Chaney Enterprises in Waldorf, Maryland, strives to stay on the cutting edge of the aggregate, concrete, concrete block and construction supply industry. That includes spec”ing the best equipment to serve its customers. And that”s why Chaney specs Allison Automatics. When the company started, Chaney”s fleet of Mack dumps and rear-discharge mixers was equipped with 20-speed manual transmissions.
“I remember because I drove a truck then,” said Jim Talbott, now the vice president of operations. “It was a lot of shifting, the cabs were hot and a lot of the trucks didn”t have power steering.”
Then in 1968, Mack introduced a 6-speed manual transmission. And Chaney started spec”ing it paired with the V Mack engine.
“In 1996, I was looking through some trade magazines, and I saw an article about the Allison Automatic,” said Charlie Parker, maintenance manager at Chaney. “And I thought, “Hey, this might be a good idea.”” The article discussed how the Allison Automatic reduced maintenance work and maintenance dollars. Charlie called some Allison-equipped fleets to find out how the transmission worked in real-world applications. Encouraged by the information he heard, Charlie located a demo unit to see for himself.
“We put together a group of people and analyzed the benefits to warrant the payback,” said Jim Talbott. “We weighed out all the advantages, and hands down it was time to spec the Allison Automatic.” Chaney ordered eight Allison-equipped trucks in 1997. Today there are 59 Allison HD 4560PR equipped rear-discharge mixers and dump trucks in the company”s fleet.
“When we first got it, we were kind of skeptical. I”ve been driving a clutch for 20 years. But once I got used to it, it”s a little piece of heaven. I don”t have any complaints about the Allison Automatic.” – Dennis Hubbartt, Driver
Now people call Chaney for advice on the Allison Automatic. “I tell them the savings are in the drivetrain components, clutch adjustments, downtime, driver comfort, productivity, fuel savings, etc, etc,” said Charlie. “Two and a half years is a short time to evaluate anything, but all the indicators are that we”ve made the right move. The Allison Automatic is going to be our standard spec.”
In the two and a half years we”ve been running the Allison Automatics, I haven”t seen any broken drive shafts, broken axles or any of those types of failures. They”ve gone away.” – Charlie Parker, Maintenance Manager.
