Dump Trucks 101 - Green but getting started

The white one looks like aluminum sides, and the black one all steel box, a slight weight difference. Trouble is, aluminum takes a beating, depends what you want to do with it. Hauling blacktop, one needs the lightest truck, for the most product and thin sides will work. The black one is better at hauling big rocks or broken concrete. Plus, the 3rd axle on the black one increases empty weight, by a lot, 1,000 lbs, easy. After a while, that adds up to less material, since you can't use it anyway. Can't go wrong with a Mack.

 

I’ve been doing a lot of research myself, hoping to pull dumps in the semi-near future as an owner op.

Up here in the Midwest we’ve got a lot of aggregates to move and roadwork stuff going on. For what I want to do aluminum fits the bill. I’m hoping to pull trailers though so I imagine I’ll probably be needing a couple of each. Sort of just depends on what you’ll end up doing. Asphalt first for me but it won’t require me having a trailer so. A lot of small little things with it I suppose.

 

I would consider the white truck to have a paver bed because the tailgate slopes might have aluminum sides or might just be pannels to dress it up. I can’t tell what the back of the other truck looks like. They are different design for sure. Personally I don’t think it makes much difference. Are you thinking of buying a new truck or putting something together or just buy a used one.
Tandems tend to see more rough use demo debris rip rap stuff like that. If you’re only going to have one truck I would probably use steel. I would have never have stayed in the business if I had had an aluminum bed. One thing regardless of what you buy make sure it goes plenty high to dump otherwise you will have problems if your nose down and things tend to get damaged or broken if you have to shake it out. Full lockers and walking beam suspension are a must in my opinion. I have one truck with 38k rears they do fine if I drive it. there not as tough as 46k but much cheaper to fix and they weigh less. You don’t have to have a 20k front but I wouldn’t use a 12 either depends on how your truck will balance
I am in the Midwest so I can’t say much about the local situation but I think this stuff is pretty universal.

 

They both look like steel to me, but the first is dressed up with polished aluminum or chrome on the outside.

The black truck is more of a demo bed. I prefer this bed as it doesn't have a 90 degree corner along the bottom for dirt to stick in. Also, the second one may have a high lift tailgate, which I won't have a truck without. Much easier to haul brush and scrap in without it getting jammed up in the tailgate when dumping.

I'm over here in MS, so same issue with bridge weights, but be careful on some of these converted tandems. There are trucks out there with 12K fronts and 40K rears. Those can limit you to less than even the bridge weights. I figure I can haul an extra ton (56.5K - 52.5K - weight of pusher axle) because of the pusher.

I have a tri-axle, 26.8K empty, so I can haul right at 15 tons without a blanket permit. That permit is good for an additional 4k, which gets me to 17 tons.

Something else to consider, I'm right at TN line, so if I stay in TN for a job, I can now go from 56K all the way up to 74K if I stay off the interstate. That is substantial and makes it worth having the tri-axle. So, if you are crossing state line for work, consider the limits in those other states.

If you are out looking at trucks, take them to the scale empty to understand what you are going to be able to carry.

 

If 90% of the trucks in north Georgia are spec'd out a certain way it's probably because they know what works best in that market.
You don't spec a dump truck for looks. You spec it so that you can make a living with it.