to all end dump haulers...

Oh boy your going to get it now lol. But the big ones are check twice. When you close your door PUT YOUR HANDS ON EVERYTHING. Get into the habbit. If you cant remimber if you did a step. Stop go back and check again. Check that your PTO is off. Physically touch the switch. And ensure its off anf the trailer is DOWN dont be that dump truck driver. Check that you have your door pin if applicible as they get spendy in a hurry and are easy to lose. Invest in a pair of good quality sprayers. One for coolant one for fuel or oil. And carry a 2 gallon diesel can full of diesel. Buy a extendable broom handle. Dont need a broom just the handle. You will understand when the tarp flap does stupid. Carry extra D or O rings and plyers dealers choice on if you prefer all straps to one bundle or individual. You will thank me when you break a flap strap.

If your not sure STOP. No seriously if something feels even a tiny tiny bit off, even if everything is perfect. Stop. Get out of your truck. Walk 20 feet away and look at your trailer. If it looks off or still feels off. lower SLOWLY and reposition. When your loaded get in the bed and physically check you arent side loaded EVERY SINGLE TIME. And if you ARE either conpensate once experinced or as your learning get out the shovel and hand fix it. The latter is safer but the former has its place.

DONT DUMP BESIDE OTHER TRUCKS. JUST DONT DO IT. EVER. FOR ANY REASON. If ####### next to you goes over. Your going over too. Dont pull infront of dumping trucks with less then 150 feet between you. Its a dick move. Get a GOOD CB screw the company one go buy a good one and good antenas it will save you SO much hastle.

Bring a good flat blade shovel with a rear handle. Dont cheap out, buy the best one you can find. Gots to be a flat blade too. No spoon shaped ones. Coal shovel if made of a good quality steel and heavy duty is acceptable. Nothing sucks worse then being half way through fixing a load and having your shovel break. Invest in a good solidly built contractor broom.

Again dont cheap out. This job murders cheap brooms and "cheap" brooms get #### expensive in a hurry. Nothing sucks like being unable to sweep out before your next load and having to detour and miss an apointment pissing off EVERYONE. Dont use the cheap ### ones most companys give you.

Carry small 3 or 6 gallon trash bags, a standard hand broom and dustpan and a bucket. If you gotta sweep out later because someone wont let you on their property you can sweep your trailer to a pile scoop it into the bucket. Dump the bucket into a small trash bag and toss it in the trash. If you got a lot split it up between cans so some poor schelp doesnt have a blowout of pee bottles and poo bags from the other drivers. Its also much more professional then leaving sometimes literal #### on the ground. And looks good on you.

If you MUST dump on an unlevel surface get your hand dandy extendable broom handle and level if you want to be fancy. Use your nice bucket and shovel and make a ramp of the material your dumping thats at least as long as that broom handle. i recomend twice as long as you learn but thats your choice. More room for error imo. Make it as wide as both tires and back over it several times to pack it down so it wont squish under the weight and roll you. Use the handle and optional level to ensure your trailer is actully level. And you can dump in some really supriseing places SAFELY.

Everything below this is optional but good practice if you want to really be successful in MY opinion.

Non slip boots and boot chains. Nothing says amature hour quite like doing a face plant in your icy bed, breaking your nose, and having to drive your dumb ### 3 hours barely able to see to the nearest hospital to get it taken care of. No particular reason for this one at ALL. Also a first aid kit. Good quality one too. You get nicks and cuts a lot and some of that sometimes literal #### aint good to have in cuts.

Carry calcium chloride by the 50 pound bag and get a spreader jug in winter. I like road runner brand but YMMV mix it with RV antifreeze and absolutely nothing is sticking to that bed unless its soaked. Most rock loads, slapping down a light coating of CC will prevent sticking and its cheaper and lighter then RV anti-freeze. Some places provide it by the gallon. Take more then you think you need and then take more again. Only mix C/C and anti freeze if your not going to a concrete plant and REAAAAAAAALY want to ensure something doesnt stick. Also wash out the sprayer after or it will destroy the tubeing.

Carry extra bungie cords. Lots and lots of them. In all sizes, a BIG roll of paracord too. If you ever break your roller bar it comes in handy. Buy a GOOD tool kit something like a 225 peice mechanics kit. Trust me even as a non owner op it saves your bacon bigtime and saves just so much hastle. Buy a good quality sledge hammer an electric sawzall and an electric angle grinder if you do scrap. You will understand the first time you got a 4 inch jagaed peice of metal or wood sticking above your tarp line and the loader tells you to pound sand on fixing it.

Carry a tire inflater hose and patch kits. Just do it. Trust me on this. Doublely so if you do scrap. May not fix the tire but it will avoid a multi hour wait for a flat tire repair after a peice of scrap wire flattens one. If the company lets you, carry spare tarp bows and bow ends. Some loaders love accidentlying them and lose enough and that tarp can be an absolute nightmare to fix.

 

I can’t say anything more than what @Arctic_fox has already said, I’ll just reiterate, and I gave this same advice many many pages ago. My 2 keys when dumping are site and sound; look at where you’re dumping, determine if it’s a good, level spot, if not move around until you feel comfortable, roll your window down and listen, you can hear where the material is at in your trailer when you dump out, this will help you find your confidence in going to the top with it, watch your trailer as well, a lot of the times a not so good load will get right on the way to the top and you’ll see your trailer visibly straighten up. I remember saying as well, don’t ever “get in someone else’s hurry” you do you, dump at your own pace and be safe.

 

@Arctic_fox and @Trashtrucker1707 absolutely nailed it and gave fantastic advice. The only thing I can add is when you find level ground and you’re ready to dump, be mindful of what’s in front of your trailer tires. Watch how your trailer reacts when you back up. If it’s rocking over rocks and ruts, you’re going to have to bring your trailer over that whilst in the air. A great piece of advice I got when I was learning end up is to think of an end dump in the air like a pencil with a heavy eraser. It’s very wobbly, and the more you rock it the more it sways. You can get away with quite a bit with the weight out of the nose, but not much at all if not. If you’re stockpiling and not or can’t swing your gate, I’ll back my til my mudflaps are about to the pile, then roll forward about 10 feet. As the product comes out it sends that tailgate back, and if it gets into the stockpile while raising it doesn’t take much to snap the tailgate off. Roll the tarp into the wind when untarping, and with the wind when tarping. If you’re dumping in windy conditions dump facing the wind, or with it at your back. When you’re gettin ready to dump and trip your tailgate either visually inspect both tailgate locks opened and/or pull your tailgate open to make sure. Do not just look at one side. In cold weather I’ve had one side open and one side freeze up. Few things will tip a trailer over more quickly than 23+ tons in the air with nowhere to go. Watch how your trailer reacts when it comes out of the saddle. If it comes out wonky that’s only gonna keep being amplified the higher you go up. Also, LOOK UP before you dump. Powerlines are a nightmare and I’ve worked with guys that didn’t get into them, but the lines arc’d to the trailer. Blowing out 8 tires on a trailer while it’s 40 ft in the air is not what one would call ideal. Take care of your bows. Anything I load over 3” I swing em to the side. They’ll get bent, beat up, loader buckets will crush em, bend them back. There’s different kinds of bows, and depending on the severity of the damage and type of bow, different ways to get em arched back. Some you can smack on the top of the trailer and they’ll “remember” their form, some you have to use your inside step and bend them back. If not arched properly, your tarp will be lose and it doesn’t take alot of miles going down the road flapping to ruin a tarp. If you get rips in your tarp, patch em. Once a hole starts and is left unattended, it’s like rust on a vehicle; just a matter of time. You’ll learn a lot as you go, and figure out what you can and cannot get away with. Just go slow, and take your time. Like mentioned above, don’t let anyone rush you, or talk you into dumping somewhere unsafe. Don’t ruin your day to convenience someone else. They’re not gonna pay for the trailer or your downtime when it comes over the side instead of out the back. Other than that, it really is a fun and interesting job. I got away from it a few times thinking I was sick of all the BS that came with it; but I’m not. Its challenging and no 2 unloads are ever the same. Best of luck!

 

Another quick rule of thumb, until you find your confidence dump with the trailer brakes set and pull your tractor in, pull forward a bit and repeat the process to empty. You can set your tractor brakes and pull your trailer to you but remember if all heck breaks loose and you panic and slam your trailer back down, you’re only pushing it in to the pile with nowhere to go other than most usually on its side. With your trailer brakes set and tractor loose, at least your trailer can lower in a panic by pushing your tractor away while the trailer stays stationary, hopefully that makes some bit of sense.

 

Something else minor but obvious. If you go to sweep out. Pull 6 feet away from the pile you just made. This way any contaminats from the floor or your broom dont get swept onto the pile. Also helps with anything coming off your flaps or the trailer door. More then once had pretty white sand turn black even after i dump while sweeping a trailer for instance.

 

Every Sunday I roll in to Huron valley in Anniston I’m hopeful all my fellow dumpers will be here too, and the kumbaya will commence, no luck……just surrounded by co-workers I don’t speak to . I’ve been labeled a bit anti social at times, unfortunately between the two of them that are here, they have a combined total of 5 turned over trailers, impressive!

 

I know a place hiring in KCK where they’d fit right in!

 

So yea i got fooled up at salisbury. That gravel patch off to the left. While i was unloading a fully loaded beverage truck parked there (i know because he was opening the doors and looked to be a shift change) and then left before another came and parked. And i was driving fine on the gravel at the edge so i decided to turn through it....and sunk.



Le sigh. First time in 7 years ive managed to truely stuck stuck a truck lol.

 

Yea dude that would be easy to do there. I had to lock it in by that tree cuz I was all ###### up and trying to miss their pallets in the parking lot and trying to Austin Powers myself around it. It was cool meeting you today, like you said it was nice putting a face with a name!

 

I think that's what I'm gonna have to do anyway, because they told me I'll be dumping into a machine. I reckon it has some kind of bin or hopper that will catch the load.

Thanks to all of y'all for your words of wisdom. I'll definitely be referring back to this page.