How Big Is a Dump Truck?

How Big Is a Dump Truck? Of course, dump trucks are big. They have to be! They usually have large diesel engines and anywhere from six to a dozen tires. Dump trucks are used to haul large loads of loose materials, such as dirt, rocks, sand, and coal, to construction sites, factories, or power plants.

The open bed features a hinge at the rear of the truck, so that hydraulic pistons located at the front of the bed can lift the front to dump the contents of the bed at the delivery site. To find the largest dump trucks in the world, you need to check out large open-pit mining operations.

As companies mine the ground for coal and other valuable resources, huge dump trucks are needed to carry the extremely-large loads of dirt, coal, and rocks that are taken out of the ground. And the more a dump truck can carry, the less it costs the mining company per load to haul its resources.

For several years, the world’s largest dump truck was the Caterpillar 797B. Standing 25 feet high and nearly 50 feet long, this $5 million behemoth couldn’t be driven on the highway. Instead, it had to be transported in pieces and assembled at a job site.

The title of world’s largest dump truck went to a new vehicle recently, however. Manufactured by BelAZ in Belarus, the BelAZ 75710 began moving rocks and coal in a mine in Siberia in 2014.

Content for this question contributed by Brian Brogan, resident of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA