Dump trucking questions

Cat or Cummins? I would definitely go with a caterpillar I really miss those engines.
I've drove many C,15 and I think it's one of the best engines ever made, heads and shoulders above any X15.
A buddy of mine told me that the new Detroit engines are pretty good have no experience with them the dd16 and dd15.

 

It’s very hard to find a good used truck. Why, in the dump truck bussiness, the trucks get ran hard and go through hell. Most the time when someone lets a truck go, they don’t have the time or patience to keep up on the work of the truck anymore and sometimes the truck needs too many repairs. Doesn’t mean the truck isn’t worth the asking price at all and still can be a great truck. But if you think the truck is just going to be turn key and not need repairs for first year, you will be in for a surprise. You absolutely need to know a little bit about how to work on a truck. So if you don’t, be prepared to learn on a whim. Paying a shop to do these repairs will cost you more money than you could imagine.

I started my dump truck bussiness a year ago and left my job to do it. I too was guaranteed work. In my state we only need one lift axle to haul 23 and half ton. 73280k gross. Depends on truck weight obviously. I bought a old 379 with c12 but had it tuned to push over 500hp through and 18 speed. From March of last year to novenmber, I made a little over 150k working 8 hour days 5-6 days a week. A few 10 hour days. With an old truck, comes repairs. However, old trucks don’t usually leave you dead in the water like a new one will with some silly derate mode or sensor failure. I invested money into big air tools and big shop air compressor. I spent a lot of time over the winter fixing little things as I saw as potential problems like worn out slack adjusters and such. YouTube can teach you all that. Also bought cat service manual and parts manual on cd to diagnose and do repairs. Tracked down every oil leak and painted motor.
Moral of the story, when you shut the truck off at night, it’s time to work on it. Or don’t work on it. I run with some guys that have some real piece of junk and hazard to road and just pocket the money.

As far the job goes, I love this bussiness and wouldn’t dream of doing anything else. Fun stuff, home every night. Days are short and only travel with 10-20 miles usually.

 

I don't really know about dump trucks I know up here we use a lot of 15 liter engines but I'm always hearing people saying that Cummings are crap. Before everybody tries to hang me that's just what I hear from all the mechanics that I know.
Anyways good luck finding something that's not totally trashed out.

 

A good way to buy a used dump is to go to equipment auctions.When contractors finish a large job they usually sell off their surplus equipment.If you know what you're looking at you can get a good deal. Where I live they have a truck paper TNT(truck n trailer) it lists all the auctions in the area.

 

I cannot offer the opinion on engine, my dump truck work featured a V format engine rather than a inline. Which is essentially it's own class. It was a good engine. And that might have been a understatement.

If you find a older cat, grab it. But keep in mind CAT quit making highway engines totally because they cannot get good emissions. It will be harder and harder to get a good Cat as the years go by. Detriot would be my second choice.Cummins? Eh...it will take too long to "Wake up" you want a engine that is rather agile in the lower RPM's

 

My opinion would be if you are looking for a dump truck that's going to be in good shape that's usable that you don't pay top dollar for you need to start looking immediately.

You're going to find that there are all kinds of trucks for sale but you'll find they need a lot of work or they're worn out or they have some kind of a problem or something to that effect or they're very beat up Etc. Dump trucks take a terrible beating.

Either that or you'll find what you're looking for but it would be at a dealership somewhere for top top dollar. I would start searching for owner operators that are retiring and keep your eyes open and look and look and look to find something good. If you have the money that you can make the payments in the meantime that's great.

If you start looking for a truck around the time you need a truck, you surely are going to spend more than you should be

 

I know I'm going to get a lot of flack about this, but for dump work, nothing works harder, longer and takes a beating like a Mack. When they're loaded they are sweet, when they're empty It's like driving a brick. T800's make nice dumps also.