12-16 ton dump trailers

[Bluewave]

We have 250 acres in middle TN, I was looking to buy an M5-111 to pull a 15 foot bat wing for mowing and buy a dump cart for pull river rock from the hollar up to use on the roads or pads. I was looking at trailers like this European style. Looking at Kubota's owners manual it looks like the tractor is only rated to pull 13,200 lbs. So if these trailers are 8000-9000lb empty it would be a complete waste. The M6-111 is only rated for 17,600. What is your guys thoughts? I need to come up one hill and then its flat ground for moving the rock around.

m5-111 67,600
m6-111 89,750 US dollars
+loaders but want cost comparison out there.

Thanks for the advice .

 

[Welder Dave]

Those look like really pricey trailers. How much hitch weight on the trailers and what can the tractor carry weight wise on the drawbar? Hard flat ground on your own property you could probably exceed the rated pulling capacity a little bit. I've seen farmers convert a dump truck pup trailer to pull behind a tractor. Other options are a standard dump trailer pulled by a pick up or 1 ton, etc. or finding an older dump truck. That's what I did, found an older plow truck with a dump box in decent shape for $8K.

 

[Bluewave]

posted the ratings for both tractors below, not a huge difference but is it worth another 22k to the price? I was really hoping to be able to put 20-30,000 lbs of rock in the trailer and pull it with the tractor for build our roads, I did a gmc 6500 dump truck and its way too small for what we are trying to do. Was hoping I could do this and not have another machine to worry about maintaining etc.

 

[Bluewave]

Those look like really pricey trailers. How much hitch weight on the trailers and what can the tractor carry weight wise on the drawbar? Hard flat ground on your own property you could probably exceed the rated pulling capacity a little bit. I've seen farmers convert a dump truck pup trailer to pull behind a tractor. Other options are a standard dump trailer pulled by a pick up or 1 ton, etc. or finding an older dump truck. That's what I did, found an older plow truck with a dump box in decent shape for $8K.

https://www.craigmylefarmeq.com/product/2022-new-herbst-14-ton-hi-side-stock-5979/ these are all around the 25-30k price range.

 

[terex herder]

Even the M6 tractor weighs only 9600#. That means you should think of loaded trailer weights of 9600# maximum, even less up hill on rock roads. If you were disappointed in the performance of a GMC 6500, you will be very disappointed in the performance of the tractor with a trailer.

If you kill the tractor trying to pull to heavy of trailer up the hill, or just lose traction and spin out, you will be going back downhill rapidly. It will not end well.

 

[Bluewave]

Even the M6 tractor weighs only 9600#. That means you should think of loaded trailer weights of 9600# maximum, even less up hill on rock roads. If you were disappointed in the performance of a GMC 6500, you will be very disappointed in the performance of the tractor with a trailer.

If you kill the tractor trying to pull to heavy of trailer up the hill, or just lose traction and spin out, you will be going back downhill rapidly. It will not end well.

I just saw

first video with a tractor pulling the trailer this one appears to be a 6135 John Deere. Im torn between buying a freight liner/peterbilt class 8 dump truck or a trailer like these. We need a tractor for mowing and was hoping it would do both well.

 

[Bluewave]

 

[skyking1]

If it had a manually applied brake it would be a different story. I second Terex herder's sentiments. There is nothing worse than getting manhandled by a trailer like that. At least with a pull can you can drop the can and give it another try. Better to have too much tractor, by far.

 

[Welder Dave]

The loaded trailer is going to be around 20 tons so think you'd want more than a 5 ton tractor to pull it. What are you loading the rock with?

 

[Dutchboy]

Brakes on the trailer make a huge difference. I have a John Deere. Most of their ratings in the U.S. are based on the assumption
that the trailer does not have brakes.

Mine being imported from Europe has the trailer towing option which gives you an auxiliary 5 gallon oil tank for the trans so you don't run your tractor dry with the cylinder and dual glad hands for air trailer brakes and a flat face coupler for hydraulic brakes.

My tractor weighs approx. 15,000# with 134 hp rating. The tag on the tractor states "permissible towable mass with assisted braking 34000kg" which translates to almost 75,000#. Without brakes or inertia brakes they do not want you towing more than the tractor weighs. What i would understand this is legal weights in Europe for on road use comparable to what we do on trucks in the U.S.

That being said you will have a hard time pulling more than 17000# with that M-111 on anything other than improved surfaces. Ask me how i know....

 

[catman13]

why not get 1 of the 2-axel pickup pull trailers, it would take a few extra trips, but you will live long enough to finish it

 

[terex herder]

That 6135 has twice the driving axles of the Kubota, half again the weight and power, and a manufacturer with a much longer history of making useful tractors rather than oversized lawn mowers. The video only shows pulling the load on flat ground, no grade. And they jack the volume on obnoxious music to distract you from what is really happening.

The GMC 6500 had twice the horsepower of your tractor choices. Do you think you can get more done with less power?

 

[John Shipp]

Bluewave, I used to use a Herbst dump trailer an older version of the yellow trailer you posted as your first post. The tractor pulling it was 200hp, 4wd, weighed around 20,500 pounds. It pulled it ok up gravel slopes, it had very good brakes so went downhill safely as well. I didn't overload it, I think if you loaded it until it spilled over then traction and power would be a problem even for 200hp. That said, the same trailer was also used on 160hp tractor with full steel weights on front, that also pulled it around ok but sensible loads of 10-12 tonnes of crushed concrete, not the full spilling over load.

Here in UK there are slightly smaller dump trailers holding 10 or 12T, might suit you if you don't need a big hp tractor for anything else.

 

[Bluewave]

Bluewave, I used to use a Herbst dump trailer an older version of the yellow trailer you posted as your first post. The tractor pulling it was 200hp, 4wd, weighed around 20,500 pounds. It pulled it ok up gravel slopes, it had very good brakes so went downhill safely as well. I didn't overload it, I think if you loaded it until it spilled over then traction and power would be a problem even for 200hp. That said, the same trailer was also used on 160hp tractor with full steel weights on front, that also pulled it around ok but sensible loads of 10-12 tonnes of crushed concrete, not the full spilling over load.

Here in UK there are slightly smaller dump trailers holding 10 or 12T, might suit you if you don't need a big hp tractor for anything else.

so I ended up buy the M6-111 and an L6060 at the same time, and ordered a 12ton dump trailer from BERKELMANS WELDING & MANUFACTURING INC. After talking to them and a few other people this seems like this will be a really nice option. The owner of Berkelmans say they want to see 10 horse power per ton.

One thing I noticed is Kubota rates these without the trailer weight


https://berkelmanswelding.on.ca/12_ton_farm_dump_trailer.html

 

[John Shipp]

Yes, well spotted, I was thinking that may be capacity rather than gross weights in your Kubota specs.

If your slope is steep, carry some rock in your loader bucket and light loads in the trailer. In dry conditions you'll do well with more heavier loading.

 

[John Shipp]

Those Berkelman trailers look pretty good.

 

[Bluewave]

The loaded trailer is going to be around 20 tons so think you'd want more than a 5 ton tractor to pull it. What are you loading the rock with?

315 cat excavator or a 333g skid steer

 

[Bluewave]

Those Berkelman trailers look pretty good.

real happy with the pricing and talking to the owner of the company, they want you to have the right trailer for the equipment. I feel like if I can keep a full front bucket for weight, and pull 1/2 full a couple trips and increase the capacity until its full or we find the limit of the traction/safety then back it down.

 

[John Shipp]

Exactly right. You'll feel when you get to near it's ability to drag it up a slope, tires will start to scrub about more and you'll know you put too much on

 

[Welder Dave]

That 6135 has twice the driving axles of the Kubota, half again the weight and power, and a manufacturer with a much longer history of making useful tractors rather than oversized lawn mowers. The video only shows pulling the load on flat ground, no grade. And they jack the volume on obnoxious music to distract you from what is really happening.

The GMC 6500 had twice the horsepower of your tractor choices. Do you think you can get more done with less power?

Kubota makes very good tractors and engines. They didn't become the most popular compact tractors because were an inferior product. Because of their popularity they got into bigger and bigger tractors. That they are an oversized lawn mower is an arrogant statement. John Deere was sourcing tractors from Yanmar for many years to compete with Kubota. You also pay a lot for green paint. Comparing apples to apples Kubota is as good as anything else on the market.