Classic Refuse Trucks WESTERN

Western Body & Hoist Company
Late 1960's to the Maxon Era

The Full-Pak remained the flagship front loader body as shown on these mid-sixties examples with over-the-wheel lift arms on White Compact (above) and International Harvester's CO series cabover (below)

Above we see a Full-Pak with optional hydraulic hopper cover, and a side-fork adapter kit installed

This is either a Top-Pak, or possibly even a non-comp body.
Two ribs are visible under the cab shield, but there does not appear to be a packer blade

Another truck, billed as a 36 yard Top-Pak, with a forward mounted, high-lift telescopic body hoist and over-the-cab lift arms. The packer mechanism may have had to be revised from earlier design due to the placement of the hoist cylinder, as there is no sign of a pack cylinder projecting through the cab shield. As we have seen, there was virtually no end to the differences in detail and configuration of the bodies produced by smaller independents such as Western.

Another late model Top-Pak with the more common twin underbody hoist arrangement. The packer blade cylinder (projecting out the front of the cab shield)and hydraulic hoses are clearly visible in this example.

Rounding out the Western product line was the Half-Pak, shown above, with a conventional partial-pack design with full width packer blade. Western body was purchased by Maxon Industries of Huntington Park in December, 1970. Initially, much of the product line remained unchanged and was badged as Maxon-Western. The Maxon-Western Half-Pak shown below is nearly identical the truck above. With Maxon's 1972 acquisition of Bemars, features from both makes were gradually integrated, though the Bemars name seems to have outlasted the Western marque.

This colossal 58 cubic yard, three axle Full Pak in service for the Midway City (California) Sanitary District represents what was probably the biggest front loader on earth at the time. Made with high tensile steel, this giant was extremely light for its size, weighing 550 pounds less than a 38 cubic yard Dempster Dumpmaster. It has an air-cooled Wisconsin V-4 auxiliary engine which drives the hydraulic pump for "pack-on-the-move" operation. The Full-Pak design, with minor modifications was eventually transferred to the Bemars-Maxon product line.

For more information on Western, see the CRT article U.S. Front Loader Development

Also, see the related article on The City of Scottsdale automated residential loaders.

4/6/08