Dump Truck or Trailer?

[crashz]

I've lost the battle with rust on my dump truck.

I love the little truck, but I've been working on it for a solid 5 years and have used it a handful of times. It has had major issues, mostly frame related, and all of my attempts at saving it have failed. I've done everything but sand blast and paint, and that should have been done first. Its not fixable now and I don't have the time to due a frame transplant.

I have some dump truck work this summer that I have been putting off for a few years and cannot put off any longer. It involves bringing (stone, loam and brush) materials to and from my house, hauling fire wood to my parents house and hauling junk from our property in NY. I need more capacity than my pick-up and need it soon so that we can put our house on the market.

So...

Do I look for another truck? I've narrowed my wants to a late 90's 2wd 3500HD or F450 series truck (15Klb GVWR) that has not been a plow and sander truck.
Or...
Get a dump trailer?

I would like to buy another truck. SWMBO - does not agree. The pricing for the initial purchase will be about the same but the operating costs vastly favor the dump trailer. The upside of the truck is that it could be used by other people (my father and uncle maybe) and with that I might be able to squeeze out some help with these tasks. My pickup would also not be exposed to accidental damage vs a few dents in a dump truck that add character. But I have wasted an incredible amount of money on the truck I have, without any work done.

Thoughts?

PS - the 87 will not go to waste though. I will use it (it has pristine sheet metal) to restore my 83.

 

[allen in texas]

I thought about a dump truck a lot of times. I went with a trailer. I haul my tractor in my trailer and I don't have to pull a trailer with a dump truck, load unload tractor, unhook trailer, load dump truck do job hook back up to trailer, load tractor.

The trailer just works better for me.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Dump trailer if traveling any distance. Local stuff get a old dump truck. Me and my neighbor have a 78 F700 and a 79 C60. Paid $1800 and $1500 respectively but I wouldn't go more than 15 miles from home in either.

Chris

 

[terryknight]

i would think it comes down to how easy is it for you to tag and insure a trailer vs. a truck. i would vote truck. you can't haul a load and a trailer with a dump trailer. i've always had access to dump trucks and find them more useful.

 

[Rustyiron]

I'm with Terry. I found that dump trailers are best suited for trash and mulch (light weight & bulky). For any real dirt/stone transport, you need a DT. And then, depending on your area, (and your class DL) you have the DOT boys looking for revenue!! Dragging a trailer around is a pita compared to a single unit DT. Trailers rust out as well and unless you get lucky, are hard to find used and very pricy new making a used DT only a bit more money.

 

[crashz]

Thanks guys. Regular tasks such as hauling stone, loam and fire wood will be required at least once per month, summers will be every weekend.

Either will need to be road worthy enough to regularly travel 150 miles each way from our land in NY to my house near Boston. That's where the current truck falls short. It will probably pass inspection and run just fine. But the rear spring hanger areas are very weak. And a failure there on the road would be bad.

 

[schmism]

I miss my 85 C30 dump. wasnt much of a road truck, but it hualed 2 ton of rock just fine and i loved pulling the lever on the PTO dump and just watching the material fall out.

If i had to do again.... I would seriously consider an late 90's early 00 F450 or F550 with dump bed. bonus if it had the NV4500 stick in it and PTO dump. perfect world would be a 4x4 and equipped with a plow

 

[94BULLITT]

It depends what you are doing. With a trailer you can probably get a permanent tag, with truck you will have to pay for registration every year. A trailer has 4 tires, a truck will have 6. You don't need insurance on a trailer. I think you will have a hard time find a good truck for a good trailer will cost.

 

[George2615]

I had a dump truck a couple years ago.
In my area a dump truck required commercial registration / plates (not a big deal, even my 1/2T has comm plates).
I had to buy a commercial insurance policy. I couldn't add it to my regular car and truck policy.
Upkeep on truck cost more than trailer. More fuel required than a pick up, oil, filters, breakdown repairs etc.
Truck was rated for 16K GVWR.

Trailer is rated for 14K GVWR. Plates are cheaper. No separate insurance policy. Can tow with a pick up.

For the minimal amount of times a year I need to haul product (stone, dirt, gravel, mulch etc.) the trailer was a better option for me.

 

[JJZ 109]

With a properly sized trailer, could you haul your Bobcat & kill two birds with one stone? Like haul machine to site, drop it and then go for material?
As mentioned, a truck is one more thing to register, insure, inspect and maintain. Depending on where you are you might also consider a Maine plate to lower yearly registration costs. Sure, there are maintenance items on a trailer, but no engine or driveline to have issues with.

 

[Sysop]

With proper care there are actually a lot less things to go wrong with a dump trailer over a dump truck. Around here having large loads hauled cheap is no problem. When you need less than a dump truck hauls and more than a pickup bed will haul is when the cost per load goes up. Dump trailer is the ideal fit in most cases.

 

[crashz]

Couple good points made already. One I hadn't considered is the fact that I can move the Bobcat around without disconnecting the trailer for materials. Tighter little package. Very good for my work around the house and any side work.

The other is DOT attractiveness. I think my pickup with regular plates and no company signs is much less conspicuous than a Class 4 truck with or without a trailer. Keeping in mind that I will be traveling across the state with the unit, the above issue is important.

The trailer is a better option on three of six issues: operating cost, image, efficiency. Multiple users, storage security and use in the woods are the three downfalls (for my situation).

And like a little kid, I just want a dump truck. We've always had one available and they are just so handy. I have my eye on a Class 4 truck (1999 C3500HD, 2wd, 5 speed, diesel) that looks very good. High miles but not a plow truck and therefor not a rot box. That is key.

I keep flip-flopping between the two...

 

[kevinwak]

An advantage for me is my tractor doesn't lift high enough to load into a dump truck. Dump trailers are lower.

 

[truckdiagnostics]

Dump trailer, however only way i would go is goose neck/5 th wheel. Used bumper pull dump trailers loading correctly so it doesn,t fish tail all over is a pain.

 

[Sysop]

Agreed that hitching over the axle is better and required for larger loads, but a properly made trailer takes a lot of those issues out of the equation. I've had trailers that were bad about wanting to walk all over the place, especially when not loaded just perfect. Generally those are really light duty trailers that balance on the axles very well. Mine was a light duty tiltbed ATV trailer. Get too much weight on the back and they want to walk all over.

Trailers that have the axles farther back and exert more tongue weight help eliminate such issues. I have a single axle flat 6.5x10 that is made a little tongue heavy and doesn't have any issues unless you really load a lot on the tail with not much on the front. My 5x10 dump has the axles nearer the rear of the box (likely to support the box when raised to full dump) which makes it extremely tongue heavy and I've never been able to load it so tail heavy it walks around. It is also dual axle which I'm sure helps it track straighter.

I don't think they make any gooseneck or 5th-wheel hitches for Ford Ranger sized trucks, but there are LOTS of good dumps they can pull (lots of junk ones too). As with anything, look and shop; then choose wisely.

 

[Industrial Toys]

A friend once gave me his F450 dump and then when I got it cleaned up and running he announced that he really could use it after all. That was the end of that friendship.

Anyway, I wrestled with the same question. My argument was that vehicles just rot when not used enough. Yet a rad, starter, water pump or whatever costs the same for something you drive every day as it does for something used occassionally. Of course something ALWAYS seems to break, when you have some project in mind. Plus they kind of look like **** sitting around. Almost as bad a a mobile home or trailer! lol

I decided on a trailer. Two actually. One mother of a dump trailer with a walking axle and super singles, to go mostly off-road behind the tractor and a conventional lighter duty dump trailer to pull with my GMC 2500.

 

[bdog]

I am going to buy a dump trailer. A 16' gooseneck. Reason being is I can haul my backhoe in it and when I get where I am going I can just unload and start using the dump. No need to unhook and hook the trailer multiple times. Also I can pull the dump trailer with my diesel pickup and be under the CDL limits. A dump truck with a trailer capable of hauling the hoe would surely be in CDL territory. Other deciding factors are reduced maintenance on a trailer vs a truck, cheaper registration, cheaper insurance, and lower sides for easier loading.

 

[Utopia Texas]

Another advantage to the trailer is that you can load it, cover it, and take the load at you convenience any time in the future. Once a truck is loaded it's silly driving around with all the weight/ fuel use when you might not have time to transport the load for days or weeks in the future. You can load the trailer when the weather is good and take the load when it is convenient......fire wood for example.

 

[mbrule]

I went from a rotted dump truck to a dump trailer. Was an old C30 dump with a 10k GVW. It weighed 8k so I was overweight most of the time! Dump trailer is registered for 12k and weighs about 4k. Dimensional size is close but I can 'legally' carry more weight.

Trailer is WAY cheaper to register in Massachusetts (no insurance) and way cheaper to maintain, no oil changes, filters etc. I have hauled and dumped 7k with dump trailer no problem. Trailer is much easier to load as it is lower. Also carries the tractor, and is great for moving other heavy items (furniture, loaded tool boxes for example) that one does not want to lift too high.

 

[mbrule]

Another key point, do you have a heavy enough truck to pull a dump trailer?