John Martin of Lawn Enforcement in Whitewater, WI, is a one-man show. Since he works by himself, he wanted to find a more productive way to move dirt and gravel from his dump trailer to a wheelbarrow. Like many resourceful contractors, he came up with an idea.
Now, Martin can move more than 2 tons of material in about an hour. Before, relying on a shovel, it took the same amount of time to move just a single ton. Now that’s a serious gain in productivity. Plus, his back hurts a lot less.
Watch a video on how the dump trailer chute works.
HOW IT WORKS
Martin’s patent-pending invention is a three-piece system that mounts in his dump trailer near the rear. “You can fold it in the down position if you want to use the trailer normally, like when loading equipment or material where you don't need the patent-pending chute,” Martin points out.
When it is time to use the chute, you bring the two side wings to meet the center/bottom wing; this forms a chute.
Then you have your material dumped into the trailer with the chute in place. When it is time to unload at the jobsite, position your wheelbarrow under the chute, and raise the dump until the material begins to flow.
Using a rake, guide the material into the wheelbarrow. “It takes about 10 second to fill a wheelbarrow,” Martin relates. “Adjusting the dump trailer angle during the unloading process will ease filling of the wheelbarrow. But be careful not to over-incline the trailer angle, as this could be dangerous."
OTHER USES
A skid-steer loader and 5-gallon buckets can be used in place of wheelbarrow. “I am working on a remote control hookup to my mini-loader so I can load stone remotely without raking,” Martin explains. “This winter I will also be working on a dump truck version.”
KEY BENEFITS
Material stays in dump trailer, no dumping in driveway or on grass which means less cleanup and lawn destruction.
If too much material was brought to the jobsite, it’s still in trailer and doesn't need to be reloaded. This is a huge time saver as well as giving homeowners relief that skid-steer loaders are not tearing up their yard, because now all you need is a wheelbarrow for that decorative stone installation.
Visit John's website.
