For those that don't know what I do for a living I am a lineman for AT&T. What phone linemen do is place cables in the air (pole to pole), buried (dirt), underground (manhole to manhole), place and remove poles and place and remove all sorts of equipment so people can watch cat videos and download porn on their chosen internet method. Long story short; I've been busting my ass for this company for 16 years, been thru 18 different garages, lived in hotels while hundreds of miles from home for almost 2 years, have had 3 different job titles (officially) and I've solidified my reputation as one of the biggest assholes in the area but I'm the guy that gets shit done. I'm the guy that gets the tougher jobs that are loaded with hundreds of ways to kill or cripple you and they have to be done right the first time, or it's simply the job that no one else wants, knows how to do or it's something that hasn't been done before.
For 11-12 of my 16 years with the company I've been a lineman and for all but 1 year I drove a digger derrick which is essentially a light duty mobile crane. Our trucks differ from other utility diggers in that ours do EVERYTHING whereas other companies have more specialty trucks, it can do aerial but not underground and vice versa. For the last 2-3 years I've been driving an 06 International digger with the standard boom, bed winch and hydraulics with the boom controlled from the seat up next to the boom. No air conditioning, no bells, no frills, just a beast of a truck that's as tough and mean as it looks.
About to tow a 40' pole into downtown Glen Ellyn during the morning rush hour on the back of a truck that's 27' long. Yes, it's as big a nightmare as you think.
Just set a 35' pole that a dump truck yanked over when dumping a pile of mulch. Glen Ellyn again. Try driving a normal size truck with a trailer thru those narrow ass streets, then multiply your setup by 4 and add in the evening rush hour westbound on North Ave and into the heart of downtown Glen Ellyn. It sucks but I love this shit!!
Enter the new beast that my boss decided to give to me on Tuesday. In my company truck assignment is solely up to the boss, NOT assigned by seniority like some of the guys in my garage think it should be (they want my truck). Maybe being good at your job and actually fucking working can amount to something?
2016 Kenworth D370 with an Allison push button auto trans, gigantic bed winch that looks like the 20 ton model, wireless remote for boom controls (that should cut down on me getting electrocuted), 10 foot pendant for bed winch controls so I don't have to stand next to a bed winch while pulling 3.5 tons of 2300 pair cable thru a 4" pipe for 1800 feet (see scared shitless and about to be killed, and no that's not a joke), pole jack to get stubborn poles out of the ground and not destroy the boom that can lift 18,000lbs (breaking point of the 3" rope on the tip winch on the boom), 110 A/C generator with 5 GFI outlets, enough strobe lights, flood lights and LEDs to be seen from space, back up camera, power passenger window AND I FINALLY GET FUCKING AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!
12'11" height and literally takes up just about every inch of a lane.
Big yellow wheel is a collapsible wheel to pull rope so we can pull lighter cables in.
Pole Jack on its cradle with I think a 10 ton lift capacity.
Engine porn
Big fucking bed winch that I have to make sure works perfectly before we have to place huge cables manhole to manhole for the 390 expansion. Once you start pulling a 7,000lbs cable thru a 4" pipe you don't stop until "it breaks or bleeds" as we say. Everything has to be set up right and work right the first time.
Only things I've found that I don't like about the truck is the 22" step in height from the lower step to the top step over the fuel tank and the speedo and tach like to stick and not come down (it showed me at 2300 RPM and 24 mph while stopped in a parking lot). I can get over a few hiccups because this thing is a monster AND I FINALLY HAVE AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!
For 11-12 of my 16 years with the company I've been a lineman and for all but 1 year I drove a digger derrick which is essentially a light duty mobile crane. Our trucks differ from other utility diggers in that ours do EVERYTHING whereas other companies have more specialty trucks, it can do aerial but not underground and vice versa. For the last 2-3 years I've been driving an 06 International digger with the standard boom, bed winch and hydraulics with the boom controlled from the seat up next to the boom. No air conditioning, no bells, no frills, just a beast of a truck that's as tough and mean as it looks.
About to tow a 40' pole into downtown Glen Ellyn during the morning rush hour on the back of a truck that's 27' long. Yes, it's as big a nightmare as you think.
Just set a 35' pole that a dump truck yanked over when dumping a pile of mulch. Glen Ellyn again. Try driving a normal size truck with a trailer thru those narrow ass streets, then multiply your setup by 4 and add in the evening rush hour westbound on North Ave and into the heart of downtown Glen Ellyn. It sucks but I love this shit!!
Enter the new beast that my boss decided to give to me on Tuesday. In my company truck assignment is solely up to the boss, NOT assigned by seniority like some of the guys in my garage think it should be (they want my truck). Maybe being good at your job and actually fucking working can amount to something?
2016 Kenworth D370 with an Allison push button auto trans, gigantic bed winch that looks like the 20 ton model, wireless remote for boom controls (that should cut down on me getting electrocuted), 10 foot pendant for bed winch controls so I don't have to stand next to a bed winch while pulling 3.5 tons of 2300 pair cable thru a 4" pipe for 1800 feet (see scared shitless and about to be killed, and no that's not a joke), pole jack to get stubborn poles out of the ground and not destroy the boom that can lift 18,000lbs (breaking point of the 3" rope on the tip winch on the boom), 110 A/C generator with 5 GFI outlets, enough strobe lights, flood lights and LEDs to be seen from space, back up camera, power passenger window AND I FINALLY GET FUCKING AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!
12'11" height and literally takes up just about every inch of a lane.
Big yellow wheel is a collapsible wheel to pull rope so we can pull lighter cables in.
Pole Jack on its cradle with I think a 10 ton lift capacity.
Engine porn
Big fucking bed winch that I have to make sure works perfectly before we have to place huge cables manhole to manhole for the 390 expansion. Once you start pulling a 7,000lbs cable thru a 4" pipe you don't stop until "it breaks or bleeds" as we say. Everything has to be set up right and work right the first time.
Only things I've found that I don't like about the truck is the 22" step in height from the lower step to the top step over the fuel tank and the speedo and tach like to stick and not come down (it showed me at 2300 RPM and 24 mph while stopped in a parking lot). I can get over a few hiccups because this thing is a monster AND I FINALLY HAVE AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!!!