Heritage Trucking, Inc. founder and CEO Pete Tode has spent his whole career refining his fleet. On February 17 – 18 in Phoenix, AZ, Pete sold it all to the highest bidders.
Heritage Trucking, Inc. founder and CEO Pete Tode has spent his whole career refining his fleet. On February 17 – 18 in Phoenix, AZ, Pete will sell it all to the highest bidders.
“I’ve been in the construction business my whole life,” said Pete. “I eventually started buying my own trucks in the early 1990s and opened an aggregate hauling business. Our fleet today is approximately 95% Peterbilt and 5% Kenworth and we’ve always spent extra time and money to make sure they are built to our exact specifications so they could haul the maximum payload.”
Heritage auction highlights included:
- 56 late-model Peterbilt 348 Simple 18 dump trucks
- 26 late-model Peterbilt 567 Simple 18 dump trucks
- 11 late-model Kenworth T880 Simple 18 dump trucks
- 25 late-model Peterbilt 567 twin-axle truck tractors
- 21 late-model Peterbilt 337 single-axle truck tractors
- 45 late-model Ranco belly dump trailers
Pete pushing innovation: the Simple 18 dump truck
Pete Tode is passionate about his fleet. In fact, we can all thank Pete for the introduction of the Simple 18 dump truck, with four-pusher axles capable of hauling 24.5 tons, or 49,000 lbs.
While on a Peterbilt-sponsored fishing trip, Pete met with engineer Jim Zito to discuss his new truck idea. This new chassis had a taller frame rail to handle extra weight and it didn’t have the rear strong arm tag axle. Instead, it used four drop axles for the first time.
With the help of Stan Young of Norwood Equipment, Pete and Heritage Trucking designed a four-pusher truck with 22-foot Beau Rock beds with Hardox 450.
“Beau Rock is the Cadillac of beds,” said Pete. This truck design is now the industry standard.
“We’ve had great support from Peterbilt over the years,” said Pete. “In my opinion they have built us the best trucks in the United States, certainly in Arizona.”
All Heritage trucks and trailers were sold without minimum bids or reserve prices.
“Ritchie Bros. is the gold standard when it comes to equipment auctions. I’ve always sold my excess equipment with them—they make it so easy.”