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A Face for Radio

Posted on December 6, 2017 by Eric

So did you notice that your favorite site was down for the count for most of the past 36 hours? Don’t feel bad. I didn’t know either. All it took to get back online was a short 45 minute call to tech support. It gave me plenty of time to reflect on what I’m doing around here and if it’s worth all the effort. Oh well. Live to fight another day.

The technical bugs of the past days don’t even begin to hold a candle to the struggle it was to put this video together. I knew it was a windy day when I shot this film but great googly moogly did it ever come through on video. It was so bad that I had to strip the audio and record the narration after the fact while adding in some background music. My hat is off the radio personalities who make small talk on the radio each day sound so easy. It’s not! It took me about a 25 takes just to get the product below. In the end it turned out OK but it’s not a situation I plan on repeating!

Posted in Free and Easy | 5 Comments

Autocar Mondays – 1968 Locomotive Mover

Posted on December 4, 2017 by Eric

Never send a train to do an Autocar’s job. Over the decades this Autocar DC of McHugh Locomotive has done its fair share of heavy hauling for one of the premier over sized load handlers of the northeast. I’m not sure how much work it does nowadays outside of the show circuit but you can be willing to be that if push came to shove this old truck could pull with the best of them. A familiar face at the ATCA national show in Macungie here we see it as it looked in 2011.

Do you have an Autocar you would like to see featured in Autocar Mondays? Email eric@dailydieseldose.com today!

Posted in Autocar Trucks | Leave a comment

World Record Holder

Posted on December 2, 2017 by Eric

Back during the 2017 ATHS National Convention a little event was held on the final day. The goal was to set the new world record for the most simultaneous truck engines starting in one location. I forget the exact verbiage but making a lot of noise was the goal. There was supposed to be a second record attempt at the most air horns being blown at the same time but was cut from the schedule for the concerns of horse show also taking place at the fair grounds. Here is my view of the events. Of course it features Autocars and Internationals. 🙂

Posted in Truck Show | Tagged 2017 aths national show | Leave a comment

What is Piggy Back?

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Eric

Back in my college days I took an elective class by the name of Economic History of the United States 1900-1980. Yup, that was an elective. Not pottery. Not basket weaving. Hey, at least it was better than my other elective, History of Labor Unions. Can you guess at my major? Anyway, I bring this up because in my history class I had to crank out a 20 page paper comparing the rise of trucking leading to the the decline of rail. I large portion of my paper was devoted to the early days of intermodal transport, commonly called piggy back service. If Youtube had been a bigger source of time sucking back in 2004 I would probably would have found this video and possibly even used it a source. Sadly it wasn’t and I had to use actually books and other papers. It was a miserable experience.

This video by Southern Pacific takes you through all stages of the piggy back system including construction of rail cars. It’s fascinating to watch all the various old time trucks while ogling how things were once done. Most drivers will complain out jacking their trailer legs up but I bet most didn’t have to spin a handle until they closed the lid on the top of their trailer. Nope, that’s not a mistype. Watch the video and learn. Follow the SP as the visit with various clients using this radical new system and how it benefits their business. You’ll be glad you did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fNOuSj3ZAs

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Posted in Youtube Finds | 3 Comments

Better Luck Next Year

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Eric

There has been a little road project in town involving the removal of elevated highway and associated bridges. It started this past spring and began with the demolition of three buildings and a number of billboards. Next came the removal of concrete bridge decking and the destruction of the steel girders underneath. Big, massive, gigantic excavators with drills, hammers, and sheers worked night and day (or so I’m told) during this phase of the project. It seems like the type of material tailor made for this site so where has it been until now? Oh yeah, there also has been a small fleet of private contractor dump trucks hauling material to and fro. I’m talking old Ford LTL 9000, Western Stars from the era of the White Corporate Cab, Mack DM’s, Autocar ACLs, the list goes on. The worst part is, I’ve passed through this mess at least twice days for the past 6 months and never bothered to even think about taking the action in. That was until yesterday when six heavy haul trucks arrived with the new bridge beams. I finally woke up.

To be honest, I always wanted to check out this work but convinced myself that there was not safe vantage point. Checking out the job site today I found that I could have been sitting in the parking lot of a local Italian restaurant eating veal parm and pasta fagioli while seeing all there was to see. The good news is that the east bound lanes are scheduled to under go the same treatment next year or soon after. This time around I’ll be on my game.

Click here to see the type of footage I should have been producing. Below, a little video of the action with a guest star at the end.

Posted in On the Job | Tagged 690 bridge replacement, teal ave | 2 Comments

Crane Carrier Company

Posted on November 27, 2017 by Eric

Hey, did you know the Crane Carrier Company is still building trucks? It’s easy to think the CCC name faded away with the glory days of the trucking industry. So many great specialty nameplates like Hayes, FWD, and Marmom are just a few that are no loner with us. But don’t go adding CCC to the list yet. The company is still very active making custom chassis for the refuse, construction, and oil exploration industries. Here we see one sporting a log loader. Most likely this truck didn’t start out with the loader but did come with a factory 6×6 drivetrain so the smart money bet is a on a cement truck for a past job.

And yes, this is not current photo but I’m trying to get back on the horse here with providing daily posts again. I have to live up to the name I’ve created after all.

Posted in Still Working | Tagged ccc, crane carrier company | 1 Comment

Still Working – Mack RL700L

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Eric

Take a look a this pristine Mack RL700L still working for a living. You could take this truck to any classic truck show and tell people it was a barn queen and they would believe but would probably scoff in disbelief when you told them the real truth. For reasons unknown I took a completely different way home from work one day and came across this find.

As a refresher the RS/RL line of Macks were originally produced in the Hayward, California plant for the western market. As such they tended to use lighter components than their heavier Pennsylvanian produced brothers. The S in the nameplate indicates a steel frame while the L indicates an aluminum frame. Also of obvious notice is the longer western style hood. These trucks are generally considered the precursor to the Superliner.

As far as the true vintage that information remains unknown but a reliable sources does tell us the bulldog is gold indicating an all Mack powertrain beneath the sheet metal.

Posted in Free and Easy | Leave a comment

Autocar Mondays – Heavy Haul of the Netherlands

Posted on November 20, 2017 by Eric

Greetings from the Netherlands! This picture perfect A-Car and backdrop could grace any postcard. In 1979 this DC10364B rolled out of the Autocar plant in Belgium after being equipped with Cummins NTC350, a Fuller 13 speed and a Rockwell 65,000 pound rears. Running on 12.00 x 24 this DC is vintage Autocar at its best.

Right from the start this truck hauled the heaviest loads in Holland. During the breakwater construction of the Zeebrugge harbor this truck hauled 30 and 40 metric concrete blocks. As current owner Frans tell us the blocks were placed directly over the drive axles a position impossible for any European truck to replicate.

Once the breakwater construction was finished a fifth wheel was installed along with ballast box and the DC continued hauling the largest and heaviest loads. Eventually time took its toll and the truck was left to the elements for several years. Thankfully Frans found the truck and began a full restoration.

All that hard work resulted in the best and only Autocar still to be found in Holland. Frans loves the truck and has taken it on vacation through Europe and and England.

I’m sure you’ll agree that this Autocar is a perfect example of what made the legendary brand of rugged trucks so universally beloved. Thanks for sharing it with us Frans!

[Show as slideshow]

Do you have an Autocar you would like to see featured in Autocar Mondays? Email eric@dailydieseldose.com today!

Posted in Autocar Trucks | Tagged autocar dc, holland autocar | Leave a comment

Sun Spots

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Eric

This is the one. If I could bring back any truck from the rows of old ‘Binders resting at the Tackaberry Collection this would be the one. I can only imagine what this truck looked like back in its prime but it must have been a thing of beauty. The elongated sheet metal up front tells us that big power (for the time) is lurking under the hood. In this case, a Cummins HRBB. I didn’t do too much investigation into the model but a flip through the pages of International Trucks by Frederick W. Crimson suggest this rig is of the LD-300 model line and was produced at International’s west coast truck factory in Emeryville, California. Typically trucks produced out west stayed out west so seeing this one on the right coast only increases its coolness.

Or maybe I would like to bring this one from the back. This heavy spec’d KB with a wing plow would look fantastic in factory new condition.

And now that I look through the gallery below I seen even more trucks on the restore list. Hmm, why choose just one?

[Show as slideshow]

Posted in Vintage | 2 Comments

Center Point Steering

Posted on November 15, 2017 by Eric

Now that I’ve moved to a new home my morning commute has increased by 25 mintues. That’s a big jump from the ten minutes it used to be on a bad day. But don’t shed a tear for me yet. My new route into work takes me by some of my favorite locations in the area on a daily basis. Yes, I can now keep twice a day tabs on Tracey Road Equipment and Allied Spring. There is a silver lining to every cloud.

Passing by the other day I noticed out of the corner of my eye a large blue truck with an even longer hood. My gut said Hendrickson but mind said no way, they went extinct decades ago. Stopping by on my way home my gut was proved victorious by the sight of the “Hankasaraus” Hendrickson.

Truly, this is one of the find of the year. It doesn’t take much too make me happy. Over the decades Hendrickson was a regular user of International cabs from the ComfoVisions of the 50’s to the S-Series of the 80’s. The particular model is sporting the Fleetstar cab so we can peg the age of this truck to the early 70’s.

Take a moment to check out those front hubs. I’ve often seen that style on Hendricksons and Emeryville Internationals but never thought much of it. I just figured it was certain style of hub and nothing more. As with most assumptions they tend to be wrong. Those pointy looking hubs are the predecessor to power steering known as Center Point Steering. Now I’ve never stopped to think about how a wheel turns on a rim before but apparently it makes a difference to how it is mounted and that in turn makes a difference to how easy a truck steers. In a center point system the weight of the wheel and the front steer axles is balanced near perfectly between the inside and the outside of the rim. This balance in turn makes the truck easier to steer to at highway speeds. Rockwell was the producer of such axles and they were popular among older truckers of the time who were wary of relying on the up and coming invention of power steering.

Apparently a truck with center point steering and power steering was impossible (from the factory) as these two mechanical forces when joined together collapse the truck in on itself and create a black hole. But seriously, the two are not mutual technology. If you have clearer thoughts on center point steering or Hendricksons let me know with a comment.

Posted in Vintage | Tagged allied spring, center point steering, hendrickson, tracey road equipment | 1 Comment