Medium duty dump truck

[Rowski]

Our '84 k35 dump truck has just about had it, rust has gotten the better of it (frame). It still works but I don't think its road worthy with a full load on it, makes a good woods truck.

I'm looking for something more in the medium duty line. It has to be under CDL (26K lbs??). I'm thinking around the 20K lbs GVWR. Short wheel base, CA84ish. I'm not looking to spend a fortune, so something like from the 70's or 80's. I'm not to familiar with the models names or numbers of the 20K lbs trucks. Mechanical trouble, welding etc. I can take care of
myself.

The primary use with be to trailer my TN70DA around locally. Move material gravel, topsoil, etc. locally. Anything more than local I can have delivered by tandem truck. Needs to be low geared. Gas or diesel doesn't matter. This is for part-time work. My main concern is something phisically small, turns sharp, and can carry a good load.

Any thoughs on what is good?

Thanks.

 

[Birdhunter1]

Look to see if your county or any townhips are going to be auctioning anythign they have. Sometimes you can find some stuf cheap that is in relatively good shape. Other than that look at a trader or something to find one I would say.

 

[Rowski]

I have checked with the local townships and nothing under CDL. I have checked some on-line sources.


My question is what's a good model, what ones to avoid?

 

[JDgreen227]

I drove medium duty box trucks and flatbeds for my employer for nearly 32 years, most were owned and some were rented or leased. As I knew many other fellows who did the same trade I got a pretty good idea of what was reliable and what wasn't. My pick would be an early 80's IHC S-Series with the DT-466 diesel, one of my work trucks was an '84 S-1900 LWB with a 26000 lb GVWR. They were way overbuilt and dead reliable, many of the lighter models (S-1600 and S-1700) were used as single axle dump trucks.

Do a search in the Construction Equipment forum and see if that gives you any ideas.

 

[cowboydoc]

What's your budget? Gas or diesel? Grain box or rock box? Single axle? Cheater axle? What transmission?

These medium duty trucks are higher right now than I have ever seen them. What was $1500 a year ago for a 15 year old grain truck is now $5000 or more. What was a $5k dump truck is now $10k. It's not a good time to be buying at auction or used for sure. I'm not sure why the explosion in equipment but it's higher now than it ever has been.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Derek, I run a fleet of medium duty trucks (not dump trucks). Most of ours are GMC Top Kicks. For what it is worth, I'd go up to a GVW of 23,000 or 25,995. The 20,000# GVW vehicle is typically using lighter shocks, lesser tires, lighter springs. However, the difference between the 23,000 and 25,995 GVW trucks is pretty blurry. Most of the actual difference is simply changing the tires! The cost to go up in size is typically minimal. Unless your budget is already stressed, give it some consideration to go up in size to the 23,000# GVW. If you have that, you can go up to 25,995 by swapping the tires at some point in the future (like when your original tires wear out).

 

[Will_C]

Derek, It sounds like you are looking for a C-50 or 60 Chevy truck from that era. You also might look at a Ford F-500 ot 600. Gearing should not be a problem as a majority of these trucks came with 5 speed transmissions and a 2 speed rear axle. Sorry that I don't have any specific directions to point you toward.
Will

 

[BarryinMN]

One item to check on...

Hitching a trailer over 10 lbs to a 25990 GVW truck instantly puts you into CDL territory.

You need to keep the gross combined truck + trailer under 26K to avoid a CDL.

Had this issue with a friend who owns a junk yard. He was showing off his shiny new 25990 tow truck & said he did not have to pay for CDL's on his employees. I asked how a lawyer would account for a 8600 gvw suburban on the back during the wreck...

Now if he bought a 25990 rollback version instead.

 

[Durbob]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One item to check on...

Hitching a trailer over 10 lbs to a 25990 GVW truck instantly puts you into CDL territory.

You need to keep the gross combined truck + trailer under 26K to avoid a CDL.

Had this issue with a friend who owns a junk yard. He was showing off his shiny new 25990 tow truck & said he did not have to pay for CDL's on his employees. I asked how a lawyer would account for a 8600 gvw suburban on the back during the wreck...

Now if he bought a 25990 rollback version instead. )</font>

I believe you will find that hauling a trailer for commercial business requires a cdl regardless of gvw. I have heard of people with pickups hauling trailers and finding that out.
Something to check into.

 

[Rowski]

Seems like I'm looking at:

International--> 1500 1600 1700

GMC--> C50 C60 C70

Ford----> F500 F600

Are the internationals better in the mid 80's than the GMC or Ford? Or does not really matter?

I've looked on-line at truckpaper.com and have found some but the are a few thousand miles away /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. The problem is where I'm located they are old farm trucks that are beat and not really road worthy. The ones that are road worthy are rust buckets (heavy salt area here).


Thanks for everyone input.