Firetruck convert to Dump Truck

[Duromax04]

Has anyone tried to or successfully taken a firetruck bed and pump assembly off and put a dump box on it?
I am looking at the possibility of doing that and was wondering how difficult it would be. I have the ability to lift the bed off the frame and set a dump bed back down on it.
One issue I am finding is that this truck has a driveshaft driven water pump, so there is a transfer case right in the middle of the driveshaft. This means that I would need to find, or have made a driveshaft and carrier bearing to replace where the transfer case once was.
The truck is very low miles chevy, cab is rust free and clean, unmolested.
Is it even worth it?

Thanks for the input.

 

[Steve Frazier]

Being a Chevy I can't imagine it would be too hard to find the proper running gear, you would simply need the wheelbase and start checking boneyards. You probably would want to shorten the truck for a dump body, a single axle chassis wouldn't have the capacity for a dump body as long as the firetruck bed. Find out the standard wheelbases available for that chassis and pick the one most suited. You will have to determine if it's worth the effort to you, you'll have a truck that should give you many years of service. That could be of great value to a working man but you might not recoup the cost if you're looking to flip it.

 

[Jonas302]

can definitely get driveshaft made
how about pto and plumbing going off the tranny or front engine ?

 

[crane operator]

Willie B bought a chevy topkick and is converting it to dump use. He's had some issues with PTO and mostly time.

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.co...cs-on-a-gmc-top-kick.71444/page-3#post-910136

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/buying-a-top-kick.69872/#post-726613

 

[Duromax04]

Thanks for the insight. The wheel base is 179, and the frame from back of cab to end of frame rails is 12 ft. So you could put up to a 12ft box on it. You could also put a 10 on it, but just have some space between cab and bed.
I had thought about just going to truck salvage places and see if I could find a GM chassis with a 366 and a 5 speed with a 179 inch wheel base, and just take the entire drive shaft and carrier bearing and brackets and retro fitting on this truck. I am not sure that the shaft going from the center to the rear axle isn't that same one used with a carrier bearing set up, so I might just need the front shaft and carrier setup.

I have thought about having a shaft made, but thought that might we more expensive, and I am trying to keep cost down, because I am only using this for my own use.