Garbage Truck to Shred steel compactor?

Had a crazy idea the other day,when i saw retired garbage trucks for auction. Would it be possible to use a retired garbage truck as a shred compactor? Granted it may not smell the best or need multiple pressure washings ,But if you have a big enough area would it pay to buy one to use and compact everything and make one or two loads to the yard instead of 20. Every time i go i pack everything best i can but always run out of room because of air voids lol.

I think a guy would be disappointed because the garbage truck compaction is not designed to compress as hard as would be needed to compact metal objects very much. The cost of maintaining and operating a big truck would also probably outweigh the increased loads you could take to the scrapyard.

Thanks, i wasn't sure of the compaction rate of the trucks. My theory would involve just using the truck as a stationary compactor, since fuel and insurance etc would be cost prohibitive.

I've had good luck with using a battery powered zipcut grinder to make stuff more compact. You can zap the legs off a metal chair quicker'n you can think about it. Since most curbco stuff is thin metals zipcuts are pretty handy. I've also used it a lot up here in the great white north to cut Teck cable and hydraulic hoses when I'm lucky enough to get into an industrial area to scrap, when the cables and hose are too big for standard sidecutters.

I can't handle a sawzall for long 'cause it rattles my arms pretty bad and I get some sort of muscle problems from it.

With the right charger, you can have a spare battery plugged in to your cigarette lighter to keep a fresh one available all the time.

If you wanted to partially crush your scrap it might be worth looking into a heavy-duty cardboard baler. But anything will cost you time and money and unless you are doing so volume or your yard is quite a ways away I think most guys find a pickup and dual axle trailer are pretty hard to beat for a low cost high volume scrap hauling setup.

Jon.

I work part time on a garbage truck. The way the crusher works is not really a usefully way to crush metal. It would most likely get stuck or break something.

It will crush a fridge if you are careful, but you might get it stuck.

Been crushing stuff for over 20 years with a garbage truck, metal would not work out.

Saw this done a few years back : Take a log splitter and mount a flat plate on either side where it splits wood. A bottom plate is optional. Will crush appliances etc flat or almost flat. Kind of labour intensive,but does the job. You could fab up a heavier one to do fridges etc,but I think you would be spending more on fab. than you would recover in density.

I've used numerous roll-offs with a compactor, might be best to watch for one of those. I've seen em throw stuff in there just to see what it would do. Not sure how far they'll go, but have noted that heavy duty treated wood beams laid long ways didn't even phase it.
They also have an opening end for dumping/removal of the contents

Hello everyone,

I have been reading the post on here and I have an Idea, is that you take an old garbage truck and convert it into a mobile metal shredder, I am not sure if that would work, but it is an idea if you know what I mean.

Originally Posted by Bear

I've used numerous roll-offs with a compactor, might be best to watch for one of those. I've seen em throw stuff in there just to see what it would do. Not sure how far they'll go, but have noted that heavy duty treated wood beams laid long ways didn't even phase it.
They also have an opening end for dumping/removal of the contents

that would work better than a garbage truck. It crushes differently. Its hard to explain how a garbage truck works without showing someone....it kind of scoops while it crushes, the roll off should just use a ram that crushes straight.

Alright thanks guys, thought it may be a viable option but wasn't sure how they worked since i dont have practical experience with them.

Originally Posted by Gravitar

Didn't someone on here have a thread about this? http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/tools...sed-truck.html I would PM him.

I think that the problem with the rear load trash truck is exactly what Matt said, it scoops the trash and then presses it together. I think a side load trash truck would work better, like this one:



It's like a trash compactor with wheels.

some of the side loaders are knows for jamming. heard a few guys use colorful language to describe them