Moscow, Potlatch crews build frame-mount flusher to save truck bodies

Last year, ITD's District 2 office received a fleet of new Mack 10-wheeled trucks for use in maintenance, and preserving the 52 new trucks was paramount.

I wanted to come up with a way to keep the underside of these trucks a little cleaner," said Bud Converse, foreman for both the Moscow and Potlatch crews.

Around the same time as the new fleet of trucks came in, it was decided that the District would use more salt during winter maintenance. The frame-mounted sanders the District used had very little room to wash out corrosives that accumulated between the frame rails. Now, using even more corrosives thanks to the increased salt mandate, it was more important than ever to find a solution to the problem. Pictured left is a truck body before the flushing system was added to the district's fleet. At bottom right is the truck frame with the sander unit removed after winter use when the flushing system was used.

Crews began by building a system of black one-inch waterline mounted between the frame rails, that could be hooked to a 1.5-inch diameter fire hose.

"It worked well," said Converse, "but we wanted to try one-inch PVC as it was easier to aim the holes where we wanted and it would stay in place better because it is more rigid."

Crews used PVC pipe, one-inch T-connectors and couplers feed with two-inch line at the beginning. They drilled 1/16-inch holes in the pipe, directing water to the areas they wanted to wash out. The wash-out process was taking about a half hour.

"When we removed the frame-mount sander this year, we noticed a considerable difference," explained Converse. "It was not perfect, but definitely better." Converse said the District 2 Shop foreman told him that during spring conversions he had seen a big difference between trucks that have been using the flusher system and ones that are not.

"The Moscow and Potlatch maintenance crews deserve the credit for this," said Converse. "They designed, built and improved this system."

The system costs $87.36 each, it fits down between the frame rails and is tied in place with zip ties. The trucks cost approximately $200,000 each, so extending the lives of these rigs for less than $88 apiece is a worthy investment.


Published 05-01-15