A Few Work Pics From Saturday

[Guest 45LMSWM]

Had to move a Komatsu PC400 and a D65PX on Saturday. The boss was taking his Pete and every other truck we had was blocked in, so I took the DM800 for the trip. Nice view of Traprock Industries Kingston quarry in the early morning sun.

A view from the seat...following the boss down from the top of the quarry.

In front of an old face on the haul road with the D65.

In front of the asphalt plant:

Enjoy...

-John

[RowdyRebel]

Had to move a Komatsu PC400 and a D65PX on Saturday. The boss was taking his Pete and every other truck we had was blocked in, so I took the DM800 for the trip. Nice view of Traprock Industries Kingston quarry in the early morning sun.

A view from the seat...following the boss down from the top of the quarry.

In front of an old face on the haul road with the D65.

In front of the asphalt plant:

Enjoy...

-John

You make it sound as though driving that truck was a chore...that you would have preferred ANY other truck. Personally, I think that truck looks bad-ass...not sure what the other trucks are, but that'd be my first choice over any petercar

[Guest 45LMSWM]

You make it sound as though driving that truck was a chore...that you would have preferred ANY other truck. Personally, I think that truck looks bad-ass...not sure what the other trucks are, but that'd be my first choice over any petercar

No, I really don't look at it as a chore, and I really do like driving this truck. But, she is semi-retired now and we never really used her for anything but moving the larger machines. I was actually supposed to take one of the other Petes, but they got to doing too many things at once on Friday and there was really no other choice.

I actually drove the DM800 twice last week, which is rare because its only the third time the truck has been out on the road since I took it to the truck races in Englishtown in September. When I took it to the Mount Hope show in November, it still had the Class Numbers chalked on the windows from E-town. And to think that this time last year she was going out just about everyday...damn NJ and their new weight laws!

Thanks for the compliments.

John

[mackcl96]

I feel the real reason you did not want to take the DM, is that you didn't want to have to clean it.

That is allot of truck to clean.

I can only imagine how much tire dressing it would need.

[RowdyRebel]

No, I really don't look at it as a chore, and I really do like driving this truck. But, she is semi-retired now and we never really used her for anything but moving the larger machines. I was actually supposed to take one of the other Petes, but they got to doing too many things at once on Friday and there was really no other choice.

I actually drove the DM800 twice last week, which is rare because its only the third time the truck has been out on the road since I took it to the truck races in Englishtown in September. When I took it to the Mount Hope show in November, it still had the Class Numbers chalked on the windows from E-town. And to think that this time last year she was going out just about everyday...damn NJ and their new weight laws!

Thanks for the compliments.

John

Heck, if it's too much of a burden, I know a certain Redneck in Southern Illinois that would be more than willing to give it a new home...

BTW, is it a 6x6? If it is, I'm WAY jealous.

[Lmackattack]

nice pics John. I really like that old dog. Whats with the new weight laws in your state?

[Guest 45LMSWM]

Heck, if it's too much of a burden, I know a certain Redneck in Southern Illinois that would be more than willing to give it a new home...

BTW, is it a 6x6? If it is, I'm WAY jealous.

No, its only a 6x4. Not too much of a burden to clean, either, just a bit cold out here to give her a proper wash. The stone dust really took a liking to the tires, though, especially considering the last few times we had her out she was in "show dress" and the tires were all polished up.

The return trip is probably the worst part every time. At 42 MPH, it takes a while to get back to the barn. But I have really started to enjoy driving this truck, its a lot of fun. The boss's Pete is still my favorite, though...72 forward gears behind a 550 Cat. That's a party in my book. If I can only talk him into putting an Auxilliary in my Superliner when we rebuild it this spring, that would take the cake.

John

[Guest 45LMSWM]

nice pics John. I really like that old dog. Whats with the new weight laws in your state?

Up until last year, NJ allowed trucks pulling trailers registered with "Specialty Weight Tags" to carry a maximum of 800 lbs per inch width of tire. With 14x24 rubber, that used to equate to 246,000 lbs or so gross on 6 axles. If you took our tri-axle Pete out in an 11 axle combination, we were legally allowed to gross 416,400 lbs in state and you picked your own routes! You could type up a "book permit" and go anywhere you felt like on the spot for $10.00. Many of us had a stack of blank permits and a typewrite in the truck.

As of July 1st of 2009 or so, book permits are no longer valid and you have to submit a permit request on-line for every move. You are luck if they will allow you 22,000 lbs per axle on an overweight permit and half the bridges in this state now have really low maximum weights. The same truck we were able to run at 416,000 is now good for about 235,000, and you have to wait two to three days most times to get a permit and you have to drive all over the world to get there.

BTW, the last permit I ordered for our DM came in at 147,000 lbs. That was basically maxed out on 7 axles. This is why she's spending the majority of her life inside the garage these days.

We are the fist to get hit. The days of running tandem and tri-axle dump trucks and so on in NJ at 70,000 and 80,000 lbs gross are coming to an end in the short term as well. Its never going to be the same as it was.

-John

[maxidyne237]

.

We are the fist to get hit. The days of running tandem and tri-axle dump trucks and so on in NJ at 70,000 and 80,000 lbs gross are coming to an end in the short term as well. Its never going to be the same as it was.

-John

Why do you always have to be so negative? Think positive. The only saving grace is there a lot more tandem and tri axle dumps out there and hopefully we have a louder voice than the heavy haul contractors.

[Ironman]

Nice pictures John

It's kinda nice to have these lil adventures to it shake-up from the same old routine

[Guest 45LMSWM]

.

Why do you always have to be so negative? Think positive. The only saving grace is there a lot more tandem and tri axle dumps out there and hopefully we have a louder voice than the heavy haul contractors.

HA HA! Chris, you are hysterical. If you think for a second all of the dirt haulers in NJ could get together and accomplish something, you've really gone off the deep end! And trust me, the beautiful group of engineers the state DOT has working for them are thick as bricks and there is absolutely no talking to them about anything that even remotely makes sense.

We're just going to have to settle this with a race at Englishtown next year...provided no one runs into the back of me this time around.

And another thing...nobody's got a louder voice than these whining, prima donna, crybaby lowboy drivers we got out here. It's like working in a friggin hair salon, bro. Bunch of old yentas, trust me!

-John

[HK Trucking]

Up until last year, NJ allowed trucks pulling trailers registered with "Specialty Weight Tags" to carry a maximum of 800 lbs per inch width of tire. With 14x24 rubber, that used to equate to 246,000 lbs or so gross on 6 axles. If you took our tri-axle Pete out in an 11 axle combination, we were legally allowed to gross 416,400 lbs in state and you picked your own routes! You could type up a "book permit" and go anywhere you felt like on the spot for $10.00. Many of us had a stack of blank permits and a typewrite in the truck.

As of July 1st of 2009 or so, book permits are no longer valid and you have to submit a permit request on-line for every move. You are luck if they will allow you 22,000 lbs per axle on an overweight permit and half the bridges in this state now have really low maximum weights. The same truck we were able to run at 416,000 is now good for about 235,000, and you have to wait two to three days most times to get a permit and you have to drive all over the world to get there.

BTW, the last permit I ordered for our DM came in at 147,000 lbs. That was basically maxed out on 7 axles. This is why she's spending the majority of her life inside the garage these days.

We are the fist to get hit. The days of running tandem and tri-axle dump trucks and so on in NJ at 70,000 and 80,000 lbs gross are coming to an end in the short term as well. Its never going to be the same as it was.

-John

Reminds me of when I lived in CT for the first 28 years of my life.

We used to load up a 30 yd dump trailer as much as it would hold and run down the road that way every day (with a tandem axle tractor and tandem axle trailer - no pusher axles).

25 tons of hot mix on a 10 wheeler? No problem!

Chain down a machine on a trailer? Who ever heard of such a thing?

Then, sometime after I moved to WI in 1985, the truck weight regulations in CT/NY got lowered so that you couldn't do that anymore.

Funny thing is, the roads in that area are in worse shape now than they were back in the days of heavy hauling.

BTW John, that is one awesome DM800 you got there, brings back memories of my days in the

Northeast Kingdom.

.

[ThaddeusW]

Its too bad about the weight laws. I have a friend who is going to school for Civil engineering and he says you have allot of book smart kids who know squat about transportation going into the field. Sad reality of things. Expecially since roads and bridges can be built to higher standards to take the weight and pounding but good luck getting anyone to fund this stuff. The weight law cut backs have allot to do with aging and decaying road infrastructure that cant handle the loads anymore. So they just f&%$ everyone in the a#$ so the DOT doesn't have to beg for money and the pin head pencil pushers get to keep their jobs. Its bull shit if you ask me.

Anyways. Hey John, you have any other pictures of Central Jersey's DM800 with Planidrive rears? That would have been an awesome addition to Conforti's collection. Its a shame it sits in their yard collecting dust, would make a hell of a restoration project . I wonder if they would sell it to me (if I had the money that is )