Dave Olson

Hello Scott,
Specifications were the force behind my selection of a replacement chassis. Needed to stay under 26,000 GVWR so my technicians aren’t required to have a CDL. A heavy front axle so we can carry our water tanks in the front of our van bodies. And be able to maintain interstate speeds when fully loaded.
I first looked at International Harvester. They would not build me a chassis with an 11,000-pound front axle and keep the GVWR under 26,000! I kept checking around the other nametags and finally found a salesman that understood what I was looking for, he was a Kenworth, Freightliner, GMC salesman. I even had other GMC sales people say, “You can’t do that!” These chassis have 19,000 pound rear axles with 23,000 suspensions. 80,000 pound rated and reinforced frame rails. Both trucks carry 1000-gallon water tanks. The Red carries about 12,000 pounds in the 1st 4 feet of the box and the White carries a little over 8,000 pounds in the front of the box.
The gas engines 427 in the Red and 454 in the White both do a fine job for us. These are just basic trucks, but do have air conditioning and AM/FM. Bought the Red in the fall of ’97 and the White in the winter of ’99. Cost about $30,000 each including the Governor without van bodies.
Dave Olson