Deuce dump conversion

[PaFarmer]

I took a few pics of my recent dump bed project. I read each of the threads on the site and a few others and then did it my way.

I bought a 7 ton hoist unit from Premium Supply www.premium-supply.com
It was has a 5" by 16" stroke. The kit is very generic and like several of the other kits I looked at, hinges and instructions geared toward a dump trailer. It came with a 12 volt pump, hoses and battery cables. $1295 delivered, which was the best deal on this capacity system.

I installed the hinges on top of the deuce frame. I bolted and welded the hinges. I welded 1/4" angle to the hinges and then bolted and welded the angle to the bed.

I mounted the front of the hoist 70" from the hinges and indicated in the instructions, that was in the range for optimum dump angle and lift capacity. I used 3/8" angle to make my own cross-member for the front of the hoist. It is sitting about 10" in front of the doubled up cross-member. It is bolted and welded to the top flange on the frame.

Putting the hoist on the doubled up cross-member worked on one or more of the other threads I read, but that distance was well short of the measurements provied in the instructions and would result in a steeper dump angle and lower capacity.

I welded 2x4" box tube to the bed mounts on the frame in front of the hoist to support the bed.

Mounting the hinges on top of the frame and using the 2x4" box tube allowed the bed to sit high enough that I did not need to cut any of the bed cross-members for clearance, there is about an inch between the top of the hoist and the bottom of the nearest cross-member on the bed.

I put the pump in the cab under the passenger seat along with a 12 volt deep cycle marine type battery. I will need to separately charge the battery, but it also gives me access to 12 volts in the cab for plugging in GPS or charging a phone.

The welds may not be pretty, but I used plenty of sticks and amperage on the stick welder. I bolted what I could as well.

Here are the pics.

 

[Hooty481]

Nice looking kit. How much will it raise the bed from its stock location?

 

[PaFarmer]

4 inches over stock. The rear hinges are 3.5" high, plus the 1/4 angle I used comes to 3 3/4" and 4" box tube in the front.

 

[trukhead]

Nice setup! Do the 2 length wise rails under the duece bed need to be cut or will they sit upon the angle over the hinges and the frame you made at the front of the bed area.

 

[PaFarmer]

I mounted the bed, but did not take pics of that yet. The bed rails sit in/on the rear angle on the hinges, the hoist has two plates on round bar that extend into the channel on the bed rails and the front of the bed sits on the 2x4" tube. I did not need to modify the bed at all.

I may install additional box tube between the hinges and the hoist mount.

I am not planning on very heavy loads. I want to use it to haul shale three miles from a local quarry to stone a lane on a woodland property I own. I have a friend with a tri-axle, but they are not good offroad. I was worried about getting his truck stuck dumping stone on an old timber road.

I previously had two F450 dump trucks. I expect this will work better than those trucks.

The hoist is power up and down.

I had a truck that was just power up, the scissor was old and rusted and when the truck was on an angle, the bed did not always want to come down.

The other had a pump under the hood, driven by a belt and was power up and down.

Based on my limited experience, I recommend power up and down.

I'll post some more pics of the bed mounted and then the required action shots in the next few weeks.

 

[JxxxOxxxE]

Anyone have any info on putting a dump system on a bobbed deuce with a 105 trailer bed on it? Should everything be the same? I dont want to have to raise the bed more than 3-4 inches really....

 

[Stretch44875]

With the right mounting, you don't have to raise the bed at all. Mine fits with the bed at stock height, sitting on the original wood strips. Most people can't tell it's a dump. Most I haul is 7-8 tons.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce-modification-hot-rodding/3104-dump-conversion.html

 

[PaFarmer]

I read over all the threads on the site, there was a lot of great information in each thread. With all the different systems, each will require different solutions. With the hoist I got, either the hoist needed to be recessed 3-4" (would have required cutting the factory frame cross-members, bad idea), the bed needed to be clearanced 3-4" (I had a hard enough time lifting the bed with my tractor/loader, I did not want to be working under the bed modifying it) or simply mount the hoist and hinges on top of the frame rails, resulting in the bed being 3-4" higher.

Stretch44875, I know what you meant, but your "right mounting" required modifying your bed to clear your hoist and my "right mounting" required mounting the hinges on top of the frame and mounting the bed 3-4" higher. I did not feel like messing around under the bed to provide clearance, but several guys have done it that way with good results.

My tractor loader (Kubota L4330 4x4) will have no problem loading the bed with anyting I would want to haul.

 

[Marlboro]

Wow 53's on your five ton and making the deuce a dump . If i ever made mine dump it would be the perfect truck! Looks good.

 

[PaFarmer]

A bob deuce would be nice. The instructions had a chart that show the measurements for the distance between the hinges and hoist and rear overhang of the bed. The kits would fit most any flat frame.

 

[Stretch44875]

Maybe I should have said different mounting? I lucked out with fitting the hoist in. I did trim 2 of the smaller crossmembers on the bed, if I remember right. Just a personal preference of not wanting the bed any higher.

 

[PaFarmer]

I was showing my 5 year old son how the dump works this morning before he went to school. He was very impressed. The hoist is pretty slow compared to the prior hoists I had. I suspect that the F450s I had, each had a smaller cylinder than this one.

To mount my hinge, I also set the bed back further than stock, about a foot further back. According to the chart, that should increase my dump capacity. The bed mounts and the angle iron I used necessitated moving the bed back.

 

[m16ty]

To mount my hinge, I also set the bed back further than stock, about a foot further back. According to the chart, that should increase my dump capacity. The bed mounts and the angle iron I used necessitated moving the bed back.

Setting the bed back will put more load on your rear tandems though. Ideally you want 60% of bed in front of the axle and 40% behind the axle. In stock form the deuce is about 55/45. I'd think if you went back much farther than stock you're front end could get light when heavily loaded.

 

[PaFarmer]

m16ty - I don't know about those ratios. There is plenty of weight on the front end of a deuce as is. In soft ground the front end sinks before the rear.

The chart that came with the lift indicated that there is to be between 12"- 24" of overhang behind the hinges on a 12' bed. The greater the overhang the greater the capacity of the lift. The end of the stock bed sits back 12" behind the frame. 12" overhang is rated at 7.6 tons, 18" has the bed set back 6" from stock and increases the rating to 8.5 tons and 24" has the bed 12" back from stock and is rated for 9.6 tons.

I would have preferred to keep the bed around 18" for better looks, but the bed mount brackets and some other structure on the bed were in the way and required me to move the bed back to 24". I don't need the added capacity, but more capacity can't hurt.

I am planning to keep it to 5 ton loads, that is within the capacity on the data plate. I plan on stoning 3/10 of mile of old logging road and using it around my farm. If moving the bed back 12" puts more weight on the rear axles and make the front end less prone to sinking, I will be quite happy.

Your talk of the front end getting light reminds me of the video of the Russian loggers driving a grossly overloaded truck full of logs across a river. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HKeNn4T3EY[/media]

I have some heavy friends that with enough beer would get on the bumper like in the video, if I manage to get the front end too light.

 

[indy4x4fab]

Thats not one of those grossly overloaded Russian truck, that's onre of those new willy popping Russian truck. Thanks for the video.

 

[m16ty]

PaFarmer, I will say that as long as you stay within 5 tons you'll be ok. The problem is when people put dumps on deuces they tend to exceed the 5 ton limit (myself included). It doesn't take much rock to get to 5 tons.

When I have my deuce loaded down (some will say overloaded) with rock and off-road, my truck tends to slide the front in turns. Part of it is due to both rear axles being driven but part of it is not enough weight on the front end. 60/40 is the industry standard and my stock bed mounting is about 55/45.

Locate the trunnion mount between the two tandems. Measure how much bed is in front of that point and how much bed is behind. If you have more bed behind than you do in front, your front end will get lighter when loaded than it is when empty.

It's a nice install you did. I can see the advantages of moving the bed back (mainly more lift height and capacity). There are tradeoffs for doing this though.