Dump Truck or Trailer?

[hutchman]

If you get the truck, here's a little tutorial I used for a coolant flush. It worked great. I didn't mess with SCA, I just bought Fleet Charge from Tractor Supply with the SCA already in it. You may also hear of test strips to check SCA if you go the route of adding your own. It's my understanding that the strips have a shelf life, so don't buy a ton for future use. The Diesel Stop is a great website for 7.3 Ford owners. I learned a lot there in my time with a 1997 7.3.
Coolant changing instructions... - Diesel Forum - TheDieselStop.com

I was worried about cavitation damage so the first thing I did was pull an oil sample and send it off for analysis. Thank the Lord came back with no water, antifreeze or fuel in the oil. The good thing about the DT466 is it relatively easy and cheap to do a in-frame rebuild (kits are around $1,000) but I really was praying I could work 'with' it instead of work 'on' it

I'm planning on doing a flush and refill when I can afford it (needs 10 gallons of coolant!) with Final Charge Global. It has a coolant filter on it with DCA4+ but if I change coolant I'll just put a blank coolant filter on. I really don't want to mess with SCA management. A friend gave me some test strips but they were bad.

 

[crashz]

I went ahead and bought the F-450. So far, I have mixed feelings about the truck:

It drives awesome! Its actually very fun to drive and quite easy. Plenty of power!
But..
She has a bad juju cloud above her. Every task attempted is a difficult one, and generally been hurting people left and right. 3 tire guys got minor finger injuries while mounting the new tires (I opted for all 6 new as I got a screaming deal), and to date I've soaked myself in hot diesel, ATF and got something embedded in my left eye (while wearing safety glasses!). Generally it seems to have a bad luck cloud above it at the moment.

So far, I've changed the fuel filter, air filter (a noticeable difference!), trans fluid, fixed broken directional wiring, a new ground strap on the dump body, painted and scraped 50 lbs of scale off of the body (extreme rust on dump body, virtually none on the cab and frame) and put all new tires on. Rear brakes are a bit rough, and will need to be changed soon. I have a few more things to do, but overall she is ready to run and haul soil. Its good timing too as we have a bunch of stuff to do with it. I'll post pictures as soon as I get her back home and finish painting the bed.

 

[crashz]

Thought I'd share a photo from last week of the new dump truck. She hauled topsoil, stone and sod to my house last week and performed like a champ.

My wife actually loves this truck. She says the stiffer ride is better than my Chevy!

I still need to finish rust repair and painting the dump body, but it is getting there. Its usable in the mean time and it will remain busy for the rest of the summer.

 

[hutchman]

Very nice looking truck!

 

[crashz]

Thanks Hutch! She runs and drives excellent. I need to replace the carrier bearing in it (visible wear and random vibration during driving), but otherwise, she's in excellent condition. I drove it all week last week and it was really fun to drive. I really like the 7.3 PS and six speed combo.

BTW - I changed the oil in it while I was working it. It was recently done at a local shop, but I wanted to get on my schedule and oil brand. I used Rotella T6 5w-40 synthetic. Immediately the truck began starting easier and running substantially quieter. I have a feeling the quick lube place dumped their house brand 10w-30 in it. I was having a slight delay when starting while warm/hot, which has completely gone away now. Starts with just a blip of the key. From what I understand and from reading on the Ford truck forums, oil plays a crucial part in the operation of these engines, and it was proven to me.

Also I mentioned that the rear brakes were worn and needed to be replaced soon, but that was based on the drivers side. The passengers side was steel on steel. So I had a local shop replace the pads, rotors and calipers.

 

[Mike68]

Do you have any concerns switching to a full synthetic on a high mileage vehicle? Back when I worked at UPS (early 90s) they started switching their local delivery trucks to synthetic. After a short while they started blowing motors on the ones with high mileage. They changed their policy to only switching to synthetic on the lower mileage vehicles or after an overhaul. I'm sure things have changed in the last 20 years. Just curious as to what your thoughts are?

 

[RDrancher]

Do you have any concerns switching to a full synthetic on a high mileage vehicle? Back when I worked at UPS (early 90s) they started switching their local delivery trucks to synthetic. After a short while they started blowing motors on the ones with high mileage. They changed their policy to only switching to synthetic on the lower mileage vehicles or after an overhaul. I'm sure things have changed in the last 20 years. Just curious as to what your thoughts are?

I don't know if things have changed, but I had also heard bad things about switching to synthetic. It was related more towards seals starting to leak. My wife's '99 7.3 is over 323k now and I have used Delo in it since I can remember. I haven't always been timely on oil changes, but no engine problems to speak of. I've been so impressed with Delo that I use it in every diesel I have and purchase by the case when it's on sale.

 

[crashz]

I've never had any issues switching to synthetic on high mileage engines (150-200K) other than sometimes a weeping oil seal becomes a dripping seal. This can be because of the more aggressive cleaning of typical synthetics or a slight hardening of the seals. Otherwise I've never experienced a failure.

For older cars I switched to synthetic:
1984 Cutlass Supreme - 89K to 124K, sold it (regretfully) to a kid who wrecked it a week later.
1989 GMC Jimmy S15 at 165K ran that to 270K, rusted to bits.
2003 Malibu at 121K ran to 156K, sold, still running fine.
These all got Mobil 1 of their required viscosity. Everything else I've owned was switched to synthetic at a low mileage (<50K). Both of my machines, while older, do not have a lot of hours on it (1000 hrs for the JD and 2600 for the Bobcat) and currently have 5w-40 syn in the crank case.

However, on a engine like John's, I say go with what's been working for 323K miles!

 

[bdog]

It all depends on what you are doing. I posted earlier in this thread about a 16' gooseneck dump trailer I bought. It is great but it can only haul 5-6 yards of dirt without being overloaded. It is also hard to get in tight spaces. We are digging a pond and selling the dirt and delivering it to people. We have delivered over 100 loads over the past couple months. We still have the dump trailer but also bought a 2007 international single axle dump truck. It too hauls about six yards without being over 26k but is so much more nimble and we can deliver topsoil to where they are building new homes in neighborhoods where it would be extremely difficult with the dump trailer. Also the battery on the dump trailer becomes an issue under heavy use. We took 30 loads of dirt to a guy a mile down the road and you can get about seven dumps before the battery craps out. If there is time between them it has a solar charger and the truck charges it as well but when you are running hard it can't keep up.

I went and took all my CDL written tests last week and am taking the road test next week and then we are buying either a tandem or triaxle dump to be able to haul 15 yards at a time.

For personal use the dump trailer is awesome I have been keeping it attached to one of our trucks and have my skid steer on there now and have used it to get lumber, corral panels, metal, etc. I really like it and when we are taking dirt to people who have room we run both the dump trailer and the dump truck but once I get the bigger dump truck I will probably sell it and buy a little book trailer to pull behind the dump.

 

[crashz]

bdog - I was pretty serious on the dump trailer idea, especially with the condition my trailer is in. But my father talked me out of it. For us, the truck might work out better (he wanted me to buy a IH 4700, so he's not exactly thrilled with the Ford) for that same reasons as you stated. I need something small enough to get around the yard, get in he woods a little and for my father to make his topsoil deliveries. He will be retiring next year, and will be selling topsoil as a side business. Like you, he wanted to be able to deliver in tight spots.

I wanted to stay as small as possible for another reason. When I take this to my house I have limited parking and I live 150 miles from our shop/land. So I wanted to be able to park it in my driveway without de-limbing my trees and also not be a DOT target on my way back and forth. A one-ton truck is pretty inconspicuous and fits in my driveway without taking down my fruit and maple trees.