End Dump Trailers

Our end dump trailers are built for scrap and demolition work. The body is elliptical, in AR450 or AR500 plate at 3/16 to 3/8 inch, and it rides on 1/4 inch draft arms, adjustable landing gear and air ride suspension. A 250 or 256 telescopic hoist does the lift, the tail closes with a barn door gate, and an electric tarp is an option. Every one comes high side or low side.

High side or low side is a density question. Light, bulky material fills a body before it reaches the weight limit, so it wants the volume of a high side. Dense material reaches the weight limit before it fills the body, so a low side carries the same legal load with less steel in the sides and the weight sitting lower.

Axle weight limits apply to the whole tractor and trailer, and a five axle combination works the table hardest. Under California Vehicle Code 35551, a group of five consecutive axles is capped at 76,000 pounds when its extreme axles are 45 feet apart, and reaches 80,000 pounds only at 51 feet. Six axles reach 80,000 pounds at 45 feet. Section 35551(b) also allows two consecutive sets of tandem axles to carry 34,000 pounds each, 68,000 pounds together, when the first and last axles of the two sets are 36 feet or more apart.

The distance in that table is measured to the nearest whole foot, and Section 35551(e) says the limits already include all enforcement tolerances. Single axles stay capped at 20,000 pounds under Vehicle Code 35550 whatever the group allows.

Trailer length has its own law, and it pulls against the weight table. The weight table rewards spreading axles apart. For a truck tractor and semitrailer to use the Interstate system and designated routes under Vehicle Code 35401.5(a)(1), the semitrailer must not exceed 48 feet, and a semitrailer of up to 53 feet satisfies that only when its rearmost axle is 40 feet or less from the kingpin with two or more rear axles, or 38 feet or less with a single axle. Where the axles sit on a long end dump is set by both laws at once.

Side height meets the covered load law too. California Vehicle Code 23114(e)(1) requires aggregate material to be covered on a highway, and the exception in 23114(e)(4) needs the load six inches from the upper edge at the sides, front and back, with no peak above that edge. Scrap metal is not named in the aggregate list in 23114(d), but 23114(a) still bars any load from dropping, blowing or spilling from the vehicle, which is where the tarp option earns its place on a high side.

Underneath, the draft arms locate the axles on the air ride suspension and the adjustable landing gear supports the front when the trailer is dropped. Both take the rough ground of scrap yards and demolition sites. On top, a 250 or 256 hoist on a long body moves a lot of oil, so the tractor's hydraulics have to be sized to it, set out on our wet kit page.

Bring the tractor you will pull it with, what you haul, and the length you are after. Every body we build is built in the USA.