Side dump doubles as an owner operator

What are they hauling?

 

lot of rock, gravel and soil for building. I live up here and go to the same quarrys they do for landscapeing stuff. And i know a few of them if bones goes belly up for whatever reason. Not likely but i have a rolodex full of "oh #### i need a job" contacts lol.

Anywho i run an end dump little diffrent then theirs and im not 100% sure on some of the minor details since side dump is something i have never done. But 99% of my truck is going to translate pretty well. First your going to need a pretty heavy duty truck. These fellers are going to be running likely upwards of 120k or more for the doubles. Brand doesnt really matter but see international HX620s, w990s, 589s, 379s western stars ect. They are typically better vocational rigs then say a volva plastic petey or weeny rig.

550 horse minimum is what id recomend. Much less and your going to be a slow ### pig. You would likely want a double frame truck just because they are going to get beat to #### in rough conditions. Single will likely work if you get a heavier frame though. 13 or 18 speed are nearly required. Im going to say 3.72 gearing minimum. I have no experince with autos offroad save doing tanker and they sucked then. Cant imagine they are better for this.

You need a wetkit. A pinable 5th wheel for the floating 5th wheel. likely a raised one too depending on the trailer. Full lockers and deviders are a must. Your going to want smaller sleeper or day cab to maximize weight you can fit on. Tall tires 11Rs or 24.5s for clearance. Tow bar or hooks on the front for sure. Trailers its going to vary depending on what you do though. Id recomend a longer wheel base like 230+ long. Mine is a 265 and is a little shorter then theirs. A drop axle will be a good idea as well. A 55 gallon hydralic tank for doubles. Going to want likely around 220-300 gallons of fuel capacity. You wont get to stop much/at all without screwing upnthe schedule

Going to want to have a 4 pin connecter added for the drop axles on the trailers if equiped. Defo a good seat or your back is going to kill you on those rough roads. Going to need the right type of insurance too. These things cause issues if they go over. Same is true for side dumps. Id also avoid an emissions rig. They idle a LOT and a lot of stop and go. That said emissions can and do work, just plan to replace all your sensors, clean your EGR and DPF cans yearly. Or emissions lights galore.

Pay wise id imagine its simular to me and they are paid by weight or cubic yardage. Call it around $2-3 a mile average equivlent. Maybe more, again never done side dump so cant say for sure. Though its a high pay job becauae of the costs involved.

Figure for brand new equipment your going to be dropping around $300,000 minimum and used if you get the trailer $150K+

 

They could be hauling spec sand for a cement plant ,or something similar.
I hauled gold ore in Alaska,in side dump doubles.We carried the max weight we could for crossing some bridges,weighed 162,000.

 

The 20 axle side dump doubles are grossing around 200k pounds. A lot of the work seems to be pretty steady, you see a lot of trucks running all year. The guys hauling rock seem to stay busy stockpiling all winter.

I’m not sure I’d want the expense of trying to do it with my own truck. It would be an insane amount of wear on parts. Not to mention you’d have to get it set up exactly the way the other trucks are to run the trailers. I’m not sure how stuff is ran, but they control 4 lift axles on each trailer from the cab.

Blachowske takes owner operators and they have some 13 axle pneumatic sets. Not sure if they take guys only wanting to work during the construction season or not.

There are also all the companies running 13 axle hopper doubles.

The guys with the axles set the rates. And usually they don’t pan out all that much better than what you can make somewhere else without all the weight and axles. That’s why I’ve never really tried to live around home since I’ve had trucks.

 

Not sure what Roth out of Rapid City pays their South Dakota drivers, but they have some trucks based in Sundance now and they’re paying $30 an hour for days and $35 an hour for nights.

All I know about Blachowske is there’s a guy in White River that’s pulled doubles for them forever. And they have a nice loop down to GA and back for the highway guys.

 

Gonna have to say if you don’t have any clue about how side dump or agg work operates then stay out until you have an idea. I see so many guys come to our outfit here in Vegas wanting to lease on and pull our double sides/belly’s with the wrong truck. It’s like using a Toyota Tacoma to pull a gooseneck trailer and do hotshot. You can do it but you really shouldn’t. No one likes the truck that’s in the way. Most agg work is tonnage per hour. Basically your broker wants a certain amount of tonnage moved in an amount of time consistently. His hourly is based on an hourly rate divided by tons that can be hauled. You take longer and they lose money. In terms you get shorted also. You also need to be pretty mechanically inclined as how the trailers operate. No one’s sending a mechanic an hour away for some dumb shxt a driver did. You’ll have to know how to limp it back or fix on the fly. Most outfits help their own as they can but you will rarely get another company to stop and help. In agg work everyone is competition. What you fail to meet they will. And some will do it for less. Trust me when I say 400HP and a 10 speed will not make it in agg work. Especially doubles. Truck is too weak in all aspects for the work.