Hey everyone, I'm doing a mini restoration on my '97 K2500. The bed on it is pretty trashed, so I have a sourced a new one. I did a little thinking, I have an extra tailgate, lights, 2 8 lug wheels, 1 ton Express leaf springs, and a trashed bed, so I thought about potentially making a dump trailer to haul trash, gravel, etc. around the house.
Things to consider: I don't plan on hauling cross-country with this unit, probably no father than 40-50 miles away. I would like to be able to put 2-2.5 yards of gravel (5-6k lbs) in this trailer. I know I'll be running 14 ply trailer tires on some stock 8 lug steel wheels.
1. Should I back-half a junk 2500/3500 frame and use that as my basis, or start fresh with a hand built frame? If I did minor reinforcement to the back of a truck frame, would it be too stressful (dump angles, weight, etc.) or would this be within the limits?
2. Would the 9.5" Semi-Floater hold up well in this application? I may just end up using a Dexter 7k axle with electric brakes and call it good instead of trying to rig up something with my old semi-float that may not handle the weight.
Thanks in advance!
Things to consider: I don't plan on hauling cross-country with this unit, probably no father than 40-50 miles away. I would like to be able to put 2-2.5 yards of gravel (5-6k lbs) in this trailer. I know I'll be running 14 ply trailer tires on some stock 8 lug steel wheels.
1. Should I back-half a junk 2500/3500 frame and use that as my basis, or start fresh with a hand built frame? If I did minor reinforcement to the back of a truck frame, would it be too stressful (dump angles, weight, etc.) or would this be within the limits?
2. Would the 9.5" Semi-Floater hold up well in this application? I may just end up using a Dexter 7k axle with electric brakes and call it good instead of trying to rig up something with my old semi-float that may not handle the weight.
Thanks in advance!