Is there any reason why I couldn't...

Dave H (MI) · Sep 14, 2014

Haul some fine crushed concrete in a gravity wagon? Old one with the crank up door and no auger? Just came in and some of these fields are getting so flooded that the lanes have had standing water on them for almost the entire summer. Some are getting pretty rutted. Every time I have a load hauled in it is running a lot just for the truck. There is a place nearby that sells crushed concrete and if I could haul a couple yards at a time in the box I could then use it to spread it down the lane. It would save me a bundle into this fall.

DeltaRed · Sep 14, 2014

Try it and see.If it dont come out,all ya gotta do
is shovel......

Don-Wi · Sep 14, 2014

Me thinks you would have issues with it packing in the box and then you'd have to shovel it out. Might work though. Never tried it ourselves.

Donovan from Wisconsin

rankrank1 · Sep 14, 2014

I have hauled gravel (small course size ) as well as chips and dust size in a gravity wagon.

The gravity wagon I used was not a very good one in that it was one of those older styles where the funnel ramps are not very steep. I had to get in the box and walk around to help it out some (not really that big of a deal). The wife said they had to do the same thing as kids to help the ear corn out - way back when this same wagon was used for picking whole ear corn.

A more modern and better designed gravity wagon with the steeper funnel ramps should work just fine.

BushogPapa · Sep 14, 2014

About the biggest thing you must avoid is over-loading the gravity wagon...

It will be very easy to put too much weight on it.

A couple tons won't look like a lot..!

Ron.

T in NE · Sep 14, 2014

The guys hauling wheat to Omaha are hauling back salt and fertilizer in the hopper trailers.

pburg · Sep 15, 2014

I agree with Don-Wi-----It would tend to pack in the box after it was loaded, then on the trip home. But instead of having to shovel it out, why not simply using something like a broom handle to poke up into the open gate to loosen up the blockage? As that is loosened up, the rest of the load would tend to become loose as well. Worth a try!!

Traditional Farmer · Sep 15, 2014

You ever been around loader operators at a quarry? Most will just drop the bucket full of gravel and
may end up damaging your wagon.

Geo-TH,In · Sep 15, 2014

Try it. 1 yard of crushed concrete may be close
to 2 ton, which won't go very far. 20 ton of rock
doesn't go very far either.

I have one place that is less than 5 miles from a
sand and gravel pit. Gravel is half the price of
white rock. I had a road that I made from sand
and gravel out of my old gravel pit. This spring
all the rock was pushed down, had 2 inches of mud
on top. It took me 6 loads of #8 gravel, 7k per
load on my 10K dump trailer just to fix a small
road.

If crushed concrete is the way you are going, get
a tri axle load delivered, then move it with a
front loader. The fuel cost of using a gravity
wagon may exceed the delivery cost of a tri axle
load.
George.

Leroy · Sep 15, 2014

It does pack and if you have enough in to cover the sliding door you may not be able to open it. If you get it open then that handle will not work as it will be packed too tight but I have used a garden hoe to drag it out. Was too much work. Now I just use the flat bed machinery trailer and just shovel it off and in doing so you spread it while unloading. If you use the wagon you still have to spread it and that is harder than just shoveling off to start with. I need to put 50 ton in my drive 1,000 ft long but my back will not handle it any more.

fixerupper · Sep 15, 2014

I had to chuckle in appreciation when i read some of the posts. The phrase my son and I use is "It's surprising how far a load of rock will NOT go" LOL.

If the crushed concrete is dry it won't pack in the wagon as bad. I've hauled damp 1" crushed limestone in a grain hopper and got my daily exercise inside the hopper shoveling it out. Give it a try with one load. It might work OK. You will be working with only a few tons, a lot less than 24 tons in a grain hopper. Jim

DoubleR · Sep 15, 2014

I have a 100 bu. side dump mounted on a flat bed trailer. I have used it for gravel, sand, top soil, and wood chips.
I just hauled some crushed cement but used my 16 ft. flatbed with 2x6 sides. I unload it with my front end loader and dump it exactly where I need it. I don't have to hand shovel much of it but do a little. I haul 3 yard at a time. I figure it would beat up my side dump too much.

merlynr · Sep 15, 2014

The old 1 ton dump can only haul 3 tons of gravel and when I spread it out it only goes about 50 ft.

mkirsch · Sep 15, 2014

You use gravity wagon for fertilizer... Why not this?

Dave H (MI) · Sep 15, 2014

Thanks for all the info/suggestions. I think for incidental repairs to the lanes a couple trips with a box would be fine. For larger jobs I will keep having it hauled in. I had 7 yards brought in last week to fill a good sized puddle. It filled it OK, but the water came up on top of the aggregate and then spread up and down the lane. Now I have 100' of wet where I started with 20'. Gosh, it's been a fun year!

ss55 · Sep 15, 2014

Is there any opportunity to re-grade the drive to shed more water before adding more porous rock or crushed concrete?

I'd be concerned about how the wagon will be loaded. Soybeans weigh about 1300 pounds per cubic yard, pure concrete will weigh at least 1.5 times that and any aggregates will be even heavier. Gravity boxes are build much lighter than most dump truck boxes, and the floor and sides of most dump boxes are pretty bowed and deformed. If a pay loader dumps too fast into the wagon, the impact could buckle the floor or bend out the side wall enough to jamb the door. I'd remove any box extensions to reduce the drop height and also to reduce the chances the wagon could be severely overloaded.

Concrete won't flow out as easily as soybeans or even wet corn. Maybe apply a new coat of a slick graphite paint inside the box, or at least in the corners.

Dave H (MI) · Sep 15, 2014

Good ideas! I am familiar with loader operations and the driver and I would have a discussion before filling anything owned by me. I learned this lesson the hard way at a scrap yard. Guy on the grabber crane thought it was funny to kiss the fenders on my new trailer. He could pick up a dime with that thing but managed to JUST kiss both of my fenders.

Brent Zappe · Sep 15, 2014

I had to replace a fender one time when I bought a impelement at an action. The guy had to load me up with the fork lift. He got the fender good and still I knew he could had mess it.My trailer is one of those that it is easy to replace fenders on. Just cut and replace them, weld and it is done.It hurts when I do it because it is a custom made trailer.

Is there any reason why I couldn't...

Dave H (MI)

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