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The Season of Truck Shows

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Eric

Truck show season is about to enter high gear around this part of the world but for our friends on the west coast they have been living it up for months now. Take a look at these wonderful photos from long time contributor Ryan.

Up first is a great collection of modern and classic iron from the Cherokee Truck Parts truck show in Galt, California.

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Also provided for your enjoyment is coverage of the ATHS Central California truck show and BBQ.

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Gotta love those west coast trucks with long stacks, even longer wheelbases and chrome, chrome, chrome!

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The Garbage Trucks of CNY

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Eric

The garbage truck. The humble hero of the modern world. As a society where would we be without it? I’ve often wondered if garbage men (sorry ladies) have a time of year they prefer when it comes to collection. Weather in the summer is hot and humid so you know the smell and flies are off the chart. Winter would help reduce the smell and insects but you still have the generally poor weather to deal with. Maybe there is no ideal time.

Below we have some trucks from Brand Trucking Inc. and Syracuse Haulers. I’ve seen the Mack roll-off around town many times before and I can report that the tag axle has always been without tires.

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Posted in On the Job | Tagged brand trucking inc, garbage truck, syracuse haulers, trash truck | Leave a comment

Lowboys and Drop Decks

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Eric

Nothing too outrageous today. Just a collection of trucks attached to lowboy and drop deck trailers. The Kenworth below belongs to Clark Rigging. As you can see it has a variety weights and pulleys for a crane (not shown) that was lifting containers of stone from the top of the local jail.

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Checking out the gallery below you will find a Kenworth for NES Rentals. A Western Star that caught me surprise as it was hauling a rather large bucket and counter weight. A Peterbilt for Pine Bush Equipment which is something of an odd duck up here in CNY. PBE has locations in the downstate and Connecticut area. Last but not least we have a Mack Vision for Sunbelt Rentals.

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Posted in On the Job | Tagged clark rigging, drop deck trailer, lowboy trailer, nes rentals, sunbelt rentals | Leave a comment

DOT Plow Truck Clean Out

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Eric

It’s time to do a little spring cleaning around here and share some miscellaneous plow trucks from a few months back. Looking at the gallery below the first row of trucks are all brand new units. Out of this group I can tell you the red truck is heading to the town of West Turin, NY. The future homes of the other two trucks are up in the air. All three arrived on dealer lots toward the start of April so they will have to wait until next season to see any real action. April seems to be a popular time of the year for new trucks to show up. It must have something to do with end of year budgets so on and so forth.

Moving on to the second row we have a Sterling that belongs to the Town of German Flatts, NY. Sterlings usually don’t catch my eye but this one did. I’m unsure of the model so please let me known if you know. The rest of the row is comprised of an International WorkStar for the Town of Salina. A heavy duty Western Star for the Town of Stockbridge. And last by not least a Freightliner 108SD for parts unknown.

The final two trucks of the collection belong to the City of Oswego and Town of Onondaga in that order. I crossed paths with the Oswego PayStar earlier in the season which you can revisit by clicking here. This time the truck was in my neck of the woods at a local spring shop. The Sterling from Town of Onondaga is serious machine setup with a 6×6 configuration. I spotted this truck leaving the OCRRA Ley Creek transfer station.

Enjoy!

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Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged city of oswego dpw, international paystar, international workstar plow truck, sterling plow truck, town of onondaga highway department, west turin ny | Leave a comment

Bantam Crane Truck

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Eric

Today we return to Dobbins with a walk around tour of an old Bantam crane truck. The age of this vehicle is unknown but I can tell you it had two Continental gas engines. The name on the side of the Bantam reads “Carmen Vescio Inc. General Contractor Fulton NY”. Google is still a believer in this company providing multiple search results. All in all this old Bantam was fairly solid. The crane engine looked well maintained and even had a fresh battery. Grab yourself some new tires, paint, fresh gas and you will be ready to roll.

Bantam Truck Crane – Click to Enlarge

Please pardon my ignorance when I refer to the bantam logo as a chicken.

Posted in Lost and Found | Tagged bantam crane truck, dobbins auto parts | Leave a comment

On the Job – JPW Riggers

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Eric

Another day. Another closed street in downtown Syracuse. Today we enjoy some high lifting action with a crew from JPW Riggers. Work is drawing to a close on a the rehab of a former commercial space that will soon be known as Merchants Commons. It appears mixed use buildings are all the rage based on the 90% occupancy rate of similar projects in the area.

I stopped by early in the morning and watched some of the setup of the crane. Returning during my lunch break found the crew lifting a large fan to very top of the building. A shrink wrapped generator patiently waited nearby for its turn to fly.

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The crane in question is a Terex AC 350/6. The lifting capacity is listed as 400 ton. Two diesel engines power this unit. The carrier motor is capable of 612 HP while the lifting engine puts around 279 HP. Total system height tops out at 412 feet. You can read all the details by clicking here.

Here is a short video of it backing up and lifting the fan.

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Posted in On the Job | Tagged jpw riggers, terex ac 350/6, terex crane | Leave a comment

At the Dealer – Cat 501HD

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Eric

I stopped by Milton Cat(Syracuse location) last month and found some mean looking track harvesters on display. The 501HD below had the complete setup with PF-48 harvester head. I was surprised to find that head was also a Cat a product. Is there any type of heavy equipment they don’t make?

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My eye was drawn to the larger 522B model nearby as it was nearly all black instead of the typical Cat yellow. A red and gold strip ran across the back of the unit.

Cat 552 – Click to Enlarge

The black cab with rivets running the perimeter gave the machine a very unique look. In the sea of yellow it stood out. The poor trees this machine runs up against don’t stand a chance.

Cat 552B – Click to Enlarge

I see some hydraulics rams near the base of the table so I’m guessing it can move in a variety of directions. Good stuff!

Posted in At the Dealer | Tagged cat 501 harvester, cat 522b harvester, cat feller, milton cat | Leave a comment

Still Working – Mack DM

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Eric

Have a look at this old beast of dump truck, the venerable Mack DM. This past Monday I was sitting at a light when I noticed this old rig lumbering down the street with a full load. As you can imagine it was moving rather slowly but that didn’t help me as I was still stuck at my stop light. All I could do was watch as the Mack crested a hill and disappeared. After what seemed like an eternity I was released by my traffic control master to start the chase. Following a slowly dissipating trail of exhaust I found the DM as it began to enter the interstate. By this point I was directly behind the truck and can attest that it was leaning to the passenger side just as dramatically in real life as illustrated in the photo below.

The photo below is a screen grab of a video I was shooting as we drove by. Yes, video!

Mack DM – Click to Enlarge

There is nothing I don’t like about this truck. The rust. The dents. The faded red paint. The smoke. I love it. I’m sure the driver wondered what the hell I was doing but you gotta do what you gotta do. This video also contains footage of the newer model DM from Wednesday’s post.

God save the old iron! Oh yeah, almost forgot. Moments after passing the DM a Brockway 359(maybe?) was heading the opposite way. If it wasn’t for a wall concrete between the two of us I would have the wife swing a U-turn!

Posted in Still Working | Tagged mack dm dump truck | Comments Off

On the Job – American Auger and Ditching Co.

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Eric

Two days ago I was heading home from work when I passed the International you see below while it was heading in the opposite direction. At the time there was a large steel pipe strapped on the back. I thought to myself “Gee, I wonder where that is heading?” and then I promptly moved on and forgot about it. The next morning I was taking a walk before work when I happened to stumble across the International and its buddy the Versa-Drill.

Versa-Drill – Click to Enlarge

Drilling through a city street that has seen some sort of human development for over two centuries must be one hell of complicated job. I can only imagine the maze of old pipes, utilities and other detritus that lay beneath the surface.

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Update

I Took a stroll during lunch today and came across the AA&D crew now working on the backside of the Pike Block Building referenced in the earlier version of this story. This time I was able to get as close to the machine as I wanted without having to peer through a fence in the middle of Salina Street.

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I was able to watch of a few minutes of the drilling process. There is an automated arm on the boom that sweeps in and grabs a new section of pipe when needed. Effortless.

Posted in On the Job | Tagged american auger and ditching co., international 9900i, pike block, syracuse, versa-drill | Leave a comment

On the Job – Mack Dump Trucks

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Eric

This past February there was a large water main break in a part of downtown Syracuse known as Armory Square. For some reason the local media latched on to this story and rode it into the earth with stories of crumbling infrastructure and businesses dying on the vine due to lack of water. While people wrung their hands in fear I smiled internally knowing that come spring the streets would have to be repaired meaning dump trucks and other heavy equipment in full force. Ooooh yeah. Welcome to how my mind works.

The permanent repair work started this Monday with the removal of the patch work that was placed in February. Three dump trucks were on hand to haul away the material.

Mack Truck – Click to Enlarge

Two days later finds half of the street and sidewalks ready for replacement. As of this morning concrete work was finishing up and the pavers were on hand waiting to pounce. Dual stacks on this Vogele.

Vogele Paver – Click to Enlarge

The other half of the street still awaits repair so maybe next week I’ll have some footage of the paver in action. I also grabbed some video of the Cat backhoe in action as well as the Mack dump truck from above. Stay tuned! If you haven’t clicked on the video link at the top page yet please do so. I think you will enjoy what you find.