owner operator dump

Biggest question is what are you gonna do in the winter...?

Asphalt is great but doesn’t move in the winter ......... and if you don’t find other work can you survive till spring .

 

Before you drop a lot of money on a truck why not drive for a dump outfit for a year or so?
We can talk 'til we're blue in the face but until you really get out there and experience the job environment a lot of what we say won't mean much to you.
We run a couple of end dumps and some bottom dumps and most of our work comes through personal contacts that we've spent years developing. A year driving for somebody else will help you see which people to cultivate for work and which ones are just full of hot air.
It's a tough business, very competitive. It can also be seasonal with slowdowns in the winter or during inclement weather. Again, that's where your contacts come in handy.

 

I may be kind of late to the party but figured I'd mention it... My friend has 7 dump trucks. It's slow during the winter and busy in the summer, like the guys above said. With dump trucks you're going off-road a lot and they're tri- axles. Things break, A LOT. you can fix it yourself or spend a lot of money on a shop but those shop bills will run you into the ground. Also dont expect to hire guys with Class B with no dump experience. A dump truck is more comparable to a Class A truck then some bus.

 

As was already mentioned, go drive dump truck for someone else for a few years.
You may think that it is easy, but in many cases it is the most difficult driving job that you will ever have.
Never let your guard down, be looking at everything always, including looking up a lot, remember that box you raised, its now a destroyer of everything overhead.
You will spend a ridiculous amount of time reversing into what seem like impossible spots, after a couple years all other jobs backing into anywhere will seem easy. They are also eerily easy to flip over. Everything seems great, slightly leaning but no biggie you think to yourself, and boom, your laying on your side so fast its spooky. That high center of gravity when the box is up has caught many a driver who thought all was well. If you get really good at all sorts of gravel truck work, the other stuff will seem easy afterwards.

 

You are so right it's not even funny. When I drove one I thought one time that a slight lean to the left is no big deal. I dropped that box in a panic. Nothing broke in two pieces but... lesson learned. I cannot imagine just giving somebody from craigslist a dump truck and saying "hey go drive and make us some money" with no roadtest/ training. Not to forget those things roll down the road like a train when loaded. I find doubles easier to stop.

 

Super B, tanker, almost anything except possible hugely over sized and over weight loads, are easier than gravel trucks.
Tons of people who think that it will be easy with their decade of trucking experience, cannot begin to handle a gravel truck.
Just backing into a sketchy job site at 125,000 pounds gross can be difficult. Then after dumping the pup, the hard part begins to perfectly jackknife the pup and have the truck in the exact spot needed.
Or doing a perfect spread.
How about if you live where I do every blizzard you get sent out in it for a 12 hour shift day or night to haul snow.
If a driver is good in a gravel truck, as I said the other stuff is super easy.
A guy recently tried out for a job with me, 16 years driving a super B fuel tanker, thought he was a good driver.
I spent 3 days trying to teach him how to drive gravel truck, and then I gave up. Too many variables and he just couldn't begin to grasp it.
Doing a spread was so far beyond his abilities it wasn't funny. He almost torn down a set of electric lines, and then the next day almost tore the overhang off of a house.
Came close to flopping the trailer, and I finally said enough. He was so far below the skill level of ever cutting it as a graveler it was ridiculous. Thankfully he just had a week off from his regular job hauling gas for Co-op fuels, and he had that to go back to.
Driving a Super B tanker on actual roads is easy.