Using grain truck to haul gravel

[Bikewanderer]

Around here we have grain trucks everywhere. They are old and in decent shape. I can buy one for $1000 and up. Dump trucks on the other hand take a beating and are in terrible shape if they are old and even them bring the better part of $3500 and up.

My question is about using an old grain truck for hauling gravel. I need to put in a new drive and haul some gravel on the road, and maybe some dirt off road. I assume a grain bed is lighter than a dump truck bed, and I'll destroy it a bit if I try to do this. I'm OK with that, as I'm not looking at buying much higher than scrap value. I am concerned that the rear gate won't even open for me with gravel in the bed or that the hydraulics won't be able to handle dumping. Has anyone done this? I probably need 40-60 loads of gravel, maybe twice that if I get a smaller truck. Cost delivered is about $100/load. I figure I can do a load a day on $20 worth of fuel after work. I'm about half an hour from the quarry.

 

[DanD78]

Farmers around here use grain trucks to haul rock now and then but there are reasons why grain trucks haul grain. The sides will not take a lot of force and the spreader chains can get damaged when loading rock. Most beds don't lift very high. If the rock is sticky or wet you could have issues getting it to flow out. You can't really spread rock out of a grain bed. Grain trucks don't always have very high GVW ratings. You need to know this before you load the truck. A pile of limestone rock will not look like much but will weight a bunch. Then you have to buy the truck, Insurance for a comercial vehicel because of the GVW, then license plates.

So, If you find a truck check how high the hoist will lift, Take the grain sides off and put on 2x12 sides, Know how much you can haul and check the brakes and tires. Brakes and tires take a beating due to lack of use and sitting around.

I am not sure where your are at but $100 a load sounds pretty cheep. Is that a single axle truck load or a semi load. Is it river rock or limestone. If you have a good road bed most trucks can tail gate spread the rock leaving little finish work but that takes away seat time.

Dan

 

[Diamondpilot]

Where are you at? I have a Ford single axle dump truck for sale. It a 1976 with a 391 V8 gas motor. It runs, drives, dumps, stops but is not pretty. It has newer brakes and decent tires plus a recent tune up but may need the carb rebuilt down road.

It will haul 7 plus tons per load.

I am not so sure you can haul for $20 per day of fuel. We have a couple old trucks we run and they get about 5mpg so at nearly $3 per gallon 30 miles will eat that up.

$2000 obo.

Chris

 

[Bikewanderer]

That is for a double axle dump load - 14 tons give or take. I was expecting to get 7-8 tons on a truck I don't need a CDL to operate. I am 18 miles from the quarry, so I figure 7 gallons of gas per trip, or pretty close to $20. Crushed limestone is about $7/ton right now loaded. I figure an hour and a half per load, netting me $20/hr. for my time as opposed to paying $100/load for delivery. I don't have an opportunity to work overtime anywhere for more than that, and it's $20/hr tax free, so it's worth it to me.

So you are saying just pull the sides and plan on having to use the FEL to smooth it out? That kind of sucks but it's not the end of the world.





Diamondpilot - that's higher than some of them I was looking at but it's not too much higher. I'll keep it in mind, especially if it's in good condition. I'm near Kansas City though. I was looking at one like this:

1964 Chevy C60 Grain Truck

 

[rd_macgregor]

Broken limestone is in the neighbourhood of twice the density of loose wheat or soybeans. I think the big temptation would be to fill the truck right up with stone and overload it. Imagine if you got it filled up and the hydraulics wouldn't lift the dump bed; you might have to unload by hand!

BOB

 

[Bikewanderer]

Broken limestone is in the neighbourhood of twice the density of loose wheat or soybeans. I think the big temptation would be to fill the truck right up with stone and overload it. Imagine if you got it filled up and the hydraulics wouldn't lift the dump bed; you might have to unload by hand!

BOB

I'm not worried about that - the quarry will load what I ask them to. If they get too much on me when I go over the scale I'll have them pull it back off.

 

[Diamondpilot]

While we would love to sell the old Ford there is no way I would drive it that far. You will find something in your area. Your stone prices are good so jump on it. Around here we are paying $15 per ton and have been for a year now.

Chris

 

[beenthere]

Sounds like you are going ahead and getting the truck.
We'll be interested how it works out, and hope you get some pics to post.
Look forward to it.

 

[77bronco]

A lot of trucks of that vintage didn't have GVWs much higher than 16-18k, so I'd think that 5-6 tons would be the limit before going over the GVW.

 

[Bikewanderer]

A lot of trucks of that vintage didn't have GVWs much higher than 16-18k, so I'd think that 5-6 tons would be the limit before going over the GVW.

Yes - I haven't decided yet on the truck. I am looking for one that has a capacity of at least 14000 lbs, so certainly higher than 20k GVWR. I did find out that the two speed axles only went on the 15000 and 17500 axle capacity, so those presumably would be higher.