doubleclutchinweasel

Beautiful truck you have there, Alex.

Well, since I sold my R, I haven't had much to show-and-tell about. But, I still like being a part of this site. I had a post on here many years ago that explained why this forum is so much better than most. Glad to see you are still so active. That B&S logo is a welcome sight to see when I open my notifications!

LOL! I must be lazy too! I'm not TERRIBLY tall...just about 6'. But those old B61s we had when I was young were TIGHT. My dad was only about 5'8", and they fit him better than they did me. I've got a 6' wife who is mostly legs. I put her into one of those B61s, and she could barely stand it with her feet flat on the floor! My son is 6'4", and when he got in one he looked like a grasshopper trying to ride a piss-ant! I was surprised how much that angled B67 setup helped with the knee room. Didn't help with the length...just the knee room. First time I drove an R-model, I thought I had found the promised land. Cab was taller. Seat sat higher. No knee issues at all. It had air assist steering, too. So, pretty easy to drive. That particular R would bleed the air tanks pretty quickly if you were weasel-ing around in a parking lot, though. Recall several times having to stop and wait for the air compressor to catch up. But, I really loved the feel of the air assist on the highway. I think you may be on to something with the small wheel, too.

No, I 'm not on vacation this week (started to say I wasn't "off" this week, but that would be a lie!). Just have a lot of dead time between crises! A lot of the usual "filler" activities aren't happening like normal (like salesmen stopping by and such). Spending a lot of time doing desk work. Not on the floor as much as usual either("social distancing"). So, I have BMT open on my desk, and I check it every so often. Figured it would be a good time to throw a few pictures out there that I've picked up through the years. Sort of a way to give back a little to all you guys that put so much cool stuff out there. I think Hancock still tops the list of cool pictures posted, though!

They do get around, which is pretty awesome. I believe it's the red one that has a "reconstructed" status, with a new VIN number issued by the state, as it was put together from 2 different trucks. I had forgotten how little room there was in a B-model. The steering wheel hits my belly and I can't get my foot on the clutch pedal without banging my knee under the wheel. Surprisingly, the weird steering wheel angle on the B67 I looked at that day actually gave a little more knee room than in the B61. Maybe that's why I got used to not using the clutch back then!

Those guys are super cool. I always stop in and talk to them. I'm still hoping Brad's Southern Classic in Maiden gets to happen this year.

One of the drivers for the local construction company, who I knew when I was a young-un, drove a Peterbilt glider kit truck with running gear from under a Mack R600. He called it his "Peter-Mack". Was a pulling son-of-a-gun. Couldn't break it. Cool to see a Quadruplex shift plate stuck on the dash of a "Peterbilt". Another local outfit lost a driver (actually the son of the owner) when he wrecked their green Dodge tractor (maybe a BigHorn???). They put a blue & white Pete cab kit on it. Still had the green frame rails and axles under it. My neighbor drove it after that. He let me drive it around the block once. First 13-speed RoadRanger I ever drove. That truck always felt kinda haunted to me, though.

Truck was parked at a local rock yard a few years back. Door says: "Bryant Farms - Greensboro, NC". Thing was absolutely beautiful, and was still working. Nice to see somebody actually keep a working truck in that kind of condition.

On occasion, there is a Corbitt or two shows up... Couldn't get a good pic from the front. The sun was right in the way.

Yeah, you always looked for the balance point, and then eased the blade down. That would generally shift enough weight to cause her to ease down over the break-over point. If you didn't, she was likely to come down hard, and then bad things could happen! Definitely took a light touch. Made you feel good when you did it right, though.

Always loved the "diamond" grille in that model of Diamond Reo. Very cool.

Found this picture in a book about the clearing company my great-uncle and his brother-in-law partner built. Hard to see, but looks like an old 46A D8H. Probably going onto a Hyster lowboy trailer. Back then , ALL they had to pull them with were Macks. Rome K/G blade still on it. Can't haul 'em down the road like that anymore! Probably shouldn't have back then! I have done this maneuver many a time. Always got a little "exciting" just before it broke over the beavertail. Got a good look at the sky for a minute. Even more fun if that beavertail was wet or muddy, or if the ground wasn't perfectly flat. Good times. Old memories.

IIRC, the 36A was direct drive (like TS7 said). The 35A was a 3-speed with a torque converter. The 46A was the power-shift version. All are "D8H" models. I spent many a day on the 46A D8H and the 77V D8K. That one does appear to have a later-model ROPS on it. All the D8Ks I ran had the brake pedals hung from under the dash. But, I was told once that some of the earliest ones had brake pedals coming up through the floor like the D8H, but I can neither confirm nor deny that from personal experience. I loved the K models, but they were plagued by head gasket problems from trying to squeeze more power out of the same engine that powered the Hs. I remember that, late in the K model's life, they started adding spacer plates under the head to lower the compression ratio to help with that problem. Called them (oddly enough) "spacer plate motors". Imagine that. That's one of the best-looking H models I have seen since back in 19......well, let's not go into that!

One of Brad's personal pieces. Super nice.

As near as I can gather from all the discussions (and there are lots of conflicting opinions...and I am not going to argue for or against any of them), this is the truck that was used to film a few (I think 3) new scenes to be added to the original TV release of "Duel" to make it long enough for the big screen release. This truck, when in the movie, had a different (vertical) air filter and had mudflaps on the tractor. The fender openings around the trailer tires are also different from the "main" truck in the movie, which was destroyed at the end of filming the TV release. One of the more recent owners reportedly changed the air filter to the Cat unit it wears now and cut off the mudflaps, all to make the truck look more like the primary truck in the movie. I did see torched-off mudflap frame stubs on the frame. There was also, reportedly, a 3rd truck prepared for the add-on work, but it was a shorter-wheelbase truck, and was not used in filming. This one seems to match up pretty well to the "other" truck used to film those few scenes. Again, I cannot confirm nor deny these claims. And, I do not intend to try. But, it all seems to fit. Just enjoy! Isn't that grille shot menacing?!

This one was from 3-4 years back. Lots of elbow grease obviously went into this one!

This was right after the truck changed hands (again) a couple of year ago. I have the new owner's card at home somewhere. Super nice guy. This particular one is sitting on a Pete air-ride rear suspension. Not sure if it's a full Pete frame or not. Loved this show growing up. Glad to see at least 1 of the trucks survived. I believe this is a season 1 (west coast) truck.

The "Duck" also shows up from time to time...

This one was at the Southern Classic Show a couple of years ago. A very impressive piece.

These 2 guys are at a lot of the local shows. A couple of nicely-done B61s.

If it is like the one I had, then, yes, it just screws into the pump. I got a replacement one from some 3rd party, but it leaked around the threads. I found a shop which had seal kits for the original. So, I took the original apart and put new seals in it. That fixed it. In fact, I may still have one spare set of seals in the top of the tool box...

I have a bunch of Bendix air valve info, if I can just figure out how to put it here in such a way that you can open it. I keep trying to attach some of them here, but when I click on them, they won't open. I'll try to figure it out. Seems like I've had this problem before.

I think I bought all my reman Bendix stuff from the local CarQuest. Got quite an education doing the air system, too!

Ho-ly ________! Glad nothing worse happened.

When I changed the ones on mine, the truck was together. Still, it was a pain because the spring was curled up (with no weight on it), and did not line up. I put a small bottle jack between the frame and the tail end of the spring (near the rear mount). As I let the jack supporting the frame down, I adjusted the small jack to bend/straighten the spring as needed. Once it was in the seat, all was good. Without the weight of the truck on it, Something like Vlad's rig, above, might work. Pull the axle to the frame to simulate load, and still might need the other little jack like I used on mine. Oh, and the dish soap is a must! Slippery stuff. Doesn't hurt the rubber.