Outer door handles for General, Bison, Titan 90 & Astro 95

[kscarbel2]

FYI

The GM plastic outer door handles, 2044072 and 20440073 are NLA.

However, the Volvo metal 3080801 and 3080802 can be used in their place. Know that the Volvo LH works on the GM right side, and the Volvo RH works on the GM left side.

I learned all this and sourced from Raney's Truck Parts in Ocala. They sell quite a few of these Volvo handles for the GM heavy truck application.

[RoadwayR]

Good information.  I remember up until about 1980 the Astro95/General had steel doors, then they went to some kind of composite.  The composite doors didn't rust of course but I think they had trouble with the window mechanism.

[kscarbel2]

10 hours ago, RoadwayR said:

Good information.  I remember up until about 1980 the Astro95/General had steel doors, then they went to some kind of composite.  The composite doors didn't rust of course but I think they had trouble with the window mechanism.

Yes. So only the last year of production for the Chevrolet Titan 90, MY1980, has the composite doors. But the GMC Astro 95 had composite doors from 1980 thru 1987.

[RoadwayR]

Are Volvo 3080801 and 3080802 old White parts?

[kscarbel2]

On 12/6/2025 at 12:59 AM, RoadwayR said:

Are Volvo 3080801 and 3080802 old White parts?

I say yes, because these Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corp. models including the WG had the White cab.

[ws721]

On 12/5/2025 at 11:19 AM, kscarbel2 said:

Yes. So only the last year of production for the Chevrolet Titan 90, MY1980, has the composite doors. But the GMC Astro 95 had composite doors from 1980 thru 1987.

Just a tid bit of info, Astros were built in the states thru 1988. Not very many mind you. But there are 1988 Astro's

[RoadwayR]

One thing I remember was starting in 1987 the Detroit 60 was optional in the General and Brigadier, but I don't think it was ever offered in the Astro 95.

When were the last Brigadier's built?  I know GMC was building them at Pontiac at least until 1989, with WhiteGMC badges on them.  

 

[kscarbel2]

8 hours ago, RoadwayR said:

One thing I remember was starting in 1987 the Detroit 60 was optional in the General and Brigadier, but I don't think it was ever offered in the Astro 95.

When were the last Brigadier's built?  I know GMC was building them at Pontiac at least until 1989, with WhiteGMC badges on them.  

 

And remember, the superb Series 60 was designed by John Deere.

Which is why the phrase "Nothing Runs Like a Deere" applies to the Series 60.

[67RModel]

Detroit Deere Corporation. Never formally came to fruition before Roger Penske swooped in and bought up Detroit Diesel and the Tech 80 prototype, which would become the series 60. The John Deere 12.5 liter Powertech engines are called series 60 clones for a reason.

[RoadwayR]

4 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

And remember, the superb Series 60 was designed by John Deere.

Which is why the phrase "Nothing Runs Like a Deere" applies to the Series 60.

Well....

There was cooperation with Deere, but I think the Series 60 (or Tech 80 as it was originally known) was a Detroit project.  I think Arn Vanderbock at Detroit was the chief engineer and the project was going well before Deere became involved.  Around 1985 GM starting talking to Deere about mergeing Detroit Diesel with Deere's engine division.  This was during development of the 60, so naturally Deere was involved as they were going to use the engine.  I think Deere may have supplied some 60 Series castings, and there was a limited run of GMC 6500 series trucks with Deere 5.9L diesel in them (love to have one of those trucks!).  The merger was looking good until Roger Penske offered to buy Detroit from GM, probably for more than it was worth at the time.  It was also around this time GM decided to merge their heavy truck business with Volvo who made their own diesel engines, so Detroit Diesel was no longer as important to GM.  The division had been loosing money as well. 

It's interesting to speculate what would have happened had GM gone ahead with the Deere merger and stayed in the heavy truck business.  The new 1990 GM medium duty TopKick and Kodiak were supposed to have offered the 5.9L Deere diesel and a new generation Brigadier was under development.  The Astro 95 would likely have been dropped as cabover sales were falling, but the General probably had a few good years left in it.  GMC had just introduced a set back front axle General with a more aerodynamic hood. 

Here is a little background on what happened from the ag side:

https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=685481&DisplayType=nested&setCookie=1

 

 

 

 

[kscarbel2]

1 hour ago, RoadwayR said:

Well....

There was cooperation with Deere, but I think the Series 60 (or Tech 80 as it was originally known) was a Detroit project.  I think Arn Vanderbock at Detroit was the chief engineer and the project was going well before Deere became involved.  Around 1985 GM starting talking to Deere about mergeing Detroit Diesel with Deere's engine division.  This was during development of the 60, so naturally Deere was involved as they were going to use the engine.  I think Deere may have supplied some 60 Series castings, and there was a limited run of GMC 6500 series trucks with Deere 5.9L diesel in them (love to have one of those trucks!).  The merger was looking good until Roger Penske offered to buy Detroit from GM, probably for more than it was worth at the time.  It was also around this time GM decided to merge their heavy truck business with Volvo who made their own diesel engines, so Detroit Diesel was no longer as important to GM.  The division had been loosing money as well. 

It's interesting to speculate what would have happened had GM gone ahead with the Deere merger and stayed in the heavy truck business.  The new 1990 GM medium duty TopKick and Kodiak were supposed to have offered the 5.9L Deere diesel and a new generation Brigadier was under development.  The Astro 95 would likely have been dropped as cabover sales were falling, but the General probably had a few good years left in it.  GMC had just introduced a set back front axle General with a more aerodynamic hood. 

Here is a little background on what happened from the ag side:

https://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=685481&DisplayType=nested&setCookie=1

I was always told the Series 60 was born green. And then came the DEDEC (Detroit Deere Corporation) JV.

[mrsmackpaul]

A lot of this stuff is more urban myth than fact

I would imagine like many things, companies shared technology when it suited and was beneficial to the companies involved 

Like Mack and Scania, International Harvester and Chrysler/Dodge in Australia, Ford and Nissan, then Ford and Mazda 

The list goes on

 

Paul

[Geoff Weeks]

I've heard all the rumors as well, and very little in documentation. However, it was the 1st working electronic engine to be installed in trucks in great numbers. It has to be considered a success by any standard.

[Joey Mack]

I read this post 2 times..  I am in no way able to comment on the in's and out's about who built what,  but.. If I was to learn about another engine other then a Mack, and get good at it.... I would choose a series 60 12.7 Detroit.   I have been around many of them and I beleive in them as being a million mile engine,  of course at 600,000 plus, looking at the bull gear arrangement , of which I have repaired, but never did a full rebuild...  

[Geoff Weeks]

It would be my choice if I were replacing one of my mechanical with an electronic. I did look into it at one point. Worked on quite a few, but mostly minor issues. some in trucks others in buses.

Edited 2 hours ago by Geoff Weeks

[Mark T]

12.7 never got the credit it deserved back in their day. Drivers were much more fond of the right foot response of the big Cats . 

[Joey Mack]

Yes MarkT.  I only owned 1 ,, 99 Century class condo. Basic as they come.  Nothing against Cat or Cummins,  But I am drawn to a 12.7. Had a few 14.0 in a fleet i took care of,  just rather have the 12.7...  

[cruiseliner64]

I recently bought an 8.2 John Deere engine.The story of it was it was one of three installed in an industrial plant to run a fire system.They were run one hour a week for the last 10 years to ensure they were always available.It has 550 hours on the hourmeter.During an insurance test this engine was deamed to have exhaust gases in the coolant.The insurance company insisted it was replaced not repaired.Through a buddy I bought the engine for scrap value,about 250 US dollors.It came on a stand with comtrol panel rad and batterys.Iv run it for hours and it never overheated in fact it starts first time and runs beautifully.However 8.2 JDs are almost non existant in Ireland and my plan to sell it  and make a few bucks to put into the Cruiseliner build has not worked out...Yet!!!

Paul

[Brocky]

Another rumor about the series 60, is that Roger Penske's racing division was instrumental in perfecting the electronic injectors system for the 4 cycle Detroits.

[Geoff Weeks]

36 minutes ago, Mark T said:

12.7 never got the credit it deserved back in their day. Drivers were much more fond of the right foot response of the big Cats . 

In the early days, they made lots more 11.1 versions which likely led to the impression that they weren't an O/O engine.  If they had led with the 12.7  putting ad money into that rather than chasing the fleet market as much, it might have been an even better launch.

[RoadwayR]

1 hour ago, Mark T said:

12.7 never got the credit it deserved back in their day. Drivers were much more fond of the right foot response of the big Cats . 

Maybe it didn't get a lot of noteriety, but it sold in huge numbers.  I believe it was the most popular class 8 engine for most of the 90's.

As for Cat, all I can say is that yellow paint sure was expensive...