Got a 1T dump, advise/links for tailgate spreader

[IHI]

I went through 7 pages of searches and found some info, but guess I'll post this for maybe more spefics for my situation.

Recently bought a 81 1T with 7.5' x 10' steel flatbed with wilson twin cylinder hoist. Getting cylinder rebuilt as I type so I know the hoist part will be maintenance free for some time, it's a PTO driven system and shop doing cylinders said this unit is a very dependable work horse.

Anyways, bought the truck mainly for my demo work and quick trips to the landfill, but I want to also incorporate it for salt and sanding applications and get away from my current single stage tailgate spreader and bagged salt-works great now since I figured it out, just dont like the physical part that goes into it and slows productivity. Current plans for this summer are to either modify existing flatbed by welding on posts and fabricating fold down sides so I can still utilize the flatbed part for l;oading shingles and misc stuff with a fork truck, (trying to make it as useful as possible to generate cash flow. Am also thinking about advertising small load hauling as well to keep the wheels turning so it's not sitting idle anymore than it has too...

So the questions: first off, having never been into the "trucking" aspect as far as hauling gravel/dirt/sand, etc...is there a nitche for a smaller truck like this (load capacity for hoist/truck has been proven already at 8000lbs, but am thinking 3 ton is as far as I want to go for normal usages and not exceeding trucks strength)

Spreaders: who makes an electric unit that is realible? I checked out a link for a buyers under tailgate spreader, but cant seem to find any others. Should I wait to get a under tailgate spreader before designing my "new dump bed" so I can get it to line up correctly with new under tailgate spreader? I dont want to design a box and twin hinged tailgate only to find a spreader wont hook up to it...I've never seen a unit like this on a smaller truck like this in person, so am literally going in blind not knowing what to expect and how universal the fit is/can be.

Like mentioned, was intendeing for the truck to just be a demoishion debris hauler, but smarter money would be to keep wheels turning for company profitabilty year round if possible. I like taking chances as much as any other self employeed guy, but just like my salt spreader compared with this truck, I did not want to tie up a bunch of money getting my feet wet to see if it's worth it or not...figure I can always upgrade if it all pans out.

Any and all info/opinions welcomed. Thought about a V box, but i think the pro's of an undertailgate outweight that option...really dont want a huge chunk of steel sitting idle 8 months out of a year and the quick clean out of the dump switching from salt to sand really turns me on since my biggest OTR shops/terminals wanted salt for employee parking and 80% of the area, but also wanted sand dumped under trailer staging area to help the trucks get traction so I had to call in a buddy with a V box and sand...would like to keep as much in house as possible so I can quickly take care of any needs and use subs as a last resort.

Thanks
Josh

[atgreene]

It's hard to make a living hauling small amounts. It does lead to other work, though. Mulch, loam and gravel all look great to a homeowner, until it's time to spread it, thats where you come in. payup Be sure to leave a card and mention your other services when making deliveries.

A tailgate sander will work on that, and, for salt applications, you can leave the gate closed and dump the salt into the sander trougth. It allows you to load a small ammount and spread it. Put sand in the truck for weight and to be used where needed, or run bagged salt right into the auger to feed direct salt.

You can find a real good tailgate sander used for under $1000 around here. I've seen some for under 500.

Good luck, let us know how you make out.

[IHI]

I have no intentions of any landscaping, there are plenty of guys around here that do that, I swear all this area has is bars, car lots, contractors, and lawn care....I dont know what people do to make money to pay us LOL!! Just figured as long as I got the truck, might try to have it serve a purpose other than holding down my driveway 28 days a month depending on job type we're working on at the time-this truck just does'nt fit any everyday uses as of now so you can see why I'm trying to open more options.

I'm trying to get away from the bagged salt entirely, bulk here is $100 less per ton so it'd open up my profit margin, not to mention extend time on my back and arms LOL!! Still dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck/back moving 7400lbs of bagged salt 80lbs (actually hanldiing it twice-from trailer to truck and then truck to spreader) at a time in December and I'm not ready to do that anymore. We've only got maybe one or two more saltable event left for the year if based on years past, so will deal for now with tailgate unit so I can get dump body built or bought and then go with a electric tailgate. I just dont wanna build a dump body the way I want it only to find a undertailgate wont bolt up/work.

I just had an idea...I want fold down sides for ease of loading junk at jobsites, that will happen and be a big part of my design, why could'nt I make a sectioned tailgate? Have a divider in truck bed to split it in half length wise, have bulk sand on one side and bulk salt on the other and just lock down tailgate side for material I wont be using on that application?? Sounds like a great idea, heck maybe even make 2 tailgates, a 1 piece for summer dumping and the 2 piece for winter use....even though 2 piece would/will have provison to be locked toether into a 1 piece, then I guess I could just use that only....how's that sound or too fancy/impractical?

[cowboysfan]

truckcraft.com
:zoom

[wyldman]

The dual gate idea would work.Doesn't matter where the material falls into the auger trough.Remember though,most UTG spreaders are 96 inches wide,so take that into consideration when building the box.

[CGSI]

I have no intentions of any landscaping, there are plenty of guys around here that do that, I swear all this area has is bars, car lots, contractors, and lawn care....I dont know what people do to make money to pay us LOL!! Just figured as long as I got the truck, might try to have it serve a purpose other than holding down my driveway 28 days a month depending on job type we're working on at the time-this truck just does'nt fit any everyday uses as of now so you can see why I'm trying to open more options.

I'm trying to get away from the bagged salt entirely, bulk here is $100 less per ton so it'd open up my profit margin, not to mention extend time on my back and arms LOL!! Still dealing with a pinched nerve in my neck/back moving 7400lbs of bagged salt 80lbs (actually hanldiing it twice-from trailer to truck and then truck to spreader) at a time in December and I'm not ready to do that anymore. We've only got maybe one or two more saltable event left for the year if based on years past, so will deal for now with tailgate unit so I can get dump body built or bought and then go with a electric tailgate. I just dont wanna build a dump body the way I want it only to find a undertailgate wont bolt up/work.

I just had an idea...I want fold down sides for ease of loading junk at jobsites, that will happen and be a big part of my design, why could'nt I make a sectioned tailgate? Have a divider in truck bed to split it in half length wise, have bulk sand on one side and bulk salt on the other and just lock down tailgate side for material I wont be using on that application?? Sounds like a great idea, heck maybe even make 2 tailgates, a 1 piece for summer dumping and the 2 piece for winter use....even though 2 piece would/will have provison to be locked toether into a 1 piece, then I guess I could just use that only....how's that sound or too fancy/impractical?


Just be careful if you have one side of your bed full when you raise the body with the other side almost empty. Scenerios like that are what roll dump trucks and trailers. Forces caused by Material loaded to one side is multiplied in weight when it is raised. Even if it does not take the truck over I would be concerned about twisting the body. JMHO:help

[IHI]

CGSI: being dump truck illiterate, the truck does have 2 telescoping cylinders, one mounted to each side of the trucks frame going up to the each of the main runners below the truck bed floor joists....guess they'd be the truck bed "beams" if I related it to construction description.

Would that help to tame down any unwanted flex/twist if compared to a typical single cylinder scissor arrangement, or does it still fall under the same overall design principal? I dont plan to take on anymore than maybe 1.5T of salt and maybe 500lbs of sand at any one time for now with the current account base I have...lottsa plow stuff, but only 2 consistant salt accounts.

Wylman: is the 96" overall width from furthest point to furthest point on outside of trough, or is that an inside auger trough measure? I still have'nt found what I'm looking for for specs anywhere online, so this is very helpful in my planning stages since I'll have to built it to suit the spreader since junk wont care if the bed is 7.5' or 8' wide:)

thanks, Josh

[Alan]

Those twin piston hoists are probably the worst thing going when you have an unbalanced load. They are not synchronized, so the piston which sees the least load will extend fastest. So not only do you have an unbalanced load, the hoist twists the body to make that side even further off center. We had a twin piston under a 10' (5cy) body and it would give you white knuckles when you were trying to spread with it up. Drop a wheel in a pothole and the body would twist to the low side.

The most stable hoist, IMO, is a scissor type with a good solid subframe to anchor it. That's what I have under the body (same body but now it's stable) on my 5yd dump and it doesn't allow any twist at all. I do a lot of tailgate spreading of driveway stone and I don't have to worry about the truck doing anything funny when I am moving with 5 ton quite a way up initially. Granted, that is irelevant because you already have the twin piston setup.

As for the spreader, they are generally made for a 96" body, although CPW has one narrower for the small dumps. It's pretty easy to make brackets to accomodate any width body as long as the spreader is wider than the body is. My body isn't 96", it was originally built for an F-350 with the idea that it could go on a bigger truck, which is what I did with it. I think it comes out to something like 92" to the outside of the rear posts. I'll get pics tomorrow if I can remember to do it.

[IHI]

Ugh, now ya got me bummin:( I suppose that's why almost all the newer stuff is all single cylinder either scissored or telescopic for stability reasons. But I gots what I gots so I'll have to make due till upgrade time. I'll have to look when building to see if there's any areas to beef up/design to help with flex in these types of scenario's.

I dont wanna get too wide cuz I know one of the guys will fock up if they have to pull it into a place with a 9' wide overhead door so 7.5' might just be about right for a lil extra clearance. The dual gate idea was a brain storm for an all in one type deal so I'm ready for any call, but now that I have a place for bulk storage and machinery to load it, just using the plain jane 1 material at a time will work fine....I just hate trips back and forth unloading and loading...you'll know how that goes:)

[Lawngodfather]

http://www.bonnell.com/bonnell_usedequipment.php?divisiondisplay=

I also have a single cylinder hoist I would like to sell, it is plent strong enough to dump whatever you put in the truck. I want $600 for it. It's a Knapahide.

[IHI]

Excellent link, just wishing I had central hydrualics to run any of those spreaders:( BUT, nice thing from this is learning exactly what I want when I purchase the "new" version:)

If I had nothing to wrok with, I would've been very interested in your hoist, but I just okay'd the work to rebuild both my cylinders to the tune of $290/ea so I'm committed to what I have, but guess the nice thing is once I'm done with this truck it should live a long money making life and I'll know exactly what I've got like the other junk I have LOL!!

So new truck when I get it, single cylinder scissor hoist, central hydraulics, AUTOMATIC!!, 4x4, minimum 1T but more aptly a 1.5T with 12-14' box and a nice blonde to ride shotgun nude....:scramble

[Alan]

Here's the brackets I made up to mate a 96" spreader to a narrow body. A piece of angle bolted to each rear post on the body and trimmed down to the right dimension. Two short pipe sleeves to accomodate the pins on the spreader. I used 3x5x3/8" angle that I had on hand and it is plenty stout enough to carry the weight of the spreader. Never have gotten around to adding the upper brace that the spreaders come with.

If you're still thinking of trying to run a split load it might be easier to put in a couple coal chutes instead of a split gate. Then you could divide up the center and leave the gate closed, just open the appropriate chute.

[IHI]

thanks for the great pictures! the coal doors looks like a more viable option, would be alot more practical than 2 large moving tailgate section that will probably get tweaked with loads anyhow.

josh

[derekbroerse]

Alan is correct about the cylinders being able to move at different rates, however, you can add a hydraulic flow divider and gain back the stability.

Think of the divider like a pair of water-wheels, only joined together on a common shaft. Water comes in and can go to either wheel, but because they are joined they have to move together and therefore flow the same amount.

This would be a drop in replacement for the T fitting you likely already have. They aren't as expensive as replacing the hoist etc., in fact, I think I've seen them as cheap as the $100 range. Places like Princess Auto carry them, any hudraulic supplier, and probably some farm/construction supply stores.

[Alan]

the coal doors looks like a more viable option, would be alot more practical than 2 large moving tailgate section that will probably get tweaked with loads anyhow.

josh

Another nice thing with the chutes is that you can dump directly into a loader bucket instead of having to dump on the ground and chase the pile all over the place tryingto scoop it up.

[IHI]

Derek, I will most definately look ing this valve, so long as I got the cyclinders empty when Iget it back and am pulling pump off for new seals on vavle this would be the prime time for this update...have no problem spending $100 if it means safer unloading and less wear to the truck.

Alan: very good point on the loader bucket. Before i start buying steel for the new box I'm going to go around and start snapping pictures of different box details-mainly tailgate assembly for ease of use and the top/bottom hinge assembly for stright dumping or chained back gravel type thing to control flow. Still debating if I'm going to have the sides bent out of 1 piece of steel with placed bends to stiffen them up, or just do plain jane steel supports and line the interior with 11ga. I like the 1 piece look alot better but also know it'd probably cost more by the time I dropped off dimensions to the place I'll be getting my stock from to have them bend it up as opposed to the simplicity of lil steel stud sides. I've been all over the net trying to get ideas, but most pics I've seen are far away shots with few details able to clearly make out.