F250 Dump Thoughts

L

Leafguy

New member
Hey,

Starting to research a second dump truck. Saw these F250's come up. Pics attached.

Any one see or run a smaller unit like this? Wondering how it would be load with chips. Would be pulling a small bandit chipper.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2025-05-11 at 10.20.24 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2025-05-11 at 10.20.24 AM.png
    228.7 KB · Views: 32
  • Screen Shot 2025-05-11 at 10.20.56 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2025-05-11 at 10.20.56 AM.png
    118.4 KB · Views: 32
Leafguy said:
Hey,

Starting to research a second dump truck. Saw these F250's come up. Pics attached.

Any one see or run a smaller unit like this? Wondering how it would be load with chips. Would be pulling a small bandit chipper.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t suggest it we ran a F350 dually and the truck just couldn’t handle it.
It may work for you imo
We went to a 550 it works great for us.
 
Mine was (is, still, I guess) a 86 diesel f250 with a dump bed. Obviously it’s a lot older than what you’d play with, but dang it can’t do much.

I love the company f550, it’s such a great workhorse. A f250 or even f350 will always have a limit of towing and payload capacity that will hamper your productivity. imho
 
3,800-4,300lb payload after a quick search. ~500lb/yd chip, then weight of box. Sounds rapidly overloaded for most treework, but could be the ticket for 6" chipper and small volume pruning outfit. A local guy has a rig like that which looks great, but why put $$$$ on a nice box that will get outgrown immediately?
 
Agreed with all the statements above. Most likely too light duty once loaded. Only towing a bandit 75. But with chips, that could get overworked quick.

Thought it was an odd set up on an F250 considering the limited weight capacity. But wanted to see if others had experience with a similar set up.
 
Had to park over potholes to get the chipper off with a load of chips.
However it’s a great complement to a f-550 or greater truck.
Need a yard of gravel? Couple of mini skid scoops of chips? A load of soil amendments?

Large job with a crap load of rakings?
Trucks have a habit of becoming full at the end of the day, and need to be empty for the morning.

Now with a full box? That’s half your capacity right there
 
That truck makes no sense to me, a nice looking setup, but on a pretty limited truck.

I've got two 2001 Fords with the 7.3 diesel, an F350 and an F450. When I first started, I built a small box (probably 1/4 the size of that one) and chipped into the F350 on occasion while towing a BC1000. It always felt to me like I was working the 350 harder than I wanted to be when it was hauling even that small amount of chips. More recently I got the 450 which is a dually and has about a 10-yard box. Same engine, same year truck, but it feels SO MUCH better than the 350 even when towing my larger Bandit and carrying 5x the chips. The 350 is 10k GVW, the 450 is 15k GVW.

Used 450s and 550s are extremely common and not expensive given how common they are as fleet vehicles. Seems silly to not take advantage of them and how much more capable they are.
 
I use a 3/4 ton pick up with an extended cab as a contract climber. I keep my gear behind the seats and 2 saws ride in the bed. I like to bring home a load of good wood home when available. It gets old unloading by hand at the end of the day. Since my box is getting rough, I've been planning to make a small dump with short sides for it. Possibly just mounting a dump insert to the frame. Could also mount a couple underbody tool boxes for saws and gas.

I've always have plans. Executing is a different story. LOL
 
96coal449 said:
I use a 3/4 ton pick up with an extended cab as a contract climber. I keep my gear behind the seats and 2 saws ride in the bed. I like to bring home a load of good wood home when available. It gets old unloading by hand at the end of the day. Since my box is getting rough, I've been planning to make a small dump with short sides for it. Possibly just mounting a dump insert to the frame. Could also mount a couple underbody tool boxes for saws and gas.

I've always have plans. Executing is a different story. LOL
Click to expand...
I love my lil dump insert on my f-250. It actually hauls about 2-4 yards easily, but I put helper springs on it. Pulls a 2,500 lb chipper good, but with both it’s kinda hard on it. I have fit a bit more but I highly don’t recommend it with towing the chipper to.
Granted this is not on the freeway!
I’m aiming for a 1 ton flatbed

One thing that is perplexing is this dump was custom made, straight frame rails aren’t a thing until the 1ton range trucks.
 
96coal449 said:
I use a 3/4 ton pick up with an extended cab as a contract climber. I keep my gear behind the seats and 2 saws ride in the bed. I like to bring home a load of good wood home when available. It gets old unloading by hand at the end of the day. Since my box is getting rough, I've been planning to make a small dump with short sides for it. Possibly just mounting a dump insert to the frame. Could also mount a couple underbody tool boxes for saws and gas.

I've always have plans. Executing is a different story. LOL
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with a 3/4 ton...that's my primary work truck. But I don't try to load up a chip box on it. I would suggest its simply not the right truck for that job.
 
Exactly. A 3/4 (especially modern ones which are far more capable than my old 2001 stuff) is plenty for hauling tools and towing a decent size chipper, but just not enough to haul much material. And especially not enough to haul material AND tow a chipper. The thing about a chip box is if you have it, you WILL fill it. Even if you tell yourself it's just for small pruning jobs, towing a 6" chipper and will never be filled. Yes, yes you will fill it, and it won't be enough truck to do that often without beating it up.
 
Last edited:
A self contained chipper/dump trailer would be a better fit for a 3/4 ton...Put the weight in the trailer instead of truck. Newer models are rated to tow 15K on the conventional hitch. Bandit's unit weighs 8K...so still have 7,000 lbs for chips. I wouldn't want to pull that up a hill...or stop it going down a steep hill with an F250 (not sure it has trailer brakes?), but its rated for it, so there is that.
 
ATH said:
A self contained chipper/dump trailer would be a better fit for a 3/4 ton...Put the weight in the trailer instead of truck. Newer models are rated to tow 15K on the conventional hitch. Bandit's unit weighs 8K...so still have 7,000 lbs for chips. I wouldn't want to pull that up a hill...or stop it going down a steep hill with an F250 (not sure it has trailer brakes?), but its rated for it, so there is that.
Click to expand...
My 2020 F350 srw (personal truck) was built in mind of towing (7.3 gas) max conventional tow is 15k and I do tow my chipper which is over 14k a couple times a year but definitely wouldn’t want to do it daily.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ATH
VenasNursery said:
My 2020 F350 srw (personal truck) was built in mind of towing (7.3 gas) max conventional tow is 15k and I do tow my chipper which is over 14k a couple times a year but definitely wouldn’t want to do it daily.
Click to expand...
How's the 7.3 been for you? I've had a 6.2 for a few years now and it's been a great truck. The high elevation passes sure make it work hard towing though, wondering if the 7.3/10spd combo might be enough to avoid newer diesel headaches.

@Keeth Do you still have your pickup with the dump insert?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom