doubleclutchinweasel

Knew some Blaylocks growing up. What part of the world are you located in?

Here is some Wikipedia info on W&S that mentions how the Duplex brand fit in. Still says nothing about the forklifts. Found one site that suggested the forklifts were based on a Ford tractor, but I don't know. Construction equipment[edit] A Gradall XL5100-III excavator, formerly a product of Warner & Swasey. In 1946 Warner & Swasey Company acquired the patent rights to manufacture the Gradall telescopic boom excavator from the brothers Ray and Koop Ferwerda with their manufacturing company, the FWF Corporation, of Beachwood, Ohio. The Gradall, a type of hydraulic machinery, became a business of the new owner as the Gradall Division with operations in Cleveland. In the year 1946, the Gradall was the first production hydraulic excavator that was designed and manufactured in the United States. In July 1950, Gradall manufacturing operations were moved to New Philadelphia, Ohio, where it continues, in 2017, as Gradall Industries, Inc., a global manufacturer of telescopic boom excavators and industrial maintenance machinery. Gradall Industries, Inc. is a business unit of the Alamo Group of Seguin, Texas. [16] The foundation of the Warner & Swasey Construction Equipment Division with five product lines was started in 1946 with the development of the first production hydraulic excavator; the GRADALL®. This machine was new technology for the industry and was highly versatile and productive for a variety of work. The DUPLEX TRUCK® Company of Lansing, Michigan, a heavy duty and specialized truck manufacturer was acquired in 1955 to supply truck chassis for the GRADALL and future Warner & Swasey backhoe excavator and crane products. In 1957 the Company sought a broader market penetration into the hydraulic excavator market. It acquired the Badger Machine Company of Winona, Minnesota, with its six HOPTO® hydraulic excavator models which complimented the Gradall models. The Company acquired in 1967, the Sargent Engineering Corporation of Fort Dodge, Iowa, a manufacturer of hydraulic cranes. Their six SARGENT HYDRA-TOWER® CRANE models enabled the company to move into another large segment of the construction industry using hydraulic machinery. That same year the Company partnered with a Canadian paper industry association in the manufacture of the ARBOMATIK® a line of hydraulic tree harvesting equipment. Through corporate diversity into hydraulic construction equipment, the growing popularity and productivity of this type of hydraulic machinery yielded strong business growth for the Warner & Swasey company of Cleveland, Ohio during the years of 1946 through 1977.

In fact, here is a pic off the interweb which shows the data plate off of a W&S forklift...and it says "Duplex Division" right on it. Wonder if the forklifts came over with the Duplex trucks?

I had read that W&S bought them. W&S was a great builder of heavy-duty metal turning machines for years. Once upon a time, I saw a W&S forklift. Always thought that was kinda interesting. Now, I realize they were into a whole lot of different stuff...including trucks. Nice pic, by the way.

I saw that one when I was trying to figure out who they were. Pretty good looking ride, isn't it?

I was watchin' the Movin' On shows again this weekend. Every time I could see the shifter knob in any of the 1st season shows, it was a 13-speed. Every time I could see the shifter knob in the second season, or any time they talked about the truck, it was a 10-speed. Also noticed that the 903 Cummins was mentioned several times in season 1. But, in one of the season 2 episodes, the hood was up and it was a 6-cylinder Cummins. I can't say for certain, but I think I may have seen a gold-inserted hood ornament on 1 episode from the 2nd season (50th anniversary). That had to be a '76 model, right? I need to re-check that, as I thought the 1st season trucks were '74s and the 2nd season trucks were 75s. Mark's truck is a '74, so that fits in with it being one of the season 1 trucks. When last I saw it, it had the 13-speed and a 6-cylinder in it. May have been re-geared to run with the 6, also. Shame I won't get to see it this fall.

Uhh...Ouch?

Amen!

I can honest ly say I have never seen one of those in person!

I think this is our guy, starting at about 25 seconds or so... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-K8fyAmhKE

I told you before; You're too young to retire!

Thought that neck design looked a bit like the Hyster version...

Ah! Learn something every day. I guess I missed that there was a gas version of the Thermodyne. Thanks for that!

A B60 would have originally been a gas-powered model (Magnadyne?). The dash suggests this, as well (no tach). It there is a Thermodyne engine under there, that suggests 2 possibilities; (1) Someone has already swapped out the gas engine for a diesel. In that case, the rear gearing should have been swapped out to get more speed, as the gassers were typically geared pretty deep. Or, (2) someone may have put a good, solid B60 cab onto the chassis of a B61 that had had its cab rust away. Would need to check the serial number on the frame to be sure. Either way, that sure looks like a great starting point for a project! I look forward to seeing your progress.

That was pretty cool.

Thought I would start something different. The trailers I used to pull were from Hyster. They looked very similar to the one shown below, which was an old listing on truckpaper.com. Some of the others were from Phelan. But, the Hysters seemed to be more common around home. We had these in 2- and 3-axle versions. All were fixed-neck, with the dovetail rear to load over. None of ours had the ramps like the one shown. Nobody in our area had detachable, or even folding, necks on their lowboys. Some outfits that had smaller equipment had the flat-floor (single-drop) versions of these. But, all the ones I hung around were the recessed-floor (double-drop) versions to allow for more under-bridge clearance. Still higher off the ground than the modern stuff! I don't know when Hyster stopped making these. Anybody know? But, almost every Mack running around in our neck of the woods was pulling something that looked a whole lot like this. Any of you guys got any old pictures of these old buzzards? I'd sure like to see some of this old iron. Oops. I meant to put this in the equipment forum. Sorry about that.

That must have been one hell of a blade... In fact, I'd like to have seen that truck and trailer! That must have been some kind of beast!

By the way, I'm still trying to come up with 123,000# on that tractor. The Cat brochure listed the D8K with ROPS and 8U blade at 71,700#. Adding a multi-shank ripper added 10,330#. Even adding a belly pan, side shields, and rock guards only adds about another 3,000#. Still under 90,000#. The last one I hauled had the Cat ROPS plus sweeps, no winch, a Rome C-frame, 28" tracks, rock guards, side screens, and additional mesh on the sides of the cab. On an R600ST, pulling a 3-axle Hyster fixed-neck lowboy trailer, with a Rome KG blade chained to the rear of the trailer, it weighed 111,000K gross. Did you have some other cool stuff mounted on that one?

So, Brad has had to cancel the Southern Classic Truck Show, scheduled for September of this year. I guess it's okay to congregate in large numbers, yell at people, and burn buildings. But, you can't walk around calmly and look at antique trucks.

Carey Loftin was the driver. Possibly the coolest stunt driver ever to grace Hollywood.

Hey, Skidz. I can't help you with that, but just wanted to say "Welcome." I'm sure somebody will be able to steer you in the right direction.

Never mind. I found it. It's just been a while.

Anybody remember how to edit the "signature" at the bottom of you posts? You know, the cool little sayings we put in automatically at the end of our rants.

Not sure if you ever got this fixed. Here are the seals I got for my old R. There’s a quad ring, an o-ring, and a copper washer. Got these from City Diesel in Knoxville, Tennessee. Was pretty easy to fix.

We had St-Germain move some equipment from Canada to here a few years back. One of the drivers gave me this calendar. It's a bit out of date, but I keep it up on the wall just so I can look at those "Slime Green Trucks", as you call them!