Roll-Off great idea.
Pacific said:
Myself I don't like converted truck tractors into dumps as they really were not designed for dumps. The suspensions are not heavy enough usually the frame isn't heavy enough. The trucks usually have wrong gearing for any kind of offroad work a 10spd really isn't that great. The only tractor you really can convert to a dump is a lowbed tractor something that is good for 140,000lb gross weight.
If your looking for a truck to haul brush etc I would try find a used rolloff truck with a couple 40 yard bins.
Dealers try to put dump boxes on tractors to try get rid of the trucks as the market is flooded with used truck tractors.
For hauling what you want to haul like brush a truck with a 40 yard bin will be better then you can have a 20 yard bin for mulch and the slightly heavier materials.
You can find a good used roll-off truck easily for 35 grand I imagine those Macks have tons of miles on them. A used converted tractor with a new box and hoist your looking at 15-20 grand for the box and hydraulics so essentially the truck is only worth 15 grand as a tractor.
Keep looking your local Mack dealer has the KY jelly out looking for people to rip off.
I have to agree if I was building another truck a roll-off would be my first consideration.You could hoist a body up for each use,have a chip body,an equipment body,log body etc...
I also agree most road tractors are just wrong for a vocational application.The gear ratio's are to high,The frames are to thin,the suspension is to light and usually air bags and the front and rears are to light gvw.
I have run many dump setups and here is what I found to hold up;Either a double frame or heavy single3/8's or thicker,18,000lb or heavier front ends and 44 or I ran 46,000lb rears on springs.Gear ratios the road tractors mostly run 3:55's to 4:10's which is fine if you want you help running down the road at 80mph with not much low end putting huge stress on the drive-line,I had 4:62's and 5:38's The 4:62's worked out well,plenty of power to climb out of any hole with 24ton on the back and 65mph highway speed.For transmissions I ran Roadranger 8 and 9 speed double lows LL,they held up to abuse well and where easy to learn/teach.
I owned and ran construction trucks for thirteen years, hope this helps in your search.