I got a dump truck! How does it work?

Peter 315 · Jun 13, 2023

Small pipe wrench and a gear oil pump will work if you have one..

MossRoad · Jun 13, 2023

LittleBittyBigJohn said:
Ok. I just made a discovery. This thing has a big hydro reservoir and it is full. But, and that's a big but, it's plumbed into the spreader circut not the dump circut. The dump circut is closed. I just gotta figure out how to get oil into that circut and i think it will work.

If it's power up and gravity down, the oil has to go somewhere. There's gotta be a reservoir somewhere.

beenthere · Jun 13, 2023

LittleBittyBigJohn said:
Oof that's bad.

When i was building my pond one of the truck operators i hired forgot to unlock the tailgate and his truck stood up in the air on its back axle. Luckily the other piles held him up and he was able to lower the bed and get the truck back down on the ground without much incident. He didn't tell me until he was back or i would have gotten pictures.

Had that happen, on an old '57 ford 5 yd dump. Bed kept going up while I was trying to trip the tail gate. Stood on its tail until the load came off over the tailgate and the truck turned 90 deg and the front end landed in the swamp we were building a road across. Good memories.

Peter 315 · Jun 14, 2023

MossRoad said:
If it's power up and gravity down, the oil has to go somewhere. There's gotta be a reservoir somewhere.

The hyd cylinder and lines are the reservoir..

4570Man · Jun 14, 2023

Peter 315 said:
The hyd cylinder and lines are the reservoir..

Not exactly right but not entirely wrong. Some of the old trucks have what appears to be a huge cylinder but the real cylinder is smaller and they have a second casing around the outside that’s a reservoir.

Peter 315 · Jun 14, 2023

4570Man said:
Not exactly right but not entirely wrong. Some of the old trucks have what appears to be a huge cylinder but the real cylinder is smaller and they have a second casing around the outside that’s a reservoir.

Close enough in my book..Lol

kenhar · Jun 15, 2023

If the track hoe in your original picture is yours or you have access to, use it to raise the bed all the way up and see what you have. Make sure you keep the machine under the bed so it can't fall before you do anything to it. If it trys to lift but only a foot or two, its low on oil.

LittleBittyBigJohn · Jun 15, 2023

kenhar said:
If the track hoe in your original picture is yours or you have access to, use it to raise the bed all the way up and see what you have. Make sure you keep the machine under the bed so it can't fall before you do anything to it. If it trys to lift but only a foot or two, its low on oil.

This is my plan.

LittleBittyBigJohn · Jun 15, 2023

4570Man said:
Not exactly right but not entirely wrong. Some of the old trucks have what appears to be a huge cylinder but the real cylinder is smaller and they have a second casing around the outside that’s a reservoir.

I believe this is spot on. Seems to be the case for this truck. In going to be working on it again this evening.

Renze · Jun 15, 2023

Gord Baker said:
Usually if not always you need a special Air Brake License to operate that vehicle on public highways.

Yeah, thats a counterproductive rule... Here in Europe, we have air brakes on just about anything, while America is sticking to (most of the time) barely adequate electric brakes...

When i read people on TBN say that a one ton truck is better because the truck is doing most of the brake work, i just shake my head... brake force should be proportional to the axle load, and if electric brakes cant provide that, you need air brakes.

15 years ago i worked at a company in the light commercial trailer business. We had a customer who imported luxury 5th wheel horse trailers from the USA, and we converted them to European axles with air brakes: Dexter axles with electric brakes just couldnt deliver the mandatory retardation and therefor couldnt get a European approval.

MossRoad · Jun 15, 2023

4570Man said:
Not exactly right but not entirely wrong. Some of the old trucks have what appears to be a huge cylinder but the real cylinder is smaller and they have a second casing around the outside that’s a reservoir.

So the reservoir is around the cylinder?

LittleBittyBigJohn · Jun 15, 2023

Phase 1 of the repair is done. (Lifting the bed). It was a comedy of errors. I had to jump start the track hoe because i stupidly left the lights on the night i moved the thumb. To do that after quite a while of having it hooked up to my truck and then the dozer i ended up having to use the dump truck batteries. The hoe is 24v and everything else is 12 volt. I unhooked the dump truck batteries and wired them in series with a 2nd set of cables to get 24v.

Bed is up, safety latch is in and backup blocks. I can see the fill plug. I left for food and oil. Posting while I'm eating now. Will update again soon.