Dave Had to laugh yes ABEX HDL 4630-D Did you get into the big dilemma in the 80s when everybody had to go to other brake lining?? Green Gripper and that other stuff Grant Young was selling CM95-125 or some goofy number like that. We all ended up with Anti Lock brakes cause there was no way we could stop those HDXs and P16s on any of the hills every trip was a controlled runaway When we had the asbestos brakes it was great but when Industry got away from that it was a disaster and then we couldnt get brake drums cause I think it was DuraMetal quit making them and we ended up with Rimmex casting drums as well as Promac. Sure glad thats over with but now brake drums are very hard to get again, We have a couple trucks with SPR rear ends and the last drum we got was about 900 bucks and now they are all gone any new ones now will be over 2,000 each. The day of the big Queens is fast coming to an end. It will be parts that do them in. We can talk brakes sometime OK
I remember the big change-over from asbestos lining to the new stuff for sure. I was the Warehouseman/Buyer for BCFP at Renfrew from 1977 until 1984 when I got picked off in a weird way. It was during that period all that went down.
I dealt a lot with Bill Block and Jim Dawes both when they were at Peterbilt Truck Sales and later with Island Mack Truck Sales and between those guys, the guys at Industrial Frictions and Supplies and those at another place....Morgan Brake and Clutch???.....damn old age......there was a lot of trying out of different types of lining. I recall we used Big Blue for some time on the logging trucks but we tried all kinds of stuff, even though it's nearly impossible to have a truly objective comparison between linings.
Lots of safety related things happened around that time. We had to buy and install a huge air circulation/evacuator type thing in the welding shop for one.
I often thought about the number of friction bands off yarders that had been re-lined by hand over the years of logging here in BC before asbestos became the big ogre. I did a few in my time using 2010 moulded and 2010 woven friction material. Nobody thought much about it, you just did it if you could.
Back to numbers etc, as I recall the brake drums on the trucks were 2021B usually while those on the KB trailers were 2009B. I recall a few of the Clark numbers for planetary parts too, as well as some Bendix-Westinghouse numbers for slack adjusters and some valves.....which I've seen mistaken for Clark numbers once or twice.
Not a lot of use talking trucks and equipment with me really as I'm not much of a mechanically oriented person despite my line of work for many years. I didn't operate anything other than forklifts, HIABS and overhead cranes nor did I pull wrenches on anything either. I was a capable decipherer of parts books, had decent communication skills and could make things happen when required, but I'm no good at chatting about specifics on machinery. I could make a mean hose for you on our Cat press though, XT3 or XT5?
I've sat and listened while guys like Tom Turner and ...say.... Doug Foreman talk trucks and they are simply miles more knowledgeable than I am. As a Warehouseman/Buyer in a logging camp you learn a little bit about a lot of things but don't necessarily become an expert on anything.
I was fortunate to have started in the logging end in 1969 at Gold River and learned a lot from old Ed Johnson, the Master Mechanic when I started. In addition we had a Blacksmith there so I learned a bit about that too. Reg Pidcock was the Machinist and there were a couple of older Mechanics so it was a good place to learn from some oldtimers. I knew and worked with some pretty good mechanics at other places over the years and learned some things from a few of them as well.
Sure wish I'd taken notes or kept a journal back then......or even taken one picture.
All I have left is a chrome Hayes hood ornament, a brass Hayes fuel cap and a BCFP vest and t-shirt. The t-shirt is one of the ones where they have the driver on the left side instead of the right side in the pic on the shirt. Apparently nobody realized the transfer would be reversed when they ran off the shirts. It was quite funny at the time.
Anyway, gotta go now as my Lovebirds need some exercise so I'm going to let them out and chase them around for a bit.
Take care.