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closing dump truck tailgate

td25c

td25c

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
apm said:
that's what I'm doing now, but after dumping the load I have to close the tailgate to travel home. I can't lift it back closed by myself and there's no equipment available to help.

Greg
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Sorry amp , missed that somehow .

We lay the tail gate down & hang off the chains when hauling trees in the dump trailer .

Gains you an extra 5 feet , throw the heavy butt end at the front the bed & let the branches hang out the rear to freak out the car people behind ya .:D

Set the tailgate back in place with a farm tractor & loader .
 
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Raildudes dad

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Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
411
Location
Grand Rapids MI
As long as your bed is empty I don't now of a reg that requires the tailgate up. We do like td25c with our dump trucks but usually chain them so they are tipped up a bit. No knife edge if someone tries to drive under you. Whatever we are hauling slides out with the box fully up.
 
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apm

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Apr 1, 2011
Messages
171
Location
Northeast Tennessee
Raildudes dad said:
As long as your bed is empty I don't now of a reg that requires the tailgate up. We do like td25c with our dump trucks but usually chain them so they are tipped up a bit. No knife edge if someone tries to drive under you. Whatever we are hauling slides out with the box fully up.
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That's interesting. I'd always been told that the tailgate had to be up, but never saw or asked for anything written. If I could legally drive with it down, I could get home where there's equipment to close it. I'm in Tennessee, anyone familiar with the requirements here?
 
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Raildudes dad

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Grand Rapids MI
Safest way, ask your local motor carrier / commercial enforcement officer. We are a county highway department but the local motor carrier / commercial enforcement officer is domiciled at our yard. He won't ticket us but will warn us if we are out of compliance. By tipped up a bit it's 30 to 45 degrees from flat. It's not worth it for us viability wise to operate out of compliance.
I found this in the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code but i don't think it applies since the tailgate is part of the truck and designed to be "hung" from the chains. We also have our "under ride" protection just short of the end of the box.

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crane operator

crane operator

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Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,313
Location
sw missouri
Raildudes dad said:
Safest way, ask your local motor carrier / commercial enforcement officer.
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The problem with them, is if you ask 3 of them, you'll likely get 3 different answers. I always end up explaining to the officers why the truck cranes don't have plates in Missouri.

No titles, no plates, they are considered "special mobile equipment". If its a old timer I don't have to tell him (they don't usually pull you over), but usually its some new kid just out of school, and they don't know what they don't know. They are usually just excited, because they found someone driving around "THIS HUGE TRUCK WITH NO PLATES OR ANYTHING!" I'm sure the $ signs are rolling in their mind....

When I say "special mobile equipment" their eyes light up- they've heard that phrase before in class, and now they have seen one. They are really good about- it once I tell them what it is.

Our local dump has a backhoe operator who "isn't supposed to help". But if you ask nice, he will.
 
Mother Deuce

Mother Deuce

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Jul 17, 2016
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1,603
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New England
I used to (<< operative phrase) drop my angle gate to haul brush. I had to eye by cables made so the gate was pitched up a little. Drive the top pins out, push the gate out of the hinge a little put one eye in the pin and the other eye in a shackle through the eye of the gate hinge do both sides push the gate out. No muss no fuss. Putting the gate up, I would usually back up to a pile and raise the box then chain it from the top chain ear on the gate to the chain cutout by the pin. It usually worked out that with the right combination of words usually reserved for recruits in boot camp and enough grunting and groaning I could muscle it back up to remove the cables. I would be a little hinky about running gate down or off these days... seems everybody is looking for a bag of cash.
 
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Raildudes dad

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Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
411
Location
Grand Rapids MI
"The problem with them, is if you ask 3 of them, you'll likely get 3 different answers. I always end up explaining to the officers why the truck cranes don't have plates in Missouri."
I should have qualified that with an old timer - experienced guy. And have him show you in the regs where it's legal / illegal. A friendly I'm looking for info, not an adversarial confrontation along side the road. Our local guy gave me lots of pointers of what to carry with me ie paperwork, documentation (the special equipment issue stuff you referred to) with my privately owned tractor / lowboy so I wouldn't get pulled over by some local cowboy on weekend and have my truck impounded in BFE by one that thinks he knows the regs.
Our guy is a pretty nice guy, took time in the evening to do a presentation on the regs to our ATHS chapter, answered any and all questions etc. However, he doesn't hesitate to pull violators into our yard and red tag them. Argue with him, give him some lip and he offers to try the silver bracelets on you. I spent an hour with him before I bought my tractor trailer as a private individual. I didn't want any surprises AFTER I bought it.
 
CM1995

CM1995

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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
cuttin edge said:
A high lift gate works good for brush. They started ordering them for hauling rock with dump trailers. Have a couple tandems with them and they open up wide and don't hold the brush in.
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I had a HardOx round demo bed with a high lift gate on a Mack tri-axle before the depression, unfortunately had to get rid of it in '09, it was an '06 Granite with Allison Auto and MP7. Hoss of a truck.

The high lift gates work the best IMO but would be expensive to retrofit an existing dump bed. I would like to have another dump truck but struggling justifying not only the purchase price but the insurance and other O&O costs that go along with it.
 
td25c

td25c

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Feb 14, 2009
Messages
5,250
Location
indiana
hosspuller said:
No further comment required ...
Montgomery county sheriff https://www.facebook.com/MOCOsheriff/photos/a.1591718271136832/2029407594034562/?type=3&theater
View attachment 197814
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Don't " tailgate " trucks or anyone else for that matter .
You aint got any control over it ….. Best to hang back & give yourself a back door when it go's wrong .

Drive Defensive .:)


serveimage
 
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apm

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Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Messages
171
Location
Northeast Tennessee
CM1995 said:
I had a HardOx round demo bed with a high lift gate on a Mack tri-axle before the depression, unfortunately had to get rid of it in '09, it was an '06 Granite with Allison Auto and MP7. Hoss of a truck.

The high lift gates work the best IMO but would be expensive to retrofit an existing dump bed. I would like to have another dump truck but struggling justifying not only the purchase price but the insurance and other O&O costs that go along with it.
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Yeah, this truck is just for personal/farm use. Maybe used a couple of times a month, so the high lift option is likely way over budget. A retrofit kit to convert from what I've got to swinging barn door style would probably be just the trick. If the kit hardware is reasonable, there's plenty of solid metal to weld it up. For the short term, I guess I'll weld a couple of loops onto the tailgate and the bed and use the come along for now.

Greg
 
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Montecresto

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Jul 2, 2022
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76
Location
Arkansas
I am shopping for a Class C dump truck presently, and one of the first projects I intend to use it for is to load and transport burnt trees to arroyos on my property. This looks like a good place to ask this question. Will the dump trucks tailgate have an option to open as the tailgate on a pickup truck does? So that when I raise the bed to dump, it will all slide out? Seems to me if the tailgate were to pivot at the top and open at the bottom as you’d want for dumping top soil, sand or gravel, the trees would hang…….
 
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