Ankeny Sanitation Preserved Leach Packmaster (circa 1950's) A super rare first generation Leach Packmaster body, owned by Ankeny Sanitation of Ankeny, Iowa Special thanks to Anthony Ricchio of GarbageGuru.net for sharing these excellent photographs with CRT The body currently resides on a much older truck The retired Leach still comes out for the occasional parade, and is believed to functional We don't often get to look at the packer blade of an early Packmaster, since this version has not been built for over fifty years. These original models shared no components with the revised series which debuted in 1955 Close up shows one of the the spring biased-rollers. Also note the track riser which is holding the roller shaft inward Packer blade control lever and rod. Note the seven small holes in the sidewall; At the dump, the operator would release the tailgate clamps, and then start the packer. Once the blade was visible through these holes, he knew to then operate the tailgate raise lever. Since these early Packmasters were originally fitted with automatic hopper doors (interconnected to the packer control linkage), operators were unable to see the packer through the rear opening during the first half of the cycle. Like most examples, the door on this truck has been removed at some point during its existence Continued... © 2009 Eric Voytko All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers All photos courtesy of GarbageGuru.net