Peterbilt Dump Truck Conversion

[PineTreeAssassin]

Hey guys, just wanted to share my current project for my 1st dump truck hoping to get opinions and ideas as i'm pretty green to the trucking side. It's a 97' Pete, 550 cat, hendrickson walking beam suspension, 46K rears, 4:11's, 18 speed. Only concern I've had is it isn't double framed from the front to the back, the truck just has a frame insert almost from cab to over the rears. My plans are to make this a tri-axle dump. It will be primarily for my use in excavation and moving my equipment. I've had other owner operators tell me that it should be fine. I'm already into the conversion, but I always appreciate any advice i can get, Thanks!

 

[redneckracin]

I'm not an expert but I think I recall that the double frame stopping at the cab causes issues by tending to cause failures there. Someone else more knowledgeable should chime in here. Looks like a nice truck though!

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

Located an older ox body that was pretty beat up, and tweaked just a little bit. I'm a welder by trade, so i decided to refurbish the body with new material. Just because I am a welder doesn't mean I'm a pro at rebuilding these things though, haha. I acquired some help thru a great friend and retired fitter/fabricator. I'm sure there is probably easier or better ways to do the job, but we used what we had. We started out blowing out the sheet metal squares with a torch, it just seemed this best way to go about the demo, although an arc gouge would've been really nice. I just decided to go back with the same thickness and used my mig suitcase running carbon mig hardwire.

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

I know I'm leaving out a lot of detailed pictures, but it was really hot when this project started, and it raining off and on, so i didn't have much time to get great pictures. Both side walls are in at this point, tacked and ready to weld.. We decided to make life a lot easier and just leave 1" overlap for the front when we demoed it, that way we didn't have to fight it, just put a seal weld on the inside and a stitch weld on the outside. We tack welded two small clips at the bottom for the new sheet to rest on while we made the final fit. Both side walls are cutout and new material is tacked in and ready to weld at this point.

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

Now It's time to start on the floor which was probably the most time consuming part. Once we got all of the old floor demoed, i had a local sheet metal shop cut out my floor with the dimensions i gave them, i drove down with my body on the gooseneck and they lowered the bottom in with there overhead crane and it fit like a glove...... for the most part, haha. Had some buttering up to do on the big gaps, but overall it wasn't too bad.

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

I'm not an expert but I think I recall that the double frame stopping at the cab causes issues by tending to cause failures there. Someone else more knowledgeable should chime in here. Looks like a nice truck though!

thanks man! I appreciate the tip!

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

Now we that we've got it all welded out we started to work on the fit up to mount the body on the truck. We had to extend the frame a short amount already, so when I decided to go with just a hinge plate coped in the frame of the truck, we figured that it would help to continue the frame insert all the way out for extra strength.

 

[DMiller]

First thing I would do right off the bat is move the spring cans to the front driver. Worked on too many road tractor/dump truck conversions that did not and as far as erosive wear those damn thing get dangerous thin in short order.

 

[dieseldog5.9]

I would have spring cans on both axles. OX bodies are good bodies, around here double frames rust bad I bought a truck intentionally single frame. 4.10 is a nice ratio with an 18 speed.

 

[Truck Shop]

I would not worry too much about the frame, It should have 3/8" main rail. It will work fine with 12 yard loads not 14. Your fab work looks ok.

Truck Shop

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

First thing I would do right off the bat is move the spring cans to the front driver. Worked on too many road tractor/dump truck conversions that did not and as far as erosive wear those damn thing get dangerous thin in short order.

Thanks man! I appreciate it!

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

I would have spring cans on both axles. OX bodies are good bodies, around here double frames rust bad I bought a truck intentionally single frame. 4.10 is a nice ratio with an 18 speed.

The ox body I have is a 21 yard body at water level I believe. I doubt I’ll ever load it that full, but I’d like to be able to carry the most I legally could. What’s your opinion on adding a pusher axle? Too hard for a single frame maybe ? Thanks again

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

I would not worry too much about the frame, It should have 3/8" main rail. It will work fine with 12 yard loads not 14. Your fab work looks ok.

Truck Shop

Thanks man, I hope it will handle more more than that. The body I bought was at scrap price basically, that’s why I didn’t mind having one so big. It came off an older Tri-Axle set up.

 

[DMiller]

Only way I would have spring cans on both axles would be to invert the rears, have them point Down, seen all too many limp to the shop or need road call as the can exploded from load dumping erosion. Who knows WHERE the after end wound up.
With the frame and set up I would not b challenging 14 yards, with rock figure 2200#/yard a little over a ton dry for inch minus would be 15 ton ON the truck, add water and it raises pretty quick, sand is the nasty where a yard wet can go 2800/yard to 3200 yard. Can overload yourself pretty easy if do not have a drop pusher and that box.

Local dump truck service we use regularly deliver 20-25t to customers within 20 miles, he has twin drop down pushers under his truck only lifts them to access farm roads or commercial yards where has to maneuver tight.

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

Only way I would have spring cans on both axles would be to invert the rears, have them point Down, seen all too many limp to the shop or need road call as the can exploded from load dumping erosion. Who knows WHERE the after end wound up.
With the frame and set up I would not b challenging 14 yards, with rock figure 2200#/yard a little over a ton dry for inch minus would be 15 ton ON the truck, add water and it raises pretty quick, sand is the nasty where a yard wet can go 2800/yard to 3200 yard. Can overload yourself pretty easy if do not have a drop pusher and that box.

Local dump truck service we use regularly deliver 20-25t to customers within 20 miles, he has twin drop down pushers under his truck only lifts them to access farm roads or commercial yards where has to maneuver tight.

I agree, wouldn’t take much at all to overload with this size body. Do you think it would be too much stress on the frame to add a 20k drop axle?

 

[JDirt]

My old Ford has an 18 yard bed with no tag axles. I've grossed 70,000 on ten tires many times. It does have 44 rears and 16 front axle, that makes a big difference in capacity and braking. I've driven lighter trucks with 40 rears/12 front, and they won't stop anywhere near like a heavy spec. truck. If you don't have heavy spec. axles, you probably need the drop axle to hold the weight and to add to your braking ability. If you're on the road all the time, the tag axle is great, it will be a pain off road. If you operate off road they will drag, take weight off the drive axles, and you're stuck. Just my .02.

That is a nice Pete by the way. And I like the bed work, looks like you're doing a good job.

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

My old Ford has an 18 yard bed with no tag axles. I've grossed 70,000 on ten tires many times. It does have 44 rears and 16 front axle, that makes a big difference in capacity and braking. I've driven lighter trucks with 40 rears/12 front, and they won't stop anywhere near like a heavy spec. truck. If you don't have heavy spec. axles, you probably need the drop axle to hold the weight and to add to your braking ability. If you're on the road all the time, the tag axle is great, it will be a pain off road. If you operate off road they will drag, take weight off the drive axles, and you're stuck. Just my .02.

That is a nice Pete by the way. And I like the bed work, looks like you're doing a good job.

Thanks JDirt! Always helps to have someone who’s been there before. I made a few phone calls today asking around about the drop axle, Warren dump bodies says they install them on single frame trucks all the time and don’t see any issues, but they still had to tell me that it does add a lot of stress to the frame. The truck will be mainly used for hauling gravel and occasionally onsite work. Looking into hauling asphalt as well with it.

 

[PineTreeAssassin]

Finally got it mounted on there, still have a few mods to do get it just right before blast and painting. What color you think I should paint guys, red or black???

 

[dieseldog5.9]

I vote black.

States have different weight regulations when it comes to straight trucks, in our area for instance trucks in Massachusetts running 1200x24 rubber on 58 rears and 20 fronts can gross around 80k on a 10 wheeler, in nh we wouldnt get away with that without a tag axle.

And that truck in mass will be a Mack 300 hp 6speed

 

[DMiller]

Unless comparing Wedge to S-cam three axles brakes is three axle brakes. 16.5x7 is the same truck to truck and the steers are on average 16.5x5 so the comment it stops better is not relevant. Been involved with overloaded trucks a long time, over 25 years as a wrench fixing that which an overload destroyed. If you have double frame and Hendrickson the chassis will take the weight, a partial double frame will show the sag in short time if run it heavy enough often enough. Have known guys with 6 yard single axles add three to four foot side boards to haul more, did not help the truck any at all.
With the tanks in the way will be tough to add a pusher of any type, but is your truck do as you wish.