This MC331 bobtail tank, designed for the propane delivery market, marks a major addition for 55-year-old J&J Truck Bodies & Trailers, a Somerset, Pennsylvania, company best known as a manufacturer of dump bodies and trailers. The first showing of the bobtail was at the Mid-America Trucking Show March 26-28 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Working with its parent company, the truck body builder developed a line of bobtail tanks with capacities ranging from 2,800 gallons to 5,500 gallons. The pressure vessels are constructed 80-inch diameter barrels and one-piece hemispherical heads, all of which are fabricated from SA612 NQT steel. Bolt-in baffles are aluminum.
The bobtail displayed at MATS was just the tenth unit produced by the truck body builder, according to Jason Cornell, director of product development at J&J Truck Bodies & Trailers. The company is assembling about two bobtails a week.
Mounted on a Peterbilt chassis, the display bobtail featured an open deck fabricated from polished aluminum. Tank hardware and product handling systems included Marshall Excelsior valves and brake interlock, Hannay reel, LC meter with ticket printer, and Base Engineering remote emergency shutdown.
J&J outfitted the bobtail with a dump truck-style hydraulic system that is powered by a transmission-mounted PTO. The hydraulics drive a Blackmer product pump.
The belly of the bobtail was sprayed with J&J’s Armor Coat protective coating provides protection against corrosion and impact abrasion. The textured coating also can be applied to the entire rear deck. ♦
