On my '69 C50 when dumping road rock it's moving too fast even in granny low to control the drive and spread technique. Push in the clutch to slow down and the PTO stops lifting. I have been considering going from PTO driven to electric. This would need to be a low budget modification as this truck is only used around my place for property maintenance. Just curious as to how many of you have done this at a reasonable cost.
FYI: The hoist works great as I've dumped over 8 ton of crushed concrete (due to being overloaded) on at least one occasion.
I think a starter motor could be adapted to do that. You might need to come up with a gear reducer to adjust the speed. Dig out your calculator and see what speed you're currently turning the shaft and compare to the speed of a starter motor. Is the hoist hydraulic or gear driven? I have not messed with any PTO or hoist, just throwing out ideas. I'm sure someone else will chime in with ideas. Good luck on your project.
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J Lucas You don't have 2-speed axle I take it,because ground speed is too fast. My 48 2-ton is one speed axle but spreads off 8000 lbs. of white rock just right. Are you limiting your tail gate to control the rate of rock leaving the bed ?? Should be able to squeeze it down to just a leak !! My tail gate has 2 4x12 inch horizontal slots that just puts rock right on the 2 paths of where your vehicles run. Or can chain the whole tail gate for full width metering.of course the size of rock is a factor. Now gotta watch that the bed doesn't over center,upend and damage your hoist. Might want to chain it till you see how it will act,lot of factors there !! Always remember a spreaderman NEVER scoops gravel LOL LOL. I've scooped...
John -- Fixite has the right idea. I think you are tailgating the hard way A PTO-driven hoist should work just fine for you. You are using tail gate chains, right??
The trick is setting your gate chains
When I spread that way (bank run, gravel, recycled asphalt millings, 2"" recycled concrete, etc), I set my tail gate chains for the amount of gate opening I want, then get the truck about 6 feet from where I want the spread to start, raise the bed until I feel the load shift aft and load the tailgate ... Then I ease off in 1st gear while simultaneously releasing the the tailgate lock. Um, yes -- you will want to be sure your chains are good and the chain locks are solid -- it's a mighty "whunk!!" when that gate comes open!
Maintain a steady pace. As you go, the bed will continue to raise until full up. At that point, set the lift control to "hold" so the hydraulic pump doesn't over pressure. Keep rolling until the bed is empty. Take the PTO out of gear, lower the bed, lock the gate, go reload.
It might take you a few tries to learn how much chain to give the gate.
Of course this is easier if you have an air locked gate ... but it might give you a better idea even with a manual gate lock.
I get consistent results like this. This is a job I did recently at work (357 Peterbilt dumptruck -- 1st pass ):
~ John
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All the dump drivers who have delivered gravel and fill dirt to my place have used the same technique. It's even possible to dump part of a load by lowering the bed and letting the tailgate choke off the flow to a trickle, then engaging the tailgate lock again. Jerry
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Tailgate? Tailgate chains? I just removed the grain bed end gate assembly and rigged up a couple 2x10's which I remove when it's time to dump. I've been trying to control it with the hoist alone. You guys just saved me a lot of work. It'll be way easier to build an adjustable tailgate than to re-power the hoist. Plus it should actually work.
You most likely saved me a bunch of money as well.
J Lucas One other detail...don't kill it mid-spread !! LOL All spreadermen learn this,keep a smaller size scoop shovel on board. To do the gravel just in the tracks trick you can put a wood 6x6 at the center of your full width tail gate. Lot of tricks in the spreadermans bag,you''ll soon be one,bring us back a report I detected you saw the trouble burn into it. Only thing more fun...winch truck !!
J Lucas just looked at your fleet,wow lot of nice stuff be great when you get your shed under roof so you can get em in. On your tail gate go to your road service people,maybe the township guys and look at the tail gates for idea's on how to fix yours. There are lots of factory made and homemade ways to do it. Mine has about a 12 inch little apron all across,back that up to the pile so excess goes back on the pile,amazingly rock on that apron will ride a long way. With that apron you can leave your tailgate setting alone between loads.
To answer your question, it is easy to convert and you’ll find the entire kit on eBay᠁.it what gets used to build dump trailers. Keep your original Ram. Doing it to my ‘62 C40
A PTO-driven hoist should work just fine for you. You are using tail gate chains, right??
Tailgate chains? 
It'll be way easier to build an adjustable tailgate than to re-power the hoist. Plus it should actually work.