Concrete Truck puller...

zfaylor

zfaylor

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Nov 21, 2010
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So I work(ed) for a guy who sells new and used concrete trucks. We have him talked into building a concrete truck to do exhibition pulls with for some advertisement and entertainment. We have pretty much any engine at our disposal. Any input on what might be best to make a pretty strong puller?

We have C15s, C13s, C10s, some mechanical Cats, ISMs, Big Cams, N14s, Macks (not sure on model), M11s and many others.

My dad is helping with the project. He has tinkered with mechanical Cat engines his whole life but most of what we have are electronic. We have service tools and such to aid as well. We all are familiar with these engines just not much on hopping them up to the point of making a puller. What better time to learn than with a project like this?


We want to make it fairly mild at first just until we get familiar with pulling a concrete truck but later plan to see how far we can take it.


Any input on which engine would be the best candidate?
 
Holy cow. I want to see the first pics and video! :D Sounds like a cool but unusual outfit. Will the drum be rotating down the track or will it take too many ponies away from the motor? How does the PTO react to 4K? LOL You might have to do an electrical motor conversion for that.
 
LOL Yeah we haven't nailed down any of the specifics. Plan to run the drum for sure! It will be a front discharge so its going to be an oshkosh or an advance more than likely. 6 wheel drive and 445 tires all around should give us some traction to get it moving :D
 
Yeah I have about 250 Advance trucks to choose from. Biggest thing is deciding on axle, t-case, and tranny.
 
I don't have a ton of experience with them, but the company I worked for had about 12 of them and the only difference in drivetrain was Cat or Cummins. Is your plan to build a one off puller with the best parts you have laying around?
 
There are a lot of differences between Advance trucks. Place I worked and still work part time at owns and sells about 500 used trucks. There are two different allisons, several combos of engines, axles, t cases, heck even drum drives. So I plan to make the best of the best since it will be at our disposal.
 
1: Fill the Drum with Concrete.
2: Proceed to Finish Line.
3: Drink Beer.
 
zfaylor said:
There are a lot of differences between Advance trucks. Place I worked and still work part time at owns and sells about 500 used trucks. There are two different allisons, several combos of engines, axles, t cases, heck even drum drives. So I plan to make the best of the best since it will be at our disposal.
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Sounds like a cool project. I never realized there were that many choices I guess the ones I was around were made the same in order to keep less parts on inventory.
 
Stick with a C15. I would worry that the auto and transfer case would be the weakest link when you start adding power.

Also I think you would be better off by running duals on the rear drives over the singles, I think that even with the weight you will have traction would be a problem with the singles.
 
4x4dually said:
Holy cow. I want to see the first pics and video! :D Sounds like a cool but unusual outfit. Will the drum be rotating down the track or will it take too many ponies away from the motor? How does the PTO react to 4K? LOL You might have to do an electrical motor conversion for that.
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I'm with him. No help just in for the pics.
 
Have you decided on a color scheme yet? LOL

297903_647838331900008_1763724744_n.jpg
 
wideopen said:
1: Fill the Drum with Concrete.
2: Proceed to Finish Line.
3: Drink Beer.
Click to expand...

I like all three of those ideas!

6.4 F-350 said:
Sounds like a cool project. I never realized there were that many choices I guess the ones I was around were made the same in order to keep less parts on inventory.
Click to expand...

Yeah most of the fleets we have bought up all ran similar setups to keep parts simple. Most of the differences are minor such as drum drive brand. Zf makes most but I believe meritor (spelling?) makes some.
SmokinCAT said:
Stick with a C15. I would worry that the auto and transfer case would be the weakest link when you start adding power.

Also I think you would be better off by running duals on the rear drives over the singles, I think that even with the weight you will have traction would be a problem with the singles.
Click to expand...

I agree 100% we were thinking c15. The tranny is a large concern but we are going to talk to wellers about what options we might have. Duals only concern us because of weight and power. Thought maybe we wouldn't have enough to get some wheel spin. However, after further research and talking to people it seems the front end likes to come up even on a long concrete truck. So our 6 wheel drive won't help as much as I hoped.

4x4dually said:
Have you decided on a color scheme yet? LOL

297903_647838331900008_1763724744_n.jpg
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LOL ill have to keep that scheme in mind
 
imin for pics, but i do have a thouht for keeping the front end down, find a nice I beam , close it in and fill with concrete with lots of aggregate (sp) that should help, make it a little wider thatn the truck
 
It can be done. I remember when I lived in Florida. One of the mixer plants used an old mixer to move rail cars around.
 
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