In need of a tandem dump !!!!

[Foothills88]

Hi y’all,
I have outgrown my single axel dump for my side business and have been on a search for a good tandem dump truck in my state of NC or neighboring states. I’m just Looking for a good starter truck just as long as the drivetrain and hydros work good, bed and cab are not eat up and it has AC.
Do y’all know of anything or does anyone have anything ????
Everything I’m finding is either warn out,rust and salt damage or wayyyyy over priced for what it is.
Please help a young man out. I’m 30 years young starting out and love the business.

 

[Tags]

Don't stop looking! It's going to take a while to find the right one, and don't settle for something that is "close" to what you want. Patience will be your friend here and a good mechanic to give it a once over....you don't want to buy one and have to put an engine in it shortly after you purchase it, it stings, ALOT.....

 

[crane operator]

How good of a mechanic are you, how much do you want to spend, and what do you want it to do?

If you are using it for site removal, and equipment delivery, shorter wheelbase, smaller bed, maybe set back front axle, is a little more important. Get it already set up with pintle and the air hookups on the rear.

If you want to do serious dirt hauling, 17' bed and a pile of axles might be more what you need.

Demo guys like a barrel bed with a high lift gate.

The really good cab, solid bed, easy life, perfect, cheap dump trucks aren't anywhere.

I guess in my mind, pick what you really have to have- wheelbase, engine and drivetrain, with a good cab.

Bed's can be patched and lined. or even replaced.

A/C is not that expensive to fix, nothing like buying something too long or short, or underpowered, or geared wrong for what you want to do.

For example:

If you're just local or city driving, a set of 4.88 rears isn't a big deal. If you work all over a 10 county rural area building fences, you might want something with a little better road speed.

If you just haul a mini ex or a skid loader, a tandem with M11 or 3306 truck wouldn't be bad, but if your wanting to stack a 30,000lb excavator on a pintle and deliver it, you might be underpowered.

A list of what you usually do, and what you need to haul, will make it a little easier to give a recommendation.

 

[Wes J]

Around here there is a ready supply of tandem trucks surplused by various state and local government entities. IMO, these are hard to beat. Typically low miles, well maintained, and many have nice options like automatic transmissions. Here they are typically used as plow trucks and for spreading salt, so rust can be an issue. But in your area that should be much less common.

I've got a 1985 IH dump truck with less than 150,000 miles. What's that, 4,500 miles a year? Came with brand new tires. Paid a whole $1,500 for it.

 

[Foothills88]

Don't stop looking! It's going to take a while to find the right one, and don't settle for something that is "close" to what you want. Patience will be your friend here and a good mechanic to give it a once over....you don't want to buy one and have to put an engine in it shortly after you purchase it, it stings, ALOT.....

I’m to that point if i half to save till next spring I will. I just looked at a old nc dot truck that was a 2574 international with a m11 Cummins with major blow by and said nope.

 

[Foothills88]

Around here there is a ready supply of tandem trucks surplused by various state and local government entities. IMO, these are hard to beat. Typically low miles, well maintained, and many have nice options like automatic transmissions. Here they are typically used as plow trucks and for spreading salt, so rust can be an issue. But in your area that should be much less common.

I've got a 1985 IH dump truck with less than 150,000 miles. What's that, 4,500 miles a year? Came with brand new tires. Paid a whole $1,500 for it.

The truck I’ve looked at on gov deals goes for a preamium and I would like one with a manual trans.

 

[Foothills88]

How good of a mechanic are you, how much do you want to spend, and what do you want it to do?

If you are using it for site removal, and equipment delivery, shorter wheelbase, smaller bed, maybe set back front axle, is a little more important. Get it already set up with pintle and the air hookups on the rear.

If you want to do serious dirt hauling, 17' bed and a pile of axles might be more what you need.

Demo guys like a barrel bed with a high lift gate.

The really good cab, solid bed, easy life, perfect, cheap dump trucks aren't anywhere.

I guess in my mind, pick what you really have to have- wheelbase, engine and drivetrain, with a good cab.

Bed's can be patched and lined. or even replaced.

A/C is not that expensive to fix, nothing like buying something too long or short, or underpowered, or geared wrong for what you want to do.

For example:

If you're just local or city driving, a set of 4.88 rears isn't a big deal. If you work all over a 10 county rural area building fences, you might want something with a little better road speed.

If you just haul a mini ex or a skid loader, a tandem with M11 or 3306 truck wouldn't be bad, but if your wanting to stack a 30,000lb excavator on a pintle and deliver it, you might be underpowered.

A list of what you usually do, and what you need to haul, will make it a little easier to give a recommendation.

Most of the time I’m moving a mini excavator and a skid steer or my tractor. I would like to have something to pull a cat 943

 

[DMiller]

The issue with old state trucks is duty cycle, they are usually bare minimum spec for what they are asked to do which is primarily haul salt, cinders, a little rock or small loads of asphalt. Automatics do well for that but day in day out 14- 17 yard loads of spoil or debris or dragging a 15T pintle tag along with a 943 on it and they will Not stand the pressure for long. That is also why they go pretty cheap and generally to farmers, small time contractors with smaller duty requirements.

As noted above to put a decent 6 bolt 20t or 25t pintle on then be able to drag the machines, bulk materials and payloads you should really invest in a heavier set up, double frame, rubber block ride Hendrickson, air pusher drop axle(s) and a 17 yard bed. Most of these are already pulling their weight for someone else that will release them at premium dollars with minimal remaining life within. You will need to have a reputable shop fully inspect each candidate machine and LISTEN to their words of wisdom.

 

[Foothills88]

I found these two ol girls. A 77 model Mack rd with a 5 speed 300 maxidine no Ac. and a 1997 Chevy kodiac 3116 cat with 8ll. The Mack is $8500 the Chevy is 9k.

 

[DMiller]

The Mack will work harder but parts can become problematic due to age, the Kodiak is already seeing cab parts issues but still plentiful. Really wanting to go big I would be looking to a early 2000's KW Western Star, Navistar with a Cummins or DD engine or a Reasonable later series Mack, into the mid to late 90's as a oldest for any of them. Need to keep in mind serviceability and repair component availability as to what you buy, is not only the engine series but running gear and chassis obsolescence as a deal killer where you could be down for a few days or even weeks awaiting a component that does not fail often but has failed and have to make something else work that just does not fit. Been there done that.

 

[Foothills88]

The Mack will work harder but parts can become problematic due to age, the Kodiak is already seeing cab parts issues but still plentiful. Really wanting to go big I would be looking to a early 2000's KW Western Star, Navistar with a Cummins or DD engine or a Reasonable later series Mack, into the mid to late 90's as a oldest for any of them. Need to keep in mind serviceability and repair component availability as to what you buy, is not only the engine series but running gear and chassis obsolescence as a deal killer where you could be down for a few days or even weeks awaiting a component that does not fail often but has failed and have to make something else work that just does not fit. Been there done that.

Wha about a 1990 Ford L8000 with the Ford 7.8 with 8ll ?

 

[DMiller]

Just think of what you are asking, that line of machine has been out of production for 20+ years, Ford No longer builds HD trucks so parts again become questionable. May be a good truck but even those will lay down.

 

[Foothills88]

Just think of what you are asking, that line of machine has been out of production for 20+ years, Ford No longer builds HD trucks so parts again become questionable. May be a good truck but even those will lay down.

It’s like pulling teeth to find a good used tandem right now because we have so much road construction and site work going on in our area right now.

 

[DMiller]

I hear that and see it here as well. The Junk trucks sit at a low price but those in the know see them for what they are. Problems, money pits, parts unavailability or mechanic guaranteed income. Best bet, get on Commercial Truck Trader or one of those type sales sites, find a reasonable later model STILL IN PRODUCTION unit fitting your needs, find one of the guys you are acquainting with here to go look or have a dealer do an evaluation, buy Out of State. Or do as originally intended and expect the consequences just do not be fool hardy and push a Will Work machine too hard.

 

[crane operator]

These are both for sale by me right now, I know nothing about either one, but they seem priced right. You aren't going to find anything that's close to perfect under $20,000, the idea is to find one with problems that aren't terribly hard to fix. New tires, fix a/c, maybe a third member replacement, and priced accordingly.

I actually saw both of these up for sale, (looks like the same guy) and figured they'd be gone quick how they were priced, but they are both still for sale. I'd want to know engine, transmission and rear gear ratios before I went and looked.

https://springfield.craigslist.org/hvo/d/91-kenworth/6694452946.html

$11,000

https://springfield.craigslist.org/hvo/d/84-kenworth/6694465252.html

$13,000

Wouldn't do a 8000 ford, hold out for a 9000 with big cam or cat.

I'd do the mack before the Kodiak, but
The mack is got some age, see if you can find one late 80's or 90's.

 

[crane operator]

Couple in your area that I might go look at:

I like old ford 9000's, they have great visibility:

https://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/hvo/d/1990fordl9000/6709085199.html

I like ford 9000's way better than freightliners like this one, but it doesn't hurt to look at stuff in your price range to get a idea of what you like. I don't like the visibility out of the older freightliner cabs.

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/hvo/d/dump-truck/6733702599.html

I'm not much on auto's, but I know that some guys love them:

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/hvo/d/mack-rd688s-dump-truck-auto/6713164082.html

I'm not much on international's either, (I own one, but don't like it much), but this one might be worth a look:

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/hvo/d/1994-intl-tandem-dump/6739860312.html

I was going to ask- do you need to be able to dump into your truck from your skid loader? If you do, you're going to want a little shorter sided dump truck. Measure your dump height and keep it in mind when looking at trucks.

 

[colson04]

Wha about a 1990 Ford L8000 with the Ford 7.8 with 8ll ?

I've driven 3 different Ford L8000's with the 7.8L and Allison auto. They are not a powerhouse and run short of torque if you have any hills to deal with. We run them on mostly flat ground and they do quite well loaded to about 50,000 pounds. But they falter quick when we have hills to deal with or when towing an excavator. It'll get the job done , but you'll be looking for a new truck real quick again.

I agree with crane operator, the L9000 with a big Cat is hard to beat. Also, a mid 90's Mack (CH series) with an E7 series is a pretty stout runner. We have 2 of them now at the farm and they have some pretty serious power.

 

[Foothills88]

These are both for sale by me right now, I know nothing about either one, but they seem priced right. You aren't going to find anything that's close to perfect under $20,000, the idea is to find one with problems that aren't terribly hard to fix. New tires, fix a/c, maybe a third member replacement, and priced accordingly.

I actually saw both of these up for sale, (looks like the same guy) and figured they'd be gone quick how they were priced, but they are both still for sale. I'd want to know engine, transmission and rear gear ratios before I went and looked.

https://springfield.craigslist.org/hvo/d/91-kenworth/6694452946.html

$11,000

https://springfield.craigslist.org/hvo/d/84-kenworth/6694465252.html

$13,000

Wouldn't do a 8000 ford, hold out for a 9000 with big cam or cat.

I'd do the mack before the Kodiak, but
The mack is got some age, see if you can find one late 80's or 90's.

Went and looked at the Mack today...... bed is junk it’s aluminum and beat the u know what..... the kodiak was sold within one day

 

[crane operator]

I wouldn't have a aluminum bed for general work, demo concrete, rocks etc., will tear it up. They are fine for sand or lime, but you probably aren't doing that.

I did see this mack over by you, a decent paint job and a little tlc and I think you would have a truck. Sounds like the powertrain has been taken care of. Outside looks really rough, but paint is cheap if the truck is solid.

If its been in salt, the rockers and back of the cab will show rust the quickest.

1988 mack for $10,500

https://raleigh.craigslist.org/hvo/d/1988-mack-rd-690s-tandem-axle/6722231122.html

 

[crane operator]

$22,500

https://charlotte.craigslist.org/hvo/d/1992-mack-rd690s/6741319965.html