My neighbours rotten driveway

[Gravel Rat]

Somedays I wish I had a cabover sure make things easier. The pre 05 Ford F-450 and F-550 trucks sure don't turn very sharp.

The neighbours have a bunch of construction debris to remove from a reno they are doing. Decided to haul away the junk after some of it got nice and saturated with rain doubling the weight of it. The landfill likes that heavier the load more money they get its all by the ton.

Where the carpenters put the stuff is in a easier spot to load the truck I don't have to pack it up around the house to my truck they did all the hard work for me :drinkup:

Getting my truck into the spot where the stuff is piled with my truck is a SOB. Its a bunch of angles with the main driveway with a 7 percent grade with a offshoot driveway that is for a benched section of the property which twists the crap out of the truck pretty good. I can't back into the spot in one swing its back up a foot pull ahead back up pull ahead. If the concrete is wet I can't do it tires spin like they are on ice.

Get backed into the spot throw 2500 lbs of old drywall on the truck and 1000lbs of wood and bags of wet soggy insulation. Thinking to myself I'am going to have troubles and sure enough I did. I had to slip the clutch and smoked it a little I had no choice :realmad:

The carpenter working on the job has troubles with his 1/2 ton panel van. He said to me you can get that truck down here I said yes but with some troubles he's says better you than me.

Things you got to do for money its a easy job I should make 300 dollars out of it but it is one of the tightest and toughest spots I have to get in and out of. Little room to maneuver around its not a place for mistakes you will have some damage to your vehical. Not for a person with no goat hill driveway experience its one that can make you leave some stains in your underwear LOL

Have to see how the second load goes tommorow afternoon.

[Mr. Digger]

I think a haul road like this deserves a pic or 2!! :drinkup:
:canadaflag:

[Gravel Rat]

I don't have access to a camera. If the weather is good I might borrow a camera and take a picture of the load on the truck for the people I'am working for. The landfill fees for the load will be expensive with drywall is 260 dollars a ton they might not beleive me that its going to cost them 400 dollars in dump fees.

[bobcat_ron]

Wow, we just find a farm that we are burying garbage on and ask them if we can dig a little deeper and bury our trash at the same time and knock an hour off the bill.

[Gravel Rat]

Can't bury garbage in the backyard when you can only dig 6 inches into the ground then you need dynamite :laugh:

Hauled the stuff to the dump today what a pain getting soggy drywall off the truck and into the drywall bin. Picked up another load of wood debris and had problems again with the d*mn driveway. So there is some dirt and black marks on the driveway and salal bush all torn up from my duals.

The carpenter says he will have another load but that will be next week. Not in a rush to get rid of it.

[ksss]

No GR what you need is a 45/5500. I can turn inside the radius of a Ford 550.:clapping:

[Gravel Rat]

Never driven a 4500-5500 GMC. Looked at one a paving company bought asked the guy who drives the truck what he thinks of it. He isn't overly impressed he said it rides horrible and no power (duramax). He did come from a 03 Ford F-350 4x4 with a 12 foot mechanics body. The F-350 was maxed out to its gvw so the company bought a 5500 Chevy because they get a fleet price on them.

The 5500 2wd is really low to the ground I don't think it would go where I go the ground clearance isn't that great.

The biggest problem is the GM dealer won't work on 4500-5500 trucks so if you have problems gotta take the truck 100 miles to a commercial GM dealer. Its one of the reasons why you don't see any of them here because its too much of a PITA to get warranty work or servicing done to the truck.

So its a 8 hour day to take your truck to get repaired. The GM dealer won't even order you a 4500-5500 so you have to deal with a Commercial truck dealer.

The Ford dealer here will sell 450-550 and work on them too. Dodge dealer only sells upto 3500 they won't sell 4500-5500 Dodge trucks or work on them.

[ksss]

The ride is rough, but its very capable. As far as no power. The guy needs to back off the BC bud for his lunch break. I have never heard anyone complain about the power of a Duramax compared to a like sized competative truck. My 4X4 has great clearance in fact it probably sits up too high. I cant argue that it is rough riding. I hear that after market air bags help a lot. But with the tight turning radius and the short hood they are easier to drive. The 4500 can be worked on by any GM dealer. The 5500 has to be worked on by a med.duty or higher dealership, but only for warranty work. I will say that making the division between the 4500 and 5500 is ******ed. They are virtually the same truck minus some additional springs. It would have made more sense to allow any dealer to work on the 5500 and make the division at the 6500.

Overall though the 45/5500 is too manly of a truck for you GR.:laugh: You would the chicks in your 'hood beggin for a ride, all that attention would likely get you kicked out of dear ol' ma's bedroom over the garage.:laugh:

[Gravel Rat]

Here the GM dealer will barely work on a 3500 dually they don't want anything to do with 4500-5500 trucks.

I'am just going from what the guy says about the power and ride quality. His company truck probably does weigh 16000lbs the way it sits. A service body with a crane on it.

[Scag48]

Lack of power in a Duramax? Well, not so much. Having driven my dad's '08 2500HD, I can attest that the power isn't overwhelming, but it's decent. Never really needed/wanted more out of it. And yes, all GM trucks turn tighter than Fords.

[Gravel Rat]

Never driven a duramax but driven a 6.5 turdo diesel.

I wouldn't doubt a truck that weighs 15,000lbs or so feel sluggish.

[Scag48]

Well I think you hit the nail on the head. When GM or any Mfg. for that matter starts throwing the same motor, without modification, into a larger truck with larger payload capacity, I suppose one could assume it's down on power. IIRC, GM puts a little more juice in the 5500's if you order a certain package. Maybe Kaiser can verify, but I think I've seen a horsepower increase in some 5500 packages. One could also argue the opposite in which GM is putting too much horsepower in their 3/4 and 1 ton trucks, making us lust for more power out of the same powerplant in a much heavier rig.

[Gravel Rat]

The 5500 Chev I'am talking about replaced a 03 F-350 Superduty 4x4 with 7.3 PSD the truck was maxed out with the weight as all mechanic/welding trucks are. The F-350 was eating up rear axles and having bearing problems from the weight the Dana 80 isn't strong enough for the weight. The truck had a overload springs that had just as many leafs as a F-150 pickup.

The big problem Chevy shods their trucks with Goodyear tires I think if the truck had a set of Michelin steer tires it would ride better. I can't remember if they were 225s or not I think they were.