Was wondering how much horse power do you need in a tandom dump truck halling 15 to 20 ton loads? Is the engine /tranny combo the key? Maybe engine torque range ? Or all of the above ?
The engine hp combined with the tranny and the axle ratio all work together. Low engine hp combined with a favorable axle ratio and more gears can work as well as high power and fewer gears. The axle ratio cant be over looked.
One can never have too much HP. For an explianation...click on the link below. http://youtube.com/watch?v=OlELmIC0rWc
We typically run C9 cats with 350HP, 8LL transmissions and 4.33 gears in our Stirling tandems, We gross about 58,000 and they work pretty decently. With the single frame, tufftrac suspension and alcoas they weigh in at around 22,000 lbs.
Nice vidieos, rollover but anyway I am not talking drag racing here..
My triaxle is 500hp with a ten speed, 4:33 gears, and 24.5 tires. It runs real well with 65K lbs. If I had less than 400hp I would want a 13 speed especially if you run in any hills as I do. Also, an engine brake is almost a must have in hilly terrain. The things to consider are engine hp, transmission (can be overdrive or not), axle ratio, and tire size. The tires come in regular and low profile. The combination of these is what makes a truck work or not.
How about 240 hp on a 9 spd on fairly flat terrain halling aprox 55000 gross ? Not even close to what your running.
240HP will get the job done, but you'll be on the 4 ways when loaded on hills. I have 250HP with the pump tweaked for a few more, on a single axle and it does a good job, but I'd like to have more. Realistically, it would be nice to have at least 275-300 HP in an older tandem used for mostly flat land or less than frequent hauling.
Exactly, a brings and strattion w/enough gearing can pull a ship into port, wiould just be very slow.
Horsepower is like sex,vacation and money. Enough really isn't and too much is just right.
I now have a Cummins REcon Big Cam 4 400 hp @2100 RPM with now a RTO 14715 spd transmission with SQ100 3:55 rear ends . Last time I used the truck it had a RT 14609 A tranny and with the 400 it did fine but the old 400 would tach out at about 2500 according to the tach . and it acted like it was just idling when loaded
Around here a O/O has on his truck: Don't worry about the horses.....Just LOAD the wagon!
450 minimum, more the merrier
BIG DAN-You have an L10 right? the torque from that motor will make 240HP seem much diifferent than say an 8.3 Liter at 240 HP. You work all alone, so you should be fine, if you were contract hauling for a quarry or something you might want say 400-500 HP but the truck you bought will do you a nice job, when you replace it maybe go bigger. One thing I would reccomend if it doent have a jake is to spend the money and add one. GOOD LUCK, and NICE TRUCK:drinkup what dealer did you deal with, did they have any other decent tandems??
Yes, LA10 I think the engine tag read and yes it does have a jake. Bought it from a individual for 10 grand. He had 2 like mine and sold them both...Thanks
The Ford LTL9K I drive has a C15 475 HP with an 8LL and 433's in 46K Rocks for the rear! Also I have the inter lock (wheel lock ) as well as Diff Lock! The guy that bought this truck bought 2 and went to the lift axle store to get steerable added! THey only had 2 steerables in stock. It would take 2 days to get more, then the install time! Thowner was in NEED of these truck, so he told them to put the steerables on the front, and a straight in fornt of the drive! Theonly drawback to this truck is thoses non-steerables, and the fact the the tare is 34,500. I need the 475 HP just to move the truck down the road empty!