607t1173

WELCOME! I sometimes think that us transplanted politically conservative Yankee's out number the true native born Georgian's. I relocated to Ga. (from Ohio) 30 years ago and found some of the most wonderful and friendly people that I've ever had the pleasure to know. Business opportunities were plentiful. Specifically, for someone with a true "good ole Yankee work ethic". Within the first year I started to feel that I had found a true home. People in Ga. have no concept of rust or old rusty northern Macks. Twenty years ago you could still find quite a few rust free Mack trucks in Ga. For about 10 years I bought every reasonably priced rust free B-Model (at least 25 or 30) that I could find until the EPA discovered me and my to quote them-"JUNK" hidden in an industrial park where I own 5 privacy fence enclosed acres. They, (the EPA) definitely have no respect for our passion, even in good Ole Dixie.

I've owned every truck on your ultimate truck list less one and that one is the Bighorn I tried to buy one in the late 80's& the company told me that as soon as their new 9300 International was delivered they'd sell me the Bighorn but a Dodge collector offered him more than I did by about 6K

I'm 65 years old and have been in the trucking industry for 44 years and am always learning something new. I certainly wish that whoever started telling people about a double overdrive 15 speed or any other roadranger with the exception of a 13 or 18 could explain how they did it. I have yet to find a single mechanic that ever claims to have done it or even understand how it's possible. I've asked many of the very best thru the years since I first heard that claim I've even gone so far as to offer to have one guys transmission disassembled at my expense. He swore that when he bought the truck he was TOLD it was a double over 15 but he couldn't explain how it was accomplished. Also that I would put in a brand new clutch in addition to reassembling his transmission. Believe me I wouldn't have been willing to take that risk had I not checked out that claim many years before. The double over 15 is kinda like the truck that got a speeding ticket in Texas at 135MPH.( or insert your own speed) cause it changes with the telling. It's always claimed that it had to be taken out of Texas on a railroad flatcar cause they wouldn't allow it to be driven any further after being caught going that fast. I've known two different drivers who SWEAR that it was them that it happened to. I was able to prove using mathematics that their trucks weren't capable of such speed as they claimed (I just never told them) But flipping a gear that you claim is already an overdrive would still only yield a single overdrive(just a lower numeric ratio) and not a double overdrive. :clock_logo:By the way I've got the back box that you need (I know that the front box needs bearings) I will pull it off and check it when I get the chance.

The gear flip is where the first and only overdrive comes from. (I've spent two hours this morning on the phone with the best transmission guys I know, who combined have done thousands of transmissions and they all agree on this) There is no OD in the back box so how does it become a double over? Yes,years ago we did flip the 4th & 5th gear to get an OD out of a direct transmission (most commonly 10 spds & very rarely 9's) The addition of a 13 spd back box on a 9 direct prevented you from having to sacrifice your 1st gear That is why that your shift pattern is reversed in 4th & 5th. And yes you're right an RTO-13 has the OD in the back box .Also the possibility that you could flip the gears in the front box for a double over Once you flipped the gears in an RT(direct) you sacrificed your 1st gear in converting it to an RTO(overdrive) and the reason that you had a trans with LL gears is so you could pull out loaded on a hill and still have decent road speed with the overdrive conversion. Your friend has a 1693TA Cat in his W-900, great engine in it's day. I've got one in a 71 extended hood Pete 359 that I've owned for many years along with an RTOO12513 for a transmission. I bought a 1693TA when they were still available in a new truck (before the 3406 PC) in a (74 K-100 KW) and also had one in a 74 Freightliner COE that was won brand new in a contest from White-Freightliner. 39 years ago that was the most durable engine plus the added bonus of the most torque on the road. It was also the first engine that I ever got a million miles of service out of without an overhaul. The Freightliner had a cracked head at 660K due to a cowboy posing as a truckdriver getting it hot on Jellico Mtn ( The only drawback 3.5 miles per gallon but with fuel only costing 35 cents a gallon back when I first got them it was no big deal )

I suggest you contact Eaton Fuller and ask them about a double over 15 or a double over 8LL.

Been watching the Mecum Auto Auction from Indy this afternoon. Old trucks and vintage muscle cars. To an automotive nut like me it don't get much better than this. Why couldn't It have been next week AFTER I hit powerball, so that my wife couldn't bitch about me spending our retirement savings on and this is to quote her "more junk to sit around while I dream about what I'm gonna do to it" SOUND FAMILIAR ???.

Might have been a friction fire. That is when the insurance policy and the payment book rub together.

Twenty two years ago he had a $1000 to $1500 truck. With the price of scrap metal going thru the roof he now has a $2500 to $3500 truck. Maybe the dual exhaust and bumper must be what added the additional $10,500 to the value of the truck when it was on E-Bay.

It's a 6V53 the valve covers are the giveaway.

The wig wag says 60's but an 8V71T wasn't offered back then the 8V71was

I agree. Another one is people claiming they have or know someone who has a double over 15 speed Fuller. I have had many heated discussions with someone claiming to have a double over Fuller this or that. When you ask how that could be possible they always fall back on the shift pattern. Most don't even understand when you try to explain how a 13 speed OO is created thru the use of a single O.D in both the front and rear boxes, thus an OO.

Hopefully it won't evolve or maybe I should say devolve into what the GATR did back in the 80's as soon as the big money sponsors got involved. It was a great and affordable series initially. The little guy could be quite competitive if he had the cojones to drive it and more than average mechanical & fabrication skills. At Atlanta E.J. Utley's Superliner ran up on slower moving trucks and when he checked up he spun out and hit the wall. When his hood flew open I got to see the innovative first and only twin turbo setup on a Mack six cylinder engine that I had ever seen.. After seeing him try to pull out of the spin and how he stood on the throttle and started the tires spinning while trying to get it under control was some of the best driving I'd ever witnessed and after that I was hooked. We built an R-Model with a Cummins twin turboed VT-903, RTOO12513 with 3:55's on torsion,it was a beast but I never got the chance to run it anywhere other than practicing on local dirt tracks. We found in practice (after I had spun it out several times) that we had seriously miscalculated our final ratios with the high revving engine and double O.D. 13 because our original intention was to run on longer paved tracks(not short dirt tracks) and by then the big money sponsors had already ruined the GATR for the average truck nut like me. .

I've seen people spend a lot of money trying to fix this relatively simple problem on the old mechanical engines. After all of the professional shops and Mack dealers get thru rebuilding pumps and governors and all of the mounts and anything else they can think of. About 9 times out of 10 it's the throttle arm on the pump & it's usually either a weak or broken spring in the arm. The BEST Mack (he started in the 30's) mechanic I ever knew told me 40+ years ago to look at this first when ever I encountered this problem.

I was made aware of this truck in the late 80's. At that time I had a cherry little '53 B-42 that had 12K actual verifiable miles on it and the guy that owned this truck was among those who came to see it. He told me about this original B-61 that he claimed to have bought new while living in New Jersey in '60 Just a few months later I was at his shop and this truck was there and hooked to a single axle lowboy(he was using it to haul his grading equipment) If you've ever driven any where around the North Side of Atlanta you'd know that even the slowest of vehicles drive faster than 70MPH and he used this truck to haul construction equipment so I seriously doubt the 45MPH claim. I'm almost certain that it was in the early 90's when he restored it because he called me about some parts that he needed and I put him on to Tidewater Mack back when OEM parts were still affordable. The phone # on the door is a joke from HEE HAW the prime time country TV show from the 60's & 70's and Junior Samples one of it's country comedian performers.( and his portrayal of a wanna-be used car salesman) When I finally put on my glasses so I could see the pictures of the truck better I caught the BR 549 and the Jersey, Ga. reference. Though it didn't have this lettering on it at the time I saw it I still feel that this is the same truck.

In the early 90's I sold the original owner and his brothers a couple of dumptrucks for use in their landscape supply business. I'll be back in Ga. next week and will come by and drive it if you want and we'll find out how it's really geared.