My name is Pat Maufrais. I have been in the gravel hauling business for about 20 years. During that time I have operated end and bottom dump trailers. With both trailers, I received very little training. Just how to operate the controls and dumped a few loads. The rest was mostly learned by my own experience and some advice from other experienced operators. Like most other divers, I had my share of problems due to the lack of proper training.

Over the years I have observed drivers who are new to operating end and bottom dump trailers. They experienced all kinds of problems. As said this is due to poor and or incomplete training. The results are lost loads, wasted time, break downs and in some cases, turnovers.

A few years ago, I observed a company that has had numerous end dump turnovers within a 12 month period. After a few inquires, I found out that their training program was very similar to how I was trained about 20 years ago. Very inadequate. In the gravel hauling market in my area, the profit margins are extremely tight. The expense of lost loads and repairs comes right out of the profit. Also, liability insurance is on a steep rise and is becoming a big cost factor that must be controlled.

With the above concerns for the owners and drivers, I wrote "How to Dump a Frameless End Dump Trailer" training manual in 2002. It includes an extensive list of safety items, detailed dumping procedures, many job site issues and how to deal with them. If I owned a fleet of tractors and end dump trailers, the information found in the training manual is what I would want all my drivers to know and know well. This manual became available to the public in January of 2003.

Note: "How To Dump A Frameless End Dump Trailer" has specifics for dumping a frameless end dump. The basic procedures, safety, job site issues apply to full frame and quarter frame end dumps.

In 2004, I wrote "Bottom Dump Training Manual". It is written in the same successful format as "How To Dump A Frameless End Dump Trailer". There is a misconception that there is nothing to operating a bottom dump trailer. There are many situations that one can be injured and even critically injured that can result in death.

My goal for these manuals is to provide all drivers (new and seasoned), the information that will allow all to go out and be successful in operating their tractor/trailers on the many different job sites that are out there. All drivers should be able to safely access any job, unload without difficulties and safely exit the job site. In other words, go out work all day and bring the tractor/trailer in without any problems.

For the best trained drivers, please consider using these manuals for your driver training and as a resource for topics for your safety meetings.

There are other manuals in the works and they will be added to the site as they become available.

Go ahead and order any of the manuals that are of interest to you and check it out. For any questions, please ask.

Please bookmark this site for future reference.

Thank you for your time,

Pat Maufrais