Tuesday, May 10, 2016

She Thinks My Dump Truck's Sexy...

So I mentioned in a previous post that I own a dump truck. 

I find that owning a dump truck has many advantages when you live outside of the urban center, where you’ve got to do a lot of the things that your local municipality would normally do for you. 

For instance, the private road I live on is about a mile long to my driveway, and my driveway is 1,850 feet long.  That’s over a third of a mile of road that I have to maintain all by myself, and another mile that me and my four neighbors maintain between us.  There is a gravel pit 3 miles from my place, that charges 11.50 a ton for 5/8 minus gravel.  Or, if you pick it up yourself in your own dump truck, it’s 6 bucks a ton.  That’s a 5.50 per ton savings for a six mile round trip. 

Also, as the construction projects proceed, I find myself in need of a dumpster to pick up all the non-compostable scraps.  Drywall, plastic tarps, strapping, nails, etc all add up.  Instead of paying for a dumpster, you just park your dump truck close to the site and use it for a dumpster.  The local transfer station charges $60 a ton for garbage.  Generally I can fill the truck and go dump the load up there for $20 a pop.  Just pull this lever right here… 

It’s also very efficient for moving dirt around on my 25 acres.  A ¼ yard tractor bucket at a time for the length of the property takes years.  A 6 yard dump load at a time takes hours. 

Now, about my truck.  She needs some help.  Restoration projects will commence sometime next year, but in the meantime, she’s going to stay rusty and ugly.  She’s a 1964 International Loadstar 1700.  27,500 pounds gross weight, and about a 6 yard capacity. 



She’s got some rust, and she was 16 years old before I was even born, but she runs good, works hard, and gets the job done.  This truck is 52 years old, has ten speeds (5 speed transmission with a 2 speed rear end), and 180 blistering horsepower.  It’s a 345 cubic inch gasoline engine, meaning my wife’s Tahoe has a bigger, more powerful engine in it.  She ain’t fast, but she gets the job done. 


I call her Mater, after the rusty old tow truck in the movie “Cars.”  You know, like “TO-mater” only without the “Tow”.  

5 comments:

  1. Love it! Love the 5+2, I cut my teeth driving grain trucks and roofing trucks on that setup. If I had anywhere to put it, I've a line on a '56 International 6/4 ton. A little smaller than that, it'd be good for 20k gross, and needs a box.

    As for yours, she ain't real pretty, but looks damn functional. I know I'm plenty happy if people could say that about me.

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  2. Sit in that 56 before you get too excited. Unless your 90 pounds soaking wet those old trucks were not built for modern men. I think they either trained monkeys or hired midgets back then to drive their trucks.

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  3. I've got many a mile on it already, but I was younger at the time. My grandad bought it from the original owner, and we sold it at farm auction in 2000. Went to a guy in the valley that hasn't used it for years, and he only wants his money back out of it. Even that one is a little better in the cab than the one my dad kept- a 1947 Dodge D600, with a 14' wooden box. He hauled grain in it up to the last time he raised any- fill it as much as you want or as little, you'll get 48 mph at the governor. The '47 doesn't even have synchronizers in the tranny- now THAT separates the operators from the pretenders! The '56 has a factory 5 speed, an electric rear end, and the 256 straight six in it. I'm not 90lbs in my work clothes any more, but I bet I can remember how to drive it. I just have to convince Pop to go pick it up, then convince My Lovely Wife that we have a) need, and b) somewhere to put it.

    I'm trying to figure out how to get into classic car hauling, that'd be a good excuse...

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  4. What isn't sexy about a dirty dump truck? Even saying those words kinda sounds hot! I love trucks, in fact, the bigger the better. That old baby has still got plenty of life in her, and I can imagine what it feels like to be riding in the passenger seat barreling down the highway with a heavy load in the back.

    Elna Avery @ Hansen & Adkins Auto Transport

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