I am contemplating converting my oldest roll off truck into a dump truck. I demo about a house a week here in the Washington DC area and I am getting sick of destroying all my 20yd cans with the footers and what not. I also constantly haul gravel/dirt for my construction entrances and just other roll off customers in general. Basically I am slowly justifying the need for a dump truck since trying to dump a 20yd roll can full of dirt or gravel into nice pile is pretty much impossible.(plus dump fees for dirt/concrete are more for a rolloff vs dump) The truck is a 97 Kenworth T800 with a n14 cummins. The wheel base is pretty long so i would like to get a 17 or 18 ft bed with lower sides so i can put boards on and haul C&D debris but still load dirt or what not with a skidsteer. Now to the actual point of this post. If anyone knows of someone selling a decent body that is long and low and is in the mid-atlantic area, let me know. Thanks Brian
Well in my area the trend with the rooloff guys is they are switching to 15 yard boxes for concrete and dirt. I see you have a hooklift that would solve you problem because you can get round tub bodies made shorter so you have no overhang at the rear and dump a tight pile
A dump truck is going to not be any better your better off building a heavier rolloff box. For a dump truck you only need a wheelbase of 230"s for a truck with a 16' box. If your truck has a 240 or 250" wheelbase its too long and you will overload the truck. If the rails on the 97 are worn out and the rest of hoist is worn out then maybe consider building a dump truck. A 20 yard bin is pretty small for demo work we usually have 40 yard bins for rip rap like busted up concrete we do use a regular dump truck. To strengthen a regular dumpser bin is weld angle iron on the floor and on the inside the walls. You weld the angle iron so it has the point edge up /\ and you run it so its parralell to the sides and on the inside walls you weld the angle horizontal with the floor. You space the angle iron say 8-10"s apart. We do this with dump boxes it takes 90% of the brunt and saves damage to the box.
Check out http://www.adelmans.com They often list dump bodies in Rock and Dirt.
Thanks for the responses guys Nac My hook trucks are only single axle therefore can't hold much weight(tagged at 45000lbs, but are maxed out at about 38000lbs) Ford For the light stuff i do use 40 and 30 yard cans. In my area esp in VA it is very common to have a 1 to 4 ft gap between cab and box of truck. It has to do with spreading the weight out(bridge formula). And allows for more lift axles I do like your idea of the angle iron though. Do you run it the full length of the floor? Steve I subscribe to that and have been looking I seem to be hauling alot of dirt and concrete these days esp doing live loading and using a roll off works but i think a dump would be better
Yes you run the angle iron from front to back so the whole floor is protected and you snipe the ends at the door end and weld a triangle shape plate over the snipe to seal the end. You figure a good heavy duty rock box for a dump truck is going to cost you 10-12 grand with a hoist. You could probably modify a roll off box for couple thousand dollars for materials. If you wanted a dump truck and its benefits of a better turning radius you will want a shorter wheelbase and better front axle loading. I drove rolloff truck the old Ford I drove was a lwb it was okay but didn't turn aswell as the Ford dump with the 222wb. What is the wheelbase of the truck you plan on converting ? I can see you wanting a regular dump if you are doing alot of excavating work a roll off truck really doesn't make the best dump as you have to get out of the cab open the door latch the door open. Dump the load and it never comes out in a nice neet pile its spread into a long pile. If you tilt the rails up too high they are digging into the ground.