My first dump truck! advice please?

I have been driving a fire truck in Louisiana where emergency vehicle drivers are exempt from needing a cdl. The trucks are tandem's with one I was on for a while being 88,000lbs GVW and 47' long. All Automatics.

I started my dump truck quest because I have several pieces of land that need a good amount of dirt. I figured I may be able to hustle some jobs on the side when I'm not working my regular job where my dad could drive for me as he is retired.

I will now have to go test for my CDL. I have taken plenty of cdl type courses through the fire department. I'm pretty sure with a little review I can pass the written part and the driving part should not be a problem for me.

I do not like standards so the truck I bought is an automatic. It is a 1993 Ford F900T with a cummins 8.3L6 motor. I will post a link to the auction I bought it from later when my post count allows it.

While I'm used to driving larger vehicles I do not know anything about dump trucks.

I quoted Insurance through progressive but was wondering who you all find the best agents to call for dump truck policies and lowest prices?

What is the best method to hustle work?

As far as the truck in the link is there anything I should be concerned with?

I spoke to a guy a while back when I was looking at another truck. He registered the truck below 46,000 lbs with the state because apparently it saves him money but his truck actually weighed more. My trucks GVW is 52,000lbs 12,000 front and 40,000 rear). Progressive quoted me both weights. If in fact you can register it under 46,000lbs it cuts the premium in half on insurance. Is this a common practice or even possible?

Any other pointers you can give me are appreciated.

 

Yes I have seen a few videos of what weight transfer or uneven ground can cause when dumping.

On a construction site what do you tell the contractor who is hirin you if he asks you to go dump on the rear of the lot or site where the ground may be soft or uneven? Usually I know they want you to dump as far back on a residential construction site so they have room for the several loads they will need. With the fire department trucks we are not allowed to leave the roadway so we dont have to judge uneven ground very often. How do you judge what you consider safe even ground if you are leaving the roadway on a construction site to avoid tipping of getting stuck?

 

Here is that link by the way:

http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=146&acctid=1500

 

Yeah I guess they could care less about you and your property in most cases. I just wanted to see what is the norm from experienced drivers in those types of cases.

Working the hydraulic ram to dump. I assume it may be like my old ladder truck where you have a pto switch and then hit another switch to raise or lower the ram. Are there any usual steps in between or does it vary greatly from truck to truck?