dump truck

[couchsachraga]

Well, the other day I went down to the local quarry for some stone for my mud hole previously known as my driveway (a bit of construction going on right now has what was gravel now mud...). The second time I went down there they loaded me nice and even, and the truck road great ('74 GMC 3/4 ton 4wd...front is a Dana 44, rear is 14 bolt...GM didn't make a 1 ton 4wd in '74. It has a beefed up frame (because of the dump), and super-heavy duty leaf springs front and rear, 4sp with granny gear, 350 for an engine).

Which was impressive (and worrisome) as that second load was 3.9 ton of stone...which is *a bit* more than I'd like in there.

Scary things is it wasn't even a full load from the fellow's loader...3/4 of a scoop or so....

So, how much can it handle? A lot. But take it easy if you want it to last a while....

FWIW I occasionally pull my 33hp 4wd yanmar, and except on hills (or mountains rather...) it pulls just fine. A trailer with tandem axles and brakes on both axles is a must though, for safety.

I'd like a bigger 4wd dump at some point (loadstar 1700 or something similar), but it's not in the cards financially right now.

Couchsachraga

 

[DmansPadge]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( On the hydraulics kit. Is there a "how-to" included when you buy the kits?)</font>

Hmmm.. probably won't be any "how to" instructions in the kit. Rebuilding them is fairly straight forward. If you decide to rebuild them and need some help just post on here or send me a PM and I'll be glad to answer any questions I can. I've rebuilt quite a few before and they are normally fairly easy.

Old Beater seems like a good truck.... just needs a little TLC.

 

[kmdigital]

Back in 2000 I bought a 1969 Ford F350 with with 390 V8 and a HD PTO powered dump box, and only 34,000 original miles. This box was huge for the truck, and the guy I bought it from had added the headache rack that goes over the top of the cab, so that the truck looked like a full sized county highway dump truck.

The orginal owner died a few years after he bought it, and the truck sat for years in an old barn until the guy I bought it from purchased it. The paint job looked almost new, but there was significant rust under the paint due to the barn having a dirt floor and no galvanized sheet metal used in trucks back then.

It had extra, extra heavy duty oversized springs under it, and one time I hauled slightly over 9 tons of gravel. Boy, I was more worried about the the bias ply tires then anything else, as they were squatting quite a bit, even though the springs hadn't bottomed out. I only went 3 miles, and I didn't go over about 35 or 40 all the way, as I didn't want to try to stop suddenly with those old drum brakes (even though they worked fine).

Scariest thing was that I found out the motor mounts were bad, and giving it to much gas caused the motor to torque up out of the mounts, which jammed the throttle wide open until the clutch was pushed in, at which point the engine would idle again. I replaced those mounts the shortly after this happened, as that experiance wasn't any fun! But, it dumped that huge load without even hesitating.

Sometimes I wish I still had it, but I sold it 2 years later for what I paid for it ($3,400) and bought a dump trailer instead. It can't haul nearly as much, as it isn't built for it, and it can't dump over about 2 tons, but it is easier to throw trash into it (much lower), and maintenance and insurance are much less, which were my reasons for going to a trailer.

 

[Builder]

Check out the dumps in my pictures. The electric over hydraulic hoists should be avoided for frequent dump cycles. I have one in my F450 4x4. It works OK for dumping maybe 5 times a day.

The 4800 4x4 is all telescoping hydraulic. It'll dump all day long with no stress. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

 

[rcrcomputing]

9 tons? Man.. We'll see.

Here's an update. I've spent some time learning to weld. I bought an ac/dc stick welder. I've welded stake pockets to the bed and a c-channel to the headache to hold 2x12 side rails. I made the stakes from 2 pieces of 1/8" angle iron wrapped around a 2x4 so they'll be nice and strong. (That was a pain..) Next, I'll find a piece of metel to weld over the stakes so we'll have something to tie straps to.
The clutch is replaced, removed dash and replaced all the little light bulbs.

I'm about ready to give this thing a test haul... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Syncro]

<font color="blue"> Check out the dumps in my pictures. The electric over hydraulic hoists should be avoided for frequent dump cycles. I have one in my F450 4x4. It works OK for dumping maybe 5 times a day. </font>

That is one nice truck! I also have 2 dump trucks, one F-350 with an electric hoist and a 5 yard GMC with PTO. The electric hoist on the little truck is surprisingly quick but you're right about using it all day. In my case I pretty much use the F-350 for clean up dump runs.

 

[Builder]

THANKS! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Do you mean the F450 or the IH4800?

 

[rcrcomputing]

Was cruising the site and found this ole thread. Thought I'd give ya'll an update. The dump truck is looking good. After I taught me to weld, <grin> I''ve now got the stake pockets weled on, and sucker rod going down the side to tie to.
Best of all, I got some diamond plate and welded a metel bed over the existing wood. The bed is all painted up with side boards etc..

I took her to the shop yesterday to have the power steering leak fixed.

Ole beater is lookin good. When you load the 12' bed up with firewood, you don't even know it's back there going down the road. ha!

The next step is to figure out if I should weld a hitch on it somehow. Being a 12' dump bed, I'm a bit unsure how I'm going to do it. The frame sits back under aways.

And should I even try to trailer with a 12' beded truck??

Just having fun!!! (Well, I was until my wife made me paint the house)

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

There's no reason NOT to pull a trailer with a 12' dump bed. It's done every day. As to welding a hitch on, that's not a big deal at all. Just make sure your stinger/ball/coupler doesn't extend beyond a vertical line from the back edge of your dump bed floor when the bed is fully raised.

Also, make sure you know what you're doing when you're welding something like a hitch. You're dealing with, literally, millioins of dollars in potential liability if that thing gives way and your loaded trailer come free and knocks that busload of lawyer's kids off a bridge.