24 



BULLETIN 981. IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



In all, about 50 per cent of the men who had owned their trucks 12 

 months or less had spent nothing for repairs, but comparatively few 

 of the men who had owned their trucks for more than a year had 

 been free from expense for repairs. Ordinarily the amount which 

 must be spent for repairs during the latter years of a truck's life 

 will be considerably greater than the cost for the first two or three 

 years. Xone of these trucks is entirely worn out, and it is not pos- 

 sible from the reports to obtain an accurate figure as to the average 

 annual repair cost for the entire life of a truck. In the absence of 

 accurate figures, allowances of $75 per year for the ^-ton and f-ton 

 trucks, $75 for the 1-ton trucks, $100 for the 1^-ton and 1^-ton trucks, 

 and $150 for the 2-ton trucks have been made as fair charges for the 

 average annual repair costs in figuring the cost of operation in Table 

 XXII. (For the repair costs of some trucks which have been in use 

 three years and longer see Department Bulletin 910, " Experience, of 

 Eastern Farmers with Motor Trucks." 



GASOLINE AND OIL. 



The average number of miles obtained per gallon of gasoline and 

 per quart of cylinder oil by the men who use trucks of different sizes 

 are shown in Table XVIII. The average price which these men paid 

 for gasoline at the time they made their reports (January to March, 

 1920) was 26 cents per gallon, and the average price of lubricating 

 oil was 70 cents per gallon. The costs per mile traveled are com- 

 puted from these figures. No attempt was made to learn the amount 

 and value of the grease used, but in any case its value should be only 

 a fraction of that of the lubricating oil. 



Table XVIII. — Gasoline and oil requirements of trucks of different sizes. 



[Gasoline, 26 cents per gallon; lubricating oil, 70 cents per gallon. Figures in paren- 

 theses indicate number of reports for respective items.] 



Size of truck. 



Miles per 

 gallon of 

 gasoline. 



Cost per 

 mile. 



Miles 



per 



quart 



of oil. 



Cost per 

 mile. 



Total 

 cost per 

 mile for 

 gasoline 

 and oil. 



i-ton and f-ton. . 



1-ton 



1 1-ton and l'.-ton 

 2 ion 



11. S (69) 



10.5 (557) 



9.7 (1(12) 



8. (57) 



.022 

 .025 

 .027 

 .032 



SO (55) 

 46 (488) 

 52 (88) 

 38 (48) 



.002 

 .004 

 .003 

 .005 



1024 

 .029 

 .030 

 .037 



TIRES. 



Each man was asked to state what he paid for tires and the mile- 

 age obtained. The tire cost per Tmile as shown in Table XIX was fig- 

 ured by simply dividing the average cost of one tire by the average 

 number of miles which the tire run and multiplying this result 



