May. 07, 2024
Looking to buy or hire a tipper truck but not sure how much material it can carry? Below we break down the safety rules for load capacities, the average carrying capacity of types of tippers, as well as general rules of thumb related to number of wheels and axles.
What types of tippers are there in Australia?
Tippers are prolific machines across Australia, and most mixed fleet plant hire companies & subcontractors have tippers in their yards. On iseekplant, we consider there to be the following types of tipper truck: 2-tonne tippers, bogie tippers (also called tandem tippers or body trucks), truck and dogs, belly dumpers, side tippers, semi-trailers, B-double semi-trailers & road trains.
On our marketplace, we have categorised tippers by how their hydraulics tip the truck (and in what direction) and how big their payload capacity is:
What is a 2 Tonne Tipper?
Really small rouse-a-bout tipper truck good for carting really small loads. Comes alive with
Really small rouse-a-bout tipper truck good for carting really small loads. Comes alive with landscaping tasks.
What is a Bogie Tipper? Usually has a capacity of up to 12-14 tonne. These are great for clearing rubbish and other site debris or carrying small payloads.
What is a Tandem Tipper? Is a slightly larger Bogie tipper, also called a Body Truck, and has a payload of about 14 tonnes.
What is a Truck & Dog? A truck and dog is usually a tandem tipper or bogie tipper, towing a dog trailer.
A dog trailer has an axle set at both the front and back, plus a drawbar to connect the trailer to a towing vehicle. It has greater flexibility about the angle of the trailer whilst tipping.
What is a Belly Dumper? A belly dumper is a weird and wonderful thing that expunges its contents via an articulated hole in the base of the towing trailer, dumping into a space underneath the truck (rather than behind or in the side)
What is a Side Tipper? Side tippers expunge their material contents on the side, with the towing vehicle lifted via hydraulics to tip precisely on the side of the vehicle.
What is a Semi-Trailer? It is a larger, longer trailer hooked to a prime mover that has almost double or more capacity than a truck and dog, or truck and pig.
What is a B-Double Semi Trailer? It is a semi-trailer hooked to a prime mover, and towing an additional trailer
What is a Road Train? It is up to 3 trailers hooked to a prime mover, with a massive capacity. Only ever seen on long-haul regional roads.
Click here if you want a rough rates guide to hiring a tipper.
Tipper Truck Capacities by Type of Tipper
Width, length, wheel-base and trailer size remain the most telling factors when it comes to how much a tipper truck can carry. The distance between axles plays an important role in how much the tipper is allowed to cart on Australian roads. The types and purposes of tippers vary widely, from smaller backyard jobs through to large-scale project use. Some road-registered tippers, have the same capacity as an offroad articulated dump truck, for example. Some road trains carry the same payload as a rigid rear dump truck.
You’ll want to review width, length, and height, and then compare the previously outlined material volumes to deduce how many cubic meters are allowed in a tipper truck. Most road-registered tippers will have their legal payload limits emblazoned on stickers inside the cabins. Otherwise, the registered owner of the tipper will know how much it's legally allowed to carry.
These are very generalist numbers, and really come down to what the tipper is safely registered to carry on Australian roads and the state of registration.
Average Tipper Truck Capacities
Truck Type Max Haul or Payload 2 Tonne Tippers ~2 Tonnes Bogie Tipper ~12 Tonnes Tandem Tipper / Body Truck Tipper ~14 Tonnes Truck and Dog Tipper ~20 - 40 Tonnes Truck & Pig Tipper ~20 - 40 Tonnes Belly Dumper ~14 Tonnes Side Tipper ~43 Tonnes Single Semi Trailer Tipper ~30 - 70 Tonnes B-Double Semi Tipper ~55 - 68 Tonnes Road Train Tipper ~70 - 175 Tonnes
Tipper Capacity by Wheel Configurations & Axle Length
Wheel configurations & distance between axles decide safe tipper truck load capacities. If you’re wondering which tipper can best handle the materials you need to be moved, you’ll want to review the wheel configurations and axle length of the tipper to figure out the tipper truckload capacity. Some wheel configurations and their load capacities include (as a general rule of thumb):
Number of Wheels Safe Carrying Capacity Length of Truck 4 Wheel Tippers Up to 24.5 Tonnes ~7.6m 6 Wheel Tippers Up to 26 Tonnes ~7.6m 8 Wheel Tippers Up to 32 Tonnes ~9.8m Articulated Tippers Up to 44 Tonnes ~14.2m
Are there Fines for Overloading a Tipper?
If you’re searching for a tipper truck to cart materials for your site, you’re going to need a suitable size that can handle the payload and still operate within the guidelines of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. If you overload a tipper, this can cause a damage risk to your transported loads and the operator. There are also extremely strict load and capacity rules associated with driving a tipper on Australian roads, and these change from state to state, so it's really important you understand your tipper size, axel length and registered maximum weight before loading and driving the tipper anywhere.
Make sure you drive your tipper over a weight-measuring road plate before your tipper leaves the site, to ensure you have not legally overloaded your tipper and will not pass inspection. Fines for overloading a truck can exceed $5,000 and cost 6 demerit points on your rigid license. So don't do it if you want to keep your job (or your business).
So, how much can a tipper truck carry?
The short answer is from about 2 tonnes to about 70 tonnes safely and compliantly but this varies greatly depending on the type of truck. Semi-trailers and road trains can have massive payloads, the largest road train in Australia carried 175 tonnes across the Australian desert.
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We recommend you accurately assess all our tippers and then decide which truck you need to hire. If you’re looking to hire gear or subcontracted construction services, iseekplant is the largest online database of construction suppliers in the world. You'll find quality verified suppliers with tippers only a click away - you can get accurate quotes in about 5 minutes.
Click these links if you're looking for tippers in any of these capital cities: Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin, Hobart, and Canberra.
If you're a supplier to the industry and you have a tipper to hire out, then you should join iseekplant for free.
Trucks and trailers are important tools in transporting goods throughout the country. However, when these vehicles are not properly used, negligence can lead to dangerous accidents. Each type of commercial vehicle or trailer has various capabilities when it comes to the amount of cargo and weight it can safely move. When these limits are ignored or forgotten, it can constitute negligence that can be answered with a personal injury claim or lawsuit. That’s why it’s essential to know commercial truck weight limits before you do any hauling.
Let’s take a look at a variety of different types of trucks and trailers and how much weight they’re approved to carry.
These trucks are commonly used to haul large loads, either for work or personal trips, and can vary greatly in size and design. However, their overall carrying weight for the bed of the truck depends on the vehicle’s starting weight.
A half-ton pickup can hold 3,000 pounds of cargo.
A three-quarter-ton pickup can carry 4,000 pounds of cargo.
A one-ton pickup can carry 6,000 pounds of cargo.
Pickups can also haul hitched trailers. The maximum weight limits of these are called Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) and are based on the make and model of the pickup truck. It is required that operators check their owners’ manual to calculate these totals.
Trailers can be hooked up to a pickup truck or other vehicle with towing capabilities. Single axle trailers have a single axle with a wheel connected on each end. Double axle trailers have two axles to disperse greater weight, meaning double trailers are capable of handling heavier loads.
Federal and Indiana state maximum truck weight laws require that:
Single axles are limited to 20,000 pounds
Double axles are limited to 34,000 pounds.
The steering axle is limited to 12,000 pounds.
Containers are loaded onto semis for transport all over the United States. The containers are weighed at the port of arrival or in the facility they were packed in, using one of two legally approved methods as laid forth by the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Treaty:
Weighing the packed container using calibrated and certified equipment.
Weighing all packages and cargo items, including packing materials and the tare weight of the container, then adding the sum of all weights together to provide a verified weight. Estimating weights is not permitted under the SOLAS revisions.
Keeping track of these weights and measurements is a big undertaking. Containers must be loaded onto a truck using one of three approved container loading methods:
By tilting the truck bed (similar to how a dump truck drops off trash).
Placing directly onto a flat truck bed with a crane or forklift.
With the use of a chassis, which attaches to the truck bed for easier loading and unloading.
Incorrectly weighed or loaded containers are a form of negligence. Overly heavy containers loaded onto trucks can cause trucking accidents and damage to the transport vehicle itself. Data shows that as many as 20% of containers are improperly weighed or mis-declared.
For a 20-foot container, 44,000 pounds can be loaded inside.
In a 40-foot container, 44,500 pounds can be loaded inside.
Regardless, they can’t cause the truck to exceed the maximum gross vehicle weight of 80,000 pounds.
Semi-trucks often pull multiple trailers behind them. While the maximum gross weight of the combined trailers is still 80,000 pounds, there are length restrictions involved as well. It should be noted that there is no length restriction on a truck-tractor-semi trailer or truck-tractor semi-trailer-trailer combination as a whole, but rather the individual parts.
The maximum length of a semi-trailer, including the load, is 53 feet.
The maximum length of a trailer used in a truck-tractor-semitrailer-semitrailer combination is 28.5 feet or 28 ft. 6 in.
Dump trucks are used both by a city for trash collection, as well as privately by businesses and citizens for hauling debris. These vehicles can vary in style and size, depending on the manufacturer.
Box trucks are commonly used both by companies and individuals for tasks like moving furniture or equipment. These include rentals, such as U-Haul trucks.
Box trucks vary in size and length, anywhere from 16 feet to 26 feet long.
These are available for anyone with a valid driver’s license to operate.
The maximum gross weight for box trucks is 26,000 pounds. The reason for this limit is that anything over 26,000 pounds requires a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to operate.
When owners and operators of trucks ignore these maximum truck weight limits, it often causes hazards for them and others on the road. An exceeded weight limit can cause the truck to tip over, swerve uncontrollably, or require a much longer braking distance to come to a complete stop. When these trucks are carrying more than they’re allowed, negligence has occurred, and legal action should be taken.
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