26K non-cdl dump truck operating costs?

I had a 2007 4300 non CDL dump but I sold it a couple months back. It was handy for getting into tight spots but you can't hardly haul anything. It weighed 14,500 empty which only leaves 11,500 for materials. That's about 5 yards or dirt or 4 yards of gravel. There is not much that amount of material will accomplish even when doing work for homeowners. We have a skid steer and a backhoe and do dirt work and driveways for people in addition to just hauling materials.

There were very few jobs we did that we were able to do with one truck load. That would be fine if we were getting paid by the hour or mile but people either pay us by the yard or by the job if we are doing the dirt work ourselves. It is hard to compete with the full size dumps when it takes 2.5 trips to equal one of theirs especially when the gravel quarry is 20 miles outside of town. We bought a full size tandem dump and it works much better for us. We ran both for a little while but the small truck just sat most of the time so we got rid of it.

The DT466 is a very solid and reliable motor but it has very little power. With an empty bed hauling my 18k backhoe on a pintle trailer I was dropping to 35mph on small hills.

The only advantage to the truck was anyone could drive it. If you need a smaller truck for tight spaces I would recommend getting a 33k single axle dump. That extra 7k of payload capacity makes a huge difference and the truck is the same exact size. If tight spaces are not a concern go tandem. This makes you much more efficient and opens up a lot of commercial opportunities that are not there for small trucks. The costs of operating the tandem are really not that much more than the non CDL was. Insurance is about $350 more a year and there are four more tires but the rest is pretty similar.