My old Dodge wood hauler

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Chargerman

Feeling the Heat
Oct 22, 2009
369
SW Wisconsin
This is the main truck I have been using out in the woods this year to bring firewood to my house. It is a '88 W350 Dodge 4 x 4 with a 360 4bbl, NP435 granny 4 speed, Dana 60 front and Dana 70 rear with 4.56 gears, Ramsey 12000# winch, 8' x 9' dump bed, and a 8' Meyer plow for snow removal. It is a retired DNR truck that we picked up a few years ago.

Tough old truck that will take a serious load and not flinch. I dumped this load of Walnut for splitting.

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As I was splitting I just tossed it back in to move it over to the stacking area for next year. I am curious to see how much that load ends up stacked.

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I also hauled a full load of elm in the bed and pulled a 12' trailer full of walnut and elm this weekend but didn't get a picture of that. The low gears sure come in handy doing this kind of work.
 
That it a nice truck! As long as it doesn't rust away to nothing, it should be around a long time for you. I often wish my F350 was a 4x4, dumped, and had a plow.
 
Thanks!

It is still solid and stays off the salt in the winter. It only has 70K on it now and plowing is just done around our farm. Top speed is about 60mph but that is fast enough.

Notice how she settled about 2-3" with that full load of walnut on there. Actually, it rides better loaded. LOL
 
Charger thats a great truck. I love those old Dodges and had a few over the years. Currently have an 84 250


Yea they usually ride better with a little weight in the back end :lol:
 
Nice truck! The most I ever hauled with mine was about 3.5 cord of dry splits. Had a 6x12 dump trailer with 5' sides. Stacked TIGHT and full to the top. Plus a heaping bed full. I won't say the truck didn't notice it (it did), but it hauled it at highway speeds with no trouble.
 
festerw said:
Nice truck, love them old Dodges. The Meyer plow not so much, but it'll take care of you if you take care of it.
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I am actually a Western fan myself. I use a '93 Dodge W250 with a Western during the winter and it has never failed me. This one stays at the farm except for "wood" duties.
 
The load of walnut came in at a cord. Not too bad for one trip with a bunch of wet wood.
 
Awesome truck man! That is probably about as close as it comes to the perfect wood truck!!! Love the winch also - they come in handy
 
How high are those wooden sides on your flatbed?

I have a regular bed, but am thinking of adding some wooden sides as fully loaded now it barely registers on the springs.
 
I love it. I bet that dump bed sure comes in handy!
 
FLINT said:
How high are those wooden sides on your flatbed?

I have a regular bed, but am thinking of adding some wooden sides as fully loaded now it barely registers on the springs.
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They are not tall enough. I think they are around 18-20" IIRC. I would like to add taller sides as well but I often load from the side when out in the woods and that would make it more difficult.
 
The ability to side load is the key advantage of the flatbed over pickup.
 
Great truck, now I have truck envy!
 
Put the Dodge to work again. This is Saturday's load of dead walnut.

Pulled into a truck scale and the load weighed in at 4,300#'s.

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Chargerman said:
Put the Dodge to work again. This is Saturday's load of dead walnut.

Pulled into a truck scale and the load weighed in at 4,300#'s.
Click to expand...

Sweet!

I don't think I can beat that. The max payload for my truck is 3600lbs, and with my regular bed, I don't think I could even fit that much weight in wood in there to try.
 

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The Dodge has a 11,000 lb GVW rating.
 
9600# is real good for a "stock" truck. I have a '75 Dodge W300 DRW mini pumper fire engine that is actually built heavier than this truck IMO but the rating is only 10,000lbs. :-/

I have a set of rear bolt on Helwig helper leaves going in the dump truck that I just picked up from a junk W250 a couple months ago. It doesn't really need them but you know what they say.....smoke 'um if you got 'um. :)
 
nice dodge.

my wood-hauler is a bit older, but it's also a dodge. a '48 1.5-ton dump, with a two-speed rear. it isn't fast (top speed is about 45), but it carries 2 1/4 cords stacked in the bed. gvw a tad over 14,000.

edit: if you click on my name, you'll see a pic of the truck.
 
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