WITH drilling activity booming along the Marcellus gas shale formation, J&J Truck Bodies & Trailers, Somerset, Pennsylvania, has seen brisk demand for the non-code vacuum tanks it introduced two years ago.
The surge in drilling along the formation that stretches from New York, through Pennsylvania, and into West Virginia, brought a need for vacuum trucks to haul brine water from the wells. J&J Truck Bodies is helping to meet that need with truck-mounted vacuum tanks in the 80- to 135-barrel (3,360- to 6,000-gallon) range.
During the 2011 Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, J&J Truck Bodies displayed this 110-barrel carbon steel vacuum tank on a Western Star 4900FA chassis with a 560-hp Detroit Diesel DD15 engine.
Tank heads are butt-welded to the shell and the complete tank is welded together by Submersion Arc Welding for 100% weld penetration. Inside the tank are two anti-surge baffles.
Tanks are fitted with one-piece aluminum hose trays and a polyurea chip guard that runs the length of the tank. The coating provides added protection against damage when hoses are handled. The rear bumper is an oilfield design fabricated from heavy structural tubing. It includes a tow flap designed to pull 80,000 pounds. Vacuum pumps are from Fruitland Tools & Manufacturing. ♦
