Aluminum end Dump Trailer (Sand, gravel)

Agreed on the east but for the "road trucks will be fine to 100kish" ehhh yes and no, and i only make this point so the OP knows what he is getting himself into as someone who has been using a road truck consistantly for 2 years now.

Road trucks as a rule either lack a few things or have far too lightly equiped things. I.E most road trucks have side skirts that are pretty easy to rip off at some of the rougher job sites, more so if they are low skirts. The 5th wheels are usually not of the pinnable varaity so you either need an iffy custom solution or to replace said 5th wheel. Another are shocks and airbags. The ones on my truck when i got it were FAR too light for what im doing and the very first load i got when he dumped the bucket of rock in blew all 4 shocks and it happened again 3 weeks later with the new ones. Ended up swapping all 4 for bulldogs with 3 times the load capacity.

Another point against them is many are the loft style trucks or have a topper on them which is a big no no going under some of these tighter places low roofs. Several salt mines come to mind. Then of course most road trucks i know of dont have weight guages or suspension load guages, PTO idle switches, trailer drop axle switches or in some extreme cases on the short frame ones you wont have enough room for a hydro tank on the back due to ferrings or on the rails due to def tank and larger fuel tanks such as was the case with mine when i got it. Lastly some auto trucks just dont have the torque or ability to get themselves out of a situation. Seen more then one aito road conversion get bogged down and the computer prevented rocking or feathering so had to be towed out where as us guys with manuals could get out easily as had been happening all day. And lastly your going to want to swap to a more heavy duty air filter. I was using the stock pete ones and having to replace them every 2 weeks because of dust clogging issues and switched to an aftermarket one that i get about 8 weeks out of now.

Can a road truck be used as a rock truck? Absolutely. BUT they will need a lot of converting over. Here are just a FEW of the items ive had to change. And yes i actully BROKE my 5th wheel and had to have it both rebuilt and reinforced like crazy. And yes i modded my catwalk to have a frame and moved the airlines so i could fit the PTO outlet in.

 

The big issue is the light specs of a highway tractor. It doesn't need to be built for the bush but it needs to be a bit beefier than a run of the mill fleet spec unit.

 

Should of specified, I wouldn’t do it with an ex prime/swift truck or something throw away with any of the plastic crap on it, taller rubber for ground clearance and a heavy duty set of 40 rears will get the job done however.

i have a block kit on my 5th wheel and the pto/tarp/ up down is all in a box next to the seat, don’t really need to run it all through the dash, same with a weight guage, easy enough to add somewhere else

should be dumping air when going up anyway so, air bags/shocks should be fine as long as they are in good condition

i can legally get just shy of 34 ton on, although I rarely go over scales so I’m sure I’ve had closer to 40 on at times
on

 

Maybe 3 years ago I tried this in the San Antonio austin area. I lasted a bit less than a year. My truck was a 1996 W900 and it worked well. 24.5 tires, no side skirts, maybe 12’ high. Being table to go under the silos and not backing in is huge. While truck was fine, the pay was horrible. Towards the end I was hauling sand and dirt during the day, and asphalt at night with just a couple hours sleep in between each.

The information below is of my attempt doing this, with a small company. If you join with a guy that has 20+ trucks I’m sure it might be different.

I believe it could be a decent living, but there’s a lot going against you in this area specifically. There’s really only 2 companies that have these jobs and it’s literally almost like a mafia how they run. One girl whose family owns the largest quarry is married to the owner of one of these companies. You cannot simply just work for whoever has these jobs. You are pretty much forced to pick one of the two. You also don’t always get to pick what you do, there’s a job, they give it to you, and that’s that. Take it or leave it. If you leave it, they won’t give you any more work. Yes there’s other companies to work with, but it feels like you’re trapped. Some want you to show up even if it rains “just in case” there’s work. Others want you basically on call.

 

Better learn your way around the scales….

 

Haha I forgot about the bribes. Here is a 6 day paycheck. Without expenses or fuel. This is an average week.

 

He is right ^^^^^


OP what are you going to haul besides sand, yardage, always dry or sometimes wet, road conditions, condition of area you'll be dumping on?
Been doing this for decades, spend the money to get the proper truck and trailer if you're taking it seriously. If you just plan to play at it for a couple of months, and then move on, buy anything and don't sweat it.
Remember that this is business, so until you have a signed contract, you don't have piss all.