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On 8/31/2019 at 2:25 AM, RoadwayR said:

I drove a Fleetstar once that had a 537 V-8 in it, sort of an improved 549 I guess.  Truck had a 5X4 in it, geared really short.  I wasn't the best at driving a 5X4, but I could make it pull pretty hard.  

Don't know what the issues were, but I remember hearing the big International V-8's were not the most reliable big gassers.

The company I work for had a bunch of 534 Fords back in the day.  Last one I remember seeing was a 70-something LT-900.  I never got a chance to drive it, but never heard anything bad about it.  I know by then the 534's didn't make a whole lot of power due to emissions, which was why they were dropped a couple of years after the Lima 429 came out.  The 429's were great, only problems I ever saw with those were the cams going flat and the oil pump pickups falling off.  Even that wasn't much of an issue if the driver shut it off quick enough.

Outside of the 413/EN414, my favorite big gassers were the GMC 401 and 478 V-6's.  That 702 V-12 must have really been a monster.  

Always wanted to drive a REO V-8, heard they were pretty good.

 

 

Two big gassers that I would like to have some time with are the GMC 637

V-8 and the White giesel.

in 1964 the volunteer fire department my father was in ordered an aerial ladder on a GM "crackerbox".

it was supposed to have a V12, 5 speed, and two speed rear axle. 

by the time they got around to building it, the V12 was no longer an option, so it came with the 637 "magnum" V8. 

gm said the two speed rear was not needed, the 5 speed was more than enough engine to do what we needed. 

needless to say, they were dead wrong. that truck was the biggest turd i ever drove. besides the fact it only got about 2 MPG,  for 20 years that truck would have to leave the firehouse going north at full tilt to hit the hill 1/4 mile north at around 40 mph to be doing 5 mph on top of the hill. 

the pumper with the V12 5 speed and two speed rear weighed almost the same as the ladder truck,  could hit the bottom of the hill  at 20 mph and be doing 40 on top. 

that ladder truck had 13,000 miles on it in 1986 when the new truck came in and they gave it to a volunteer company in Pennsylvania. 

that company had it for less than a month when they sent it out to have it re-powered with a detroit diesel, because they had hills in their area and it would not climb them either. 

when i joined in 1974 i was assigned the ladder truck after qualifying as a driver because no one else wanted to drive it. 

Edited by tjc transport
  • Like 1

when you are up to your armpits in alligators,

it is hard to remember you only came in to drain the swamp..

White Motor lost a lot of momentum when they bought Reo. They were after the Reo v-8 gas pot when every body else was going diesel. Remember the giesel not a popular household word in the truck world. This concept might make a come back in today's EPA pollution control environment.

the White 4000 series with the Reo 200 or 220 Gold Comet was a bad ass powerful engine, the rest of the truck was pretty much junk. maybe good over the road but would not hold up in heavy road construction, same with the Diamond Reos on the same platform, the 549 V200 ih s and the 850 series Fords, beat them in heavy road construction and they would fall apart. exhaust, fuel tanks, spring hangers were just not as tough as an old Mack. this was a time when people up here In the north were scepticle on Diesels and gas jobs were still the In thing, the motors were powerful but they trucks around them were not as tough

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6 hours ago, tjc transport said:

in 1964 the volunteer fire department my father was in ordered an aerial ladder on a GM "crackerbox".

it was supposed to have a V12, 5 speed, and two speed rear axle. 

by the time they got around to building it, the V12 was no longer an option, so it came with the 637 "magnum" V8. 

gm said the two speed rear was not needed, the 5 speed was more than enough engine to do what we needed. 

needless to say, they were dead wrong. that truck was the biggest turd i ever drove. besides the fact it only got about 2 MPG,  for 20 years that truck would have to leave the firehouse going north at full tilt to hit the hill 1/4 mile north at around 40 mph to be doing 5 mph on top of the hill. 

the pumper with the V12 5 speed and two speed rear weighed almost the same as the ladder truck,  could hit the bottom of the hill  at 20 mph and be doing 40 on top. 

that ladder truck had 13,000 miles on it in 1986 when the new truck came in and they gave it to a volunteer company in Pennsylvania. 

that company had it for less than a month when they sent it out to have it re-powered with a detroit diesel, because they had hills in their area and it would not climb them either. 

when i joined in 1974 i was assigned the ladder truck after qualifying as a driver because no one else wanted to drive it. 

The 637 was an odd-ball, actually a gasoline conversion of the 637 Toro-Flow V-8 diesel.  Had the combustion chambers in the pistons like a diesel.  I knew a guy that thought the world of them, but I think the 637's he drove had 10 speeds.  I remember him saying they needed to spin, if you kept the r.p.m.'s up they made all kinds of power.  

A little history on the R410 series the Mopar power was to get Mack an edge on the GM,Ford and Dodge because of name recognition and with the 413 took out the idea that only a diesel tech could service them. Macks idea was that the average owner who stepped up to a Mack could still do repairs or have the local shop do it and parts could be easily gotten from a local parts store, like they could do with a Ford, GMC , Binder or Dodge.  Also gave the owner a bit of prestige of having a Mack.

The same was applied to the Scannia  powered  R410.  They never caught on because the dealers didn't really push them so people looking for a medium/heavy unit went to the other known makers.

"OPERTUNITY IS MISSED BY MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IT IS DRESSED IN OVERALLS AND LOOKS LIKE WORK"  Thomas Edison

 “Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy shit, what a ride!’

P.T.CHESHIRE

20 hours ago, james j neiweem said:

White Motor lost a lot of momentum when they bought Reo. They were after the Reo v-8 gas pot when every body else was going diesel. Remember the giesel not a popular household word in the truck world. This concept might make a come back in today's EPA pollution control environment.

White definitely was after the REO V-8 and OHV 6's to replace their old 'Mustang' flatheads.  The 'Giesel' was the gasoline conversion of the Cummins 555 diesel.  I thought White came out with the Giesel to replace the REO V-8 after White sold Diamond-REO off.  Diamond-REO kept the REO engine plant in Lansing, and continued to make the engines for a few years after they left White before they went out of business.

I was told there were a few White 4000's built with GMC gas V-6's after White sold Diamond-REO before the Giesel came out.  Anyone ever seen one? 

9 hours ago, 41chevy said:

A little history on the R410 series the Mopar power was to get Mack an edge on the GM,Ford and Dodge because of name recognition and with the 413 took out the idea that only a diesel tech could service them. Macks idea was that the average owner who stepped up to a Mack could still do repairs or have the local shop do it and parts could be easily gotten from a local parts store, like they could do with a Ford, GMC , Binder or Dodge.  Also gave the owner a bit of prestige of having a Mack.

The same was applied to the Scannia  powered  R410.  They never caught on because the dealers didn't really push them so people looking for a medium/heavy unit went to the other known makers.

Never thought of it that way but it makes a lot of sense..  All about having a competitive price with a dog on the hood!

Exactly their idea.

"OPERTUNITY IS MISSED BY MOST PEOPLE BECAUSE IT IS DRESSED IN OVERALLS AND LOOKS LIKE WORK"  Thomas Edison

 “Life’s journey is not to arrive at the grave safely, in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting ‘Holy shit, what a ride!’

P.T.CHESHIRE

3 hours ago, Mack Technician said:

Fascinated again by how much work got done with such little power plants.

My first dump truck was a B421, If I remember right had a 401 flathead engine, shifting constantly, and getting no where fast.     terry:MackLogo:

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