[ohiomohawk]

List your experince driving a dump truck as far as pay, hours, any manual labor involved etc.....

[Rev.Vassago]

I pulled a dump trailer for a while, hauling human waste (poop). :shock:

The pros were:

1. quick to unload
2. sometimes quick to load
3. Easy to do

The cons were:

1. Product gets stuck, and needs to be scraped out (yuck)
2. Wind will really grab the trailer - I've seen many a dump trailer go over
3. More maintainance involved with the hydraulic system


I'm not sure if that is the type of "dump truck" you are referring to, but that is my opinion on them. :wink:

[classicxl]

I hauled black top and fill. the fill was great loader loaded and i dumped it not manual labor. The black top was all driveways so once you filled the spreader you had to get out and help. it was good to keep you in shape but the pay was only $10hr

[Mr. Ford95]

Just under 3 years exp., the pay is good(hourly) and I run my own hours though I'm no O/O. Most companies I know of pay by what you haul and/or how much you haul. Expect the hours to be whatever they tell you unless you luck out and they allow you to name your hours of operation. If you buy your own truck, expect to run 10 hours + a day to make money depending on what your hauling. Asphalt will sometimes run in the middle of the night, you can run sand and gravel as long as the Quarry's are open. Hauling dirt to/from jobs, expect to run as long as the operator loading you is willing to work or the pile is gone.

Manual labor: Popping the PTO on, flipping the switch to unlock my tailgate and rolling my tarp up at the snap of a finger. 8) In reality, I still get out to make sure my tailgate is unlocked fully because it has hung up in the past. In case of a hangup, I have a small bar that I wedge in between the side of the tailgate and the lock and pry up to get it loose. Words of Caution when doing that, make sure your bed is still down and do not stand directly behind the truck, stand to the side or risk losing your life if part of your load decides to come out on you if it's at the back of the bed or has shifted. I also occasionaly climb into the bed to adjust my load of broken concrete that I usually haul only to prevent it from moving around on me going down the road. Some trucks require more manual labor than others, like rolling the tarp up by a handcrank and popping the tailgate with a manual bar on the drivers side of the bed that you push down to unlock, pull up to lock.

I haul gravel, dirt and broken concrete mainly but have hauled mulch and anything else my company needs me to haul. Concrete has a tendancey to shift around going around corners since it does not always fall into the bed perfectly and lock itself in like a puzzle with the jagged edges. Sometimes it barely moves, sometimes a piece or two will really move on you, depends on how big the pieces are and how it all falls into the bed.

The only bad I have seen is sitting at the quarry waiting to be loaded. #57 and 21a are the most common stone types that usually have a long line waiting to get loaded at. Gets real boring for the O/O's who haul for the quarry that have no loads and have to sit there for days on end waiting for a load of gravel. Us company guys don't sit.

[Mackman]

summer time LONG hrs.
winter time NO hrs.

I did tri axle dumps for 2 years and really liked them. But like i said save your money cuz in the winter depending on where you live you might get layed off.

[coalregion]

Originally Posted by Mackman

summer time LONG hrs.
winter time NO hrs.

I did tri axle dumps for 2 years and really liked them. But like i said save your money cuz in the winter depending on where you live you might get layed off.

Didn't you do the plow thing in the winter time with the tri axle? I know around here (Schuylkill County ) the state subs out to O/O's to plow a lot of the side roads....

[Mackman]

yea i did plow still do. But you cant count on snow. If it does snow thats good. 27/hr. for plowing. you do alot of sitting around.

[coalregion]

Originally Posted by Mackman

yea i did plow still do. But you cant count on snow. If it does snow thats good. 27/hr. for plowing. you do alot of sitting around.

Good point. I know around here we got harly any snow last year. Most of the trucks were out just to salt the roads, to keep them from freezing over.

[Mackman]

what sucks in a way is the company i plow with makes you stay out the whole storm the most i been out was 34hrs. You do alot of sitting around so you get cat naps here and there. But alot of places have drivers that come in and do a 12hr on and 12off type of thing. But when your makeing that big money i dont want to go home.

[marylandkw]

It's great work if you can get it.

As many others have said, it can be LONG hours. I run on average 12-15 hours a day. I am fortunate enough that I work everyday rain or shine and scrounge some weekend work when I want it. But this arrangement is hard to come by in the dump truck world. Many dumps end up parked during rain or winter.

As far as manual labor, well I am a truck driver not a shovel worker :lol: I never even have to get out of my truck. Everything is controlled from the cab.

As far as pay goes, the per truck profit margin is pretty good on dump trucks, so long as you can work everyday.

You get to go home most every night unless you have a night job. And around my parts, Night work pays really well.

You never have to deal with a lumper. Tarping a load is as easy as flipping a switch.

I run an aluminum bed so I could not tell you about the broken up concrete and junk in my bed. I choose not to even haul dirt, I hate how it sticks up in the bed creating a dangerous situation.

Now the cons...

Around my parts dumps can run 70,000 pounds on a tri axle dump. That's more weight per axle than on most semis. Braking distance is scary longer.

Your center of gravity is higher and makes curves/turns interesting.

Day cabs are small, nuff said.

Maintenance is gonna be more frequent than with an OTR truck. Your initial purchase price is gonna be more as well.