Dodge Cummins 12' Dumping Stake Body ?'s

[Mowin4cash]

He guys. I'm not into snow, but would like to tap your knowledge of the above truck. I am thinking of buying this truck, 2000 Dodge Cummins 24V, 2wd, auto, air, posi 4.10. It will have a hydro dumping 12' stake body on it. If I ever decided that I wanted to push snow, and our worst storms are only 6-10 inches, could I use this truck to do little driveways and small commercial lots? Or do I "have to have 4 wheel drive? Also for those of you who have 11,000 gvw dumps, can you haul a load of say, 10 yards of mulch, without going over the gvw? I know a F-450/550 would be better, but I'd really like to stay with a Dodge.

Thanks, Mike

 

[jaclawn]

I would stay away from residential with 4x2. I would target small to meduim commercial accounts thta are level, and wide open. You don't want to have to do a lot of fancy manuvering with 4x2. Also, weigh down the rear end. Plow with the storm, so that you only have to plow a few inches at a time.

 

[Mark Oomkes]

I think your wheelbase is going to be too long to be able to do res. efficiently and lack of 4WD.

 

[SCL]

You can plow mostly lots but good luck getting ten yards of mulch in this. I have an F350 8' 11k and piled up can haul 3 yards. Weight isn't the problem, volume is. Be careful with other materials cause it don't take long to get an 8k truck to 11k. It will handle more but the fine is really nasty.

 

[capital]

15 yards worth

Like everyone said only do flat open commercial lots. Based on a 12 foot you need to take the width times the length. I.E. 12x7 = 84 cubic feet . 1 cubic yard of mulch is 81 cubic feet. So depending on how high you go with the box is going to determine how much you can carry. In the spring we put plywood up and can get around 5 cubic yards in our 10 foot beds.

 

[Michael F]

You guys are beating him up over the 15 yards thing. I know from experience that 1 "yard" at one supplier is not 1 "yard" at anther. One supplier here takes a scoupe with a 1 yard bucket fluffs it then calls a yard, another goes int the pile hard with a 1+ yard bucket, and dumps in truck, second supplier gives twice as much per "yard" always. My truck will hold aprox 5.5 yards with the extensions on, when I buy from the second supplier I sell as 6 yards per trip. Mulch fluffs as it is installed keep track, what your supplier calls a yard, may not be how much you are installing.

 

[Deere John]

On a matter of math, one cubic yard is 3x3x3=27 cubic feet.

Too bad Dodge doesn't have the plant capacity to build a 15,000 lb GVWR vehicle.

 

[thelawnguy]

Originally posted by Deere John
Too bad Dodge doesn't have the plant capacity to build a 15,000 lb GVWR vehicle.

Its sold under the Freightliner name.

If you want a Freightliner with gas engine you get the Dodge V10, BTW.

 

[Toddppm]

That truck would easily hold 10 yds of mulch with only 4 ft sides, it might go over the weight limit though if it's wet. depends on the mulch. I personally would hate to try and plow any kind of tight space with that truck though.......Now if you got the Izusu.......

 

[SCL]

John,
Good catch on the math, I could see getting five yards of mulch on this unit though it would be full. Mike, I wouldm't beat up anybady just making a point. I'm too little to beat up anybody. If you do decide to plow the same sage advice applies to all 2wd vehicles. Plow with an 8' plow, aggressive snow tires, and 3k pounds of weight.

 

[steveair]

Hello,

I have a 90 dodge, 2wd, 12 ft rack/dump with 4 ft sides. You can get 10 yds in it, but it is full. As for weight, I will say that I have had ten yards, and it was heavy. However, my truck is beat to hell, has no helper springs (for some reason the 90 350's didn't have helper springs), and a burned out 5.9L.

Simple math on volume:

bed - 12 ft long x 7 ft wide x 4 ft tall = 336 sq ft
mulch - 27 sq ft per yard

therefore, 336/27 = 12.44 yds

So, in science, the truck will not hold 15 yds, unless you really heap it.........

I would say plan on 8 yds or so as a normal load, but you can go more if needed.

As for plowing, I will just say that it is a lot of truck to be plowing with. Very long. I don't have a plow (god forgive if the truck needs any more abuse), but would say stick to the big lots/open spaces that are flat. Also, plan on being able to remove the bed sides/rails so that you can increase visibility.

Also, one big problem with the big rack bodies is clearance.
If you leave the sides on, the top of the bed is WAY up there. Easy to back into things like awnings, tree limbs, and especially those 2 foot overhangs over garage doors when you are backing up and looking at the house and not up. I would make sure to have removable boards if you plan to plow.

steveair

[Edited by steveair on 01-22-2001 at 06:38 PM]

 

[Mowin4cash]

Guys thanks for all your info. I tested the Cummins Dodge today for about 3 hrs. I love the ride and power, but didn't realize that with a dump body, the floor of the bed is 51 inches from the ground. Add 42" sides to that, and I need a ladder to empty my 44 gallon Trac-Vac can into the truck. I'll probably go with the GMC 3500. Its platform only came to 45 inches, a big difference. As far as the mulch, I talked to some other landscapers here today at a mulch yard. They had F-350's with 12' dumps. Looks like 8 yds is just right, 9 or 10 if your desparate. One rig was an F-550 with a 14' dump. They were towing what looked like to be a 16-18 foot tandem trailer with 4' sides. Had, if I remember correctly, 12 yds in the truck and 6 yards on the trailer. Even with this truck being a 19,000gvw, it really squatted. But boy did it still take off like a rocket.

 

[T-MAN]

Plowing with a 2 wheeler can be done successfully.
The biggest thing you have to watch out for is when your trying to stack the snow. This is usually where you can get hung up. And yes its not uncommon. So if you do decide to do a little pushing make sure your lots have some room to push the snow back a ways for future snowfalls. And if you have or access to a skidsteer for stacking you will have a good combination.
T

 

[99SDPSD]

I loaded up my 99 F350 4x4 SD PSD with 9 yards of mulch and it weighed in at 15,500 lbs. The truck light weights at 9100 lbs it is a 12,500 gross chassis. I dont know how the D.O.T. Truck squad is in your area but here in CT. it would have been a $3,000.00 dollar fine.

 

[slplow]

For get about plowing with the newer gm 2wd unless you get the 15,000 gvw you will void the warranty also the 15,000 work height is about same as the dodge. The best thing to load those 44s is to use your trailer to get in the back of the truck.