End dump work

Its less strapping than flatbed.

 

And mindlessly routine.

Dump, BOOM (Tailgate) empty, lock gate get papers go run out and reload more rock. Youre running late. They need more of that rock. Hurry up. Pile that rock high.

I would be doing stone myself if there was any in my area who would have cared to throw me into one of them. Lord only knows I cleaned up after them with my CAT 936 front end loaded when they spilled too much in a hurry. I like my piles neat so I can get the whole thing into the bucket onto the rockpile. Particularly if I can raise the whole bucket until Im sitting on the rear bumper and rear wheels to get it up over the top of that pile to make room for more.

 

Be patient when dumping. Get as level as you can and watch the ground underneath your trailer. A 1" bump can translate to quite a difference when the bed is raised. Dump your air on truck and trailer, unless you're pulling a center point suspension trailer. Then most likely spring ride and all 8 tires stay on the ground instead of just the back 4. As far as the money 25% sounds about right, but keep in mind the revenue has to be there for the truck and you to both make money. In my area, sand is cheap. But sounds like he has a plan in place. Just my .02. I pull and end dump and I love it. I've pulled flats, van and reefer. Mostly flat.

 

I like pulling end dump, its great work because its always a new place to haul into or out of, and you soon become an expert at backing up.

 

Roper hit the nail on the head.... PAY ATTENTION TO THE GROUND. Depending on the length of the trailer, a 1" bump or hole can be 5 plus feet in the air and when it goes there isnt a #### thing you can do but hold on..... Also, pay attention above for overheads, I see this way to often.

 

I thirdly hit the ground, er nail on the head about slope of land you are dumping on.

One very dangerous day happened in a man's yard dumping a full box of dirt. My front left suspension on the Mack 500 got light when the bed raised about 3 feet. I stopped the PTO got out and saw that the bed is leaning downslope to my right which was about 2 inches lower in elevation than the left side of truck.

I raised the bed 1 more foot and stopped. This time the left steer on that mack 500 superliner was off the ground maybe a inch and change. All other tires especially on right was pretty compressed in suspension. Outer left drives were beginning to float. Bed leaned over on it's column now.

I told boss if you want that pile dumped there YOU dump it. I aint. It will break that truck and you don't pay me enough to replace a dump truck.

He got in, dropped the bed moved around a little bit to point the nose uphill and now raised the bed 3 feet stuff started wanting out already so he eased the dump and waited a while until it's out. Better than a wrecked truck and possibly a badly injured me.

 

@Al. Roper is exactly right and I was going to say also what @WREN said. Make it a habit of looking up too. I also made it part of my system to go back and visually check the tailgate locks soon as I tripped em. Stuff fails man and aside from not being level, a great way to tip over is shoot your trailer up 40 feet in the air and none of the material has anyway to go. Also you’ll get your own rhythm down and procedure. I trained for a week when I started end dumping and went with someone different everyday. And no one did stuff like the other. Which isn’t wrong, just everyone has their own technique. I could never get used to dumping with the Johnny bar, and lots of guys swear by it. You’ll get it. You don’t have to be crazy to like end dumping, but it helps. Good luck in your new venture.

 

We'll move this to the End dump forum. There are quite a few members there who might not look in the New Driver section.

 

Unless its winter and frozen in the box, gravel, sand, rocks etc usually slide out easily. Now come winter time it is trickier, or hauling snow, sometimes large waste products or scrap metal doesn't come out good, but a regular gravel haul in above freezing temperatures is usually fine. Learn how tall your box is when up, like it is around 30 feet give or take a few feet, and then learn to look for anything that height or less, they are pretty high when lifted, so as soon as possible start lowering it. Gentle is the key word to remember here. Also if you ever start self loading it is very easy to overload an end dump, they don't look very full in capacity usually, but they are out of weight carrying, so get used to how many buckets a certain loader takes to fill it. Your truck and trailer will dictate your amount, but lets say its 27 yards, in a 40 yard trailer it looks like nothing, but you are done.