a Pic of my rig ... Updated with my normal setup.

[DaveFromColorado]

Whelp, I was really hoping to get a picture of the normal setup I drive ... the dumptruck, trailer, and sweeper - however I got stuck driving the roll-off truck since my normal truck was in the shop for it's PM ... not a big deal - but I snapped a pic of the junk I was driving last night.

I say junk, because this is an old Ford L8000, with a Ford Turbo-Diesel engine (it's tagged ford on the motor) ... 260hp at 2400 RPM's, 6 speed automatic. There's something seriously wrong with this truck too, it passed my inspection with flying colors, but the power ... it's not there. I'd swear my little Saturn could pull the trailer better than this truck could. I think I got up to 55 on the highway once last night. I must admit tho, this truck has one hell of a turn radius. ... here's the picture - hopefully the rain will hold out tonight, so I can get a pic of my normal setup.

14,000lb machine + 1835 lbs of water (220 gallons), not sure of the weight of the trailer, that dumpster has to be a couple thousand pounds ... that poor truck didn't have a chance.



--Dave.

[CaliTrucker]

i drove a fuel truck doing residental fuel deliveries in a truck like that for about a year. It was a 1979 Ford L8000 sound like the same motor and tranny too. It had a 2500 gallon tank on the back and if I was carrying anywhere near or over 400 to 500 gallons it was gutless. I was lucky to get up to 25mph on any hill didnt even have to be a big one.

Funny thing was though that no matter what you did to that truck it just kept on running, which was not a good thing not too mention, the bench seat sucked :x

[DaveFromColorado]

Ahh, I'm lucky enough to have split-buckets.

We've got a potable water tank that we can run on the back of the roll-off trucks - from what I heard - they had an old fuel-oil tank too, but there's no demand for fuel oil, so they dropped that service.

--Dave.

[DaveFromColorado]

Here's a (blurry) picture of my normal rig ... 1999 Sterling with the 310hp Cat Turbodiesel, and an 6speed Alison automatic.



And this one is my normal sweeper, it's a pile of crap. 99hp John Deere turbodiesel powered, 4-speed manual transmission (yup, stick shift and all!) - it's a late 80's model (I think), no one really knows exactly what year it is.

On the trailer, it's 14' 1" high. Getting it on that trailer takes a bit of nerve.



--Dave.

[Kranky]

Whelp, I was really hoping to get a picture of the normal setup I drive ... the dumptruck, trailer, and sweeper - however I got stuck driving the roll-off truck since my normal truck was in the shop for it's PM ... not a big deal - but I snapped a pic of the junk I was driving last night.

I say junk, because this is an old Ford L8000, with a Ford Turbo-Diesel engine (it's tagged ford on the motor) ... 260hp at 2400 RPM's, 6 speed automatic. There's something seriously wrong with this truck too, it passed my inspection with flying colors, but the power ... it's not there. I'd swear my little Saturn could pull the trailer better than this truck could. I think I got up to 55 on the highway once last night. I must admit tho, this truck has one hell of a turn radius. ... here's the picture - hopefully the rain will hold out tonight, so I can get a pic of my normal setup.

14,000lb machine + 1835 lbs of water (220 gallons), not sure of the weight of the trailer, that dumpster has to be a couple thousand pounds ... that poor truck didn't have a chance.



--Dave.

That's the "Brazilian" Ford diesel.

From what I've heard over the years those started out as New Holland farm tractor engines, then Ford decided to use them in trucks.

They were fine in medium duty trucks, but then Ford started putting those engines in class 8 trucks and they were no where near up to the job.

A sand & gravel company around here bought about 10 Ford triaxle dumps with the Brazil engines in 1987.

They were like rolling roadblocks whenever you'd run up behind one, they were scrapped about 5 years ago, now that company is buying Kenworths with big power.

And in that truck in your photo, the auto trans is like adding insult to injury when it's coupled to an engine like that!

[Kranky]

Here's a (blurry) picture of my normal rig ... 1999 Sterling with the 310hp Cat Turbodiesel, and an 6speed Alison automatic.



And this one is my normal sweeper, it's a pile of crap. 99hp John Deere turbodiesel powered, 4-speed manual transmission (yup, stick shift and all!) - it's a late 80's model (I think), no one really knows exactly what year it is.

On the trailer, it's 14' 1" high. Getting it on that trailer takes a bit of nerve.



--Dave.

I can see that loading that sweeper is a bitch.

No way you can see the trailer deck as you're going up.

You probably have to look out the side window and keep the front tire the right distance from the edge of the trailer (as determined by previous experience). :shock:

[DaveFromColorado]

I can see that loading that sweeper is a bitch.

No way you can see the trailer deck as you're going up.

You probably have to look out the side window and keep the front tire the right distance from the edge of the trailer (as determined by previous experience). :shock:

Saying it's a bitch is an understatement ... the trick is ... lean way out the window, prop yourself up on the seat, look at the edge of the tire, if it looks like the bulge of the tire (from the weight of the machine) is barely over the edge, you're centered pretty well - then you gotta take your foot off the brake, give it gas, and let the clutch up - it's nerve racking - but if you do go off the side of the trailer, normally you can just back up and try again. After enough times of loading and off loading, I got quick at it ... takes me about 5 minutes to load, center, and chain it down now ... if the sweeper is too far forward (by even an inch) it feels like the front tires of the truck are bouncing off the ground, if it's too far back, it feels like you're riding a bucking bronco down the road ... it's extremely sensitive about where it's at. This changes if your water tank is full and/or you have the hopper full.

I've been there for just a shade over 2 months and I'm by no means experienced at it, but to think of all the little things I've learned, and all the knowledge I've acquired in that time is kinda amazing.

Also, it's interesting to know about that Brazilian engine - I could see it being good in a medium duty truck, but not in a class 8. The fact that they kept 'em around for 15 years says a bit about their durability though.

--Dave.