Daily Diesel Dose contributor Dan sent in these great shots of trucks spotted at the NYS Woodsmen’s Field Days in Boonville, NY this past weekend. Some of the rigs were involved in the parade through town while others were just hanging around waiting to be photographed. There is a great collection of trucks from old to brand new but they all share one thing in common, logging! Plenty of great shots to enjoy in the gallery below. Huge thanks to Dan for the photos, they are great.
For Lisa it appears she may be heading back to the heavy or at least mor challenging loads. This week she is tasked with move 90 feet of long pipe to Prudhoe. From bumper to bumper her rig will be 100 feet long. WOW! I can’t imagine pulling such a load on normal streets much less the Dalton Highway. This load will be a huge challenge for Lisa and requires the help of pilot car. All is well until the trailer begins tracking outside the path of the truck. Lisa is at a loss on how to prevent this. She pulls over and attempts to loosen the load and move the dolly but has no success. Lisa continues on her way forced to listen to each southbound truckers CB comments about her wayward trailer. Arriving at Cold Foot Lisa enlists the help of other drivers. Chaining her dolly to another truck and loosing the load she pulls forward and corrects the problem. She is pessimistic about the fix holding but forges on. One hundred miles from her destination she receives an urgent radio call from a trucker behind. He tells her to pull over immediately as a complete set of duals from her trailer have gone missing. This statement is beyond the comprehension of Lisa. Unbelievably she has lost a rear set of wheels from her trailer. She speculates the oddly tracking trailer from earlier in the day is to blame. With the help of fellow drivers she chains up the rear axles and crawls on to Prudhoe Bay. Insane!
Our old buddy Dave is on his way south with a return load of scrap metal. You may recall that he ditched his convoy partners of Maya and Dave because they moved to slow. In the process he nabbed the final back haul to Anchorage. He incessantly gloats over this perceived victory. Karma soon comes into play as Dave begins to experience trouble with his truck. It appears the truck is only drawing from one fuel tank causing the engine to stall when the one tank empties. Dave is forced to manually transfer fuel from one tank to another by cranking a pump located under the hood. This takes an hour of enduring brutal temps before enough fuel is transferred. Of course Dave is livid but who can blame him. Returning to the depot he is ready to tear into someone but the tables are turned when the dispatcher questions him on why he left the convoy. Dave plays dumb and insists he didn’t know he had to stay with Maya and Tony. No one is impressed with this answer and Dave is sidelined for the next two days. He worries about his potential job prospects in the coming week. I almost feel bad for Dave as he obviously takes pride in his work and is now clearly shaken up by the decision of upper management.
By the way, Maya and Dave are able to secure abandoned loads just outside of Prudhoe bay and make the quick return run to catch up on the load count so all that noise about getting an extra back haul was just that, noise.
Meanwhile Rick and Hugh attempt to do their best WRC impressions with big rigs on the frozen back roads of Canada. The loads are once again giant fuel tanks. Everyone seems to be in good spirits are there are only a few close calls with head on collisions.
Alex was a now show in last weeks episode but makes a brief appearance this week when he side swipes the Tahoe/Yukon used by his camera crew. No one is worse for wear.
The real Dodge Big Horn is a rare truck. I say real because a distinction must be made between the Ram “big horn” branded pickup trucks of today and the rigs of yesteryear. Catching a glimpse of one along the side of the road would justify slowing down with appropriate amounts of rubber necking. So when you see two near mint condition Big Horns you slam on the breaks and swing a u-turn. Dodge only manufactured 261 of these trucks over a three year span and it is believed only 110 still exist. OldDodges.com has all the info you could ever need on these truly classic trucks here. Enjoy!
Today’s Lost and Found comes to us courtesy of DDD fan Patrick. Patrick snapped these photos while a family visit to Vermont. Two Macks (L Models?) from the early 50’s and a R-Series International for good measure. Great finds!
Found an old truck? Let me know! Email Me!
For the past two episodes the truckers have dealt with a monster storm that has closed roads and disabled trucks up and down the Dalton Highway. The episode begins with Lisa riding out the storm in her sleeper. She has been trapped in Prudhoe Bay for nearly four days with little food or water. With the storm beginning to break Lisa shovels our her truck and hits the road. She rides her breaks to warm them up and to melt any snow that has built up around the drums. Fifty miles outside of town she blows a trailer tire and is forced to turn back to the shop.
Back at the Carlile yard we join a convoy getting ready to run supplies to Prudhoe Bay as the storm has severely depleted all reserves. Maya, Dave and Tony are set run the relief run. Yup, Dave and Tony together again. I think we all know how this will play out. The three don’t even make it out of the yard before the trouble starts. Tony accuses Dave of being disrespectful. Dave accuses Tony “looking for something”. You really have to wonder how these two continually get paired together. Dave is really a lone wolf trucker and does not work well with ANYONE else. Poor Maya has no idea what she is in for. Dave is forced to run at the back of the convoy which will not last long. Maya drives too slow for his taste. Sensing trouble Tony has Dave pass Maya but Dave will be Dave and passes both. Everyone is pissed and the CB explodes with all three yelling at each other. Dave informs the camera that he doesn’t care what they think and that he is not hear to babysit. Eventually HQ informs Dave that he must reconnect with the convoy which he begrudgingly does. But just like before the other drivers are going too slow for hot road Dave. This time he does wait for permission and passes both Maya and Tony again. More rage on the poor CB. No one is impressed.
The great adventure in the wilds of Ontario continue for Hugh, Rick and the unnamed driver that we see but is never mentioned. After realizing they have made a wrong turn they must now go back across the 7 mile wide lake crossing that they JUST crossed. Eventually the “three” make it to the destination and unload in record time. Leaving the yard Rick takes the turn too tight and is sucked into a ditch of deep snow. Thankfully an excavator is onsite and able to push Rick out. Hugh comments that Rick could be a great driver if he would slow down and take his time. Fifty miles further down the road Hugh inquires if Rick got his paperwork signed at the drop off. Silence. Rick forgot to have the paperwork signed, no signature equals no paycheck. He must turn around. While attempting to do so his truck dies and will not restart. The frayed battery cables of the past have come back to haunt him. Rick is reaching near ballistic levels of anger and demands that the camera crew leave his cab. A cab door is slammed and the final straw breaks. Rick jumps out of the cab and threatens to kill the cameraman. A few tense moments later he retreats back to the truck. Now seems like a perfect time for a in place Ford commercial. The black F-150 Raptor is back and setup to bump start Ricks truck. Rick doesn’t believe the Ford can do it while Hugh does. Ford triumphs again as the Rick’s truck roars to life. Back in the cab Rick and the cameraman kiss and make up.
By the end of the episode Dave has cemented his reputation as a punk, Maya has received glowing praise from Tony, and Lisa is back home playing with her pony.
A NYC sanitation worker received the shock of his life yesterday when his 16-ton Mack burst through the wall of a three story repair garage. Quick thinking by other sanitation workers avoided a possible deadly scenario when they hooked their trucks to almost air borne salt spreader with heavy chains. The driver was eventually rescued with just minor injuries.
Today we have some great visitor submissions courtesy of Dan and Joe.
Dan sends us this great series of photos of an old Mack doing a high wire act on a rail road bridge near Lockport, NY. Whatever you do, don’t look down.
Joe sends us another great series of rigs from the NYC Produce Terminal Market, Hunts Point, the Bronx.
Thanks for the great photos! And remember, Daily Diesel Dose is always accepting visitor photos. Click Here!
Sunday was the ATHS Twin Tiers Chapter show at the Brockway Museum in nearby Homer, NY. Enjoy!
This past Saturday the main street of Cortland, NY was alive with sounds of Brockways. Over 122 trucks were in attendance to delight hundreds of visitors through out the day. All eras and models of Brockways were represented.
This weekend the annual Brockway National Show was held in Cortland NY. It’s a time when Huskies from across the country return to their ancestral home land. Stay tuned for photos of that great show but until then here are some Brockways that didn’t make the show. The following classics are located north of Cortland in nearby Homer, NY. It’s hard to say if they are still used or not. The 361 Tractor seems pretty solid and the truck with the conveyor setup seems valuable from a functional standpoint. The third truck however has literally been put out to pasture.
Do you know of an old truck still working for living? Email Me!
