Topic: Anybody into old trucks ?

[BLUE71TURBO]

 Anyone have an old truck ?   I was just given a 1949 Diamond T cabover truck.  An old friend of mine gave it to me for free !  He got it from an aunt many years ago. It still runs !  Here's a couple of pictures of it in his backyard........ 


       


     


     


     

[Damfino]

Awesome!! Diamond T's are one cool truck. You need to turn that into a toy hauler!

I had a '49 Dodge 1/2 ton p/u for many years.

[scottly]

Wow! It runs? That's really cool! I don't know anything about Diamonds, but were they related to Reo? What sort of engine does it have?

[jamesb]

there's a junkyard here he has a couple of those sitting in the back of his Field let me know if you need any parts the guy is stuck on 20.00 dollars you ask how much for this trim 20.00 or how much for these hubs 20.00 it's pretty cool there is only a handful of guys that knows he's still in business the newest vehicle he has in his yard is a 75 Chevy truck.

[Stev-o]

Very cool. But you know what they say: the free projects are the most expensive!

[RAFster122s]

Friend back in Ohio, his dad has one that is restored to better than original condition. Restored  and original very good condition examples they fetch quite a bit of money. Very durable and rugged trucks, you are looking at serious $ to restore unless you have the money and talents to do a LOT of your own work. But, that is true with a lot of project vehicles. With a long wide drive up ramp or liftgate fitted it could be a very cool toy hauler. With some motivation you could enclose the rear with a box reminescent of the period or earlier design in looks but incorporate modern techniques/materials.
She is made for hauling loads so unless you do some reengineering of the drivetrain she won't be a highway cruiser but she will be cool and very classy!

[Retro Rocket]

Great score..!!

[mark]

Anyone have an old truck ?  ...

Yeah. It's a '55.

[dave500]

i used to own a 73 mack r600,all these old trucks look cool but you try driving one day in day out for a few years man!this had the 237 maxidyne and the two stick compound maxitorque transmission,dynatard and thermostat air operated louvre grille,and of course the ingersoll rand air starter,what are your plans for the diamond blueturbo?

heres what its like looking up a bulldogs arse all day,this is the boral quarry at montrose victoria amoungst acres of 1/4 inch screened crushed bluestone,i had a souped up pearce simpson super panther 18 channel tuned into a 40 channel ssb am cb radio with an echo mike and everything 10/4!

peak rpm was 1900,you could grunt it down to 800 rpm without down shifting,this didnt have power steering!!
this was early 80s,my house cost 38,500,this truck was 35,000!(it wasnt much of a house)i didnt carry a spare wheel,i used to repair punctures road side.

i had mates with kenworth dump trucks k123s etc and detroit 871/roadranger etc,,they would speed away then at a grade i pull away going down one gear as they drop two then three gears!i made some money with trucks but im glad its all behind me now!as i said,you try driving these trucks day in day out.

[ChuckG750f1]

^No wonder you would ride into train tunnels 

[dave500]

ha!i still drive trucks,these days its some one elses,i screen new guys where i work,,and the bull#$%* they speak, then they cant even handle a syncro box??the constant mesh transmission is a lost art now?

this beast was replaced by a poofter green earth freindly nice to drive but gutless isuzu truck,,man it dosent even puff smoke if its lugged?they talk #$%* about power and what not with these new trucks,the new one hasnt half the torque of this old worn out cummins 240,,the new one is 290 and slower by far?and a delay with the electronic fly by wire throttle,,the turbo dosent even make any noise?what the hell is with that?and its got a fag ZF transmission!

[WhyNot2]

1961 Ford solid body sitting on a jeep 4x4 frame


Not mine, but my brothers......been trying to git him to hand it over.

[BLUE71TURBO]

 I plan on moving the rear diff forward about 2 feet to shorten the wheel base and build a bed for it.  I helped a friend of mine do the same on his 1940 ford cabover.  We installed a chevy 350 with a turbo 400 trans, built a bed and used aftermarket rear fiberglass fenders.  My truck has a " HERCULES inline 6 cylinder engine in it now.  It currently will do almost 60mph top speed.
   As for restoring it, i can do it all at my friends house. He has a 40x60 metal building in his back yard with 2 lifts.  Here's a picture from the second level in the shop.  A lot of stuff everywhere.........

       


  Here's a picture of the 40 ford cabover that we restored........

       

       

[Damfino]

this had the 237 maxidyne and the two stick compound maxitorque transmission,dynatard and thermostat air operated louvre grille,and of course the ingersoll rand air starter

Dynatard?? Is that the thing that operates the gas, brakes, & steering? 

[ChuckG750f1]

this had the 237 maxidyne and the two stick compound maxitorque transmission,dynatard and thermostat air operated louvre grille,and of course the ingersoll rand air starter

Dynatard?? Is that the thing that operates the gas, brakes, & steering? 

I believe that would be a Dyno-Turd

[dave500]

that 40 ford looks great blueturbo,a dynatard is similar to a jacobs engine brake,on macks with the wide ratio six speed transmission its mostly used to slow the engine during upshifting when ascending a hill.

[72 yellow]

I used to work for a landscaping and excavating company.  I only screened one driver.  After I told him to go through the intersection as the light changed caution, he instead locked up the brakes and we slid to within about 2 feet of a steel hauler loaded with 3 coils.  Boss hired him anyway.  About a week later he got a call that the truck was in a police impound yard.  A-hole had not secured the tailgate and the pea gravel was all over the road.  He had also overfilled the oil and the engine was ruined.  He got fired, but blamed me.

I really like those cabovers.  I also drove one of those C series Ford tiltcab dumps.  Not bad on the highway, but you would roast when hauling backfill off road.

[BLUE71TURBO]

  I found a truck like mine on ebay that is a stake bed version.  Looks really nice.   

 

[RAFster122s]

Yeah I was looking on a Diamond T collector enthusiast sites photo albumns and don't recall seeing one like yours at the Colorado meet a year or two ago and they had a large turnout.
landscaping co on S Alvernon Way in Tucson (s of golflinks) has a nice red Diamond T out fron along the roadway with a tilt flatbed like lumber co would use.

[scottly]

  I found a truck like mine on ebay that is a stake bed version.  Looks really nice.   

 

Notice the difference in the wheel? The truck on ebay has "lugs" with nuts attaching the rim to the hub, hence the term "lug-nuts". The terminology stuck, even after lug type wheels were phased out.

[BLUE71TURBO]

 Yea i like those rims. I'm not sure if those were stock for that year.  I forgot what they call that style of wheel.  I remember an old man telling me that they designed that style so that mud and snow were easier to clean out of the wheel.   

[Don R]

A friend built a 48 ford cabover, he put a ramp bed on it. It's powered by a cummins with an allison trans and a two speed rear end.

[rickmancr750]

two stick compound maxitorque transmission

I drove an old quad-box Mack tipper for a short while. Is that the same as the two-stick?
After that I used to pick up new Inters from Dandenong. The nicest ones had a 903 Cummins and 15 speed RoadRanger box. Mostly clutchless shifts up and down.

[dave500]

a lot of people confuse the six speed compound two stick with the quad(quadruplex) box for some reason they are totally different,,some even think the two stick has a "joey"box,the maxitorque main lever selects 1 through 5 and a neutral,the second stick selects lo-hi and reverse and a neutral,,you have five reverse speeds then via the main stick,to activate a power take off like on a tipper the second stick must be in neutral,,the main stick then selects the PTO pump speed,dont over speed the pto use third,the lo is only to be used with first gear on the main,,its not a splitter type transmission.,all your shifts on constant mesh should be clutchless,the 15 speed road ranger you mostly use the top eight gears,deep reduction is off road heavy haul stuff.