Looking at purchasing a dump body for a 3500 Ram, looked at rugby, reading and gallion, is there a quality difference in different bodies, the whole Craftsman vs Snapon story, or is this like Coke Vs Pepsi.
I've had a Gallion on my 1 ton dump for 25 years, Damn good box, never had any issues with welds cracking etc. Ed
What year is your truck? Sure looks in great shape.
It's a 78, but I don't like the grill, so I went with the 75-76 style. It hasn't seen much use in the last 10 years, I keep it around for my personal use. Sadly, when I restored it, dump trailers were not out there. A dump trailer would make better economic sense than a truck if it works for ones line of work. Ed
Personal Preference stay with Galion. Never heard of Rugby, Reading usually crack around gate support columns. Knapheide and Parkhurst are not bad for the money around here, depends if a supplier/dealer near to you on those.
I think the gallion bodies are good. They’ve been around forever, not sure that the gallion body they make today is the same as one 20-15 years ago though....I had one on a 2002 F650, never had a problem and the guys I sold it too only had a problem constantly ripping off the tailgate when it was being used in the barn door configuration, no need to chain that pesky gate gate back to the body, that takes too long, just let the gate stick straight out and take ALL the weight of the load while you’re trying to dump....idiots....I had Donovan install it....
Apparently they make a 9ft or 9.5 ft, Cab to the end of frame on my truck is 9'4" and is a cab and chassis. Ram has the fuel tank at the end of the frame so you really cant trim the end of the frame.
So a 9 foot probably fits perfect, because you need space between the cab and the dump body and if you’re going to tow a trailer, you really don’t want a ton of overhang hanging over your hitch plate, it makes it a pain to hook the trailer up. Plus the further the body sticks out past the hinge point the closer to the body is, it makes it a pain to dump the contents of the body out. I do like having a bit more body though, especially if you get loaded in a pit or a supply yard a lot, they generally have larger loaders and end up spilling it all over the cab shield or over the tailgate.
The Gallion body is powdercoated from the factory, and has a 23inch head board.
Had to build a splash shield for the tailgate on mine...big loaders and no cab guard. Even when they corner loaded the bucket it would still spill over the back. Ed
I would have guessed about 76 by the grill and doesn't look to have the fuel tank in the cab. I had a 75 welding truck with the fuel tank in the cab.
The original cab had the tank inside (think it was standard for a cab/chassis). Repalcement cab (M880 military truck) had a chassis mount tank. I was hosed, didn't want the in cab tank, couldn't use the chassis type because of the pto. Had to find an aux tank from a truck optioned with it. Lmao...good luck! Had the truck 90% done and no tank. Someone upstairs felt sorry for me...found a dual tank truck 1 mile away from home that was headed for the boneyard. Ed