This truck’s a ‘Badass’
You won’t find “Badass” in Autocar LLC’s brochure for its latest conventional-cab derivative, or in any chrome badging on the truck itself, except high on the sideboards of the dump bed. The Birmingham, Ala.-based builder says it actually trademarked Badass for use with trucks, so the word is locked in.
This demonstrator, adorned with stars and stripes and bright metal, does look “tough” and “uncompromising,” as dictionaries define the slang term, and maybe “intimidating,” as well. But “hard to get along with,” another meaning, it’s not. This DC-64D, its more polite designation, drove rather agreeably on a brief outing near its birthplace in the deep South on a sunny day just before Christmas.
Through its long history, with lineage stretching back to 1897 and the nameplate to 1899, Autocar has specialized in vocational trucks, and that’s the market the firm is sticking with now. The dumper is the third iteration of Autocar’s year-old conventional cab vocational series. It was preceded by R for refuse and M for mixer models, which differ in frame, wheelbase and suspension designs. All have set-back steer axles, but a forward-set design will follow in 2023 or ’24, executives said. So will a tractor, also for vocational duties.
Autocar’s last highway tractor was the AT-64F of the early 1980s, when Autocar was a division of Volvo. I drove a sleeper-cab version back then and remember it as a fine machine. You’ve probably seen pictures of earlier long-haulers, some with short integral sleepers, from the 1930s through the ’70s, a period during which it became part of the old White Motor Co. Now it’s owned by Highland Park. Ill.-based GVW Group, which holds other industrial and high-tech firms.
My drive of this dumper took us from Autocar’s factory in Birmingham to a quarry about 25 miles northeast.
There we picked up 23.5 tons of No. 57 stone, then retraced our route. Bruce Mochrie, business development manager for construction, said he’d use it to patch some big potholes in a lot adjacent to the plant, but the main idea was to give me a feel for the truck’s behavior while running empty and then under load. With Hendrickson taperleafs in front and a Haulmaax rubber-block suspension over the tandem axles, it rode nicely either way.
A Cummins X12 diesel produced 500 horses that propelled us well and with little work from me, for the transmission was an Allison 4500 automatic. While loaded, on one stiff pull up an 8% grade, our speed fell as low as 20 mph and the six-speed Allison went down to third gear as the Cummins kept a-hummin’ at 1,900 to 2,000 rpm, right at redline. Otherwise, I cruised at 55 to 60 mph and used the Jake Brakes to retard us on downgrades.
Visibility in all directions was superb, and the turning circle was surprisingly short, especially for a 20,000-pound front axle with wide tires and dual steering gears. The roomy interior included a simple 18-inch sport-type steering wheel. All switches and controls were on a flat dashboard arranged in old-school fashion, with rows of toggles and gauges and, just ahead of the driver, a large color screen that added a modern note. At the end of our run, Mochrie scrolled through a seemingly limitless array of categories on the screen, and pointed out that the entire service manual – complete with diagrams, illustrations, plus diagnostic and fix-it info – is in the onboard computers. That data also can be put into a tablet or laptop.
This dump truck is a demonstrator and one of the few the company has assembled for stock.
Autocar builds each truck to order for a specific buyer, and every truck on the line is sold before it goes out the door, according to Tim Thornton, vice president and general manager.
And Autocar has no dealers. Customers deal directly with the company, both for sales and product support. Representatives will set up customers and any truck shops they pick to do warranty and repair work. That’s supposed to be rare because the truck’s designed for long life and easy access to components. Support continues 24/7 throughout a truck’s life, for the first and subsequent owners. Customers pay for post-warranty parts, but all consultations by phone and video come at no charge.
Put another way: Buy an Autocar and you’ve got friends at the factory, badass or not. LL