Hello all, long story short, Looking for another tandem dump truck. Starting over in my excavating company and need something a little bigger than my 88 single axle Mack Midliner. Currently only pulling a 410e backhoe, or 450e dozer, shortly hope to purchase a 490e excavator, so roughly 120 size. 29k weight or so. Everything will be moved on a 20ton tag, I need a truck mostly for pulling equipment from job to job, I do a lot of septics, and driveway regrading and such, like I said, starting over. I found a 95' Ford L9000 with a M11 and 10 speed, air ride, tandem dump, only has a 12' box and they said 150" wheel base. 40k rears, 12k front. Its a short truck, which would be kinda nice for pulling equipment around and backing into lots. I do not do much dirt or gravel hauling on my own, the local trucking company's are so good there is really no point in doing it myself. I might haul a load of top soil, or extra washed 6ac stone for septics here and there if I am a little short. I know 12k is light for a front, but we had a 94' t800 basically same set up just way longer and it worked great for everything we needed it to. Basically needing the same thing again Question is anyone use a tandem with that small of a box? I figured would be harder to overload, and should be able to haul roughly 15ton or so. which would be about the max I would ever need to move. not much off road use either, I am not opposed to adding a stronger front axle down the road either. So thoughts on a 150" wheel base l9000 dump?!
Should be okay, with a pintle hitch trailer you'll get good tongue weight which will be all on the drivers, and with 40K rears you should have plenty good brakes. Just watch your loading when hauling material in the box and keep the weight balanced good, she should work fine for you.
12k fronts is usually a sign of it being a prior road tractor. Look and see if the frame is doubled, if it is your golden, if not then you need to decide how much offroad it will see. Now with it being a 12' box, its a lot better than a 18' triaxle coal body. I had a single frame ford f-800 w/ a 10' dump body on it and it held up fine to all kinds of off road work, being winched on, pushed on, etc. But I've always been told to run from a converted road tractor.
Thanks for the heads up. Yes 12k fronts and 500k miles it might have been a road tractor at some point, been a dump for a while and previous excavating company had it as well. I'll be taking a look at it this weekend. See what kinda condition it is in. Price seems good on it so I'll keep things updated here
With that short of a wheelbase it is for sure a road tractor, the air ride and the 10 speed trans give it away. Look for a row of bolt holes in the upper part of the frame over the drives, that is the 5th wheel base mount. With that said, it doesn't mean it is a bad truck but it will have a few limits. Check the frame right behind the cab and the cross members for cracks,if any, consider it junk. Rough ground is hard on air bag suspensions so go careful off road. A 9 speed or a 15 speed will be a nice upgrade, you will wish for a lower first gear. If you like winter projects, the frame can be doubled and lengthened and make whatever you want, it is a lot of labor though.
Thanks for the heads up. I'll check on that closely as well. Here is the link to the truck. http://m.truckpaper.com/ListingDetail/Index?industryName=truck&listingId=6196115&categoryId=217 If anyone sees anything major let me know, it's about a 3 hr drive to go take a look.
There is a nice looking Ford F 9000 dump for sale in Zeeland Mi. It is listed on Ebay under "commercial trucks-Dump Trucks". I do not know what the reserve is.
Thanks, I ended up missing he truck by a couple hours... Off to search again