Question Regarding Dump Truck.dump Trailer

[mbaocha]

Please i need answers to these questions. I'm a little new to heavy duty trucks.

1. What determine how much load a dump truck or a dump trailer can carry? is the just the size of the bucket? is it the engine transmission or the axle weight?

I need some explanation.

2. I need a truck that can haul as much as 40 tons of gravel. so i think that a dump trailer is better since buckets could be large. Is it wise to go for a dump trailer for these reason? what are other parameters to be considered.

I'm not from the states so i'm not bordered about US regulation regarding how much tons to carry. I just desire to know how much tons the trucks can efficiently carry without breaking down.

Please i need ideas.

[joes mack]

hello you can use both but the tractor/trailer would be better for long trips tanden/triaxles are capable of carrying 40/50 tons with a big enough bed but they will be slower than a tractor because they will be topheavy and they have to carry all the weight. with the tractor trailer they are not as top heavy because the trailers can be as long as 38 feet and they are faster because the weight is not being carried completely by the truck it is easier to pull the weight than carry it.so you can use a smaller engine to move the same weight faster. we had a tractor with a 300 maxidyne 6speed and it would move the same weight faster than the RD888s with 400 macks and 425 cats could at the trucking co i used to work for. joe

[mbaocha]

thanks joe for your help. If i get you well, Engine transmission or Speed has nothing to do with how much tons a truck head can pull.

So what does a higher engine transmission translate to? Any advantage of trucks with higher transmission?

[ThaddeusW]

If you are hauling 40 tons (metric tons?) you have to make sure the trailer is designed to carry 40 tons otherwise you are going to break springs or worse yet, crack its frame. The tractor only needs to be able to carry half the weight of load and trailer. Lets say you need to carry 25 tons on the tractor, 65,000 pound rear axles will work great. Dry gravel is about 1.5kg m^3 so that works out to about 26 cubic meters or 36 cubic yards. Make sure the trailer is a frame type trailer and has three or more axles. You should be fine with that setup.

Any truck with 65 rears will be setup to pull that load with no problems. if you go lower than 65,000 then you are definitely looking to add a pusher axle and make sure the differential ratios are high enough. Go no lower than 46,000 pound rears on camel back or some other spring suspension and make sure you have a 20,000 pound pusher to help with the weight. A double frame is highly recommended for your application, single frames will likely crack from the stress.

The trailer should be setup with spring suspension, and its axles should be able to carry at least 25,000 pounds (11.34kg) each. 40 tons is allot of weight, you need to make sure the trailer suspension and axles can carry the weight. Many U.S. dump trailers will not be good for 40 tons of gravel. But do your research as some states have overweight laws that let you carry 54 metric tons combined weight on 6 or 7 axles. Those trailers will carry 40 tons.

[mbaocha]

Thaddeous. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for these.

First regarding truck head, from my findings, its rather difficult to see truck heads with as much as 65,000lb. at most, i see 44 to 46000lb double axle.

Regarding trailers, i've been able to see dump trailers with 3 axle and spring suspension. i'll make enquiries regarding the axle strength. however, you said "Lets say you need to carry 25 tons on the tractor, 65,000 pound rear axles will work great." From my calculation, for 40 tons, it should be as much as 100,0

00 lb. is that attainable?

You did say anything about truck horsepower. it appears that doesnt matter. Correct?

[joes mack]

east or mac or benson all make triaxle trailers that will carry 40 tons with no problem the coal companies around here use benson or mac trailers and carry 50 to 60 tons a load every day most of the tractors have 475 to 550 cat or cumminswith 13 to 18 speeds the only reason that they spec the trucks like that is we have mountains that are 12 to 15 mile pulls and they want to go as fast as they can and the heaviest rears that i have seen in a tractor for hauling that much weight on road is 46/48,000 lb and for off road they use 52/55,000 lb rears. as for the engine/trans it just depends on how fast you want to pull a big hill (which if you pull it faster you make more money). but like the other post said if you want a long lasting set up to handle off road punishment i would go with 65,000lb rears 18 speed trans and an engine with at least 400 horses. that is just my 2cents worth. joe

[ThaddeusW]

Thaddeous. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for these.

First regarding truck head, from my findings, its rather difficult to see truck heads with as much as 65,000lb. at most, i see 44 to 46000lb double axle.

Regarding trailers, i've been able to see dump trailers with 3 axle and spring suspension. i'll make enquiries regarding the axle strength. however, you said "Lets say you need to carry 25 tons on the tractor, 65,000 pound rear axles will work great." From my calculation, for 40 tons, it should be as much as 100,0

00 lb. is that attainable?

58-65 rears will carry the weight but how much off road work will you be doing? I am guessing you might be located in a country that has many dirt roads, in that case the big 65,000 pound rears will get you through most anything. But a tractor with 65's are tough to find. A tractor with 46 rears and a pusher could also handle the weight. But a tandem axle tractor with 46,000 rears that has no pusher will not last long in off road situations.

You did say anything about truck horsepower. it appears that doesnt matter. Correct?

Depends on how fast you need to travel! A lower power engine with around 300 HP will have a tough time with the heavy load unless the differential ratio is very high, say 5.02 - 5.88:1. Your top speeed will be slow but you will move. If you need more speed go with 400+HP and at least a 4.17 rear end ratio. Under 4.17 is mainly for highway use and big horsepower engines (550+ HP).

[mbaocha]

YOu 've been of immense help and i must appreciate you both for these.

Now i clearly understand what Horse Power meant.

However, i see truck head , some with 6 speed. others 8 or 10 or even 13 Speed.

What does that mean? Does it mean the number of gears?

Does a larger number of truck speed translate to the truck running fast?

How does truck speed or horse power affect Diesel consumption?

Ones again, thanks for all your input.

[joes mack]

the trans speeds are just like a trans in a car the lower the number of speeds the bigger the diff between gears in 5,6,7,8,9 speed trans with the 13, 15, 18 speed trans most have overdrive. they are many difrent trans out there i only know of a few of them mostly because the trucks i have drove over the few years that i have been driving. the rears are what really determin how fast the truck will go if you put a 18speed trans in a truck with 10.11 rears you will be able to pull a load up hill in 15th/16th gear but on flat ground it will only go about 30 mph (just guessing pro not actual) but if you put the same trans in front of 3.73 rears the truck will prob run 85/90mph but when you pull the same hill with a load you would prob have to drop to 2nd/3rd gear to get the load up the hill (just guessing) if it was me looking for a truck to haul the weight that you are wanting to haul i would get a mack with at least a 400 horse engine 18 speed trans 55,000 or 65,000 rears on camel back susp (most rock quaries use trucks with this spec or heavier)with 6.73 rear ratio this will give you a top speed of about 58 mph with 12.00x24 tires the coal truck that i drive has a 427 with a 18 speed and 6.73 rears with 12.00x24 tires and that is about what it runs on the highway on flat ground loaded at 2,000/2,100 rpm it may go a little faster or slower but that is what the spedo says. its plenty fast enough for me in a tandem with 45 tons of coal on my back. if it was a tractor/trailer it would too slow for my likes sence they hold the road beter and dont seem to be too top heavy. this is just my $0.02 worth. joe

[mbaocha]

Joe. Thanks for You help. this is a safe guide.

[mbaocha]

Lastly, Does Higher Horse Power (Or Engine Speed) necessarily translate to Higher diesel consumption?

[usmcjimbo]

Lastly, Does Higher Horse Power (Or Engine Speed) necessarily translate to Higher diesel consumption?

ABSOLUTELY!!! THE ONLY THING THAT WILL GENERATE HIGHER HORSEPOWER AND OR HIGHER SPEED IS MORE ENERGY AND THAT MEANS MORE FUEL!