24 
BULLETIN" 931, U. 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. None 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 J-ton and f-ton 
trucks, $75 for the 1-ton trucks, $100 for the lj-ton and lj-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 Hon and lJ-ton 
2 ton ". 
11.8 (69) 
10.5 (557) 
9.7 (102) 
8.0 (57) 
$0,022 
.025 
.027 
.032 
80 (55) 
46 (488) 
52 (88) 
38 (48) 
SO. 002 
.004 
.003 
.005 
$0,024 
.029 
.030 
.037 
TIRES. 
Each man was asked to state what he paid for tires and the mile- 
age obtained. The tire cost per mile 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 
