Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Increasing my hauling capacity

I brought home another piece of equipment this morning. I’ve acquired several things to make my composting endeavors more efficient. With my F250 and trailer, I’ve been able to haul about 5 tons of material per trip. Now, I expect I should be able to haul 10 to 12 tons per trip with my new truck:

manure hauling monster

It’s not brand new, of course. It’s a 1981 Chevrolet 2-ton truck with a 16 foot dump bed. I have to do a few things to it, like put on different tires (I have a source for some good used ones), build some extensions to raise the height of the sides, and construct a tail gate. I’m itching to put it to use.

5 comments:

Rich

We bought a used grain truck once, then we used it to haul some gravel before wheat harvest. Thankfully, it blew a hydraulic hose going to the lift after about the fifth load of gravel and blew all the hydraulic fluid out on the ground.

I said thankfully, because if the hose had blown a few weeks later at the grain elevator with a load of wheat, it would have blown hydraulic fluid all over the inside of the elevator facility (I hate to even think about what that would have cost or the damages it might have caused)

Now, I like to lift the bed and check the hoses and fittings on the hoist regularly. If you even think that a hose or fitting needs replaced, it might be a good idea to go ahead and replace it (A bad hose always gets worse and worse, and the lost hydraulic oil might cost more than replacing the hose).

dp

Thanks, Rich. That's good advice. I will visually inspect the hydraulic hoses and connections.

~ Jackie

hmmmm, are you related to my husband? :)

Dan M.

Great truck!!! Can't wait to see it in action! Looks like the sides are at a good height for most loaders too. That should make things handy.

Ruth

Cute kids! :)

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