Memories for us old truckers

[Birken Vogt]

I thought TT stood for "Tailored Torque" where they had bigger injectors along with a more complex governor that made it respond more like a Cummins or Cat so that it had more fuel per stroke in lower RPM but as it approached full RPM fuel was cut back.

So that it had lugging ability in other words. Maybe that was done for economy so that you didn't have to run maximum RPM all the time as Detroits were known for?

 

[colson04]

Old Ford for sale near me.

361 with a 5+2

 

[DMiller]

Colson, Now THAT is You, make it into a Rat Rod!!

 

[Mother Deuce]

Be easy to chop the top... take a easy 6 inches out and just drop it straight down.

 

[DMiller]

TS, that 8V in the K100 I had was a crip from the day we bought it. SWB K100C standard Sleeper, RW CenterPoint front end REALLY handy for tagging a hub cap on occasion like a Curb Feeler even as was Kinda handy for a entry step, SQHPs IIRC were 3:70 ratio with a Deep Reduction RTO9515 4th and 5th swapped in gate. A Screaming POOCH in high gear on any grade lose rpm quick then drop to 4th HiSide and engine just screamed at Governed and never a speed wagon. Ours dropped pieces of a blower lobe, nicked intercooler then cooked a piston in the Left bank, KW Boise repaired said ALL was good except did NOT state no warranty even as asked if should not do BOTH banks, shucked a piston in right bank under a month and would not stand behind their work where found that the Left bank ALSO had one scored again but no warranty. Did fair after that until I sold it in 82, just not enough money to keep feeding the partners soon to be ex-wife.

 

[Truck Shop]

A few photos of trucks at the local show today, very poor turn out.

The 1964 KW fire truck with a Waukesha F817 six banger-5 3/8" bore X 6" stroke.
The blue Pete I knew from years ago-at one time it had a Silver 92 and a 60" flat top sleeper and was painted black, it's a 1965.
And a logger.

 

[JPV]

Look at the size of those fuel lines on that gas pot! It burns so much fuel it takes 2 distributors to get it to fire!

 

[Truck Shop]

Twin ignition was very common years ago on the old large gas pots especially if they were a multi-fuel engine. Compression wasn't real high ratio in those old machines.

 

[mitch504]

A spare. You wouldn't want to be in the process of saving someones life and your points went out. The old fire trucks had dual ignition, dual starters, and any thing else they could make redundant.

 

[Truck Shop]

A spare. You wouldn't want to be in the process of saving someones life and your points went out. The old fire trucks had dual ignition, dual starters, and any thing else they could make redundant.

In some cases that is true, but it really depended on how rich the city or county was that was buying it or how cheap they were.

 

[crane operator]

so- because I'm a young whippersnapper and don't know- how do you time a dual distributor engine? Do you adjust each distributor independently with the timing mark and with the other distributor disconnected from the coil? And then hope for the best?

 

[Truck Shop]

Three ways actually, Once dwell is set on both distributors you can do it as you described or by setting the crank at what ever degree before or after TDC that is required and use a test light connected
to the point side and set it where the light just comes on that's static timing. Or get them close using static timing and set them running with a light. The funny thing is just using a test light
and timing statically is very accurate. If you recheck a statically timed engine with a light it will be right on the money given the distributor is in good shape.

 

[DMiller]

Set Fire Truck dual distributors on gasoline Mack IH and a 1951 V12 Lycoming Pattern LaFrance engine
And yes a test light worked well
Was for allowance to be on scene where engine could stumble could swap Ign 1-2 and not miss a beat.
Surprised they did not bother to clean off the cob webs around those old zenith gas buckets!
Still prefer old wagons to newer
Have a class all their own

 

[DMiller]

BTW seeing a Mack Magnadyne Gas engine same pattern as the old Thermodynes with a Carb throat almost big enough to swallow a hand is still impressive. Old Mack gassers would chow down on gasoline, half the mileage of a Thermodyne.

 

[RZucker]

I thought TT stood for "Tailored Torque" where they had bigger injectors along with a more complex governor that made it respond more like a Cummins or Cat so that it had more fuel per stroke in lower RPM but as it approached full RPM fuel was cut back.

So that it had lugging ability in other words. Maybe that was done for economy so that you didn't have to run maximum RPM all the time as Detroits were known for?

Tailored torque was big injectors, the right turbo, and a set of spring washers on the governor that limited full fuel until the engine was lugged all the way down to 1300 rpm. Detroit Diesel called that "Constant Horsepower"... as the rpm would drop, the torque would rise. You really had to beat that concept into the driver's heads or it would not work. It was very similar to the Cummins "Formula" engine concept. If it doesn't lug... It wont work.
Met many a screaming driver that swore those engines HAD to run at 2100 to pull hills. Many of them were introduced to alternate employment opportunities when they bucked against management.

 

[DMiller]

The 92 in mine would torque pretty consistent to 14/1500
Had to to make gear ranges on the 10 speed 15

 

[Truck Shop]

I knew you would have the TT answer RZ. I liked to think TT stands for Tourist Trophy-Isle of Mann cycle racing.

 

[Truck Shop]

Back to fire trucks and redundant parts. The whole concept of all the added crap was really silly because of all the added maintenance. Fire trucks were lucky to see 500 miles in a year.
The engines were checked over on tune on a very frequent basis. They were and are a very over maintained piece of equipment because of the job that's required of them. Trucks that
ran over the road with twin ignition were a pain in the a$$ years ago. The worst problem for any of those old gas Pots was the batteries and Sh!tty charging systems. Even the single
distributor engines really had little trouble when kept in-tune. The one item that often was over looked was the condenser, when those took a dump the points were fried.
The dead give away the condenser was toast was it would idle smooth, put a load against it and they would misfire and shake like a dog sh!ting peach seeds. The coils were easy to
trouble shoot, most would get so hot you couldn't touch it plus it was pushing oil out the seam.

 

[Birken Vogt]

The real deal with fire trucks is that each one only carries 2 or 3 guys unless in the big city. In any case they send lots of them to any serious call and only need a few to pump water or whatever, the rest are 20 ton crew vans. So if one breaks down you just grab another one. Good firemen adopt the Marine motto, adapt improvise and overcome.

Fire trucks are also not known for their wonderful construction otherwise. They are a step above recreational vehicles but not much. You always have to be ready for one to fail in one way or another.

 

[Truck Shop]

By golly your honest there BV. I have only worked on a few and always thought fire trucks were not all that well constructed and not meant to be worked on.