Geoff Weeks

And how many breakdowns and the labor to repair the same part over and over can you afford? I know about working on stuff where the parts are not available, or months out. But I would cannibalize another to keep one going, over some of the things seen on those videos. As I said, you never see how long those "repairs" last. I kept the double decker buses running in Chicago, parts? they were obsolete in England, and not many around, then air freight to the US. Most things could be made, but I would never weld a broken axle, There are repairs that are sound, and those you do, but there are those that can't be made to the standards required for the job. Make my own headgasket, yeah, I've done that. build up a waterrail and re machine, yeah I've done that. But weld a broken axle or crankshaft, Yeah, I'm smarter than to do that! We always had one or two waiting on something that could be used as parts for another until the missing parts can be sourced. Emergency repairs to "get you out of the hole" will come back to bite you if you don't address the problem. I changed out an exhaust valve spring in the field, only to not be allowed to address the real problem once the work day was done. It needed the head to come off, and the guides replaced (they were so bad exhaust gases passed up the guide into the rocker box). Always time for emergency repair, never time to do it right. head of valve snapped off took out the bore, piston and head.

Before you get all dewy eyed over these third world repairs, stop and think a moment. I am not saying they aren't skilled at the labor they do, but for the repair to be viable, there is far more than that. I have seen many of these videos, no where do you see the total man hours of labor. Neither do you see the man hour of labor to get the problem broken down to the repair point. Now we get into metallurgy where axle or crankshafts are repaired by boring and welding in a plug, then over welding and machining back down to original dimensions. There is no way that shaft has the same strength and ductility of the original, the one that just failed, how long do you think a weaker part with a section that is weaker than the original will last? Yeah, I have taken a bend out of a hyd rod, but you know as well as I it is a temporary repair at best. Not taking anything from their mold-making abilities, but casting an engine part is more than just making a good mold. You need high quality iron alloy to make the cast. What does a good mold make get paid in the US? then add up the hours involved and that off the shelf with warranty starts to look cheap. Between exchange rates and labor costs it leaves the 3 rd world little choice, but that doesn't make it a good one. How many of you are willing to stand behind and warranty a re-welded axle shaft? A re-cast cyl head of unknown metallurgy? It isn't because we are all "pansy's" in the developed world, it is because we have better options. Pull those craftsman out of there back ally shop and set them up here, and you wouldn't be able to afford them. Yes, it is impressive what they can make out of nothing, but that doesn't make it suited to the job, It may look exactly like the part, but it will not be of the same caliber. How many of you have bought a cheap "Harbor freight" vise only to have the casting break the 1st time you hit or crank down on it? Yeah, it "looks the part" but can't do the job!

In my mind, there is no good argument for anything bigger than the K Cummins and that is a hard sell to justify. V 12 and V16 92 series or V8 Cat are just money pits. The K Cummins carries a huge fuel economy penalty, rarely seeing over 3.5 MPG from the guys I knew that had them. If your hauling light enough to get more, you don't need them, and working hard they drank fuel. Lowest I got with my Big Cam 4 was 3.75 working very hard.

I just don't like making stereo type judgments on large groups of people esp when based on just one thing. I, like most, I would guess, wouldn't have to look too far to find immigrants in their family tree. I know I don't. I have no love for those that commit these heinous acts, but they are evil, themselves, not other groups they may be part of. If he was a bowler, I wouldn't hate all who bowl.

Ideally, you'd want to be able to apply the rear trailer brakes alone, but that is not possible. I've towed some steerables where you had 120' or more of air line between the tractor and the trailer brakes, and the delay in both applying and releasing was enough to get you into trouble if you didn't account for it.

Ah, no, US born citizen, military veteran, seams to have been "home grown" radicalized. Don't blame this on someone from outside the US.

On air aircraft and my generator, the plugs are 180 deg across the combustion chamber, so the "fire" is started at two points far from eachother. It does up the power considerably as noted when you kill one side. I think most of the power on the Mack is from higher speed, tho. It doesn't look like the plugs are across the head from eachother

Yeah, I think I remember that. The "C" and "D" look like they came about to deal with length laws and loop-holes that were exploited for Truck Trailer combo's over semi trailer combos. In the US where OAL laws have almost disappeared, the need for these weird combos are gone as well. Now it is trailer length not bumper to bumper that counts in most places.

I can see why I never saw one of those. Kinda like a Jiff-lock but much more difficult to work with. With a single powered axle, I bet they were fun to steer in less than ideal conditions.

Thinking about it, a C train is best suited for Bedbug operation, light so the ridged connection isn't as much a problem, can be loaded off a dock or through the rear on the front trailer when broken apart, (something more difficult on a "B") and less side to side waggling that could cause cargo damage on a bedbugger load. The lead trailer has to drag the converter dolly around corners, like a spread axle flat bed, so the lighter the axle loading the better they will corner. B's need a sliding sub-frame to be rear loaded, so are more popular with flat beds where they are more often loaded off the side or by overhead crane. My guess is there just isn't enough advantage over straight truck and full trailer for them to be worth the trouble. I see plenty of bedbugger straight trucks and trailers along with the 48' and 53' semi trailers

A train has a single pintle hitch on the front of the convertor and a 5th over the axle of the convertor B train has an extended frame on the front trailer and a 5th wheel on the back of the front trailer C train has the converter attached to the front trailer with 2 connections side by side, and a 5th over the axle. A and C trains don't put much if any weight on the front trailer. B train rear trailers weight is partially carried by the front trailer A train has two pivot points (hence "set of joints") B and C have one pivot point. Clear is mud!

There were some that had a "high mount" oil cooler, but now that you mention it, I think those were horizontal, not vertical. You nailed it I believe. I never had a Cummins that old.

Yes, it almost looks like someone got drunk and hooked the converter on backwards!

I have only seen one in the US and it was a single axle converter C train! Has anyone else ever seen one in the US? IIRC is was a Bedbugger rig (Hence the single axle converter). It was years ago and I never saw one since then. Plenty of A and B's.

Well, you see officer, I can tow 6 trailers at 120 mph and they'll take up the same space that 2 do at 55 mph!

With those pic's (where did they come from?) the front axle doesn't have dual boxes so I would guess under 16K now, and yeah it would be nose heavy. My cabover was 12,600 on the steer bobtail. Lot more weight and distance to the rear axles on that one!

Looks like a 20K by the tire size.

Couldn't be used commercially and you need a way to pay for fuel and up-keep. Either deep pockets, or keep it stationary.

Very much like my Dart Oil Field truck

wasn't yesterday, that is for sure.

Back when I was studying for my A&P lic, we had to memorize which way a cam ring turned on a specific engine (mostly piston engines back then, mostly radial) I always thought "Who in the right mind would trust their memory when working on an aircraft engine?". Manuals were printed for a reason! The manual for the Gardner 6LXB was about the size of a cheap comic book, because they expected you to know how to work on an engine and just provided the unique info and spec. The one for my Big Cam 4 looks like the New York City yellow pages, because everything was in "pictograms"! There is so little true info contained in many manuals today, more how to simplify to the least common denominator

I believe the last picture is an oil cooler. Thanks for the color on the line, but with only one line to the bumper, I can't see what they are trying to accomplish. Lots of "bodged" stuff on that truck, so it is hard to say what was done why.

I'll have to take your word on that because I can't see the whole thing. Your picture only shows a line on the right side of the bumper, so I have no idea what they are trying to do, if there is only one connection and it is a coolant line. It wouldn't act as an overflow, as there is no way to draw it back in. Can't tell what you are refering to on "the right side of the engine. Might be a old style oil cooler or even a coolant filter that was replaced with spin-on one next to it.

Also I'm betting that the front bumper is being used as an air tank, to increase the capacity for the air assist steering, and not anything to do with the radiator. One the hose is too small to flow any amount of coolant, and 2, I only see one hose.

Look and see if the tag on the fuel pump is there, Might give some clues as to the engine.