mechohaulic

i wasn't there to witness, but talked with someone who was. L G Deflice from north haven CT had a driver they called Barney. he drove a DM800 , he had a huge lowbed with a two axle jeep , backed it down a narrow dirt road with machine on back (don't remember the equiptment) didn't pulll forward once to straighten out. truck had some unbelievable amount of gears . quad with 4 speed aux etc.

back in the day ;'70's wasn't too unusual on the east coast to see a twin stack mack R700 DD powered. rackin the brain to be accurate , seems roadway had some.

yrs back i looked at a '39 mack FK chain drive that was originally powered by a cummins. unfortunately i didn't buy it but should have

now there's a place i'd like to spend alot of time. walking through acres of history gone by. what a shame. we all know the bottom line; don't want to see it go to rust, but can't save them all.

trying to do the math in my head ; that's what's takin so long to type. it's been at least 11-12 yrs since my full time driving day . darn now i feel real old . drove for baskin robbins last. unemployed for 1yr. (long story). mech for coca -cola 7 yrs ; then retired last 2017 - now. at B&R i did relief for few yrs entire east coast. finally got my own rte doing CT into MA. ran I-290every week. back 12+yrs road and people totally different.

in today's world, at least in CT; it takes skill and attention to all your surroundings just to safely drive a car!! never have i seen anything like it , not once or twice every time on the road. how can people be in such a hurry. common to see an ass---le make a 4 lane highway out of what is a three lane. after "politics" came in to my job, shop was closed and ryder came in . boss bragged how they gave him free golf tickets. i was told = your a truck driver or nice knowing you. he thought i was going to quit; not with 25-27 yrs there. drove truck for remainder of my employment there. NO GPS in those days. many hrs with road maps. was supposed to have a conventional with sleeper; too long for city . took a day cab twin screw set it up with curtains and laminated board for sleep with sleeping bag. not too many lay over days. had to show hotel for lay over. they were fun days ; that are long gone.

you know what helps alot in those situations; (besides skill) very slight pressure on the trolly brake. it makes it easier for the trailer to make a tight piviot . in the delivery days, i had one stop in a small parking lot with double row of cars and a loading dock. 45ft trailer . brakes on slightly with trolley and sand on pavement made line up to dock slick. no dock unload meant hand truck many trips up ramp.

i have to chuckle on the "us older guys were grandfathered in" i was grandfathered in for getting a CDL in the first place! before they started this medical card crap also.

off this post a little but speaking of clutches; did a reply ever show up of the truck with a clatter in bell housing area? i haven't seen it.

i first read this post and thought you were joking! a PLASTIC side cover, guess i've been away from the wrenches too long.

shifting without the clutch isn't a bad thing some cases it makes the shift easier. can't go too much. in this case the intermeditate plate was froze on the dowels of the flywheel. truck was basically running on a single disc.

yrs back i did a clutch job for one of my better customers; milk hauler the truck went 7 days a week. hot shot truck driver came in mouthing off " don'tknow why your changing it, i never use it " showed him the disc -- double disc old style not the fancy button disc. one disc like brand new other down to very little left. i said that;s why i'm changing it; use the clutch!

there are those who look at the mona lisa and see something nice ; looking at these pictures i see perfection. great job . the sound is something never to be duplicated by the new electronic junk of today. like the '60's muscle cars the engine sounds of the old truck engines can't be beat.

i sit and read these post finding myself in total awe. so glad i'm out of that work , still keep my CDL active with the hopes of taking an old B model on a road test. challenge is the CDL a medical card is nearing impossible. open heart surgery in 2015 changed a lot of things

at 70 i'm over the hill. i look at my little grand kids ; age 3-5-7 ; for them and many other youngsters i feel sorry for. purpose for moving out of CT after retirement was to try and have some of the SS i paid into all those yrs TN was much better. not my decision to comeback to this rotten state.

seems to me the corrective measure for having PTO operation while moving was to install rear mount PTO on lower counter shaft. did quite a few in the day unless the newer trans did away with rear set up availability ,

an old B-model can throw a rod, throw a belt, or throw a tire cap.throwing codes should be left up to the spies of the world NOT trucks.

is that where the phrase "diamond in the rough" comes from? real ruff . LOL . thanks for the share , never know might be good runner just bad looker

the question i was thinking was-- what fan hub model are you working on ? the older hortons would use air pressure to DISENGAGE the fan. reason being if the system had a problem it's better to have a fan stuck on then one not engaging. the added wire may have been installed to put fan on before temp. an owner operator had a switch in dash for manual fan so he could engage fan before a hill and not have fan kick in half way up . or could be half -ass way to not fix a problem. have seen many of those "mechanics" ; don't fix it just run anew wire guys.

i remember you posted these picture once before; i'm extremely impressed. i had a FA hino with flat bed dump. tried to "buy American" , my major number two job , construction co had a fleet of F-450 diesels. couldn't deal with it takes 5 acres to turn them around, the small cabover would turn in a tight circle.

my older brother started at mack yr before me; i was still in high school. he would grab the operator manuals and give them to me. i sat in high school with the manuals in between the schoolbook pages ,, got caught a few times. skipped every class possible and went to work at mack march 3,1969 part-time. graduated on a friday in june went to mack saturday started full time the following monday.

i thought it was your shop. working alone late at night to have clutch job done for am,i had a 12 speed roll off the jack and pin me against side. they are one heavy item trying to move when laying on your side. i have rubber gloves and back brace now just 40 yrs too late

"but nobody told me " that note was in their operators manual! LOL a number of new trucks came in with complaint of air leak, bring it in SET THE BRAKE : can't find any leak. some of the new save the world technology was a challenge .old timers didn't know or care about the new stuff, let the new kid figure it out. i was fortunate to have learned from the best mechanics of the older iron.

pictures are excellent. more impressive to me is the shop the truck is in looks like a dealer show case area. clean, organized .

things were different in CT yrs back also. i had a DM800 triaxle with huge coal style body; company bought it from down south. leased out to a construction co . on a saturday trucks were sent to different asphalt plants with instructions to "load all you can"; plants would be closing . still had more paving to do. i went to beard asphalt in derby. body so high i had to back under the two ton drop shoot. with only 3/4 of the body full i came off the scales just over the 86K. never happen today. DM800 before the front floatation tires came into being also.