Kenworth T880 Super Dump Boosts Driver Productivity

For Tucci & Sons, enhancing productivity, driver comfort and safety is the name of the game when it comes to delivering asphalt. That’s why the firm turned to the new Kenworth T880 Super Dump.

“Depending upon the location of the paving project, we’ve found that in many cases our new Kenworth T880 Super Dumps can haul up to 10 percent more asphalt in a single day than the dump trucks and end-dump trailers they replaced,” said Tucci, who serves as the company’s secretary/treasurer and fleet operations manager.

Here’s the thing: When a driver delivers asphalt using a dump truck and end-dump trailer, he must first empty the end-dump trailer. Then he gets out of the truck, unhitches the end dump trailer, dumps the load in the bed of the dump truck and then re-hitches the end-dump trailer to the truck before he can return to the plant. Tucci said since that entire process can take anywhere from 20 minutes to half hour for each delivery, the company can add back one to two hours’ worth of revenue-generating productivity each day. After all, Tucci & Sons does not make money when its trucks aren’t moving, he said.

“Drivers in our new T880 Super Dumps can deliver their loads to the job sites, dump them and then go right back to our Lakewood or Tacoma plant for another load,” he added. “Also, job site activity and traffic can make it nerve-racking at best for our drivers to get out of their trucks when they’re delivering asphalt to a busy freeway job site at night.”

Tucci worked with Rick Barry, his longtime sales consultant at Kenworth Northwest, the local Kenworth dealer, to choose the specifications for the company’s first two Kenworth T880s compliant with federal bridge formula requirements for lift axle spacing and capacity. Both T880 Super Dumps achieve their 25-ton capacity through the use of three 8,000-pound W&C Tru-Track Super Alumilite steerable lift axles and an 8,000-pound steerable “flying tag” axle. The T880s are specified with the PACCAR MX-13 engine rated at 500-hp and 1,850 lb-ft of torque.

The additional axles increase the truck’s gross combination vehicle weight to 80,000 pounds by spreading the weight over more axles, which is permitted under an alternative federal bridge formula used by the state of Washington. The truck, with a 256-inch wheelbase, measures 40 feet from the front bumper to the rear steerable pusher axle. That’s considerably shorter than the 75-foot length of the tractor and end dump trailer units the T880 Super Dumps replaced. That makes the T880 Super Dumps more maneuverable. And the company doesn’t have to use transfer trucks to deliver asphalt to paving projects in tighter urban areas.

The trucks also feature a clear back-of-cab configuration, allowing each truck to carry 110 gallons of diesel fuel instead of the typical 75 gallons. This increased fuel carrying capacity extends the range of the truck, allowing it to go longer distances or to make more trips between refueling.

Category: Featured, General Update, Vehicles