APPLICATIONS
Road masters
Mack Trucks dominates road building with Granite®, Pinnacle™ and TerraPro™ models. By Olivia McMurrey
P
erhaps nowhere is the reliability, durability and productivity of Mack® trucks more apparent than in road building. “When contractors have everything lined up, there’s no room for a truck to break down along the way,” says Tim Wrinkle, construction product manager for Mack Trucks. Trucks also have to maneuver in tight quarters and stand up to rugged terrain and harsh conditions on road-building jobsites, yet Mack excels at this application with the Mack® Granite® and Granite MHD (using dump, concrete mixer and pump bodies), the TerraPro™ (for concrete pumping) and the Pinnacle™ (end dump and flatbed/lowboy trailers for hauling heavy equipment).
Visibility Visibility is crucial on road-construction sites. Drivers need to watch out for equipment, workers, pedestrians and other vehicles, and they need to know how much operating space they have. “The more visibility you have, the less likely 22 | BULLDOG | 2019 V2
you are to have an accident,” Wrinkle says. “It also helps maneuverability to see, for example, that you have 5 more feet to back up and turn around.” Granite and Pinnacle models provide exceptional visibility. “The sloped hood and large-size mirrors both on the hood and side deliver maximum visibility,” Wrinkle says. “There’s also the peep window in the passenger side near the floorboard, so from the driver’s side you can see near the ground and eliminate blind spots on the right side of the truck.” The Granite sports a large rear window and backup-camera support through an optional infotainment system, Wrinkle says. The cabover TerraPro boasts best-in-class forward and side visibility, with a large windshield, low-profile dash, side and rear mirrors and ergonomic seat position.
Maneuverability enhanced by mDRIVE™ Maneuverability challenges pervade road-building jobsites. There might not be
room to turn a truck around, and simply not getting vehicles stuck in soft, muddy ground can be difficult. The mDRIVE™ HD automated manual transmission ensures drivers don’t get bogged down with these conditions. “A lot of times you have to back up long stretches because there might not be room to turn around,” Wrinkle says. “So the truck has to reverse for sometimes miles to get to where it needs to be. One thing our mDRIVE has is multispeed reverse gears, so they can reach a desired fast speed in reverse and not lose time.” Keith Cates, director of fleet service at Concrete Supply Company in Charlotte, North Carolina, says mDRIVE is especially useful in reverse and downhill operations. “That’s one of the reasons I got them,” he says of his company’s 16 Granite trucks with mDRIVE HD 14-speed transmissions. Cates also says the mDRIVE HD’s quick shifting helps keep trucks moving over muck and sludge. One recent job “was a mud hole, and they performed well,” he says. Mack rear axles also improve traction with an automatic interaxle power divider that
