Just heard that the local elevator bought 50 acres outside of town to relocate to. Word is that the new elevator will only accept grain trucks that have hopper bottom unloaders. No more old single axle or tandem axle square beds. Nothing that dumps out the rear by being elevated. So if your not a BTO with all the latest equipment you can just stay home. I love progress...not.
- Thread starter mb58
- Start date
Wheat Farmer
Well-known Member
I would be putting the numbers together of how many rear dumps would be going there. Building a whole new elevator you would think they should build a place to the side for rear dumps.
Bob Bancroft
Well-known Member
- Location
- Aurora NY
I have a tandem axle dump/grain truck. I had been thinking about another, newer truck. With all the vehicle and driver regulations, and a neighbor with tractor/trailers who likes to drive, I've pretty much given up on that idea.
I had come to the conclusion I wouldn't have another straight/dump truck. I have a good one. They are a very expensive truck to buy/build. Tractors are so cheap, I was thinking single axle tractor with a little single hopper trailer.
Hopefully something like that would work out for you.
I had come to the conclusion I wouldn't have another straight/dump truck. I have a good one. They are a very expensive truck to buy/build. Tractors are so cheap, I was thinking single axle tractor with a little single hopper trailer.
Hopefully something like that would work out for you.
Kinda how it's been around here for a long time. Not saying you can't use a rear dump,but there aren't any local elevators,so if you don't have a semi you either hire one or feed everything that you grow. It's way too far to an elevator to use a wagon or small straight truck.
Eric in IL
Well-known Member
Does the elevator owner also operate a trucking business ?
Can't think of any other plausible reason.
Can't think of any other plausible reason.
gene bender
Well-known Member
The "WORD" is probably a story as they would be silly to not accept any type of transport to get grain so you are saying a farmer cant even use his wagons.
Doug in IL
Member
I imagine it would take us less than a day to mount a center dump gravity box on about any single or tandem axle chassis around.
mb,you(and the community) need to personally go to owners/managers(powers that be) And find out for sure.Let them know your concerns.Let them know how many straight trucks are out there.Maybe they are 'out to lunch' and simply dont have a clue.Our local elevator doesnt have a seperate 'dock'.All trucks simply dump over the same pit,makes no difference.Here we have hoppers,live bottoms,singles,tandems,goosnecks behind pickups.....Even a side dump beet box occationally.
fixerupper
Well-known Member
It's mainly a safety issue and a design issue too. Our local ethanol plant has had that rule since day one. The grate is narrow so the truck wheels are on cement and not on the grate. Narrow grates don't work well with end dump trucks and the end gate can swing open and wipe someone out. Think about the cost of designing grates heavy enough to carry the weight of truck wheels compared to pouring cement. Jim
DaninKansas
Member
Wouldn't surprise me if it isn't an insurance or OSHA thing.
4020deereboy
Member
They removed the hoist in are elevator to guess they figure not enough people use it to keep it working
fixerupper
Well-known Member
Most of the ten wheelers in this area have a center spout too. The corners of the box still need to be cleaned and that takes time. Trucks have driven out the door with the box up and have wiped out the top of the door at the elevator. I'm not against end dumps at all. I've driven plenty of them, but like it or not, speed of unloading and getting the truck out of the pit area here in the Midwest corn country is the big emphasis. Our local elevator will dump up to a half million bushels a day during the harvest season with five pits if everything clicks. That's a lot of loads. Whether we like it or not, when the big combines here in NWIA get to rolling in the corn putting out 2500 or more bushels per hour per combine a bunch of corn coming out of the fields. Jim
DaninKansas
Member
That's all part the insurance/OSHA issue.
How many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of dollars do other farmers lose when one idiot drives out the door with the bed up or the truck tips to one side when the 30-40 year old hoist finally breaks? The pit is closed for hours (days?) with a line a mile long waiting to dump and combines sit idle in the field while the weather changes.
How many tens (hundreds?) of thousands of dollars do other farmers lose when one idiot drives out the door with the bed up or the truck tips to one side when the 30-40 year old hoist finally breaks? The pit is closed for hours (days?) with a line a mile long waiting to dump and combines sit idle in the field while the weather changes.
Tom in TN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Southern Middle Tennessee
There are NO elevators within 50 or more miles from my farm. There is a Ralston Purina plant about 20 miles away, but they too only accept center dump trailers.
There are some BTOs in the area, but they truck their grain to elevators in Alabama 75 or so miles away.
The rest of us just grow hay and raise animals.
Tom in TN
There are some BTOs in the area, but they truck their grain to elevators in Alabama 75 or so miles away.
The rest of us just grow hay and raise animals.
Tom in TN
When the local coop went bust, years ago, a local bto bought the whole thing, has used it for his storage, grain drying ever since. They just built a new facility, for their own use, with a dump grate. They use hopper bottom trailers. I don't think the local elevator takes dump bodies either, for lots of years.
Hay hay hay
Well-known Member
I think the people building the new facility know enough to decide if a rear dump set-up is worth the cost, liability, volume, ???
It is kinda like the telephone line discussion. What thinking business person would spend large amounts of new capital investment on an already small and rapidly diminishing segment of its business?
Wonder what percentage of their grain comes in rear dump trucks today? 10 years ago? 20 years ago? In my experience, (in many different businesses) if there really is a need and a positive economic model....somebody will fill it.
It is kinda like the telephone line discussion. What thinking business person would spend large amounts of new capital investment on an already small and rapidly diminishing segment of its business?
Wonder what percentage of their grain comes in rear dump trucks today? 10 years ago? 20 years ago? In my experience, (in many different businesses) if there really is a need and a positive economic model....somebody will fill it.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
I'm not a BTO by any means but I wouldn't use anything but a semi tractor and hopper trailer to haul grain anymore unless I was within a mile or so of the elevator. Then I might be tempted to use large gravity wagons but definitely not straight trucks. Semi tractors with hopper trailers are much more efficient and safer. Straight trucks always seem to make a mess when they unload. Why haul 600 Bushels or less when you can haul 950 or more in a hopper trailer? The price of a decent straight truck is usually more than the price of a day cab semi and a trailer. There are still a lot of straight trucks around here but alot of them don't get used or are for sale. About the only time they like straight trucks here is when they are dumping in an out side pile and they just let you back up to the pile and dump.
notjustair
Well-known Member
There hasn't been a hoist facility here in many many years. I would be afraid for the yokels that work at our coops to lift a truck. They can hardly man the pit.
I still use a straight truck as a backup. I like the truck and it is handy sometimes when changing fields and you have a little left for one landlord. I have a hoist on it so it isn't a big deal. The coop here has a slow pit so if the hopper bottoms are going I plan on waiting a long time as they can only open them about 1/3 to 1/2 way. The straight truck doesn't matter because it won't overflow the pit.
Straight trucks really hold their value and can be a pain. I would be lost without mine but I would have less maintenance and mechanic work to do. Of course I insist on using a 1958 truck with a 225 bushel box with a 200 bushel hopper combine. The old girl gets a workout if she's in the truck pool. I work her pretty hard and she never fails.
Many neighbors don't have a straight truck anymore. You'd be surprised how many folks call and want my "chick magnet" for a chore around their farm.
I still use a straight truck as a backup. I like the truck and it is handy sometimes when changing fields and you have a little left for one landlord. I have a hoist on it so it isn't a big deal. The coop here has a slow pit so if the hopper bottoms are going I plan on waiting a long time as they can only open them about 1/3 to 1/2 way. The straight truck doesn't matter because it won't overflow the pit.
Straight trucks really hold their value and can be a pain. I would be lost without mine but I would have less maintenance and mechanic work to do. Of course I insist on using a 1958 truck with a 225 bushel box with a 200 bushel hopper combine. The old girl gets a workout if she's in the truck pool. I work her pretty hard and she never fails.
Many neighbors don't have a straight truck anymore. You'd be surprised how many folks call and want my "chick magnet" for a chore around their farm.
Anonymous-0
Well-known Member
The Co-op I work for removed all the lifts in all the dumps at all the elevators in the co-op 3 or 4 years ago. Bottom dump trailers, or coal buckets, or the occasional farm tractor and gravity bed wagons is all you see any more. OSHA and the EPA had a lot to do with it. Leaky hydraulic cylinders on the lifts can put a lot of oil in the ground.
T in NE
Well-known Member
- Location
- Cambridge, Nebraska
That's funny. The ethanol plant in Cambridge, you drive on the grate on the pit. Same with the Ag Valley's under-2-years-old elevator in Bartley. Can't see what's so difficult about the "engineering" needed for it, they build bridges that can carry several trucks side-by-side, end-to-end, without falling in.
Only problem with Ag Valley's new pit is you have to drive across the old ones to get to it, and though it holds 1000 bushel, that's struck level, and they can't dump trucks as fast as the leg can take it.
As long as they have the overhead space for it they are going to take grain from end dumps.
Only problem with Ag Valley's new pit is you have to drive across the old ones to get to it, and though it holds 1000 bushel, that's struck level, and they can't dump trucks as fast as the leg can take it.
As long as they have the overhead space for it they are going to take grain from end dumps.
I'am not following what you are saying,if you are saying they won't have a hoist or someway to dump you,then our area or most areas haven't had that for at least 40 yrs.Most pit grates are 5'-6'X12'so about anything can dump into them.Hopper bottoms are most common but there are also a lot of 3 &4 axle semi dumps trailers too.
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