Case Studies

Town of Truckee

Following demonstrations by their local dealer, the town of Truckee trialled a Multihog multi-purpose tractor with a cold planer for 4 weeks in the summer of 2017. It was enough to convince the California town that a Multihog would be the perfect year-round addition to their maintenance fleet and shortly afterwards they placed an order for an MXC 120 tractor along with a 24” Simex cold planer, which was delivered in spring of 2018.

Truckee shares the Multihog between two divisions of their Public Works department – its main purpose during the summer months is asphalt grinding and pothole repair on all of the town’s roadways, but during the winter months a snow blower is fitted to clear around 9 miles of sidewalks, trails and smaller roadways by the fleet, facilities and landscaping division. The year-round functionality of the Multihog, shared between various divisions of Public Works dept. makes the MXC a smart and cost-effective choice for the municipal budget.

Truckee’s Street Maintenance Manager Thom Ravey explains the town’s purchasing decision: “Our local dealer called us up and offered to demo the Multihog – he was pretty persistent, so we thought it must be something worth seeing! After the demo we hired a unit for 4 weeks and it was clear pretty quickly that the Multihog was totally outperforming the mini loader we already had. The MXC is purpose-built to carry snow blowers and patch planers, and this is reflected in the hydraulic setup – which is totally different to the hydraulics of the loader we had been using.”

Thom says the performance and visibility of the Multihog influenced their choice, along with the fact that the cabin is superior to any other machine his team has seen: “Our operators have been vocal about the comfort that the Multihog cab offers. Road speed is also important as the winter operators have a lot of locations to cover, so it’s a lot more efficient when they can clear an area and then drive to the next at 25mph.”

What benefits does Thom think the Multihog brings to Truckee? “Our asphalt grinding process is faster and more efficient now, we tested it and we’re definitely covering more feet per hour than with our old equipment. Our operators are happier and more comfortable, and with the visibility in the Multihog cabin they’re also much safer.”

Local dealer support is naturally also important for Truckee, and Alpine Smith Inc. delivers in this regard too: “Darin at Alpine Smith is really good – very knowledgeable and professional, and he’s been super responsive to our questions at all times. He completed training with our operators on-site shortly after delivery, and I have no doubts about the level of service he’ll provide as our Multihog dealer”.