• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

Dump Truck driving in sand

P

Pony

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
732
Location
SE Queensland
How far will a tandam drive dump WITH cross axle locks get in deep sand under its own power?

See photos, I need to cross the river and would be nice to do it under its own power, I do have 4wd tractor and small dozer, so could drag it across but I'm on my own and its a pain sourcing help.
Would it go further in reverse, steer axle dragging rather than pushing sand in front?

The photos were after a recent flood, we cross it enough so that there are usually well defined wheel tracks, a 4wd ute left in 2wd will follow the wheel tracks until it hits a bit of an incline then it will spin and stop if left in 2wd. Is probably 100-120 yards of sand, banks on either side are much steeper than appear in photos but shouldn't be a drama to get up.
However truck will have much wider wheel tracks than anything else we have so difficult to get defined tracks foe it to follow.

I need to move some gravel, some on the other side of that river, only need cross empty and do job, not cart acoss loaded. Also need to gravel some private road, easy access.

Looking at either buying an old tandam drive tip truck or a tip trailer behind my tractor.

Truck will be faster for road stuff, but have to cross the river. Will also be old with possible associated mechanical issues.

Trailer will be much slower for road stuff but easy to cross river and should have no issues hopefully, being new.
Trailer is braked and uses tractor hydraulics to tip.

No real experience with either option. Truck will be rated to 12t, trailer 8t. Money similar for each.
Hiring it out isn't really an option.
Photo of buried fence post just to show there's no real bottom to the sand.
 

Attachments

  • 20260423_100436.jpg
    20260423_100436.jpg
    2.7 MB · Views: 64
  • 20260315_173909.jpg
    20260315_173909.jpg
    2.4 MB · Views: 64
  • 20260315_165749.jpg
    20260315_165749.jpg
    4 MB · Views: 65
FWD

FWD

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2009
Messages
369
Location
Barron County, Wi
On some roads in the mountains they have "sand traps" to stop runaway trucks that have lost their brakes on the way down. It's hard to move a truck in loose sand. It's a good way to ruin expesive parts.
FWD
 
Tones

Tones

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
4,239
Location
Ubique
Occupation
Ex land clearing contractor, part-time retired
Slower may in fact be faster so I'm voting tractor and trailer. Bauld tyres get better traction in sand though.
 
P

Pony

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
732
Location
SE Queensland
Yeah I'm leaning the same way Tones.
Be still interested to see how far everyone thinks a truck can get across the sand through.

Cfherrman, don't have a dump truck yet, but based on the few i have inspected so far, tyres won't be real good.
 
P

Pony

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
732
Location
SE Queensland
Most, if not all, over here tandem drive trucks.
295/80 22.5 steers
11R 22.5 drives

Sand will be dry, fineness, pretty hard to quantify, seems to change with time.
To explain, those photos were taken just after the second highest flood in living memory and it moves a lot of the sand around. It seems to be courser now than it was, but it also seems to become finer over time.

Whether that is due to cattle and vehicle traffic bringing fines up to the top, or smaller floods washing finer stuff down.
I don't know.

That's why I included the bit about the 2wd going OK in wheel tracks but not with any incline. Best I could think of for some context.
Without wheel tracks, 2wd bogs down instantly.
 
P

Pony

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
732
Location
SE Queensland
No, to remote.
I could make a corduroy of timber but it's an awful lot of work and only lasts till the next flood.

If the trucks not able to drive across with minimal effort, then it simply won't suit and I'll go with the trailer and live with the slowness on easy access jobs.
 
Deere500a

Deere500a

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
907
Location
Castro Valley ca
This is Jonny Knoxville que music.Type trucks are thinking about? Empty starting higher gear lugging it helps on soft ground & climbing. Crossing river axle vents water intake,batteries things to look at besides the road. Positive get stuck in the river you'll have a fishing dock.
 
CM1995

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
16,078
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
Pony said:
How far will a tandam drive dump WITH cross axle locks get in deep sand under its own power?

See photos, I need to cross the river and would be nice to do it under its own power, I do have 4wd tractor and small dozer, so could drag it across but I'm on my own and its a pain sourcing help.
Would it go further in reverse, steer axle dragging rather than pushing sand in front?

The photos were after a recent flood, we cross it enough so that there are usually well defined wheel tracks, a 4wd ute left in 2wd will follow the wheel tracks until it hits a bit of an incline then it will spin and stop if left in 2wd. Is probably 100-120 yards of sand, banks on either side are much steeper than appear in photos but shouldn't be a drama to get up.
However truck will have much wider wheel tracks than anything else we have so difficult to get defined tracks foe it to follow.

I need to move some gravel, some on the other side of that river, only need cross empty and do job, not cart acoss loaded. Also need to gravel some private road, easy access.

Looking at either buying an old tandam drive tip truck or a tip trailer behind my tractor.

Truck will be faster for road stuff, but have to cross the river. Will also be old with possible associated mechanical issues.

Trailer will be much slower for road stuff but easy to cross river and should have no issues hopefully, being new.
Trailer is braked and uses tractor hydraulics to tip.

No real experience with either option. Truck will be rated to 12t, trailer 8t. Money similar for each.
Hiring it out isn't really an option.
Photo of buried fence post just to show there's no real bottom to the sand.
Click to expand...

I haven't seen a Bobcat backhoe attachment in a long time!
 
P

Pony

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2014
Messages
732
Location
SE Queensland
Yeah there are a few Mack R600's around, but your looking at more than double the price of the trailer. More than can be justified for my usage.
 
A

AMBMike

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
321
Location
Southeast KS
Occupation
Cat herder.
In the northeast USA our rule of thumb was a loaded tandem with cross locks will go where a pickup in 2WD does. That's typically true in mud, snow, hills, mountains, etc but bottomless sand is likely another matter. This may not hold true for utes in OZ.

The tractor and trailer would be slow and I expect it'll get stuck also but a careful operator could probably drop the trailer and drag/winch it out with the tractor if necessary.

I'm interested in seeing what you end up with.
 
Tones

Tones

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
4,239
Location
Ubique
Occupation
Ex land clearing contractor, part-time retired
Years ago I worked on the Brisbane International Airport terminal preloaded which was a 4.4 million cubic metre sand mound. It was covered with a bitumen product to stop the sand blowing. To do this they used an ex army International 6x6 fitted with super singles all round and a 5000gal tank with a dribble bar. That thing to my amazement climbed over the mount unassisted which was higher than the now built terminal.
They still come up for sale occasionally on Market Place and Gumtree, some were tippers and had winches.
search.brave.com

Ex army international acco truck for sale

Ex-army International Acco trucks are available through Australian classifieds like Gumtree and specialized dealers such as Just Trucks, with listings appearing across NSW, Queensland, Victoria, and Tasmania. These vehicles are primarily 1960s–1970s era military trucks, often configured as 4x4...
search.brave.com search.brave.com
 
Last edited:
cfherrman

cfherrman

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2022
Messages
2,722
Location
Hays, Kansas
Really the more powered axles the worse it will be when you get stuck, driver mod is better.

You want highway tires, no mudd or rough terrain tires at all.

Get a trash pump and pump so.e water from the stream to where you are driving

This is an instant that an automatic will get you through and a manual will have a broken axle or framed
 
highwayghost

highwayghost

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2019
Messages
385
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
Occupation
Emissions Analyst, Retired
The key to driving on sand is to let air out of ALL the tires to a point you think is too much. The less air the better for flotation on sand. We used to go camping near a drive on beach. The PU with a full loaded slide in camper was 10.5k#. Didn’t need 4wd if the tires were deflated, even in soft sand. Be prepared to reinflate when back to hard surfaces.
 
Last edited:
Deere500a

Deere500a

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
907
Location
Castro Valley ca
This is an instant that an automatic will get you through and a manual will have a broken axle or framed


Spent years in the dirt-70k lbs 4axle dumps-double bottom dump-end dump all manuals never broke an axle or frame auto stay with a f550
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top