Those dump trucks really do articulate !

Yup. .those Catwagons aren't only end dump. .😉 I drove a Cat 250 at a mine near here a few years ago and while I didn't deliberately lay the box on it's side, what I was driving on did give way and over it went. Same thing, a quick visit from the excavator and it was back upright and away we went for another load.

While dumping sideways isn't the preferred way to do it, it doesn't seem to hurt 'em. A few scratches in the box from the excavator bucket seem to be the only permanent results, plus the pucker in the seat from the operator😮 . .

You'd think something would break?

they have a pivot ring just behind the cab. Allows them to go over but not 360*. Hyd lines and electrical would be torn up. This "USUALLY" keeps the operator upright and lets the box go over. When tipping them back upright be careful not to grab ahold of the tailgate linkage with the excavator, this messes it up bad......... (had to repair a few before the excavator operator got it figured out, LOL)

It seems to happen often and most of the time, there isn't much damage. Somewhere, I have a pic of one where the load stuck in the box when they went to dump. When they raised the box, it picked the cab off of the ground, which caused it to flip around. The back half is upright, and the cab is upside down! Nobody got hurt - thank goodness for seat belts! I'll have to dig around at home to see if I can find it.