# Self Unloading Trailer



## jbolt (Oct 28, 2019)

Our Oregon property is 3-1/2 acres of mostly wooded land. Loads of pine needles and leaves every year. The previous owner had neglected it for the past 10 or so years since her husband passed away. We have cleaned out about a half acre so far which netted about 20 cubic yards of packed yard waste. I expect we will have that much on a regular basis once every thing is cleared out and we only have to deal with the annual waste.

I have a 4 x 8 utility trailer I built 30 years ago. With the 4' sides it holds a little over 5 cubic yards. I first considered converting it to a dumper but after penciling out the cost it was close to buying a new dump trailer.

I ran across a youtube vid of a landscape guy who used a winch to pull the load out of his trailer which got me thinking of a cheaper way to accomplish my goal of easy unloading. Not as slick as a dumping trailer but it only cost me $300 to do.

Winch is a HF 5000 lb ATV/utility. I welded some 2" x 1/4" angle iron to the tongue to mount the winch. The winch relay and 100 amp breaker are mounted over the winch in a HF weatherproof box. I used two 1-1/4" hitches and receivers off Amazon to hold the pulley. The receiver sockets are welded to the back of the frame. On the front of the trailer I cannibalized a 10" fairlead and mounted the two long rollers so the winch cable does not drag on the trailer frame when used for loading or unloading.




Inside at the front is a pull board made of a 4' x 4' x 1-1/8" piece of plywood with 4 chains to attach to the winch cable. Two bolts through the pull board and the front of the trailer when unloaded.







Video in action. My wife took the video and she is not very technology savvy.


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## francist (Oct 28, 2019)

Well that’s pretty cool! Nicely done  

-frank


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## 4ssss (Oct 29, 2019)

Nice job.


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## vocatexas (Oct 29, 2019)

That's pretty slick! In case you don't know, you can get a wireless remote for those winches. I've got one on both of my flatbeds. They work great and only cost about $30 on sale.


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## jbolt (Oct 29, 2019)

vocatexas said:


> That's pretty slick! In case you don't know, you can get a wireless remote for those winches. I've got one on both of my flatbeds. They work great and only cost about $30 on sale.


I picked up another winch and the remote on our way home. The second winch is going in the cargo trailer for when I start moving my equipment to Oregon.


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## NCjeeper (Oct 29, 2019)

Cool.


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## brino (Oct 29, 2019)

Very effective!
Well done.
-brino


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## wildcatfan (Oct 29, 2019)

Good solution.
I kept thinking what a good source of compost for my mostly sandy soil.
Looks like the recycling center will have an easier job as well.


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