New Owner/Driver Needs help with Ford L8000

[Yet Another Driver]

I was laid off from my job in the airlines 4 years ago, and went to Driving School/Heavy Equipment training because no work in my field. Got my Class A CDL there at the school. Then in-field work (other than driving) came up again, so never got started into driving.

I'm now going to own a small dump truck and start a summer only business on the side.

I'm looking at a 1993 Ford L8000 dump, SA, 33K Gross weight, which is a converted day tractor that has (had) 270K miles. Cummins 8.3 250 HP straight 6 speed shift. Air brakes. The dump bed is new. This is about all the truck I can afford.

So gang, don't have a lot of experience with truck shopping and would be thankful for responses from those with Ford/Cummins experience. Got a short ride in the truck. It seems to have plenty of power un-loaded on a flat road. Air tank seems to charge ok and hold when shut down. Brake pads are new. Engine compartment seems to be fairly clean for a 14 year old truck. No leaks noticable.

Anything I should look out for before buying? Attaching picture below.

[TK THE TRUCKER]

Looks to be ok. Ford sold a lot of L series and there's still quite a bit on the road. Shouldn't be too hard to new and used parts when you need them. One thing about them that I don't like is the clutch peddle is way up high in relation to where the driver sits. Driving one local years ago my knee would be shot at the end of the day.

[Ian Williams]

The ergonomics are awful in the old Ford Aeromax tractors. If you are tall (I'm 6'2") the top of the steering wheel will block your view of the speedo and tac.

Check out the posts by Floored on here about here experience running a transfer truck in Sacramento.

[Jumbo]

My only concern is that it is a converted road truck. The fronts ends are usually lighter than what you would spec for a dump truck. But, only having a gross of 33,000 I think it would do fine. It is a very clean truck and if you take good care of it and only want to run it in the summer months it should last you for a while. The county I live in has a lot of this kind of truck for plowing snow and they seem to hold up.

[Mack2]

That truck will serve you well.

[Odie]

OMG, I hope that is not a converted Con-way city unit. That would suck! :shock:

They were more or less a glorified riding lawn mower with a 5th wheel attached.

Hell, I think my 24Hp Troy built has more pulling power than those trucks did. LOL!!!!

[Yet Another Driver]

Thanks to all for responding about the L8000.

[bonzo]

find a used truck with tandem axles so you can haul more weight which will make you more $. you will also be able to find more work with tandems. there are a lot of used dumps for sale so you should find one for what ever you are paying for that single axle. good luck to you.

[Ian Williams]

OMG, I hope that is not a converted Con-way city unit. That would suck! :shock:

They were more or less a glorified riding lawn mower with a 5th wheel attached.

Hell, I think my 24Hp Troy built has more pulling power than those trucks did. LOL!!!!

It would appear to have a few more bells & whistles than Con-Way spec'ed.

You have not lived until you have pulled a 45k set of doubles with a city power unit! Its all good when you are paid by the hr.

[Mr. Ford95]

I drive a Ford L8000 that looks exactly like that Driver. It was an old Pepsi truck that was converted over. I haul 10 tons legally but can go as high as 11.5. That 10 tons is legal on gross but is not legal on the axles. In fact, I got an overweight on my rear axle when I only had 8.5 tons on me. The load was situated more forward of the rear axle but I still got popped for being 300 lbs over.

Another thing to look out for, when these trucks are converted, sometimes the air brakes do not work properly. When I had a trailer behind me, they worked fine as the loop was closed. Without a trailer hooked into my airlines, it was all I could do to stop. Lord help you if you were fully loaded. Turns out, the 5th wheel line was cut and never closed off. When my switch is in the unlock position, I have brakes, when it's in the locked position, I can barely stop. If you find you have very little brakes, flip the switch and see what happens. Mine stays in the "Unlock" position.

[Yet Another Driver]

Thank you Mr. Ford95 for those important notes. I was able to drive the truck and the braking action seems to be okay, but the truck was not loaded. The service and emergency air lines for the trailer on the back of the cab are terminated. There are no glad hands installed. I will look for any 5th wheel line that may have been left open. There appears to be an automatic water condenser/eliminator for the air tanks, as different than a manual pull cord to purge water from the tanks. If there's anything I didn't like about the brakes is the positioning of the brake pedal. It was a bit too close to the steering column. I can't be wearing a big boot and drive this truck at the same time! Once I take delivery, I'm going to have a shop go over the critical systems and be sure everything is working.

Bonzo, I agree that there's a lot of tandems out there for the same price, but I'm going to feel more comfortable starting smaller and doing only small jobs on the side from my other full time job. I see a lot of independent dump drivers out on sites and everyone is using a tandem, you are right.

[bonzo]

one of the problems you are going to have is the dot loves to pull dumps over and check weights on your axles. just keep that in mind. you would have less problems with a tandem axle. they are no harder to drive than a single axle. you will be much happier in the long run all the way around with tandems. just friendly advise from a old trucker .