Truck Shop
Senior Member
That should make a nice toy. Details man, Details...
It's for the company use only. We are turning two of the oldest units into spares so while a drivers truck is in the shop he can drive a spare. Even under warranty allot of the dealers
have a truck tied up for days and weeks. We have three reliable dealers to take warranty issues to, stretched out over a wide area. But they complete the repair in half the time of most
other dealers so that's where we will tote them to. We have had a simple jobs like replacing the front drive unit for example take four to five days to be completed in a dealer shop.
In our company shop a front drive change out is 2 to 2 1/2 hrs, so we will drag those home. Insurance is fairly cheap and there is no tonnage on a fixed load so operational cost is not
that much.
A slip on fifthwheel style Zacklift is $32,000 plus and you don't have the 25 ton Holmes 750 to go with it. Plus you have to pull a tractor out of a haul to use it. This one has a 30,000 lb
wheel lift with four sets of forks and a plug in remote. It has a BC II, RTLO14613A, Reyco spring on SQHD's, steel frame.
We've reached a point with having 50 power units and running to North Dakota, Colorado and all over the northwest it's time to be more self contained with the company. The operating
cost of a cheap but reliable tow truck verses having a tractor setting in the back lot of the closest dealer waiting for repairs is apples and oranges. The amount revenue lost is gross.
This unit isn't costing the company much allot less than the slip on units. Every load is on a time table and sometimes just waiting for a towing company to arrive is a big wait plus in the
end the driver is hold-up in a motel when he could be in a spare tractor getting the load there and we are not pulling the closest unit away to finish that load. Plus the driver is making
a pay check. And because I use to own and operate a tow unit guess who is relegated to drive this one. The other two guys working in the shop will drive it also.
Plus It's a 1979 W900A-what could be better? IMO
Truck Shop
Last edited: