Putting together a dump truck

Just buy a used dump truck.
I'm almost certain it's gonna be a whole
Lot cheaper than you building your own dump
Truck in the back yard.

 

Lots of decent used trucks for sale......I haven't priced any but I am
guessing with so many for sale prices can't be to bad.

Building a truck from scratch will be pretty steep....unless you can
do some of your own work. The small stuff really adds up. Lights,
mud flap brackets, mud flaps, side boxes, tarp hoop, tarps, PTO,
hydraulic pump, hydraulic hoses, cab mounted valves and switches, etc.

If you plan to pay somebody, who knows what they are doing, to do the
entire project it wouldn't be cheap. If you hire someone who doesn't know what
they are doing, it will be a lot more expensive.

 

As you already know price is going to vary a lot depending on type of bed, length and options. With that said I would budget about $25k for a good quality bed installed.

 

25000 is a good number maybe 30 for someone to install a new dump bed. You need a tarp they would charge you extra for coal shoots and extra if you need a PTO and all of the hydraulic lines and the controls in the cab and all of that.

It also depends which state you are in. Some states you can mount your own dump bed and go do whatever you feel like doing. I think Arkansas is one of those States and Florida. Here in Pennsylvania only a certified bodybuilder can add a bed to a truck that originally did not have one. And here in PA they will give you a heck of a Time if you try to retitle a tractor as a dump truck or if you try to raise your GVW.

But if you are someplace that you can put your own bed on a tractor, or if you already have a dump truck chassis and you can just add a bed to find a used bed someplace that's not that expensive.

But it is a bit of work.

 

Seems like a dump truck would be far less maintenance than a Tractor/Trailer. Is it hard to get work with a dump truck?

 

I'd have to disagree about the maintenance. Dump trucking is hard on equipment. Always loaded heavy, and operating on soft ground tears things up. Tires and brakes don't last long. Cost per mile is going to be way higher than a road truck.

It's just like any other kind of trucking. Work is easy to get if you're willing to haul cheap enough. Turning a profit is the hard part.

 

I am the other way around, always found it cheaper to out together a dump than buy one already set up. I had a friend in Az that was a dump truck contractor, he made as much or more selling dump and water trucks as he did trucking.

 

There is some farmers here running a whole fleet of diy dump trucks.

Super cool trucks. They buy crashed 359 tractors and restore them and turn them to tri axle dump trucks. But they do it all themselves... good luck paying someone to do that. You’re better off just buying a dump truck.