I used to have 5 CH 613 tractors with EM7-300s and straight 7-speeds, 4:56 rears. They would pull hell off the hinges-slooowly. Ex Matlach tanker yankers. Great trucks, if you weren't in a hurry.
SC declared a state of emergency after back-to-back tropical storms, had a mud boil under the dam at Pinopolis. They called in trucks that could haul 10,000 lb+ armor stone from everywhere, I had 2 big rock trailers, we ran 24-7 for 15 days. We were only 30 miles from home, but there were trucks from 1000 miles away running with us. One day we loading on the quarry floor at North Columbia, because they couldn't bring it up fast enough.
they were loading 3 trucks at a time, to 100,000, and we took off up the ramp. I shifted twice climbing the ramp, but the 2 road trucks behind me couldn't get out of low. The 2 drivers went crazy on the cb, I had walked off from a 550 and a 600. They wanted to know what I had, I told them a Maxi-torque 300, and they demanded to see it, then accused me of switching valve covers. We rolled off the scales and onto the hills on I-26. I walked away from them up to 25 mph, then I topped out at 30, and they went 60. Then they believed me!
