rhasler Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Saw this Oshkosh this afternoon. Monstrous looking truck, not sure what engine it had in it.Also saw these new Freightliners in transit. I don't remember ever seeing trucks delivered in this way. Mack, and even the volvos I've seen are decked on top of each other. 1 Quote "Mebbe I'm too ugly and stupid to give up!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhasler Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Here's another of the Freightliners in transit. Quote "Mebbe I'm too ugly and stupid to give up!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfesting Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 (edited) Here's another of the Freightliners in transit. Weird. So, when the delivery driver drops off these two Freightliners, what does he do with that "hitch"? Edited January 17, 2011 by cfesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 If they decked those condos they would probably be over height. I would guess they follow up with a flatbed and collect the goosenecks and use them again. Then again they might keep them at the dealers so they can go pick up their dead Freightshakers and drag them back in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 If they decked those condos they would probably be over height. I would guess they follow up with a flatbed and collect the goosenecks and use them again. Then again they might keep them at the dealers so they can go pick up their dead Freightshakers and drag them back in.Or redistribute temporarily repaired Peterbilts.........Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhasler Posted January 17, 2011 Author Share Posted January 17, 2011 My first guess was along the lines that they were trying to avoid body damage caused during undecking, but aftter thinking about it I realized that the trucks should be able to lower the air bags, disengage the gooseneck, and drive the truck off. The advantage to this is that there wouldn't be any special equipment needed to load and unload trucks. Usually when we get trucks in they have to be undecked with a wrecker or crane truck, and in a lot of cases the truck that is staying is the middle truck, which means more loading and unloading. Even with the procedure that Mack uses the equipment used to couple the trucks together has to be picked up later on or is shipped back. Quote "Mebbe I'm too ugly and stupid to give up!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vision386 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I've never seen trucks towed like this,most of the ones i see now are still decked,but i also see a lot of those truck/trailer thingamabobs where 2 trucks are connected with a small single axle trailer with kingpins at both ends,so both fifthwheels are used to attach the tractors,and there is usually a pickup riding on the trailer which i assume can later be used to tow the trailer after delivery of the trucks. Always thought it was a pretty ingenious idea,but does limit the transport to 2 trucks at a time.......Mark Quote Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lmackattack Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 never seen that kind of hitch but if you can remove the towed trucks without the need of a machine that would be faster and you could drop it anywhere.that Oshkosh looks like the fleet of Cement trucks that Meyer ran in the 90s. I think they still have a few left. Strong runners and put their DMM macks on a level playing field. I always thought they would be a PITA to see out of with the big hood and sitting that high up? I can rember seeing them all day long near my house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullhusk Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Mark, Diamond Ready Mix in Staten Island NY has a few of them an they are powered by a Cummins L10 I don't know the hp but they get the job done!!! He also has about 4 nice 759 Brockways with 10 yd mixers on them that he bought new in the 70's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vision386 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 I remember a few towing outfits in jersey that had trucks like this,my cousin (Helmrich towing) had an older one (1960) ex-navy heavy recovery and Guaranteed up in north jersey had one similar,which i believe was sold to High point garage up in union,NJ................ Quote Mack Truck literate. Computer illiterate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhasler Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 Here's another of the Freightliners in transit. Saw some more of these today. One truck pulling, two behind it on these little gooseneck trailers. The pull truck had the engine running at an idle and consequently shutdown (I imagine due to the clean idle system) when I walked by. The driver strolled up and restarted the engine and set the idle speed up, sounded like crap, almost like a miss in the engine. I suppose it had a DD15 in it, do they normally sound like that? I know the '07 MP engines rattle and make a bunch of weird noise. Anyway, I started to ask the driver what the deal was with the trailers but he had an air of aloofness about him. Guess I would too if I had one a them snazzy hands free cell phone headsets, a pair of Bufford T Justice sunglasses, and a load of Freightliners to deliver! I left him alone figuring that if his lead truck broke down it probably wouldn't be much work for him to unload the rearmost truck and use it to pull the other two. Quote "Mebbe I'm too ugly and stupid to give up!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhasler Posted January 30, 2011 Author Share Posted January 30, 2011 By the way, it looked like the trailers were unpainted. It also looked like the platform section of the trailers ran all the way back behind the cab but I still couldn't see what they were attached to. Quote "Mebbe I'm too ugly and stupid to give up!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 By the way, it looked like the trailers were unpainted. It also looked like the platform section of the trailers ran all the way back behind the cab but I still couldn't see what they were attached to.These "tow bars" have a box beam construction under the truck that extends. A vertical chain then runs up and around the frame on a saddle and back down to the bar which is then bound up tight. If you look at the front of the tractor you see a lifting bar that attaches to the front tow hooks of the tractor. This is a cantilever type operation and does not slip. Once hooked up, the pulling unit is backed under the affair and everthing lifts clear of the ground. These work great if there is no way to either load or unload "piggyback" style. I've also seen this setup using saddles that lift by the steer axle beam. These do require a removable axel for the rear to tow the unit if not attached to a truck. Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Rider Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 That looks like a piece called a Tru-Hitch. It is a nice unit because it puts the towed unit weight on the 5th wheel where it belongs, not a pivot point behind the truck. I've seen pics in towing magazines of twin screw tractors picking up cement mixers and trash trucks without being overweight or too light in the front end. Quote #1 on A-model registryIf I drink because of work, why can't I drink at work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 I used to see them at the "Chicago Pool" when hauling cars out of there. I never hauled anything that big so never really got to that side of the facility.Rob Quote Plodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james j neiweem Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 never seen that kind of hitch but if you can remove the towed trucks without the need of a machine that would be faster and you could drop it anywhere.that Oshkosh looks like the fleet of Cement trucks that Meyer ran in the 90s. I think they still have a few left. Strong runners and put their DMM macks on a level playing field. I always thought they would be a PITA to see out of with the big hood and sitting that high up? I can rember seeing them all day long near my house.Lmack I grew up in Illinois 50's and 60's. I lived near the Meyer yard in Wheeling. At that time they had about five or six B-63 turbo,d 205's for dump truck tractors. Real sweet sounding engines. The mixwes at that time were all R model IH gasers and FWD diesels. Celli B model mack dumps were all over the place building the Interstates. I left Illinois before the Celli R models. Also alot of Bongi and palumbo B models around then. Funny thing I noticed when I was a youngan all of the Dump truck operators seemed to be Italian in origin.When I moved out east it was also the same situation. You might say the Italians helped keep Mack alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slpwlker Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I recently saw that set up in Tn sitting at the Wilco in White Pine. Never saw anything like that. Has to be alot easier then the stacked bunch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhasler Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 I recently saw that set up in Tn sitting at the Wilco in White Pine. Never saw anything like that. Has to be alot easier then the stacked bunchI talked to one of the Mack delivery drivers (works for Iron Tiger I think) and he said that setup is kind of a pain in the ass. I would imagine that it's cheaper in the long run once the initial outlay of funds is recovered. He said there's some kind of a saddle up in the frame rail but I haven't seen any of these lately so I haven't got any new/better pictures of them. Quote "Mebbe I'm too ugly and stupid to give up!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaddeusW Posted April 5, 2011 Share Posted April 5, 2011 That looks like a piece called a Tru-Hitch. It is a nice unit because it puts the towed unit weight on the 5th wheel where it belongs, not a pivot point behind the truck. I've seen pics in towing magazines of twin screw tractors picking up cement mixers and trash trucks without being overweight or too light in the front end.Yup I was going to say the same thing too, tru-hitch. Basically it works like an underlift, the front wheels/steer axle rests on the front of the boom close to the goose neck. Then at the rear of the boom there are clevises that you chain to the frame rails. So when you lift the goose neck, the boom lifts the front wheels but the rear of the boom wants to stay put on the ground since the 5th wheel is a hinge. So the chains tied around the frame rails start to lift the rear of the boom and now you have converted the truck/tractor into a trailer. The weight actually goes on the pin instead of creating a see-saw effect like that of a regular wrecker.Here are pictures I took at '09 and '10 macungie of how the setup works:This picture shows lifting using the wheels This one shows lifitng using the steer axleThis is a frame clamp at the end of the boom, chains can also be used like I mentioned above. Overall its a pretty sweet setup. Would be a great way to move antique trucks around (as long as the tires hold.) 1 Quote -Thad What America needs is less bull and more Bulldog! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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