Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

I just seen a video on youtube for electric hopper doors never seen those before. They sure do make grain hauling easy with that and the electric tarp roller, what will they think of next.

 

BigJohn,.. just looked at video on youtube, neat!! but i wonder how they would work in frozen weather ? i wonder if they have some kind of override on the motor? thanks for the feedback!

 

I would like to see it with a load on and see what it does. I bet it is not cheap.

 

I drag a 99' Wilson around, the hopper doors suck, BUT I think its mostly due to a lack of maintenance since its a lease unit. I would bet 8 of 10 aluminum grain trailers around here are Timptes. I dare not lose my crank handle as I wouldn't be able to borrow one since Wilsons are more rare.

There's one guy I see every once in a while that has hydraulic hopper traps that run off a wet kit.

I have an electric tarp kit on my "to do" list. The only down side I see, is some of the older smaller elevators have really low entrances, and the tarp arm standing so tall (in rolled back position) on some of the brands could be a problem.

 

I guess I am to old school and also could use the exercise. What if the wind caught the tarp system and it was jammed and it wouldn't open or close?

Around my area there are more Wilson hoppers then anything. What I don't get is the guys with the big heavy trucks pulling hoppers, buy a truck for the job or lighten it up. I just had a friend that has been pulling a hopper for years and just bought a w900 with an 86" sleeper the one with the couch and fridge etc.... and he is home every night. I don't get it. He says because that is what I wanted, you get paid by the weight.

 

A robot to drive the truck.

 

i wonder if they can come up with a robot that can drive my old tempermental 1990 pete? anybody heard from farmermatt or 5mouths2feed? they must be roll'n the cash!

 

I was told Merritt quit making the smooth sided trailers.

The other down side is they're kinda pricey. I was quoted about $2000 last winter. I'm still young, I can open and close mine a long time for that much.

One by one today, the elevators almost all got full of wet corn. By afternoon, Rushville was the last one open, so people that normally haul to other ones were going in there. Dad had the misfortune of having to go there, said it was a traffic jam like he's never seen. I had to haul a couple loads to CGB, 40 miles away, for some reason, they were taking corn like crazy, will be open tomorrow too, weather pending. All the other places around here are closed no matter what, to catch up on drying their wet corn.

 

What is the busiest time of the year for grain & feed hauling ? How do you stay busy during the off-season & winter ? Since your trucks are driven on to farms and unpaved areas, do you guys get stuck in the mud ? Do your trucks need to have all lockups ?

I'm trying to put together a list of hopper-bottom companies. Can you guys name some good ones ? Have any of you hear of Dart America ?

I would sincerely appreciate responses to my queries. Thanks a tonne.

 

graymist,. i am probably not the best one of these folks to give advise to you because i don't have as much experience as they do,but i do haul a lot of feed ingredients. busy time of year in central and western ky. is harvest which is normally from late sept. to early nov.,but harvest is real late this year because of all the rain. hauling feed is kinda year-around deal. i haul a lot of bean meal,soy hulls,ddg,and corn gluten in off-season and winter to local feed mills and farms. i kinda like the tall rubber on the tractor,i think it is a little better clearence and traction-wise especially on the farms.
i don't use the lock-ups that much cause most places here have a decent rock base but i do use them on occasion so there handy to have,mostly in snow. not a lot of hopper co. here in central ky.but i'll ask around.