Story Of Our 1980 Rs

[Supertrucker]

Hey guys. I wanted to share a story of one tough RS Dump that's in Dad's fleet. Dad bought this truck in the early days of our business and it had been a milk tanker in it's previous life. It's equipped with a heavy front end, walking beam rear, double frame, a 300 engine, and a 6 speed tranny. We took the tanker off and mounted a dump box in it's place. It worked for several years spreading gravel on township roads and hauling stuff that we didn't want to put in our other dumps. He was contracted by the DNR to haul boulders and rocks across a frozen lake in South Dakota to build an island for ducks. You can probably tell where this is going. He had been there for nearly a week and during the trips across, the DNR drilled holes in the ice checking the thickness and looking for cracks. On one of his last trips across, he was coming back empty when he suddenly felt the rear end of the truck drop. He was luckily near the shore when it happened. The truck slowly sank in the mud until the water was up to the bottom of the doors. It took two tractor backhoes and a wrecker to pull it out. Once it was out of the water, he and a couple mechanics worked all night to drain the mud and water from the rear ends and make several other repairs so he could get home. He drove 45 mph all the way back home to Minnesota where it was immediately brought into the shop. The fuel tanks mounts were bent as were the air tanks. We had to straighten the rear of the dump box and put new pins in as well. After about a week of repairs, she was back on the road. Years later, Dad hired a young guy who was a son of one of Dad's long time employees. He put him in the RS to help spread gravel. On one of his first trips out, the driver left the yard and traveled the mile and a half to the black top road. He bent down to pick something up and at the same time turned the wheel until he nearly went off the road. Being a rookie, he overcorrected, lost control, and rolled the truck down the steep ditch. The driver's left hand got crushed in the from the A pillar coming down on it. The cab was trashed as was the hood. The dump box got a little twisted but the cab took the brunt of the damage. We put a new cab and hood on, fixed the bent steps and dump box, straightened out the air and fuel tank brackets once again, and put a new exhaust stack on. This old truck is still on the road but it has kinda been retired to hauling concrete and rip rap since the box is already all beat up. Let me know what you all think!

[chris88]

That truck has gone through a lot, its cool that you still use it. Hopefully thats the end of the trucks bad luck and its all uphill from here, well maybe not literally uphill but you know what i mean.

[Supertrucker]

Lol..I know what you mean. That old truck's days of being on the road everyday are done. However, it is certainly a testament to the durability of an old truck.