Using grain truck to haul gravel

[LoneCowboy]

big trucks cost big bucks to fix.

and nothing is ever cheap on them.

under CDL puts you at about 5 tons a load.
that's about 4 yards of rock.

Get a semi load with about 25 tons for the $100.

I have a real tandem HD dump truck and I almost always get it delivered by the rock yard, i can't do it for what they charge.

 

[grnspot110]

Around here most people use a 2x10 w/stakes as a rear gate. As far as the sides not holding, you're not going to be able to haul a big enough load in a grain truck to put much strain on the sides!

 

[schmism]

Around here we are paying $15 per ton and have been for a year now.

Chris

It was $15 a ton from any second hand seller. but if i go 15 miles down the road to the quary its 5.25 a ton with a $20 min. :thumbsup:

Takes me about $10 in gas to make the trip. My C30 will haul 2 tons... i need to take my 10K trailer and get a full 4 ton to make the min.

 

[Diamondpilot]

It was $15 a ton from any second hand seller. but if i go 15 miles down the road to the quary its 5.25 a ton with a $20 min. :thumbsup:

Takes me about $10 in gas to make the trip. My C30 will haul 2 tons... i need to take my 10K trailer and get a full 4 ton to make the min.

We are getting screwed then. I live 1.5 miles from one quarry and 6 miles from the other. Both have about the same price. I got tired of spending $1000 every two years to resurface my drive so I had it paved this year. No more gravel for me.

Chris

 

[bdeboer]

We are getting screwed then. I live 1.5 miles from one quarry and 6 miles from the other. Both have about the same price. I got tired of spending $1000 every two years to resurface my drive so I had it paved this year. No more gravel for me.

Chris

Our limestone prices tripled about 8 years ago when one large company purchased all of the quarries except one within a reasonable distance. Before that the haul charge per ton was almost the same as the stone.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Our limestone prices tripled about 8 years ago when one large company purchased all of the quarries except one within a reasonable distance. Before that the haul charge per ton was almost the same as the stone.

Thats how it was here. I bought my current home in 2003 and #2, #53, and #10 stone was about $7 per ton and $75 haul fee for up to 24.5 tons in the quad axle trucks. I got 4 loads each of the first 3 years and it would run about $250 per load. Now it runs $470 per load due to the higher haul fee and stone price.

I gave up and spent $10,000 this spring and had my drive done in concrete and asphalt. I had a concrete pad of 20x40 poured in front of my pole barn and had the rest of my drive blacktopped. It is 25' wide at the road then flares out to 40' wide to meet the concrete pad and is about 240' long.

Chris

 

[kemary]

I just bought a load of #57 limestone last week. Regular rate was $22/ton. I talked them into giving me the freight haulers rate of $18/ton, still a rip off. I'm in Ohio and National Limestone has bought up the smaller guys and keep on raising the rates. The biggest problem with a grain truck is that an inexperienced operator can massively overload a bed like that. 5 tons in a 16' bed looks like it's empty. I had an old Chevy with that 292 straight 6, it was a beast just expect plenty of travel time!!!!!

 

[Diamondpilot]

I just bought a load of #57 limestone last week. Regular rate was $22/ton. I talked them into giving me the freight haulers rate of $18/ton, still a rip off. I'm in Ohio and National Limestone has bought up the smaller guys and keep on raising the rates. The biggest problem with a grain truck is that an inexperienced operator can massively overload a bed like that. 5 tons in a 16' bed looks like it's empty. I had an old Chevy with that 292 straight 6, it was a beast just expect plenty of travel time!!!!!

Another issue is with a grain truck you have 4' or more overhang behind the rear axle. A dump truck has none. Because of this overhang its easy to tip the truck. I have seen it done with moist top soil.

Chris

 

[firefighter9208]

I have a 77 GMC 6500 Grain Truck with a 24,000 GVW. It weighs 11,000 empty. I have it tagged with farm tags for 30,000. I can haul 6.5 tons and be under the 24,000GVW. I usually haul 8 tons and that keeps me under 30,000 that it's tagged for.

You have to be really carefull when hauling from a quarry. One time I went and asked for 8 tons and when I got on the scales he had loaded it with 11 tons. I had to dump and start over.

I got on the operator of the loader and told him that I knew his machine had scales and he could load just 8 tons. Since then he has been better at loading.

This summer I wanted to put gravel on my driveway. 1000' long x 10' wide. I hauled 50 tons over 2 days. The gravel cost 8.00 a ton.

I called and got a quote from a local contractor and he told me he would haul the gravel for $12.00 a ton.

When all was said and done I added up the cost of the gravel and gas that it cost me to hual. I saved a whopping $50.00. Not counting my time.

I needed gravel a couple weeks ago to go under a concrete pad in my barn. I called the contractor and he was at my house after school with a load of gravel. 20 tons was $240.00 and all I had to do was watch him dump.

From now on I will pay to have my gravel hauled and use my grain truck for hauling grain and other items. Not gravel.

JMHO,

Chris

 

[Verticaltrx]

When you get into medium duty trucks there are literally hundreds of option combinations even on a given model, and as such GVWR's can vary a lot.

We have a '75 C60 that is setup for maximum payload, but only has a 350 engine and 4spd transmission. It's double framed, 23,000lb rear axle (2spd) and 9,000lb front axle, however the GVWR on it is only 24,000lbs due to the tires, which are 9.00-20. It also has a pretty heavy duty twin telescopic cylinder hoist (not scissor hoist) despite having a 14' grain bed.

Basically the truck itself will haul more than the tires or grain bed are designed to. It has farm plates on it now, but used to be licensed at 32,000lbs and would gross every bit of that fully loaded. I did load it to capacity once, we were loading shale on it and I decided to see how much it would take to set it down on the overload springs. We had the 14' grain box almost full to the top with shale and it was just on the overloads. I don't have any idea how much weight that was, but the truck hauled it fine, the hoist lifted it fine, but the bed was very wobbly and creaky when dumping it.

If you are going to haul with a grain bed, make sure the floor/supports are good around the hoist (I have seen the cylinder poke right through the floor), don't haul wet sticky stuff like clay, and don't overload it. Keep the load centered and only dump on flat ground. Being on a little bit of a side hill can twist the bed right off the truck, or just turn the whole rig over.

I do use ours to haul gravel/dirt some, but mostly around the farm or a job site. Over the road it's generally cheaper to call the quarry and have them deliver.