Thursday 18 December 2008

BEFORE

AFTER

Thought I would try and compare the last truck I drove in UK with the one I currently drive. The main difference is the length. The tank in the top pic was 35ft long but the one below is 45ft. Only 10ft but there is also a big difference in the chassis length of the tractor unit. It makes manoeuvring in confined space very interesting. As I mentioned in a previous post there are no baffles in the current tank but the one above was baffled and had 3 lids to assist in washouts.
The tank in the UK also had a hydraulic cargo pump fitted but the current one does not and relies on either the customers air or pump. The tractor units are fitted with delivery pumps but are very seldom used, I was talking to a driver that has been there for six months and he has never used the cargo pump or the compressor on the truck to make deliveries.
The tractor unit is fitted with a bunk heater to keep you warm at night without idling and an espar heater to warm the engine prior to starting on those really cold mornings. Personally, once the temperatures drop below -15c/-20c I don't turn the truck off or you risk your diesel freezing which then means you have no way of keeping warm or even warming the engine to try and start it. Most mornings you wake up with ice on the inside of the windows but I have only had my fuel freeze once (up to now) and oh boy was that cold.

6 comments:

BIG_JC said...

HI DAVE & FAMILY WELL U DONT SEEM TO BE BORED OUT THERE GR8 TO SEE U DOING WELL. ALWAYS KNEW U WERE A FAMILY OF FIGHTS. DAVE IN THE 15 YEARS I'VE KNOWN U IF U DO SOMETHINK U DONT RUSH INTO IT & IF SOME OF THE PPL THAT AVE LEFT REMARKS ABOUT WOT U AVE DONE IN WORK OR LIESURE KNEW U THEY WOULD BACK U ALL THE WAY. TAKE CARE THE 3 OF U KEEP THE JOKES COMING O NE CHANCE OF SOME PHOTOS OF INSIDE THE TRUCK LET OUR PLACE KNOW WOT TO LOOK FOR WHEN WE GET NEW TRUCKS BIG JC

Dave Caldwell said...

Hi John, thanks for the support and I will get some photos of inside for you.
Hpe the 3 of you are ok.
All the best to you and have a great Christmas.

Tony T said...

Hi Dave
On the Eve wishing you & ur family well.
Like the New Truck & the one you bought the other week.

TT

Dave Caldwell said...

Same to you and yours Tony

Trkrjim said...

My fuel was froze last Sunday and it was only -6F, the filter had almost a half inch of wax all the way around it. The fuel in the tanks looked milky too. I bought the fuel in Iowa so there is no reason for it not to have been blended for the weather but it wasn't.
About the lack of baffles, do you haul food grade in the tanks? I know a lot of them are smooth bore because it would be almost impossible to clean them with the baffles.I used to haul fuel in a 11,000 Gallon tank and it had 5 compartments with baffles in the biggest 2. I always loaded it full and dumped it completely so I never felt any kind of surge with it at all. I will be doing a better job updating my blog and have started a Britekite account to keep track of my friends whereabouts. http://brightkite.com/people/Trkrjim

Dave Caldwell said...

Jim, we do haul kosher loads at times. European spec tanks would have at least 3 domes (lids) to facilitate washouts, that way it could easily be cleaned and still have baffles, far safer and a lot easier to clean.
Bad news about your fuel. I will take a look at this Britekite.

Dave