Dump bed Pick Ups

[gemini5362]

I agree totally with JimR some insurance companies are different than others. And a pickup is a pickup, a flatbed is a flatbed etc etc. The difference is going to be in how you use it. My insurance company takes the attitude that no matter how it started out life if you add a dump bed to it then it becomes a dump truck. If your insurance company doesnt care then that probably would not be an issue for you. My original intent with my post was to warn someone reading this that they might want to check before they spend their money on dump eqipment whether it would cost them higher premiums I believe some of the other posters brought up the issue of whether quarries and places like that would even load a 1/2 ton pickup. MY opinion for what little it is worth is that if you are going to spend your money for a dump bed for your truck you might want to do some investigating and see if in the long run a trailer would be economically feasible and cheaper in the long run. It might be more money up front but when you factor in operating costs, possibly higher premiums and the ability to get it loaded easier you might be better off with a trailer. Someone has already pointed out that this has become an insurance thread rather than one about dump beds I would love to see posts with individual experiences with the dump beds. How much will they dump, do they have trouble with the dump bed hitting the sides of the pickup and denting them that kind of thing. I saw someone talking about a bed that attatches to the reciever hitch to hold it in place that is a novel idea and I for one am curious about how well that works

 

[Iowachild]

Is this better?

NO!!! That's unsafe at any speed!

 

[AndyM]

To me it just don't make sense to pay a $100 delivery charge to have 3 or 4 dollars worth of stuff delivered.

It doesn't make sense to me to buy a truck, pay for insurance, license plates, fuel, and other maintenance for a vehicle that is only going to get used a couple of times a year. Carter Lumber delivers for 25 dollars and the dump truck guy delivers 20 tons of bulk material (gravel, etc) for 65 dollars. In my case, it's cheaper to drive my little car, and pay someone to deliver if I ever need it.

P.S. What's the deal with all the colors? Is there a secret code if you combine the letters a certain way?

 

[StealthDump]

I bolted the bed down in the front to the frame rails brackets that I welded on.

So you had to unbolt it to use it as a dump? What happens if someone forgets the bolts are in place? Did you weld it light for breakaway?

Here's the slip in that works off a Warn winch: Dump-Pro! Turn your Pickup into a Dumptruck in Minutes! Dump-Pro(R) Website

I don't care for it, especially the way they disrespect hydraulic types. I bet you've got to keep the sliding tracks cleaned for this to work properly. Kinda ugly, and no mention of loading it with sheets of plywood.

 

[JimR]

I bolted the bed down in the front to the frame rails brackets that I welded on.

So you had to unbolt it to use it as a dump? What happens if someone forgets the bolts are in place? Did you weld it light for breakaway?
.

I never let anyone borrow my truck when it had the dump setup on it. I was the sole user of it. I can't count how many times I forgot to unbolt the bed. It was not a breakaway setup by any means. I only had it held down with two 3/8" grade 8 bolts. You would see the center of the bed go up about 1/2 inch and hear the electric lift motor/pump setup moan like crazy. This setup was capable of dumping two ton with the truck in a flat postion.

 

[LBrown59]

The closest quarry to me will not load a pick-up truck or single axle trailer. It would really burn my butt if I paid $2500 for a Dump Pro insert and then find that I couldn't get it loaded with crushed stone.
I would suggest checking with the local quarry before buying one.

Quarries aren't the only place one may be hauling from.
There is a fellow offering free fill dirt here.
He rented a Bob Cat and a small Track hoe and is doing excavation around his house and is offering the fill dirt free to anyone who will haul it away.
I just found out that a Pick up with a dump bead would have been a whole lot better than the nothing I have.
Not having it to haul with just cost me the loss of tons of free dirt.
__________________ Talk about a burning butt
Here's another seat warmer .
I hauled 7 pickup loads of trash to the loacal land fill. Just watch Dump trucks and dump trailers pull in on each side of you dump and leave and 3 dump trailers and 2 dump trucks later you're still struggling to get the trash off your truck.
O Boy did that hurt!

 

[Rara Avis]

THEN They need at least on smaller loader on hand for that.

Quarries are not in the business to load stone at 1/2 a ton a shot...The liability issues of the quarry have been mentioned by others on this thread...

My 86 F350 has hauled on the average 4 tons a trip of yard mix for refinishing my driveway and workareas around the barns...and those loads were HALF Buckets of the smallest loader in the quarry...

During this spring while I was in the quarry getting my load...there were several triaxle semi-trailers being loaded with 75,000lbs of stone for the cement company...THAT'S where their money comes from...

On the insurance side...you should have a very low rate depending on miles used...if you only put about 5K miles on your dump truck each year...your rate should be about $200 a year...

 

[LBrown59]

1*Quarries are not in the business to load stone at 1/2 a ton a shot...The liability issues of the quarry have been mentioned by others on this thread...

...

Last summer I picked up 1000 pounds of slag at the quarry with my little ram 50 .Went there and got it like that 3 or 4 times.

Always have been able to get a pick up loaded at the slag quarry and gravel at a different gravel pit.

Have never ran into a refusal to load problem.

 

[LBrown59]

Quarries aren't the only place one may be hauling from.
1*There is a fellow offering free fill dirt here.
He rented a Bob Cat and a small Track hoe and is doing excavation around his house and is offering the fill dirt free to anyone who will haul it away.
I just found out that a Pick up with a dump bead would have been a whole lot better than the nothing I have.
Not having it to haul with just cost me the loss of tons of free dirt.
__________________
2*I hauled 7 pickup loads of trash to the local land fill.
Just watch Dump trucks and dump trailers pull in on each side of you dump and leave and 3 dump trailers and 2 dump trucks later you're still struggling to get the trash off your truck by hand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Quarries are not in the business to load stone at 1/2 a ton a shot... ...

********************************
So Then I should forget getting a dump bed pick up because a quarry might refuse to load it even though that decision means I forfeit benefits 1* and 2* above.
That looks like throwing the baby out with the bath water to me.

 

[LBrown59]

a few years ago when i had my ford L600 truck (24,000 gvw)on the road i of course had insurance on it. when talking to the insurance agent when i first got the insurance he pointed out to me that since the truck was a flatbed that dumped then it didnt have to be insured as a dump truck, just regular flatbed truck, basicly yes you could haul gravel in it by putting sideboards on, which i often did, but that was not the primary designed purpose of the truck so thus it didnt have to be insured as dump truck which of course was more money. so i dont see how adding a dump insert to a pickup is going to void your insurance as some people say, i mean basicly the dump insert is a load you are carrying in the bed of your pickup, its not a truck body realy.

Even so I don't see where the insurance should be anywhere near as high on a pick up with a dump bed used for private personal non commercial use as it would be for a dual or tandem axle 12 to 24 ton commercial dump truck.