PACCAR Portraits: Big Dave's Tippers
In this PACCAR Portrait, the spotlight is thrust on Queensland's asphalt and road construction specialist, Big Dave's TippersAccording to Dave Elliot, managing director of Caboolture-based Big Dave's Tippers, the road construction game in the northern state has changed immensely in the 16 years since he founded the business.
"It is extremely competitive out there," he says.
"When I started in this industry, no-one could understand why I would deliver filthy black asphalt. Now there are thousands of trucks in the game. What I try to do in my industry, in my business, is try to be a little bit better than everybody else."
The road to Kenworth
Key to that approach is Dave's fleet of three Kenworths, which allow the business to carry on their work in road construction, and the tearing up and re-laying of old roads.
"The drivers and I find the Kenworths extremely good – the safety, the easy layout of the dash, the driver comfort, it all makes life that little bit easier," he says.
"Economy? They're great; they're very fuel efficient and very AdBlue efficient."
And Dave is a big fan of the Kenworth T360 cabs…
"They are the Rolls Royce of trucks – they're spacious, they're comfortable, they're easy to operate," he says.
"I love 'em – I dead-set love 'em."
Clear vision
Dave cites the T360's excellent all-round vision as a big plus in this line of work, where he and his drivers regularly find themselves backing into tight areas, and he says the lazy axle – which lowers and lifts automatically – is another big plus.
"It saves us getting out onto sticky stuff on the ground to try and raise them; when we're leaving the site the axle is already up so we're not doing any damage to the already laid seal," he says.
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Dave says the service he receives from local dealership Brown and Hurley Caboolture is second to none. It, like the Kenworths he runs, are vital to the success of his business – a business he says he hopes to one day pass on two his two sons.
But, for now, it's business as usual at Big Dave's Tippers, where the Kenworth T360 is proving its worth day in, day out.
"If anyone asked me to recommend a truck I would not hesitate to recommend a T360 – for comfort, for design, for workability," Dave says.
"In all honesty, in the 40-odd years that I've been driving, they're the most comfortable truck I've been in."
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