Where Seldom Is Heard A Discouraging Word

[Bollweevil]

Clue #1 When the jackrabbits sit up on their back legs, and wiggle their nose, and look around with their ears straight up, they are almost as tall as a 900/20. Clue #2 Local area mines have pretty near as many miles of street underground as the township has above ground. Clue #3 ask Packer

[Packer]

Hey Bollweevil!

I've got a Jackrabbit looking in my 2nd story window right now - - - and his /her paws are on the window sill!!!

You the guy in Riverton?

Packer

[Bollweevil]

Nope, morganton, Ga, I used to stop now and then to visit a cousin and her family. That was back when I ran fruit and produce back and forth to the northwest. I would like to say it was the good old days, but it was always in the dead of winter, and northwest freight was the only freight that paid enough to keep things going until Ca. opened up again in the spring. James

[Rob]

Nope, morganton, Ga, I used to stop now and then to visit a cousin and her family. That was back when I ran fruit and produce back and forth to the northwest. I would like to say it was the good old days, but it was always in the dead of winter, and northwest freight was the only freight that paid enough to keep things going until Ca. opened up again in the spring. James

Hey James, how is your R-700 progressing? Gutted the cab on mine yesterday, broke both doors down and removed all glass tonight. Surprising how little rust I've located, (except roof mentioned earlier). I will pull drivetrain out next week to start on bare chassis when cab is at the media blaster. I want to get all three coats of paint removed before any work on the cab.

Hope you're making some money with yours by now.

Rob

[Packer]

I really had a hard time with a Bollweevil - - - Tick ,maybe, in Wyoming!!!

Would I know the people out here?? Green River or Rock Springs???

Packer

[Bollweevil]

Packer, That was Green River, I don't know if you might have known Kelly and Todd Harsha, The last I heard they were now living in Alaska. I came through Green River early last summer, pulling the RS700 that Rob just asked about. I didn't have time to even slow down. It was late in the afternoon Sunday, and I felt that I had better clear Wyoming and Colorado before daylight. Rob, if you are watching this post, I'll try to give a quick rundown on the RS700. Late last spring I sold my T800 tandem dump truck, I ran it 7 years and sold it for $6,000 less than I gave for it. I paid my home off, and this left me debt free and truck free. I had no plans what so ever as far as a truck was concerned. Then Just by chance one Sunday I saw pictures of an RS700, while surfing the web. What else would I look at except trucks? When I saw it I was ruined, I called Anderson Brothers Monday morning as soon as they opened and bought it over the phone. I always thought I would like a R700 because of the long hood and the room it had for a big ole engine. Jee Whiz, what could be more fun than trucking? Well, trucking with a big ole engine. After getting this thing home, swapping out the blown engine, and getting it to where I could move it around under it's own power. I realized that if I was going to do this to my satisfaction, i needed to go back to work. Dang. That's when I really went nut's. I bought an RW613 tandem dump to work with, and most of my time and energy has gone into resurrecting it and trying to work it a little. In the meantime I have bought a 44.000 lb. camel back set-up with brass trunnion. I was going to shorten the wheel base anyway. So, I'll slide the Hendrickson

pad set-up out and slide the camel back in. I really came out to the good on this, as I gained out board drums with the deal. I still need to find an 8LL. The Mack 12 speed works perfectly, but it is a direct, and with the 450 gear it s just too slow. It would climb a tree, you could get out and walk faster than it will run in deep reduction. I am fully convinced that Mack has always had the right idea about using a deep final drive ratio, then overdriving the transmission to gain road speed. It takes most, or at least a major part of the shock load out of the drive line. So, that's my plan, with a .73 overdrive, a 450 gear and 24.5 tall rubber, I could run 80 mph if I wanted to, and stay right in the sweet spot at 65. Let me know about the media blast job. I am looking at a trailer mounted portable system made by a company in Houston, and I find myself getting seriously curious about the matter. James

[Rob]

Packer, That was Green River, I don't know if you might have known Kelly and Todd Harsha, The last I heard they were now living in Alaska. I came through Green River early last summer, pulling the RS700 that Rob just asked about. I didn't have time to even slow down. It was late in the afternoon Sunday, and I felt that I had better clear Wyoming and Colorado before daylight. Rob, if you are watching this post, I'll try to give a quick rundown on the RS700. Late last spring I sold my T800 tandem dump truck, I ran it 7 years and sold it for $6,000 less than I gave for it. I paid my home off, and this left me debt free and truck free. I had no plans what so ever as far as a truck was concerned. Then Just by chance one Sunday I saw pictures of an RS700, while surfing the web. What else would I look at except trucks? When I saw it I was ruined, I called Anderson Brothers Monday morning as soon as they opened and bought it over the phone. I always thought I would like a R700 because of the long hood and the room it had for a big ole engine. Jee Whiz, what could be more fun than trucking? Well, trucking with a big ole engine. After getting this thing home, swapping out the blown engine, and getting it to where I could move it around under it's own power. I realized that if I was going to do this to my satisfaction, i needed to go back to work. Dang. That's when I really went nut's. I bought an RW613 tandem dump to work with, and most of my time and energy has gone into resurrecting it and trying to work it a little. In the meantime I have bought a 44.000 lb. camel back set-up with brass trunnion. I was going to shorten the wheel base anyway. So, I'll slide the Hendrickson

pad set-up out and slide the camel back in. I really came out to the good on this, as I gained out board drums with the deal. I still need to find an 8LL. The Mack 12 speed works perfectly, but it is a direct, and with the 450 gear it s just too slow. It would climb a tree, you could get out and walk faster than it will run in deep reduction. I am fully convinced that Mack has always had the right idea about using a deep final drive ratio, then overdriving the transmission to gain road speed. It takes most, or at least a major part of the shock load out of the drive line. So, that's my plan, with a .73 overdrive, a 450 gear and 24.5 tall rubber, I could run 80 mph if I wanted to, and stay right in the sweet spot at 65. Let me know about the media blast job. I am looking at a trailer mounted portable system made by a company in Houston, and I find myself getting seriously curious about the matter. James

Hi James, I've had a lot of vehicles paint stripped via media, and soda blasting through the years. The shop I use for this work uses virgin media initially, then sweeps up, and blasts again to remove the "stubble" that remains. There is very little finish sanding work to do on bare steel or e-coat upon completion. I've investigated the portable unit(s) from the company in Houston, and they seem to be a nice unit, but expensive so I did not purchase. I can usually get a complete car blasted for $400.00 to $450.00, (medium sized) and it would take a lot of vehicles blasted to offset the purchase cost. This is less expensive than an employee plus chemical stipper would cost to perform paint stripping. An an example last year we blasted an 87 LTL 9000 Ford cab shell complete, doors, and back 2/3rd of frame and the cost was $600.00. Granted this tractor only had the original paint so the job was fast. This is also where I learned that you don't blast fiberglass with coarse media. The rocker panels on the LTL series trucks are glass and the one on the driver's side was damn near destroyed.

My RL755L has an RTO 12513 transmission, and is on 11R22.5 tires. We were runnning 68 to 70 miles an hour on the way home and the truck did not have a problem staying on my rear bumper at these speeds. The carriers are stamped 4.17, but the guy driving said there was more pedal to go so I don't really know for sure if all is original. Also, the high idle is turned down to 1800 rpm, instead of 2150 as per the service manual.

I was talking with the craftsman doing my interior today and we have decided to go with a two color "tuxedo" scheme of the same, or factory "diamond tufted" pattern with buttons. The embossed bulldogs in the door cards, and cab back panel were judged too far deteriorated (from the original panels) to sew into new panels so we elected to embroider my corporate logo into the same areas of the replacement panels. The tu-tone color scheme with be light gray, and burgundy, with black carpet on the bottom of the door cards as original. The color break will be at the bottom of the dashboard, (it is black) and there up will be light gray. The inside painted areas of the cab will remain matte black. I plan to paint the exterior burgundy with some type of exterior silver striping that has yet to be determined. Sould look nice with aluminum rims on the steer axle, and spokes with hubcaps on the drives.

This truck in itself is quite rare, (one of twenty-three produced) and is to be my personal truck. I will use it solely to pull my other trucks and equipment. Originally this was purchased minus the engine to install my 12V-71 Detroit engine into but a "twist of fate" had me purchase the interest in the truck complete.

Like you mentioned earlier, long hood, big motor, what a way to go truckin! Always liked that look myself.

As much as I like this R model, it still doesn't top my A-40 in the favorites dept.

Rob