The case for rear-eject bodies on haul trucks

Disclaimers and warnings are everywhere. Even coffee cups warn customers their coffee may be hot.

While many are followed without receiving a second thought, others are treated as guidelines that can be challenged, especially when there’s an opportunity to increase production and profits.

To boost production in mining operations, it’s not uncommon for operators to exceed a truck’s rated capacity or quicken cycle times by starting to drive off before the body is fully lowered – techniques that can damage equipment and create an unsafe environment for the driver and people nearby. As an alternative, many operations invest in rear-eject truck bodies for articulated haulers.

Here are a few ways rear-eject bodies can maximize production without the need for risky techniques.

1. Controlled offloading

With dumping times typically faster than traditional rear-dump trucks, ejector bodies improve off-loading efficiency by forcibly ejecting materials at a steady rate. They are not dictated by the angle of the body or gravity, and the operator of the truck is in complete control of the discharge.

Rear-eject bodies can also safely dump materials while the truck is in motion, spreading material as it ejects to reduce dozing and spreading time.

Additionally, pushing materials out the back, backed uphill, can be done safely due to the low center of gravity of the load – even with the truck at rated capacity. This allows for offloading in conditions where standard trucks are unstable and unsafe, such as on slopes and locations with softer underfooting.

2. operator safety

Standard dump trucks put a significant amount of a truck’s load over the rear axle while unloading, sometimes causing the front of the truck to raise off the ground due to the improperly balanced load.

As the load drops out the back, the truck and driver slam back to the ground. This repeated process stresses the truck chassis, as well as the operator who, over time, can suffer from back and/or neck issues caused by the repeated impact.

Because the blade of a rear-eject body pushes materials out at a steady rate – unlike the uncontrolled mass that drops from a gravity-fed dump body – the truck maintains a lower and more balanced center of gravity.

3. overhead obstacles

Because rear-eject bodies eliminate the need to raise the body, the truck can safely dump materials near overhead barriers, such as electric lines, bridges, pipelines and support beams, as well as in enclosed areas or underground mines.

Additionally, because the bodies do not raise, they can be built wider than standard dump bodies, resulting in higher volumetric capacity.

From improved dump control to increased capacity, rear-eject bodies outperform standard end-dump truck bodies in a variety of applications and are manufactured to fit most makes and models of articulated trucks, as well as some rigid-frame trucks.

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Josh Swank is vice president of sales and marketing at Philippi-Hagenbuch.