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Memories for us old truckers

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
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8,275
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sw missouri
Added some more old iron to the stable today. Picked up this old girl (92) for a song. Been needing something beside the forklift for moving trailers into the shop.View attachment 197601

Nice looking truck. Big cam or cat? I used to drive a shorter wheelbase version, big cam 9 speed, I really liked that truck. Nobody else wanted to drive it because it didn't turn as short as some of the other trucks they had. Never really bothered me.

I've got my eye on one about like that one, its a 1992 also, cat 3406 9speed, but its got set back front axle, and the sloped hood. The hood/bumper is all messed up, and I never see any of the set back hoods like that, where they arent messed up. Is there a different international hood than the sloped one for the set back axle? Something like the old square hood?

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DF7233B.JPG
 

RZucker

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Nice looking truck. Big cam or cat? I used to drive a shorter wheelbase version, big cam 9 speed, I really liked that truck. Nobody else wanted to drive it because it didn't turn as short as some of the other trucks they had. Never really bothered me.

My new to me toy has a 400 BC Cummins with a 13 speed. Way more truck than I really need but at $2800 bucks I was sold. It probably wont ever leave the yard, but it may end up rescuing a trailer or two when the wrecker has to drag a newer electronic tractor out on the freeway.:D
I have seen a couple of square nose setback axle Navistars, but they aren't too common.
 

DMiller

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Not seen a Corn Queen slope nose that was NOT destroyed, I dare say the Curb Feeler front ends were used to best advantage!! The green Pete, 5x4? Hell of a place for the Johnson bar, almost need a co-driver for using that. Late 60's early 70s?
 

DMiller

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Was almost certain American, right hand cab on the house but been WRONG So MANY times of note!! At least a roomy and relatively level site.
 

RZucker

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Not seen a Corn Queen slope nose that was NOT destroyed, I dare say the Curb Feeler front ends were used to best advantage!! The green Pete, 5x4? Hell of a place for the Johnson bar, almost need a co-driver for using that. Late 60's early 70s?
Those old cabs were so narrow you could open the passenger window without stretching. It's hard to believe they had room for two shift levers.
That reminds me of an old small cab KW I drove with a 5x4 setup. If you weren't careful you could get the sticks twisted together... Really. Then you would have to figure out how to untwist on the roll. The main was an old fuller that had high gear over to your knee and up, that was the one that got you.
 

crane operator

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sw missouri
Would that Green Pete have a Cat as I thought I seen the Brake saver control in the one picture.
The only indication of engine is the peterbilt tag under the dash- it said cummins power, but there were no pictures of the engine.

I think I need this... hopefully if I take a deep sigh and a barley soda the thought will go away https://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=1&acctid=13891#media

More power to you mother deuce, but you couldn't pay me $5,000 to take a cabover. I hate climbing in and out of the cab, and there's no room in it when I get there. Place I used to work had a old KW with the air assist power steering, and a steering wheel like a bicycle tire. I just couldn't find a way to get in the cab, behind the wheel, and keep my shins off the dash, and be able to shift. The dimensions of the cab and my dimensions had a incompatibility problem.

I like a hood out front, and it sure rides a lot nicer being between the axles, instead of sitting on top of one. But there's a truck out there for everyone, and the old cabovers are really popular with the guys tricking out trucks and taking them to shows, etc. I think its because they are "different" than the pete 359/379 and kw w900 that guys typically restore/ dress up. Its only money, and you can't take it with you.:)

Not seen a Corn Queen slope nose that was NOT destroyed, I dare say the Curb Feeler front ends were used to best advantage!! The green Pete, 5x4? Hell of a place for the Johnson bar, almost need a co-driver for using that. Late 60's early 70s?

Auction site said 1967 on the pete, it sure looks nice in the pictures. I didn't buy the international, it brought under $6,000, but I just don't have a use for it. I need to be selling a truck, not buying another. The international 8100 I have, that I pull the counterweight load for my 100 ton on my rollback trailer, is being replaced by the pete I picked up in your neighborhood. So I need to find a home for my international, not drag home a different one.
 

RZucker

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Mother Deuce

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More power to you mother deuce, but you couldn't pay me $5,000 to take a cabover. I hate climbing in and out of the cab, and there's no room in it when I get there. Place I used to work had a old KW with the air assist power steering, and a steering wheel like a bicycle tire. I just couldn't find a way to get in the cab, behind the wheel, and keep my shins off the dash, and be able to shift. The dimensions of the cab and my dimensions had a incompatibility problem.

I like a hood out front, and it sure rides a lot nicer being between the axles, instead of sitting on top of one. But there's a truck out there for everyone, and the old cabovers are really popular with the guys tricking out trucks and taking them to shows, etc. I think its because they are "different" than the pete 359/379 and kw w900 that guys typically restore/ dress up. Its only money, and you can't take it with you.:)

Hauling water for the forest circus can be some good money...;)
As far as being a cabover, that's one of the better ones even though I preferred the big Peterbilt with 3 wiper blades if I HAD to drive one.

A long time ago in a far off Emerald City (Washington tourism reference to Seattle) on an inland sea a thin blonde version of me used to work for an oil company.
The scrooges at the oil company had a formula for truck tare weight versus loads hauled over the service life of the unit (10 laps around the sun) they said "alas even though
Kenworth is built less than 5 minutes from the terminal and they build a fine looking conventional, we shall go on a mission to find a horse that has the weight of dried thistle down. There shall be few amenities as they
add weight and the cab should be vertical so our loyal minions will get exercise scaling the side of the building like cab up to 20 times a night there by keeping their weight down
so we can haul more product".
And so it was in the Emerald City for many years. As the minions toiled, scaling the sides of their Freightliners many times during a shift. It was noted that a few of the senior
drivers were injuring the backs of their hands and their knuckles where their hands had started dragging on the ground behind them as they walked. The scrooges were concerned with
this turn of events as they had not calculated potential time off or new uniforms and protective leather hand wear to combat the outbreak of simian arm syndrome. While the cure
was obvious to all and even implemented by the beautiful Peterbilt 359 sporting minions at the home of the orange 76 antenna balls that all the cool kids had. Our kingdom clung to
their formula and even though the truck had the aerodynamic qualities of a block of granite it was to be deemed the way of the kingdom.
If you find your self in the PNW where simian arm syndrome was rampant in the 60's, 70's and 80's where many minions toiled for the oil companies, the line haul outfits among them, PIE, Consolidated, Garrett, Willy Shaw and others like them. Be careful when approaching a older cabover hand from behind, his/her hands could be trailing him by several feet!

Crane Operator, I totally agree with you! One of my first official acts on leaving the realm was to lease a 300 inch, 4 axle, 3408 powered, KW W900 VIT cab with a double box sleeper and go to work in the great white north. After a month or so I noticed that my arms had regained their normal length and I no longer grimaced while I was driving. I had a sense of pride in that horse I could not get out of the "I will be the first one to accident" rides.
Considering how many there were around and given how few you see now, their absence is remarkable and notable. I haven't sat in one since 1983 and perhaps the nostalgia coupled with R.Z,s observation about owning a tender as the magnitude of the fire fighting support business is growing is driving my romance with that tender. However good sense will prevail before I click the bid now button and dust off my Gov Deals account.

I have liked my trucks a little closer to the ground for the ensuing 3 or so decades and will probably just continue with that. I really prefer them after all these years of pulling levers with somebody else driving it after I get it load and honk him or her out to the dump! Besides that I am a little heavier now and I would hate to find myself laying on the ground looking up at the truck, with a handrail in one hand and step laying by my boots! A final note from a former Freightliner herder... I always had the oddest sensation in those trucks, that the designer was channeling a Douglas DC2,DC3/C47 designer the way the windows were arranged versus the seating position
 

Mother Deuce

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Jul 17, 2016
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New England
Would that Green Pete have a Cat as I thought I seen the Brake saver control in the one picture.
That was my thought too. That there may be a 1693 lurking under that 74 ish hood. I don't recall if a narrow/needle nose has enough radiator area to cool one. I kind of don't think so. The line report say's it is a Cummins on the auction site.
 

DMiller

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Hermann, Missouri
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Cheap "old" Geezer
Know of a '74 with a 1693 in it, grade contractor in Foristell MO. Has had it since 79 bought from first owner. Radiator is not typical, has 6 or 8 row core and heavy as all get out, helped to pull it in 90 to get re-cored as rotted out, and YES will get hot if do not watch it. Truck has become a Garage Queen, he uses it only in parades. 4x4 twin stick trans and Hendrickson 38k suspension.
 
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DMiller

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Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,436
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Crane Operator:
More power to you mother deuce, but you couldn't pay me $5,000 to take a cabover. I hate climbing in and out of the cab, and there's no room in it when I get there. Place I used to work had a old KW with the air assist power steering, and a steering wheel like a bicycle tire.

First real fleet I worked, Midwestern Distribution Ft Scott KS was ALL 8664 frt lnrs, I can relate to the climbing and squeezed in. First on scene is well noted where were told if see cannot stop in time raise your legs or lose them below the knees. Is also where I drove the 56 Diamond T with the Black Diamond Gas six wrecker, Another Squeeze in cab.
 
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