LOVIN’ A GOOD DUMP
THE LATEST PROJECT FROM CLINT MOORE
This month’s “creation” belongs to David Gosney of Eudora, Kansas. It might sound crude, but “Crazy Dave” (what most people know him as) loves a good dump! But that only makes sense - after all, he drives a big Peterbilt Dump truck. At only 31 years old, Dave has already seen and done a lot, but when you start truckin’ as early as he did, the years rack up fast.
Growing up, Dave always loved tractors and trucks. It has been his childhood dream for as long as he can remember to drive one (or both) of them for a living. But, since you need a lot of land to farm, Dave chose trucking. Dave started trucking when he was a freshman in high school. Not wanting anyone to get in trouble, he chose not to share any names, as he was only 14 years old! Wanting to get on with his life, he took the test and got his GED that same year, left school, and began driving full time.
At 18 years old, Dave got his grandfather to co-sign on a loan for his first truck - a 1981 IHC conventional. When he bought that first truck, he still did not even have a CDL. After getting his license, he went to work for American Topsoil in Olathe, KS. Dave is the kind of guy that gets things done - if he says he’ll do something, it gets done. This drive helped him build a pretty large fleet (six trucks and three leased-on operators) by the time he was only 22 years old.
Things were going great until Dave lost his hauling contract. He tried to keep it all together, but in the end, he went belly up. When the dust cleared, he was left with one truck - a 1985 GMC General dump truck that was paid for. So he went back to work, and began rebuilding his business. Over time, he added a few over-the-road trucks and continued to grow. Throughout his trucking career, Dave has bought, drove and sold quite a few sweet rides, but when he found out that his longtime girlfriend was pregnant, he decided to ratchet things down and get back to basics.
Looking to be home more, Dave sold off all of his trucks but one, a tri-axle Kenworth W900 dump truck, and began working more locally. That was two years ago. Dave drove that KW until he traded it in for this new Peterbilt 389.
Clint ordered this cool dump truck in 2009 to be displayed at the Columbia, MO dump truck show. After the show, it sat on the Kansas City Peterbilt lot for a year, until Dave found it. Since he only had one truck now, and didn’t have to deal with any drivers or other headaches, he wanted it to be extra nice. People said he was crazy (hence the nickname “Crazy Dave”) for buying such an expensive and fancy dump truck when the economy was so bad, but Dave didn’t care. Plus, he had enough business sense to know that he was making the right decision.
The truck is a 2010 Peterbilt 389 Extended Hood with an ISX Cummins engine and an 8LL transmission, sitting on an AirTrac suspension, with two factory steerable lift axles (which is just right for the Kansas bridge laws). The truck also has a factory two-color Seminole paint scheme done in viper red and white, a Platinum interior package and keyless remote. K.C. Peterbilt is the local distributor for HilBilt dump bodies, so Clint had an 18-foot Mongoose bed, painted to match, installed on the truck at HilBilt in Arkansas while on its way up from the factory in Texas.
Dave always dreamed of buying a brand new, fancy, dump truck, and this truck took him back to his childhood - back when all he ever did was play in the dirt with toy trucks. He bought the truck and then had Clint do a little work to it. Since 80% of Dave’s work is done in residential areas (laying driveways), he had Clint cut off the cab shield, a piece of metal designed to protect the roof of the cab from falling rocks and such, so that he would never accidentally tear down any power lines with it. He also had Clint switch out the visor, chop the air cleaner screens, replace the stock steering wheel with a wood one, and add a cup holder between the seats. And that was it - the truck was ready to go to work.
Dave hopes to one day buy a nice extended hood truck with a flat top sleeper and just take it to shows. Again, everybody thinks he is crazy, but he doesn’t care. Dave Gosney is happy to be back to the basics - one truck, one driver - him! And the way he looks at it, if he only works three days a week, the truck will still pay for itself. And, after just a few short years, he’ll own it outright and it will still have many good years left in it. Now, that doesn’t sound so crazy, does it?
~ If you would like Clint Moore to order and/or build you a new custom truck, contact him at Kansas City Peterbilt via e-mail at clintmoore@kcpete.com or call him at (913) 484-7768. You can also visit his website at www.custombilt4.com and check out pictures of other custom trucks he has built.