Please only make sarcastic replies if they are really funny Seriously, I have this bed that has been on at least two trucks now, and is just disintegrating! It's a basic 12-14? yard round bottom bed, and the rails that rest on the truck frame are all crushed and cracked, and the walls of the bed are trying to spread apart, so the tailgate hinges are trying to keep it together and they are of course getting all worn out. I could get pictures, but I'm sure you can imagine what I'm talking about. My question is, any ideas on how to handle this thing? do you pull the bed off and weld new structure into it? push the walls back together with 2 loaders? just rebuild the hinges to match the wider bed? Or just throw band-aids on top of band-aids and hope we get rid of it someday. It sort of reminds me of worn out excavator and hoe buckets that I've rebuilt, but that is such a smaller scale and easier to manipulate the steel. Any advice or experience is greatly appreciated as always.
in all seriousness get a new bed...
That was my thought too, or a used one. It sounds as if you've reached the point where repair will cost more than replacement. Any truck salvage yards out your way?
I have been trying to convince the Boss that dump beds are "wearable items", in that, you have to plan to replace them after awhile. Our oldest one is 10 years old, we haul gravel, dirt, asphalt, old asphalt chunks and concrete chunks. The sides are dented out, the floor looks like a washboard,etc. The Boss wanted me to weld plates on the sides to cover the dents and plate the floor, but I can't bring myself to add all of that weight to the bed, and then start having issues with the gate wearing out. I told him 10 years on a bed with the way we work was great. It tears him up that my personal dump truck bed is 15 years old and still looks almost new. I told him it is all in what you haul. But for you I would replace the bed and scrap the old one, depending upon the condition of the truck.
Scrap steel is on the upswing now. Suggest that you load the old box on the float, fill it with whatever scrap you have laying around, and head for the scrap yard. They will unload you. Rather than buy beer on the way back, use it on a downstroke on a new box.
That is what I was thinking. I have been getting $210 a ton, so that makes it easier.
Excellent! thanks you guys! That really seemed like the only logical thing to do, I mean, it's going to become a safety hazard soon. Honestly all your responses help give me confidence to stand my ground and declare that repairs are not the answer for this problem.
dump bed Good advise from everyone, find a replacement bed at a salvage yard. Its a bad job to totally rebuild a dump bed and one with a round bottom and in the condition you said, should be headed to the scrap yard, it will cost 2-3 times more to patch it, when compared to a good used one Red Bank, a friend of mine has a wrecked 93 Freightlinner tandem dump (wrecked in front), he wants to sell the whole truck, if you see anyone in our area that needs a parts truck. The bed is a 16ft (Ox I think) and its almost like new, engine is a Cummins big cam, 9 speed tranny , aluminum rims, tires on back about 70% He wants $4500 for the whole truck, its a deal if anyone needs a great bed and other parts
My son-in-law bought this one for $2500. It runs, lifts and drives. Farm truck off road. When it breaks, the box and hoist still have value. Seems like buying a used box would be better than rebuiding a totally thrashed one.
Whats a dump box cash and carry, I think a bare box is about 5500 for a 15.5 foot. Money well spent. Tens years and turf.
Here's something sarcastic, go down the road about 60 mph. with the PTO engaged hit the raise lever and take out as many red light cameras you can before hitting an overpass with it. Hopefully you won't get thrown through the windshield, get caught, and you won't have to worry about the bed anymore.
Send it to India. They will use it for another 10 years, then a family of 6 will turn it upside down and live in it. Then microsoft will convert it to their call center.
Since this thread has degraded this far and you want funny this story is absolutely true. When my brother in law got out of trucking he put his old Mack up for sale. It was pretty rough by then and he wasn't getting much attention. Finally a couple of guys came out of Chicago to look at it. The first question they asked was "do you think the tailgate will stop bullets?" and they were serious. They ended up buying it and shipping it to Africa. And yes, their check was good.
If you're loading a lot of rocks/concrete you can try adding ribbing like these guys I hired to haul some "landscaping" rocks. These are their "rock wagons" they made out of old worn out trailers. The angle iron takes any hits that would dent the heck out of the box (more), doesn't add very much weight and you can easily grind it off and replace it when it's kaput. Trick is you don't weld the whole length, just run a bead every so often so you aren't gouging for 3 days trying to replace them. YouTube - 345C L Loading Rocks
:d:d:d
I don't know how the economy is in Colorado, but If it were me, I'd make it like new.
Henderson Crossmemberless Dump Bodies Scrap the old one as suggested and go with a Henderson crossmemberless dump body. www.henderson-mfg.com Customize a MARK series dump body.
In my old Ford the bed was an Alfab 18' x 56" x 7'! the first day I dorve hte truck, the gate would stick open about 2 ft. After consideralbe disscussions whit our mechanic, the pins got replaced with greaseable ones and the gate ears relocated. Whe theyrefloored the bed because I had worn it paper thin in spots, the guys that did the worl (it was farmed out) did the job for for what the steel would have coat us, and the put 2 angles in the be deviding the floor into 3rds! The angles were mointed v up (^) angled at each end and capped. I haul dirt to asphalt. We are a paving company, and I was loaded with conceret demo from and interstate project, the cut slabes were 12' long and 13" thick! With them angles in there the concrete never touched the bed floor. They also added 2 horrizontal rails the the lower half of the gate!
sounds like quite a job. the dirt didn't build up on that ribbing?
Muffler Bearing surprisingly NO it did not! They cut a 45 on each end of the angle long end on the bottom, and capped the ends making the rails hollow. Also I didn't say these rails ran from the bulkhead to the gate they were about 14 feet long and started about 2 ft. from the bulkhead and stopped about 2 feet from the gate!
Is it just me or is it painful to watch how long its taking them to load? The angle Iron thing isn't a bad idea, may have to try it We have a 15.5' Beu Roc demo box that we have hauled alot of rock with. The old man doesn't load with nearly the finess those guys were, would make your cringe to watch. Anyway we added a loose layer of 3/8" "Cul Plate" the length of the box on the floor and double lined the sides, it was welded at the front end and loose all the way around. Like I said the old man is kinda hard on stuff, but looking at the floor of the box you would never guess its probably hauled a few hundred loads of rock. The tailgate on th other hand is a dead give away.