Classic Refuse Trucks GAR WOOD

Load-Packer LP900

The 1972 LP-900 was to lead off an all-new Gar Wood lineup. It was designed by Fred T. Smith, who was to transform the entire Gar Wood lineup in the 1970's. The rugged 900 utilized an inside/outside four-link trackless packer system, and a striking new storage body with a high strength-to-weight ratio. A high-compaction unit, the 900 was the among the first to use high strength, heat-treated steel in critical areas of the tailgate.

At a distance, the 900 could be mistaken for a typical slide/sweep type design, but a look inside shows a totally new design. The packer and sweep panels (red) are hinged together at A, and the assembly is suspended upon four independant links (green). The two upper links are located high inside the tailgate structure, and the lower links are mounted outside the tailgate side walls.

The larger hydraulic cylinders (blue) are mounted outside the tailgate side walls. One end is pivotally connected to the side wall structure, and the other end connects at A, where it intersects with the lower link and a shaft protruding through curved slots B in the hopper side walls. Following the travel path of these slots, the assembly drops down at a variable angle until it reaches near-vertical travel at the lower end. The rear hopper wall C is correspondingly near-vertical, resulting in an unusually deep hopper within a relatively compact tailgate structure.

With swing link designs, the increasing pressure of the compacted load is borne by the links, not on tracks and rollers/slides. The LP900 is unique also in that the links are connected to the tailgate at one of its strongest points; the front edge of the structure, where it joins the storage body. The forward location of the links, away from workers and refuse, also results in an uncluttered hopper opening.

The popular LP900 was triumph, and this was Fred Smith's first refuse truck design! In the years to follow, he would be awarded dozens of patents, and has had a profound influence on the industry. He designed Gar Wood's first and only front loader, the FL-3000 and in later years patented the "curved shell" body design now sweeping the world. Despite the 900's successes, new owner Sargent Industries dissolved Gar Wood division in the late 1970's. European design rights for the LP-900 and FL-3000 were licensed to Edelhoff in West Germany, who also bought the original tooling. Edelhoff also acquired the rights for the stillborn "ten-hundred" series, which they built and sold as the Europress LP-1000. North American rights went to Heil, and that firm has been building their version of the 900, the famous Formula 5000 at their Fort Payne, Alabama facility. Under many names, it remains one of the best selling packers in history, a true living classic.

Any LP900 alive today would be 25+ years old, yet I have seen two show up in classified ads since 2003. This example (year unknown, mounted on 1984 chassis) is alive and well and was listed for sale during 2004 in Oregon.

8/8/04 (revised 10/1/04)