Odenton, Md.-based FTC Aggregate Supply tabled standard specs for its first 2018 dump fleet addition, enlisting The Pete Store and J&J Truck Bodies to design a workhorse celebrating 15 years of sand, gravel or stone deliveries to builders, contractors and concrete producers. The Landover, Md., Peterbilt dealer and Somerset, Pa., body builder served up one of the more muscular on/off-road dumps working any Interstate 95 corridor from Maine to Florida.
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| EQUIPMENT PHOTOS: Concrete Products |
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| Veteran driver Ed Carroll (left) had cause to smile when Jeff Ferguson introduced him to Truck #135, powered by a Cummins X15 with top 605 hp rating. Months into a schedule of primarily longer hauls that are easier on chrome and polished aluminum than shorter, off-road deliveries, Carroll has demonstrated why he was assigned the amped up 15th anniversary workhorse, shown at top with a tarp reserved for appearances at truck shows, demonstrations or parades. PHOTO: FTC Aggregate Supply |
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| FTC Aggregate Supply tests Truck #135 at the Reliable Contracting sand pit and rock depot in Gambrills, Md. Beyond Cummins X15 power, the Peterbilt 389 Extended Hood model with J&J aluminum dump body has an 18-speed Eaton transmission, plus 20K front, 46K tandem and 20K pusher axles. J&J protects the bed with aggregate-grade DuraPro (right) from Linings Inc. |
“This truck recognizes our 15th anniversary and a driver who has been with us almost since day one,” says FTC owner Jeff Ferguson. “The initial thought for an anniversary model was to rehab our first truck. After talking to the dealer about this year’s orders, we decided to start with a vehicle outfitted as a company showpiece with anniversary banner.” Driver Ed Carroll, he adds, takes extremely good care of his trucks, and ensures that Truck #135 is in the best of hands.
FTC Aggregate’s main dump spec starts with a Peterbilt 367. Truck #135 emerged from a different track: “The Pete Store had a commitment for one of the more owner-operator type models to be displayed at the Mid-America Trucking Show (Louisville) before delivery to Maryland,” notes Ferguson. “We picked the truck with the biggest engine and all the bells and whistles. The dealer then worked with J&J to build a dump that would turn heads. The first I saw of it was on the Mid-America Show floor.”
FLEETING INTEREST
Truck #135 is a bold statement on the FTC Aggregate fleet evolution. The business was launched in 2003 to serve the crews of a family flagship business, Ferguson Trenching Co. “We were a typical underground utility contractor with three or four dump trucks,” Jeff Ferguson recalls. “On many jobs, crews were idled because we didn’t have enough truck capacity, or couldn’t rely on larger contract haulers to keep to a schedule.
“We had enough connections to land delivery work to supplement our own trucking needs, and started FTC Aggregate Supply with an eight-truck fleet. We didn’t need to focus too much on building the business for the first four or five years, but then began hauling for public and private customers. We are now up to 30 trucks and about 75 percent of volume is for outside accounts.”
The fleet serves the Baltimore to Washington D.C. metro market, along with eastern and southern Maryland. Regular aggregate hauling schedules include sand deliveries to Martin Marietta quarries in western Maryland, from which blue rock is back hauled to metro area plants or job sites. Truck #135 has been joined this year with two other, more conventional Peterbilt 367-mounted dumps. FTC Aggregate Supply is also upgrading fleet management with a Command Alkon Apex 4 to TrackIt and HaulIt migration.