New guy on the block here - We are trying to sell our general purpose truck Heavy duty 6 wheel diesel w/14' dump on craigslist but the tailgate got warped and now I cant get the top hinge pins to go in easy. Any good ideas?
Also, we're thinking of switching to a smaller truck (F-350?) and a dump trailer. My impression is that electric powered dump trailers take a lot longer to dump than a pto driven truck dump. Is it still a good idea?
Ive got a f450 and a 14' dump trailer that I use for the TLC crew and I could not see doing it any other way. The trailer is incredibly handy - probably more useful than the dump truck really.
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The tailgate has pins on the bottom which fit into a bracket and lock by hand - the tailgate also has pins on top to let the bottom swing out. (It takes 2 people plus a loader bucket to put the gate back in place if I take it off.) The pins on top are the problem. When I push the gate up I can't get both pins in. You'll think I'm nuts but I tried laying the gate on the ground and pressed down with a backhoe bucket and I still cant line up the pins and holes.
Don't want to bore you but the gate had an asphalt door. Because of the design, material would hang up when I went to dump debris. We cut off the door and welded a plate in its place. When the metal cooled the gate was bowed. Trying to "fix" that goof, I went to the truck mechanic, who wacked it around and got the pins in but I could get them out only with a hammer and a punch.
Sorry for the long story. That's where I am
If someone has a trick to flatten a gate I would be gateful, I mean, grateful!
That's what I was trying to get at. Here's what you do: Take one of your heavy rated tie down chains and a 20 ton hydraulic jack. Remove the tailgate and lay it on the ground bow side up. Have a piece of straight steel on hand as long as the tailgate is wide to use as a straight edge. Put the jack on the highest point of the bow on the upper crossmember. Now secure one end of the chain to the hinge pin on one side, then bring the chain up over the jack and secure to the pin on the other side. Begin pumping the jack and you will see the gate start to straighten. DO NOT STAND OVER THE CHAIN WHILE DOING THIS. Stay as far to the side as you can, if something slips or breaks you don't want to be in the way of flying tools. Use your straight edge to check your progress, you will probably have to go just a bit beyond straight to get the gate to hold straight when finished. Repeat on the bottom crossmember if necessary.
For safety sake put a couple of jackets or tarps over the chains to keep things from flying around if something slips or breaks.
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