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The Return of Ready Mix Trucks

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Eric

It’s been quite awhile since the likes of the trucks below have graced the pages of Daily Diesel Dose. It really wasn’t my choice not to have any cement trucks the past few months but you know multiple polar vortexes and record snow falls really are not conducive to concrete work. Whatever evil wizard cast the spell of eternal winter has now died and the warm weather has brought our friends back.

WELCOME TO THE CONCRETE JUNGLE! Sorry, but a front discharge mixer has nothing on this truck. NOTHING! Vitale & Robinson Concrete happen to the be the owner of this beastly Mack truck. They also happen to the operators of the ungainly looking Oshkosh F2346 (here too)and a very well preserved Ford L9000.

Here we have a Cranesville Block mixer helping to set freshly installed granite curbs. This was a fluid operation with the truck never really stopping. Watch for video to soon be available!

Below in the gallery is another shot of the awesome Mack mixer along with a what appears to be a brand new Terex for Saunders Concrete. Speaking of galleries, have you checked out the B-Roll recently? It’s growing by leaps and bounds!

[Show as slideshow]

Posted in On the Job | Leave a comment

Vac Trucks

Posted on May 9, 2014 by Eric

I first saw this truck a few weeks ago as it was inching through downtown traffic. For a moment I thought about stopping to take a photo but changed my mind at the last second. Of course I was instantly racked with regret and wondered if I would ever get another crack at this truck. Wandering the streets aimlessly the other morning I had my shot to grab redemption.

It looks like I may have some dirt on my camera lense but the spots really don’t detract from the near mint condition of the International 2674. Not bad for a truck that is probably 12 years old or more. This truck belongs to a branch of Onondaga County government know as the Department of Water Environment Protection. Keeping the fashion of other county vehicles the truck number is crudely spray painted on the side.

On the newer side of the fence you will find this Western Star 4700 of Kandey Co Inc. This truck has been a regular on the Connective Corridor construction scene. I believe it is being used to dig holes for pipes and other electrical conduit. Despite crossing paths with this truck during beautiful sunny weather I’ve only bothered to take a shot of it when the sky is grey and overcast. Go Figure

Posted in On the Job | Tagged aquatech, kandey co inc, vector 2100 | Leave a comment

Random Diesel Musings for Spring

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Eric

In the age of Photoshop can you ever be sure what you see on the internet is real? Take a look at this photo and let the conspiracy side of your mind run wild for a moment.

What did you decide? My first thought was somebody needs to change the tires on that haul truck! But really, this appears to be a genuine photo. It was tweeted by the official M-B account a few weeks ago. This photo really helps to highlight the power most modern trucks have to haul loads that are simply constrained by weight, length, and height law.

Speaking of power have you heard of the Trident Iceni Magna? Utializing a 6.6-liter turbo-diesel V8 this future supercar is expected to produce 395 horsepower with 700 pound feet of torque. With a top speed of 190 mph the Iceni Magna is the world’s faster diesel powered car. Too seal the deal you can travel 2,000 miles on one tank of fuel. Whaaaaaaat? Check out the complete article at Yahoo Autos by clicking here

Thanks to Jason for the tips!

Posted in Industry News | Leave a comment

Boulder Drop – Economy Paving

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Eric

The City of Syracuse has put together a nice little webpage that is updated once a week with all the planned road closures related to construction. It’s become the first website I visit on Mondays to help me get a lay of the land. I was excited to see a new project listed that included partial lane closures and plenty of heavy equipment. Cat 324D L with a long reach boom anyone?

On Monday I stopped by to see what was up an found that the crew from Economy Paving had already made a large pile of dirt consisting of large concrete slabs and rusted pipe. I’m not sure exactly where the material is coming from but I suspect the long reach is being used to scoop an area from nearby Onondaga Creek. I returned on a Tuesday and found the loading process well underway.

Before the Riccelli Trucking Mack Granite arrived I watched the operator of the Komatsu PC300LC attempting to smash the large chunks of concrete with its bucket. Even with a bucket full of material the concrete refused to break. One final attempt was made by dropping a slab from a great height right next the pickup of the bossman which only resulted in unhappy faces. Before loading the Riccelli driver had to line his dump beds with a plastic tarp. Maybe I should hold my breath while by this site? Makes me wonder what they are digging up?

Below is a wind filled video complete with the unsuccessful block breaking attempt.

Stay tuned for future updates from this site!

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Posted in On the Job | Tagged cat 324D L, economy paving, komatsu pc300LC, riccelli trucking | Leave a comment

Bronto Skylift

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Eric

If you want to take some innovative photos at your next truck show you could always go out and purchase a flying camera drone. You could use it to hover over the show field or maybe tag along with the trucks as they pull into the event. Here at Daily Diesel Dose I believe in going big or going home so no puny drone will be good enough. Enter the Bronto Skylift.

With this setup not only can you grab a unique shot but be part of the truck show at the same time!

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Thanks to Ryan for sharing!

Posted in On the Job | Tagged bronto skylift | 1 Comment

Autocar Mondays – A Mighty Fine ACL

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Eric

The Connective Corridor has already provided so much wonderful material for this site yet it keeps on giving! It’s a style of living we should all try to emulate. This Autocar ACL is one of the many truck working daily on the project. While the photo can’t convey sound I can tell you this truck has a nice tone to it. I’ve tried to catch it on video a few times but so far I have failed. Hopefully I will have a few more chances.

Would you like to help keep Autocar Mondays alive? Send in your photos to eric@dailydieseldose.com

Posted in Autocar Trucks | Tagged autocar acl | 1 Comment

Syracuse Recycling Cleanup?

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Eric

It’s been 10 months and counting since a massive fire claimed the building that Syracuse Recycling called home. Shortly after the flames were extinguished demo crews demolished the surviving walls of the structure and carted the large iron beams carted off for scrap. After that, not much happened. I guess large piles of melted plastic have no value. Just last week a few dumpsters, an excavator and two dump trucks arrived on the scene. One, a Mack Midliner with hydroseeder seems worthless at this stage in the game but the second truck should prove more valuable.

Yup, another Diamond Reo still in the trenches. This one is starting to look a little worse for wear with goobered up headlights, mismatched turn signals and hasty patched roof. I’m not complaining actually, I like this world weary look. At one point this truck was owned by Ciotti Enterprises but the lettering has since been removed so your guess is as good as mine. The picture below gives you a good idea about the eyesore this location has been for East Syracuse.

Hopefully in the coming weeks more details will emerge leading to videos and photos for you and for me.

Past Coverage

Syracuse Recycling Destroyed by Fire

Posted in Still Working | Tagged ciotti enterprises, syracuse recycling fire | Leave a comment

The Lan-Co Companies

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Eric

Overshadowed by the connective corridor work from this past week was this work crew from the Lan-Co Companies. I’m not sure what they were doing other than working on a rather deep hole between two buildings. Over the course of a three days I was able to capture a few different trucks from their very large fleet.

Lan-Co seems to run a little bit of everything including Macks, Kenworths, Peterbilts and Freightliners. During this job a Mack RD dump truck seemed to be stationed in front of the hole most times while the driver helped to direct traffic out of the adjacent parking garage.

Included in the gallery below is a special photo from 2010 of Lan-Co Western Star. The date stamp reads 2010 but I suspect it is much older, maybe from 2008 or before. Also below is a video of a pair of Lan-Co Frieghtliners that were busy at work last year. I was watching the demolition work at Bristol Myers when I noticed these trucks making a loop by the job site. I captured a few on video but was never sure what to do with the footage…until now. Nothing special but someone out there will like it.

[Show as slideshow]

Posted in On the Job | Tagged lan-co companies, mack cl with lowboy, mack rd dump truck | Leave a comment

They Drive The Long Haul

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Eric

The American Truck Historical Society has been very busy over the past few years embracing the age of the internet. You can now access past editions of their Wheels of Time publication online as well as view a portion of their vast White Motor Trucks archive. Continuing the march to the future the ATHS is now busy uploading various videos from their library that include recent truck show footage and archival gems like the film They Drive The Long Haul.

They Drive The Long Haul was produced back in 1952 by West Coast Fast Freight and provides fascinating insight into the life a line haul trucker from what many consider the golden age of the trucking industry. The flim covers five drivers as they travel over 1200 miles from Lost Angles, California to Spokane, Washington. A smaller portion of the film also deals with a run by a System Tank Lines truck as it hauls fuel across the deserts of the Southwest.

I was blown away by the quality of this video. It seriously is the closest many of us will ever get to trucking in the 50’s. The film is clear and the sound really comes through. Many times the background music and the narrator fall silent so the sound of diesel engines can take the staring roll. Whoever produced this video really had a passion for trucks and it shows.

Current drivers will be amazed by the variety of gizmos used to conduct driver physicals. It seems like there was an O-Matic for every from the testing of depth perception to the recording of reaction time. Also of note were the Tacograph used to measure engine RPMS and the Speedogram used to record speed, distance and stop duration all to CD sized wax discs. They were the grandfather of today’s paperless log systems.

I could go on like this but the film will do a better job. It’s full of fun facts that are so outdated now they are charming, like tires that cost 150 a piece or 200HP diesel engines being the most powerful on the road. Get some popcorn and dim the lights, it’s time to go trucking.

Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Posted in Youtube Finds | Leave a comment

Connective Corridor

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Eric

There’s a doings transpiring! Look at this beautiful mess, it’s the start of the Connective Corridor, a plan that will link downtown Syracuse with Syracuse University through the use of bike lanes, sidewalks, lighting, and benches.

For drivers entering the city from the west this is nothing but a big pain in the rear but for us eastsiders it’s nothing but great material this website. Currently one half of West Fayette Street does not exist. The pavement and sidewalks are gone, nothing but a trench remains that will soon receive a smooth new road.

A steady stream of dump trucks arrive with aggregate and then leave with rubble. From independent haulers to local construction giants, they are all here and working together.

Please take a moment to review the painstakingly curated images found in the gallery below. Stay tuned for video and even more photos as the project continues and make sure to stop back on Monday for photos of a really nice Autocar that can haul with the best of them.