Trucks built for Dirt work

kw's and pete are that much better. with mack being a close second. although i see cat is getting into the dump truck business.

freightliners and volvo's can do the job. but can't really take the abuse. it's not hard to pop a rear end in them dudes.

i worked for one company that had a vovlo and they couldn't get that thing to go to work.

 

how is it any harder to pop a rear end in a freightliner than a pete when you can spec the exact same rears in aether truck.
a rockwell rear is a rockwell rear weather it be on a pete or a freight shaker same with eaton

 

hauled dirt for 10 years

saw freightliners bust all the time.

never saw pete or kw.

so there must be a difference.

rears ends are smaller. not as heavy duty.

try pulling 80,000 pounds or better. when your stuck in the mud. or on a hill.

 

T800s and Western Stars are the most popular out here out here, for either triaxle dumps or a dump with a quad wagon as well. For just a straight dump truck you see a lot of sterling's and quite a few with a tandem pony trailer.

I know someone with 4 Mack Pinnacles haulling Super B dumps and they are working well. The drivers enjoy the mdrive as it is less tiring in the city without having to shift a lot. He used to run T800s but was getting sick of the downtime with the engines, be they Cats or Cummins. The MP8 has worked out much better so far.

It will depend on what type of dump work you are doing. If its a lot of small jobs you are having to bid on go with what will give you the lowest overhead so if you hit a dry spell and have to sit for a while it isn't going to sink you. Also buy or spec a truck for the highest weight combo you are able to haul. Out here it seems like you have to go with a really cheap tandem straight dump for road work, or go for the quad wagon or super b to get max payload.

 

its all in how the truck is speced. and iv seen many petes blow rears. company i used to work for was a mostly all pete fleet with a couple w-9's and they went threw enough rear ends that they always kept rear ends on hand in there shop.

a truck spec'd with 46k rears double frame ect is going to last longer than a otr spec'ed truck but the badge on the hood makes no difference.

 

It may be that it is a guy trying to use a truck that wasn't spec'd for the job but you can put the same rockwells in very truck. The only one that I can possibly see the difference on is for a Mack if you use their rears but they are considered to be just as strong if not stronger than rockwells and usually weigh less.

 

One issue that comes up is if you spec the truck heavy enough that you can not break it, the weight will increase and the payload will be reduced. This is an issue if you are being paid by the ton.

 

I swear by mack rear ends however most macks now a days have Volvo rearends. Volvo bought out mack and have ruined that name if you ask me. rockwells are good. as for freightliners and Volvos in end dumps I see them doing that all over the place. just as many of them as the kws and petes and macks