Going back 90 years: Diesel Progress September 1988

Starting with the May 1935 issue, Diesel Progress – or Power Progress as it’s known today – has covered engines and engine-powered equipment. Through those nine decades, the writers and editors of this publication have witnessed technology that was considered science fiction in the 1930s and they’ve praised (as proper non-biased journalists) the entrepreneurs and engineers that have facilitated those changes. It’s been – and continues to be — an amazing thing to watch. Throughout 2025, we will be celebrating those 90 years. With this department, we’re going back to some of the unique applications, forgotten firms and the companies that have been part of the industry and the publication from the beginning of both.

Big mining trucks always capture the attention of readers and trade show attendees. The September 1988 edition of the then-called Diesel Progress Engines & Drives featured the Payhauler 350C at the center of a bullseye. (Photo: Power Progress)

An all-wheel-drive off-highway hauler

Ask E. A. Domes, Payhauler Corp.’s vice president of technology, about all-wheel-drive vs. four-wheel drive, and chances are you will be treated to an interesting discourse on the development of vehicular traction systems dating back to the invention of the differential in the 1820s, and continuing through various vehicles of the late 19th/early 20th centuries, both world wars and the years in between – right up to the present – including some designed and used for track and road racing. It will become very clear that in Domes’ opinion, all-wheel-drive and 4WD are not the same.

Headquartered in Batavia, Ill., Payhauler Corp. presently designs and manufactures the 50-ton payload rated 350C Payhauler, a full-time all-wheel-drive, off-highway haul truck. Consequently, the distinction between all-wheel-drive and 4WD is important to the company....

Payhauler Corp. had its beginnings about six years ago with the purchase of a discontinued product line from the former International Harvester by three former IH managers: Domes; Jim Jensen, Payhauler president: and Ken Bengtson, vice president marketing. Today’s Payhauler (a registered trademark of Payhauler Corp.) truck incorporates over 100 new features and improvements, including its custom-built transmission with increased interaxle clutch capacity for greatly improved reliability.

Regardless of the 350C’s many improvements, the basic full-time all-wheel-drive concept is not new. Indeed, Domes pointed out that a full-time all-wheel-drive automobile, the Spyker, which was invented in Holland, was displayed at the 1903 Paris Motor Show. It featured a third differential between the front and rear axles, which permitted equal torque at all four wheels. A third differential is a key feature of today’s 350C.

Despite all-wheel drive’s long history, Domes believes the Payhauler 350C may be the only full-time all-wheel-drive, rigid frame, off-highway hauler manufactured in the world. He takes credit for its concept and development during his years at IH and holds several related patents.

With emerging public interest in and production of all-wheel-drive passenger cars such as the Audi Quattro, it is interesting to examine the application of engine power in the 350C. The full-time all-wheel-drive concept at Payhauler incorporates two equally loaded and powered drive axles with dual tires... front and rear. All the wheels drive and retard the hauler, and the load is carried equally by each wheel.

This article originally appeared in the October 2025 issue of Power Progress.

The engine choice in the new Payhauler was a four-cycle V-12 Cummins VTA28-C diesel rated 607 hp or a two-cycle 16-cylinder Detroit Diesel 16V-71 rated 587 hp. After the collapse of International Harvester, the industrial giant’s Payhauler brand and product line was finally rescued in 1982 by a group of former employees who had worked on the truck. When Diesel Progress Features Editor Dave Bode visited the company in 1988, its single product, the 350C, was being sold globally. Payhauler Corp. built haul trucks through the 1990s, and was eventually acquired by Terex. (Photo: Power Progress)