Kenworth T370s are Salt of Earth
For Clintar Landscape Management
Kenworths Stand Up
in Harsh Road Salting Jobs
MARKHAM, Ont. – From November through
April, each of Clintar Landscape Management’s 40
Kenworth T370s faces not only brutal snow and ice
conditions, but the corrosive environment that
comes from working with salt.
As the company’s mainstay truck in its snow
removal business, the Kenworth T370 in single- and
tandem-axle configurations, spread salt and a salt
liquid mixture (when temperatures drop below -8
degrees Celsius) in government and private sector
parking lots throughout southern Ontario and the
Maritime provinces.
“You couldn’t find a more corrosive
environment for a truck to operate,” said John
O’Leary, Clintar’s vice president of operations.
“During the winter months their sole operation is
spreading salt to keep parking lots free of ice so that
business and government operations can safely
remain open. We look at it as emergency service –
when our customers need salt and an ice-free lot,
they need it now and we must deliver with
equipment that’s reliable.”
Prior to coming to Clintar 30 years ago,
O’Leary worked in the heavy haul industry, and
knew Kenworth trucks for their durability and
reliability. In 2008, that knowledge came in handy
when Clintar was in the market to purchase new
medium duty trucks.
“Five years ago, we ordered our first Kenworth
– a T370 salt truck. We’re now running 40 – which
matches the 40th anniversary we’re celebrating at
Clintar this year With its aluminum cab and the
way we spec the truck with as much aluminum as
possible, along with undercoating for added
protection, it’s proved to be very reliable and a great
truck at resisting the ill effects of salt and salt
spray,” said O’Leary.
Equipped with 6.7-liter PACCAR PX-6
engines rated at 260 hp on the single axle, and 8.3liter PACCAR PX-8 engines rated at 330 hp on the
tandem axles, each truck is run through Allison
3000 series automatic transmissions. The singleaxle T370s have 11-foot dump bodies with 5.5
cubic yard V-Box salt spreaders mounted inside the
dump bodies. The tandem-axle Kenworths host
11.2 cubic yard salt spreaders.
Since Clintar is a franchise operation with
locations throughout Canada and two in the United
States, O’Leary is in charge of central purchasing
for fleet needs. “If franchises need a piece of
equipment – a salt spreader for example – they
come to us and we provide the Kenworth T370. We
have a standardized look and equipment that we feel
is the best in the industry. A unified and quality
truck is important to us – we see our Kenworths as
our moving billboards and our biggest company
promotion vehicle. You can’t miss our Clintar
green Kenworths.”
Kenworth Truck Company News Release
(continued)
(continued)
According to O’Leary, about 50 percent of
Clintar’s revenues come from its snow removal
operations. The rest comes from grounds
maintenance,
litter
control,
landscape
enhancements, parking lot maintenance and line
painting. Scheduling salting is weather-dependent
and each franchise has employees on standby ready
to move out for salting operations. Most salting
operations occur during the dead of night.
Depending on snowfall and the size of the lot to
clear, Clintar has dedicated plows, which range in
size from Ag-type tractors with 16-foot blades to
skid-steer bobcats with eight-to 10-foot blades.
Then the Kenworth salt trucks finish the job.
“Each night they’re used, a typical salt truck
will make three runs to get loaded on salt,”
explained O’Leary. “One thing we’re particular
proud of is our specs on the Kenworths and salt
spreaders. We actually have nine pages of specs
just for the truck cab and chassis alone. We also
have four more pages covering the aluminum dump
body and salt spreader bodies, along with
breakdowns on hydraulics and computerized
controllers. With the help of Mark King at
Kenworth Truck Centres in Ontario, we fine tune
our trucks each year to make them lighter and better
for our operation.
“We also have a ‘ground speed application’
which provides a constant measure of salt being
applied. No longer does the driver have to worry
about application saturation manually. It’s all
automated which means no more salt is applied than
necessary. That’s great for the environment,” he
said.
During the spring and summer months, the salt
boxes are removed and the Kenworth T370s are put
to landscape tasks, such as hauling gravel and
mulch. Some of the trucks are even outfitted with
1,000-gallon tanks so Clintar can use them for
watering sod installations, or for power washing
operations.
According to O’Leary, the Kenworth T370s are
a favorite to drive. “They really are – we get a lot
of positive comments from the drivers,” he said.
“At Clintar we feel employees are our greatest asset
– and a happy employee means they’ll work harder
and do quality work for us. We want to give them
the best equipment and we feel we’re doing that
with the Kenworth T370.”
About Clintar
Built on a heritage spanning 40 years, Clintar is
focused on providing the best in landscape
management services to corporations, large retail
outlets,
property
management
companies,
government facilities, home-owner associations,
and private estates. Its services are diverse, serving
clients in a variety of key areas including:
Landscape Maintenance, Landscape Design-Build,
Road and Parking Lot Maintenance, Watering
Systems, and Snow and Ice Control.
About Kenworth Truck Company
Kenworth Truck Company is the manufacturer
of The World’s Best® heavy and medium duty
trucks. During 2013, Kenworth is celebrating its
90th anniversary. Over the decades, Kenworth’s
core values of providing innovative, quality, durable
and reliable trucks for a wide range of applications
has proven beneficial to thousands of truck
operators and fleets. Today, Kenworth is an
industry leader in providing fuel-saving technology
solutions that help increase fuel efficiency and
reduce emissions, and is the only truck
manufacturer to receive the Environmental
Protection Agency’s Clean Air Excellence award in
recognition of its environmentally friendly products.
Kenworth received the “Highest in Customer
Satisfaction with Heavy Duty Truck Dealer Service,
Two Years in a Row”, according to the J.D. Power
and Associates 2011-2012 Heavy Duty Truck
Customer Satisfaction StudiesSM. Kenworth's
Internet home page is at www.kenworth.com.
Kenworth. A PACCAR Company.