Aluminum End Dump Trailers - Pros / Cons

I have towed alloy bodies for 15+ years the only reason I would change is if I was carrying stones any bigger than 6".
I mainly do fertilizer,concrete aggregates and stock feed the floor is 7mm thick and is wearing well,no real down side if its built right mine has no cracks and the weight saving is huge over steel bodies.
The only down side would be that when you carry fertilizer make sure you wash the dust off the outside alloy can stain easy leaving black runs down the side of your bin.

 

My dad ran dumps for about close to 10 years. He loves the vantage brand it's lightweight. Vantage mate eaglerock and travis cmc the best brand of end dump trailers in south tx period.

 

Like C16 said, its all in what your gonna haul. If your gonna haul some scrap but not heavy melt, you can have a stainless steel liner put in it and still weight alot less than a steel box. Its all in what your gonna do with it! You might also want to consider a barndoor and a chute, just incase you have to unload on a conveyor belt, or a small hopper of some sort.

Check out East Mfg, MAC, Trailstar, Kruz(formerly Ravens). Benson used to make good dump wagons but is no longer in buisness.

 

We do have a plastic type liner to help with getting the load off called slippery deck but you can get a thicker one for rocks but it is cost prohibitive IMO.
Les2 said you can get a stainless liner Ive never heard of them,I wont carry anything that is going to damage my floor or sides not only will it look ugly it makes tipping everything else off hard due to all the dents in the floor.
Have you done any weight comparisons from alloy to steel ???
My 4 axle trailer weighs 11500 lbs tare and thats with air bag suspension a steel trailer would weigh 16000lbs.

 

WOW your a 11500lbs with a 4 axle? Thats light! Don't take this the wrong way, but is the trailer durable? What kind is it?

The stainless liner will prevent some dents but its mostly for keeping jagged stuff from going thru the trailer. It also helps material slid out. It will add some weight, most people only put in a half liner which only goes up so far on the walls of the trailer.

Wanted to add something else here... The reason we used stainless liners was cause of all the scrap we hauled. If your just gonna haul sand, gravel, coal or other stuff like that you'd probably be better off with some other kind of liner.

 

I should have mentioned that its only 22 feet long and holds 37 cubic yards but combined with the truck bin (23 c/yard..16 feet long) the units total tare is 33,750lbs allowing a payload of 67,000lbs.
Durablety..? Don't seem to have a problem most of thats due to having air bag,have done 430,000 miles with no cracks and thats on our second class roads.

 

Endumpy if your going to haul rock bigger than 3x5 very much i would buy half round demo trailer. I have a 35' triaxle Travis, it has over 1,300,000 miles. Has small cracks around the gate latches. Has from new had Quick silver 1/2" liner, expensive but tough.