminds me of . I’ve been wanting to find a four wheeled wagon/ cart and just missed one for $75 .  This would most definitely be easier to back up into tight spots.  

[ebinmaine 67,503]

Couple more pics of the festivities for tonight.

The first pic shows the dump height with the new axle location.

 

Stripped the "paint/garbage" off one side.

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,503]

Finished stripping the other 2 sides and top rails tonight.

Pics to follow.

Hoping to paint this weekend.

 

[19richie66 17,508]

Looking good!

[ebinmaine 67,503]

6 hours ago, 19richie66 said:

Looking good!

Man the shop is a @#$&&#@# mess though !!!!!

Driving me nuts.... (Short journey)

 

[19richie66 17,508]

Barely can walk from one end of mine to the other. Twist here and step over that, turn and bend. Grab what you need and repeat to get back out. May the Good Lord help you if you get all the way back there and forget what you went in for. 

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,330]

I think you are going to find dumping that cart with a heavy load is going to be a back breaker. You will need to move that axle back towards the center so you have some weight on the back side to hep distribute the weight. 

 

Edit... I just read you are going to install a winch. That will do the trick

[ebinmaine 67,503]

1 minute ago, stevebo said:

I think you are going to find dumping that cart with a heavy load is going to be a back breaker. You will need to move that axle back towards the center so you have some weight on the back side to hep distribute the weight. 

Oh yeah. No worries.

At some point in the next couple weeks or so I'm going to install a vertical stand and a winch setup.

[ebinmaine 67,503]

Well, we finally got back to working on this trailer today. Haven't touched it for nearly two months because of many other things going on. My honey washed it off and put  primer and a coat of paint on some parts of it.

 

 

 

 

 

[19richie66 17,508]

Looks good eric! I like the extended tongue on it. I know mine is a pain to back up with that short one but it does make it easy maneuvering through the yard.

[ebinmaine 67,503]

7 minutes ago, 19richie66 said:

Looks good eric! I like the extended tongue on it. I know mine is a pain to back up with that short one but it does make it easy maneuvering through the yard.

Yep.

The original reason for extending the tongue was so that I could add the winch and have space for the stand. I went as long as I did because it ends up being about the same length as my log and firewood hauling trailer.

With the acreage that we have, space is not really a huge concern. If there is a tight maneuverability issue I just cut down another tree.

[ebinmaine 67,503]

Sprayed the bottom and the axle support of this trailer tonight.

Sometime over the next few days I have to stop at Lowe's and pick up a couple of metal pieces to make the brackets for the vertical support for the winch and a wider axle rod because I'm going to change these wheels.

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,503]

As posted above... I decided to change the wheels and tires...  to an 8" wheel set from an old crapsman that were laying around.

There'll be heavier tires on and a little wider track width.

Also, we can use the current tires on Trina's Ohio Steel trailer.

This one will end up with 16 inch tires left over from the front of a Wheelhorse.

 

The hubs on the "new" wheels are deeper than the others so I have to change the axle rod.

I picked up a piece of 3/4" x 48" steel from a popular big box store.

I removed the axle rod and started cleaning up the wheels by wire brushing the axle holes.

 

 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,503]

On 9/16/2018 at 8:35 PM, ebinmaine said:

decided to change the wheels and tires...  to an 8" wheel set from an old crapsman that were laying around

I started to clean those up and scrape the rust off a few days ago and discovered that they were in terrible condition. Those went in the scrap metal pile.

So we switched gears a bit and cleaned up a set from a 1974 c160.

Here's the tires warming up by the wood stove waiting for installation today.

 

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,503]

Loaded up.

 

 

 

 

Next part is to get the vertical stand fabbed up.

And winch installed.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

Eric if you want to make that trailer easier to unload you should look into a linear actuator, always thought about one for my 17 cu ft trailer, Jeff.   https://www.robotshop.com/en/12vdc-24-stroke-force-linear-actuator.html