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Buying older dump

DMiller

DMiller

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An old mixer chassis converted to Dump is a FAR better choice, Air Rides are NOT a good choice any more than Four Spring setups under dump trucks. Usually Single rail frames, weak backed, end up with more carnage than worth in short order.
 
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RZucker

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DMiller said:
An old mixer chassis converted to Dump is a FAR better choice, Air Rides are NOT a good choice any more than Four Spring setups under dump trucks. Usually Single rail frames, weak backed, end up with more carnage than worth in short order.
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Mixer trucks are h$ll for stout, got a local farm running a couple with poo spreader boxes on them carrying huge loads. Problem is that most of them have smaller engines (300-325 HP) in the 3306 class and more often than not an 8LL trans.
They make a great farm truck though, with 20K fronts and 60K in the rear on solid walking beams they can break the driver before he can break the truck. :D
 
repowerguy

repowerguy

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DMiller said:
An old mixer chassis converted to Dump is a FAR better choice, Air Rides are NOT a good choice any more than Four Spring setups under dump trucks. Usually Single rail frames, weak backed, end up with more carnage than worth in short order.
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Around here an old rear mixer is usually toast when the mixer body is done. Cab will be shot and the frame rust jacked badly, buying a used mixer with a worn out drum or bad drive at an auction can net a heavy spec truck that you can then put a dump bed on.
 
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suladas

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The problem with mixer trucks here is in the last 15 or so years almost everyone has went to tri-drives. Any tandem that ever pop up are worn out twice already and not worth trying to put any money into. One company doesn't even sell their own trucks, they have a yard they sit and rot in as they won't risk any competition buying them.
 
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suladas

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well I finally bought a truck. 92 western star with 3408 cat and 13 speed for $7500. Gambled by not taking it to be looked at, guess I will find out if it will come back to haunt me or not. But it didn’t miss a beat the hour drive with it and loooks good. Needs some work for sure but even if I need to dump $5k into it still a cheap truck.
 
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Welder Dave

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Lets see some some pics. of it. 3408's are apparently hard on fuel and expensive to repair. Hope it works out for you.
 
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RZucker

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DMiller said:
Keep it wound up, torque on a V8 is not as quite as good as a inline, but will make HP.
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Keep it wound up to protect the crank, those engines do not like being lugged. I've seen 3 with broken cranks from bad vibration dampeners, one had a set of really bad injectors and had been running rough under a pull. IIRC "Fluiddampr" makes an after market fluid filled damper for them (it's not cheap). The 3 I saw had broken through the offset rod journals. Two were in D9N's and one was out of a truck. The truck got an 8V-92 @475HP and the owner was actually happier with the Detroit.
 
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Welder Dave

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Give some more details, suspension type and axle ratings, miles/hours, HP, etc. Price seems in the ballpark. Western Star should have parts available which is a bonus. A few years ago I bought a 94 Ford L9000 with an M11 310E for $8000. 16K front, 40,00 rears with Hendrickson springs and walking beams. Double frame with no rust jacking and twin steering boxes. Former plow truck, not perfect but basically works. Figured it will haul a lot more than a dump trailer behind a pick-up for less money and could also carry a large water tank if needed down the road. M11 is really good on fuel. One issue is it needs to held at about 1100 RPM after starting so it keeps running when it runs out of prime after about 40 seconds. After that it's good all day to shut off and start back up at idle. Not a big enough deal to worry about. Only other issue is it has a solenoid valve for the hoist that sometimes doesn't activate and you have to play with a bit. Might look into that more but still not a big deal for what I use it for.
 
DMiller

DMiller

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Don't have to be pretty to get it done. 3406B is a damned good engine, lots of mid range torque. Western Star is a nice size cab and appears beam suspension so I believe even if needs a little will be a good unit.
 
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AzIron

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Should work pretty good for you the only thing that kills 3406bs is stupidity so your in great shape there

I'm kinda envious for a used dump truck that seems to have a good foundation the 13 speed is good to have as well there is only the slight down side 13 speeds dont have a deep under so they are kinda geared high for certain situations on a dump truck but it's by no mean life altering
 
DMiller

DMiller

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The old Pete I was running I never used Low, was deep enough in Second to start off behind a 3406E. Not too many will need the lowest gear save a really slop house site and that is best left to drier days.
 
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suladas

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Well gave the truck a pretty good test today pulling the hoe, even worse being downtown in really tight area and had a few steep hills. Trucks pulls harder then the 330hp 6 speed auto by far. The worst hill I had to drop to 4th, the rest it would hold 6th easily. Good to know the motor is in good shape.
 

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suladas

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AzIron said:
Should work pretty good for you the only thing that kills 3406bs is stupidity so your in great shape there

I'm kinda envious for a used dump truck that seems to have a good foundation the 13 speed is good to have as well there is only the slight down side 13 speeds dont have a deep under so they are kinda geared high for certain situations on a dump truck but it's by no mean life altering
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This is geared really low. 1600rpms is about 53 mph. 13 is perfect for me, I doubt I will rarely if ever need to even split, it has a lot of power, I’m really surprised. It honestly doesn’t even feel like the truck is working getting up to speed on flat ground.
 
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