WE get to go back to LT Rock to pick up our Pete that we took there Monday to have a 15 ft Davis dump bed and a full pintle hook up then we have to put window back inwith a day cab kit and thenrepaint the back of the cab and then to sign shop then hopefully we will get some work for the rig . twj
here is some shots of the transfomation
It looks good but one suggestion would be get two smaller fuel tanks those suckers are huge that eats up your payload
Till I can afford that I am planning on using just 1 tank that will give me about 130 gals filled the truck up before we went to Lt Rock and it cost about $545.00 so sad done put about 500 miles on this tank of fuel and still no revenue yet
Don't ruin any tires or your really going to be hurting For us around my area tires are the biggest expense at 450 a piece for a deep lug retread. The super single steers are upto a grand a piece. Drive tires thou is easy to stuff a rock through the sidewall. Back to the fuel tanks the problem with them I can see is them getting crunched. With them being so long they are pretty vunerable and if you get into rough terrain where the tank can come in contact with the ground. Hopefully you get some work for the truck. Around here gravel truck rate is 80 dollars per hour.
Those are some huge tanks, our truck has one tank and the most we ever put in it is about 60 gallons. Most tandem axle trucks w/drop axle charge $100/hr, tandem trucks usually $90
If he had to fill both sides it would be a 2 days profits :falldownlaugh You really only need to carry enough fuel to last you a 10 hour day especially if you have a yard close to a card lock/gas station. With those big babies I would have some kind of lock over the fuel cap to keep the siphoning hose out. If your in the excavating business you might beable to disconnect the passenger side tank from the engine and turn off the cross over line. Then you can haul marked diesel for the equipment you would have to mount a portable pump to pump the fuel to the machine.
Looks good Bus...where's your hydraulic tank? Looking forward to seein' it after she's all done...:thumbsup Joe
The tanks hold 130 gals each and I am really thinking about just using 1 tank. I filled the truck up befiore we headed to LT Rock Ark to get bed puton it cost $545.90 OUCH but I still have about 600 miles of running left in tanks after our round trip to LT Rock . The Hyd tank is under the bed at the front I will tak picture when I have bed up in air . should have it out of body shop Thurs and get signs out on truck either Thurs or Fri , all ready got job for Sat :bouncegri more later Thanks for all the replies. busdriver 9
Wish we could get that here right now going rate is $45.00 heard that after 1st of year it is going up to $50.00 per hr
Thats all your getting for a tandem axle dump is 45 dollars per hour I make 50 dollars per hour with a F-450 a gravel truck making 80 dollars per hour is just profitable if you ruin 1 tire there is one days profits. So if your making that low hourly rate for a tandem axle dump drive the truck easy so your fuel consumption is low. Becareful about going into rough sites where you can see tire damage. Make sure the truck is greased daily and any work the truck needs you have to do it yourself a mechanic at 100 dollars per hour will get a little expensive. Tires are the big expense so I would probably start searching for spare wheels and decent used tires for spares. You never know you may find a truck that is wrecked but it has good 11R-24.5 rubber on it.
Rate per hr depends on the area that you live in I guess truck shop rate in this area is $50.00 to 60.00 per hr and flats are 25.00 per flat . A 11r24.5 virgin rubber is around 250.00 to 350.00 . but now you get in to Texarkana USA area and then theings go out of sight there yopu will find your higher per hr rates but that is about 65 miles from here. think I will stay in my little corner . only thing that is about the same price is the price of diesel fuel . :beatsme
nice
You may want to consider changing the pizza cutter steer tires for some Supersingle steers you may not want to go with the 425/65R22.5 but the 385/65R22.5. Spend the money on a good set of steers and for drives on a dump truck you can get away with running say Double Coin. I imagine down in Texas its too hot to run retreads something like Bandag. With the truck being a ex truck tractor becareful with the 40 rears its hard to tell the age of the truck it may have 38s you get into some offroading be gentle with the truck.
well we got signs on the unit today still waiting on cab conversion kit Weldon Sleepers out of FT Worth was suppose to have one for us this evning but do not know yet as I have not heard form our body shop man . but here is the unit along with the proud and good looking owner .
You going to need to get some wax on the old girl so she shines like a Pete is suppose to
yes I know that iching to now but with the opening in the back of the cab that is temp cover with 2 half sheets of plywood so I am sorta scared of getting it wet inside after we get it painted and let it cure a week or so then it will be off to the detail shop . sure do feel sorry for them guys for sure
Got the Back of the cab fixed but they messed up on the inside panel measurement and it is about 5 to 6" too short so they are trying to figure out a easy fix for the boo-boo. Will try to get a picture up of the truck.
Well actual got to run the truck Sat had a job hauling trash Thursday and it canceled out at the last minute but Sat we had a haul that was about 4 miles one way and we hauled 13 loads in 8 hrs it did really good was really suprised at the starting ability loaded I figured that the 3:55 rear ends would be a problem but only problem I had was got semi hung up on a dip but fianlly got the truck moving again really wish I had a Chalmers suspension or air ride walking beam with a set of double locker rears but what I have right now will have to do for a while then maybe I wil do that . but cleaned on the ole truck today just a bit sortalike a work in progress .
Well I have figured out that really good quality workman ship is hard to come by . We developed a oil leak at the pto on the tranny and so the people that put the bed on said to have it checked out and then call then so I did that . Weds took truck to the shop and they called back and said that they retightend bolts and cleaned it off really good and would check it today to see if it was still dripping . About 11:30 the repair shop calls me and says that they needed to pull the pto as it is still dripping so they ddi and the idots at the place that put the bed on the truck did not get all the old gasket off from around the bolt holes plus they had like a .050 gasket on it which was way too thick and last but least the freaking drain plug in the bopttom of the tranny was finger tight :Banghead WILL NOT BE BACK TO THE PLACE I BOUGHT THIS BED FROM FOR SURE!!! Should be able to pick truck up Fri .And if the place we are hauling from has dried out and the dumping site is dry then we will work again Sat :notworthy Thank goodness . have a great day and for lettting me vent my anger .twj
Man that stinks. You really do have to watch where you buy from and read every word of their warranty. Hope that it all worked out!
Good thing you caught that loose drain plug....that would have ruined your day had it come out while working.
Looks like a good truck you got there. I used to be against conversions but I've come to think it's not a bad idea based on $$$$ and you have way more options if you like a big block motor. All the tandems here have smaller motors and average 350hp. The main problem being the frame. Need that double frame or take extra care when hitting bumps, potholes, curbs, etc. A friend of mine had a truck just like yours. Same model Pete and all and it was converted. He was loaded full and backing over the curb to dump. When his front tire hit the curb it cracked the frame like it wanted to pull itself apart. Just keep that in mind if it's not a heavy frame. The frame thickness was thin to me also. Now on the tanks they don't even weigh 100 pounds empty. I took the 130 gallons off my Pete and you could fling them around like paper, very light. I had Alumitank make some. I think they were about $600 brand new for a 90 gallon tank. If you could find the step tank for the passenger side that'd be ideal. My dump truck only has a 50 gallon tank. Ok, but it won't run that 10 hour shift I'm sure. With the space between the bed and cab I'd be going with a "Fatboy" day cab conversion which let's you recline the seat some and then adjust the exhaust back some to hide the gap. Maybe flip the brackets around. Full locking rears not only give you double traction but they keep your differential locked so there is no gears fighting each other when spinning and catching traction. CANNOT believe the hourly rate you get. It's too cheap. Here it averages $75 hr. for a tandem. I think that's low personally. Tons of work here though. All the trucks are booked and it's hard to get a truck around here.
Well, this thread was 8 years ago. Back then a tri-axle got about $65, and the very few tandems left got whatever they could. In SC, it's 23 tons, versus 15.
Holy cow it's been a long week. Yep thought this thread was just started. LOL. Geeez. Yep when I started in mid 90's tandems and Bobcats made $50 hr.