nedly05
Senior Member
I like the tuff trac for the high arch it has and the air can mounting. The cans arent out where they can get covered with black top or knocked off by a big stone.
Thats what we call a Meritor system. Our block guy has it on his DAF 8 wheeler (dual steer). It sure beats the hell out of any other system. We run that truck into sites with 51,000 lbs of blocks onboard until its bogged, unload it and then skull drag it out again and its handles it beautifully...very stable, and its amazing how far it will get over rough ground until it does get stuck. Very often I can just stick the mini pushing up his..err......rear end ...and the skid with a long chain and pull him through the soft stuff (it does have diff locks). We had a new Mack cement truck last month that couldn't get halfway into the site that the DAF/Meritor had been in and out of twice without spinning a wheel.
*Warning*....the above actions are undertaken by highly skilled trained professionals....cough splutter.....do not try this at home or without expert supervision
:my2c
I think the answer is like any machine - depends on the application. Walking beam is the best for a construction truck that is going to spend 20-30% of its time off-road. The other 70-80% of the time the dump is running inner city not over the road. The ride is important but you need the ability of a walking beam off-road. If I was running asphalt, dense grade or contract hauling primarily on the road I would go with air ride for two reasons: ride quality and it is easier on the truck.
Also most of your used dumps with air-ride are over the road trucks converted to dumps. Over the road trucks are spec'd different than construction trucks. The trans., gearing, suspension, ect are usually not as heavy spec'd as a construction truck. This could be contributing to the problems some folks have with air ride dumptrucks.
Ford LT-9000;45118]
For a truck that spends 90-100% of the time on the road especially truck tractors a walking beam suspension would make the truck shake apart.
What are the pros and cons to air suspensions on dumptrucks? I've been looking off and on for awhile now and found a 1994 Kenworth W900 that looks to be in good shape and in the price range I can afford. The only downside if there is one would be the air suspension. I'd really like to understand the differences, but I'm not finding much with my google searches.
Someone told me that a chalmers suspension is hard on the driver, in a dumptruck running off road...Can anyone comment on this?