What’s it take to push snow around? In cold-weather climes like Ohio’s, it’s a DOT-operated 1,525-unit fleet of Class 8 dump trucks set up with appropriate snow-moving and -melting apparatus that clear pavement on state highways.
Based on experience, the Ohio Department of Transportation has performance-based specifications it includes in its requests for bids, according to Doug Burke, a transportation engineer who oversees the process. Trucks are on an 11-year life cycle and the agency buys 140 to 142 new ones per year. (See “Defer Machine Replacement, but Don’t Deny It,” by Mike Vorster.)
“We typically buy low bid, and International is usually the cheapest, but occasionally it’s Freightliner,” he said. “Low” is a relative term: Truck prices have escalated by 20% to 30% since Covid and supply-chain interruptions in 2020 and ’21. A tandem-axle truck cost $195,000 or less before the pandemic and is now $230,000 to $240,000.
Cummins powers ODOT snow plows
Specs are well thought out. For power, later-model trucks use Cummins’ 8.9-liter L9 diesel rated at 365 horsepower and torque at 1,150 lb.-ft. That allows use of Allison 3000 RDS (rugged duty series) automatic transmissions. “Drivers always want more power,” but higher-output engines would require going to a 4000-series Allison that costs $15,000 to $20,000 more. Like most government agencies, ODOT went to automatics years ago for durability and ease of operation.
Single-rail frames with the strongest available stiffness are spec’d to avoid problems with “rust jacking”—corrosion buildup that pushes double-channel frame rails apart. Axles brands are whatever the truck builders use as standard. Axles capacities are 20,000 pounds on steer axles and either 26,000-pound single rear drive axles or 46,000-pound tandems.
Steel-spring suspensions are used all around: a truck builder’s on steer axles, and Hendrickson RT and RT-463 products for single and tandem rears on Internationals; Freightliners use Tuftrac or something similar over rear axles. Differentials have driver-controlled locking mechanisms, useful in slippery conditions such as when starting out; electronic traction control otherwise suffices while underway.
About three-quarters of the fleet are tandems because of their higher carrying capacity of salt and salt brine. They’re also more stable while pushing snow and steer better, he said. More nimble single-rear-axle trucks are retained for hilly areas where roads are curvier.
Stainless steel dump beds resist salt
Dump beds are fashioned of stainless steel, now common among municipal truck operators because it resists salt-caused corrosion that attacked old mild-steel beds. ODOT has found that although stainless steel beds cost more than twice as much as mild steel, the stainless bodies can be reused two or three times on fresh chassis.
Dump beds on single-axle trucks have hopper bottoms that move salt to spreaders, and the tandems’ longer bodies have trough bottoms with augers.
ODOT went to aluminum wheels about four years ago. They don’t save a lot of weight on ODOT’s straight trucks compared to formerly used steel wheels, but they are more resistant to cracking. Some come through with polished surfaces, but Burke said they’re not spec’d that way. “Nonferrous” fuel tanks and hangers are also good at resisting corrosion.
Lights, dump bodies, and plow equipment—including front- and belly mount blades and salt and brine spreaders—are bid separately from the truck chassis, he said. Gallion, Godwin, and Monroe are among body makers who have won bids, and Air-Flow, Perfection, and Swenson are among the equipment makers.
ODOT specs body builder plug-in connectors at several locations that are diagramed on bid requests. Usually the plugs are 280-series water-tight Metri-Packs that have been standard for more than 20 years. Common problems include salt invading wiring systems and failed sensors; mechanics are trained to diagnose those and other electrical glitches.
Equipment installation is done by inmate workers in a service facility at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution in south-central Ohio. They earn 65 cents to $1.00 per hour, which saves ODOT money, and inmates are trained for work they can go to after they are released. Many have gone on to good-paying jobs at upfitting companies in the region, Burke said.
