Dodge Ram Chassis Cab Features 

Meyer Products and their dealer network offer a full line of snow removal equipment including tailgate, hopper in-body and under-tailgate products:

Blaster Tailgate Spreader

For light pick-ups to 1-ton vehicles, 1/2 ton+ Trucks, Tractors w/3 Point Hitch

The Blaster's unique ½ horsepower, direct-drive motor is rated at up to 70 amps of surge power to grind through those annoying chunks of salt or sand. And the direct-drive system applies the torque directly to the auger.

One-touch operation provides you total control over Blaster spreaders. The illuminated in-cab controller (patent-pending) includes buttons for the on/off switch, the "blast" mode which provides an on-command 70 amp surge, and a "vibrate" mode. You can also regulate the spinner speed with the variable speed controller.

Selecting the Auto Spinner Stop Mode will automatically stop the spinner from spinning when the truck's brakes are applied for more than five seconds. The Auto Vibrate Mode automatically vibrates the spreader for ten seconds every sixty (60) seconds to keep your load agitated and ready to spread.

In snow and ice control, high performance in any condition is mandatory, so Meyer includes many performance-enhancing components as STANDARD. No-tools-required top screen breaks-up large clumps of material which can cause damage to the drag chain and reduce performance. In addition, material is prevented from building up in the drag chain and slowing you down by including bolt-in chain shields as standard equipment. Standard inverted-V which helps prevent material from bridging and slowing down the conveyor.

Under Tailgate Dump Truck Salt Spreader

Under Tailgate Spreaders (UTG) and Replaceable Tailgate Spreaders (RTG) are available. Both spreaders use a combination of a self- contained auger with removable spinners, and can apply salt, sand or combination of both, from four to 40 feet.

Choose from Hydraulic or Electric:

If your truck has a central hydraulics system, and you wish to power the under- tailgate spreader off of it, you need Meyer's hydraulic-driven UTG or RTG. The hydraulic-driven UTGs/RTGs can be powered using a direct drive or gearbox drive system. Direct drive provides higher performance and decreased maintenance, while gearbox drive provides better control at low spread rates for more efficient spreading.

If your vehicle does not have central hydraulics, or, you don't care to use central hydraulics to drive the spreader, you need our electric motor-driven options. Electric motors offer many ease-of-use advantages and are ideal for lighter, free-flowing materials.

Find Meyer Snow Removal Products at www.meyerproducts.com where you can also find a dealer near you.

Guest post by Steve Taylor. Steve is a consultant in the Truck Equipment business with over 30 years in the snowplow and truck body manufacturing business. He specializes in the design and quality/reliability field and may be reached by email at steve@truckarchitect.com. You may visit his website at http://www.truckarchitect.com/.

Chevrolet Sales to Small Businesses Rise Dramatically  

Q4 increase of 36 percent was almost three times the industry growth during the quarter

DETROIT - The pessimism of the Great Recession is being replaced by optimism for a growing number of small business owners like Mark Fischer.

Fischer, vice president of Katch Kan USA in Houston, provides support for the oil-drilling industry in Texas, which Fischer estimates saw a 50 percent decline in activity during 2008 and 2009. As industry activity recovered in 2010, it has helped Katch Kan triple in size.

"We have experienced a lot of growth over the past couple of years," said Fischer. "In 2008, we had six employees and two trucks in the field. Last week, we just added an eighth truck to the fleet, a new Silverado 1500, to support 25 employees working in the field 24/7."

Chevrolet sales to small businesses such as Katch Kan USA have increased for three consecutive months. In the fourth quarter of 2010, Chevrolet dealers recorded a 36 percent increase in small business sales, almost three times the increase for the industry, indicating that small business across the U.S. are beginning to reinvest.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, sales to small businesses - those that purchase fewer than five vehicles per year - significantly outpaced the total sales increase for the brand nationally:

"Small businesses put off capital expenditures such as vehicle purchases in order to weather the economic storm," said Don Johnson, GM vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. "With the continuing improvement in consumer spending, and improving profitability of these businesses, we're beginning to see a significant influx of small business buyers to Chevrolet showrooms."

That increase supports findings in a National Federation of Independent Business survey, which found that small business owners' optimism reached its highest level in 2010 during the fourth quarter. The study also pointed toward an increasing likelihood that small businesses will begin hiring in the near term.

Business owners' increased confidence, combined with the increasing age of U.S. vehicles, suggests small-business sales will continue to grow. According to RL Polk and Company, the average vehicle age has increased to 10.2 years through October, 2009 - the first time that the American vehicle fleet has ever been more than 10 years old. 

For example, Sunwest Air Conditioning in Costa Mesa, Calif. recently purchased two new Silverado HD trucks with service bodies to replace older vehicles in their fleet.

"We have nine trucks in our fleet, some with a lot of miles, said Sunwest owner Mark Dalessi. "In the beginning of 2009, we were just happy to have any work. But business started picking up towards the end of 2009, and 2010 turned out to be a decent year. As 2011 is shaping up to be a good year for us, we decided it was time to replace our oldest trucks."

In November, Dalessi bought a Silverado to replace a truck with 250,000 miles. He then bought another Silverado in December, replacing a truck with 200,000 miles.

"We buy our fleet vehicles expecting to drive them until they die," Dalessi concluded, "and we have never had any issues with our Chevy trucks."

Key facts about small business and the U.S. economy:

• In Q4 2010, small businesses increased their employment by 127,000 from Q3 while large business added 14,000 more jobs.
•  The Small Business Optimism Index reached 101.3 in Q4, the highest it's been since Q4 2007 indicating a likelihood of hiring by this sector in the short term.
• In Q4 2010, more small firms expected the economy to improve while more expected the economy to weaken in Q1.
• Of small businesses surveyed in Q4 2010, the percentage who say now is a good time to expand reached its highest level since Q3 2008.
• Real personal consumption expenditures increased 0.3 percent in November from October, pointing to strong growth in overall consumer spending in Q4.
• MasterCard Advisors' Spending Pulse showed retail sales, excluding autos, rose 5.5 percent Nov. 5 through Dec. 24, from a year ago. The best increase in 5 years.

When Stoddart's Fuels was looking to add to its fleet of vehicles, the Brampton based company wanted a truck with greater payload capacity but it still had to be compact enough to handle the accessibility issues when delivering the company's coal and coal-related products throughout the rural regions of Cumbria.

Following the success of their first Isuzu 7.5t truck, originally purchased over four years ago, Stoddart's decided to move up the weight range with the addition of the new hexapod cabbed Isuzu Forward F110.210 11 tonne, 4x2, rigid truck, featuring a 6-speed manual transmission system, and fitted with a 19ft aluminium flat bed body.

As Trevor Stoddart says, "Accessibility is a key issue for us because we deliver to so many customers that are located where the majority of heavier trucks simply can't get to. The Isuzu 11 tonner is not much bigger in overall size than Isuzu's 7.5 tonners and yet it gives a vastly increased payload of slightly over 7 tonnes, which makes all the difference to us. The 11 tonne Isuzu now does the work previously handled by two vehicles, giving us a far more efficient operation. What's more we've been monitoring the fuel consumption and it's currently averaging 17mpg which is perfectly acceptable when you consider the arduous terrain that we have round here".

Supplied by local Isuzu dealer Cumbria Truck Centre in Carlisle, Stoddart's new 11 tonne Isuzu is working six days a week, handling between 20 and 30 drops per day. Cumbria Truck Centre worked closely with a local bodybuilder to achieve the lowest possible body height on the chassis. Essentially the delivery of coal, especially for domestic use, has always been a manual operation. Obviously it is advantageous to have a load height that facilitates easy manual loading and unloading of bagged coal. The load height of the new 11 tonne Isuzu is only 20mm higher than that of the Isuzu 7.5 tonne predecessor.

Full details of the 2010 Isuzu Truck product range can be viewed and downloaded from the company's website on http://www.isuzutruck.co.uk/.





All new Ford Ranger tows locomotive

Gerry Faulkner knew he'd unearthed the seed of a good idea when he began teasing out plans to reinvent the way mobile coffee was served in Australia.

A veteran of the outdoor entertainment industry, Gerry had grown accustomed to the snaking coffee lines confronting punters at events from Cairns to Adelaide - and the frustration it spawned.

The common problem, he found, was that every mobile coffee stall featured a single espresso machine to service thousands of people on-site.

Gerry proposed a simple solution to the problem.

He chose to fabricate a mobile coffee van, based on the Isuzu NNR 200 cab chassis, and equip it with two espresso machines to cut waiting times for coffee at events throughout Victoria.

And so the Little Black Truck Coffee Co was born.

Read more here: Little Black Truck Coffee