Truck axles

[Fritz Maurer]

1800 and up till it hits the governor which is usually 2100, but I’ve seen some that would go to 2400

The specs say 775 foot pounds @ 1300, so the torque increases with more RPM?

 

[farmersamm]

Is this you??? I watch that video so much that I got an automatic bookmark on you tube suggestions.

Yeah............it's me, for what it's worth I guess. Put the video up for people to feel what it was like running these old trucks.

I worked, at what I thought was a decent wage, doing this stuff when I was a kid. Paid the bills. You never thought you would get ahead....just keepin' up with keepin' up. Fast forward to my late 50's, and I was back in the seat again. Yeah.......felt good.......can't not admit it. I loved those old machines.

Here's the story on the LN.

Had the drought, Was running about 4 bucks a loaded mile to truck hay into Oklahoma. I felt we could do better.

Bought a COE9670 locally. Fine..........but I needed a trailer.

Found a listing on Craigslist for a Great Dane 45" float up in Missouri. K'kins, and I, went up to see it. Priced at $1500. Was sort of a piece of crap, but it had wheels. Was in Cape Girardeau.

Dood had it hooked to the LN, which was running when we went to look at it. Guy said he'd let the LN go for another $1500 if we wanted it.

It was a stressful deal from the get go. We drove for hours to get there, it was dark when we arrived, and the damn truck/trailer was off in the woods. K'kins, and to be truthful, I...........were a bit worried about the whole deal. Off the beaten track, somewhere in the middle of the night.

The cabover I'd bought back here in Oklahoma wasn't road worthy at the time. I figured the LN might just be good for getting the trailer back home, so I bought both. 3K total. Didn't get murdered back in the woods, and headed back to town, and rented a motel room.

Picked up the truck, and trailer, in the morning, and headed back to Oklahoma. K'kins followed in the car. Long story, with a violation at a weigh station for brake issues, but we got home.

The trailer had an air ride suspension that was toast. Removed it, and put a Hutch spring suspension under it. Was a long thread at another site that deals with welding..........which I don't frequent anymore.

So, this is where we wound up. Proud owners of two old trucks, and a crappy trailer. A ton of work, and both were road worthy. Kudos to the people I bought hay from. I knew a drought was coming, got in the pickup, and headed up to Missouri, down to Texas, and over to Arkansas........and bought hay. ALL OF THESE PEOPLE HONORED THE DEAL, AND HELD THE HAY WHILE I COMPLETED THE WORK ON THE TRUCKS. Honest people, who could of sold those bales to speculators before I got back to pick them up. Hay was selling for $100+ at the time. I did my buys at $35 a bale.

Some pics from Sulfur Springs, Texas. Trouble with the cabover forced me to make 2 runs with the LN. I believe I made 5 runs, in all, to that area. The motel had a big parking lot that was truck friendly.

It's been a wild ride over the years. I'm not really ahead on the deal. The most important thing was to keep the gurlz, and not sell out. I'm still in the same boat with the problems with the hay equipment that lasted for 2 seasons. But damnit...........we're still going.

Very few people coulda pulled this off.................and I'm damned proud of it. I've got 8K tied up in both trucks, and the trailer........before repairs. I dumped another 4K in repairs. So.............we have 12K tied up in two class 8 trucks, and a trailer..............LESS THAN THE PRICE FOR A STINKIN' PICKUP TRUCK AT TODAYS PRICES.

I do the books, and figured we broke even on the trucking.........which isn't bad. And, and this is somewhat immature, I GOT BACK IN THE SEAT AGAIN. You tend to miss the stuff you did in your youth. I got to play truck driver again, and we broke even on the transportation costs. I guess it was a good deal. It'll stay with me until they throw dirt in my face.

K'kins Father was a truck driver. SHE UNDERSTOOD. Her Father died when she was young, but she knew the "thing" that gets into us guys. She was all in on this deal, although we both knew it was one Hell of a gamble. We did one road trip together during this period. She felt good about it.

K'kins is sleeping on the couch...........snoring. I'm here at the puter.............And I'm one GD happy old man. The both of us have endured the crap, and come up smiling.

She's my rock. I don't make decisions so good anymore. I vacillate.........can't make up my mind. She steps in, adds common sense to the conversation, and I can.......or we can........come to a decision.

I see Alzheimer's in the future. It's inevitable, and it's probably already rearing its ugly head. I don't want to inflict this on her...........God I dont!

Both trucks are still sitting out there in the yard. They will become memories to me, and her. I hope they're good memories for the both of us.

Is what it is.







w

 

[caterpillar guy]

If you could have found a step deck it would have let you get more on easier since the deck is lower and most would be 48 foot so could get a few more on each load. Might have saved a trip with it. Those scales in MO can be a difficult deal sometimes. OK was never much of an issue for me. I got so even though I kept things up on the truck just would around them if it was not a lot out of the way. Like that Scale east of St Louis on I-55/70. By just going over to I-355 and down I was by that one and kept on going right around to I-55/70 across the river and on to Springfield with no IL scales. Run I-55 to US-50 over to 28 and drop right down onto I-44 At the Cuba MO exit for Voss truckstop. And away no Mo scale that way. I would run Us71 south to Neosho and go west to Big Cabin down to TX. Stop at Atoka OK leave about 4:00 AM and be past the scale before it would open and in TX before Daylight. Dropped my hay at Gainesville. Even a new truck can fail at a scale.

 

[Brendon-KS]

The specs say 775 foot pounds @ 1300, so the torque increases with more RPM?

To get the most torque at the drive wheels at any given vehicle speed the engine must be running as close to its peak power as possible and that by definition is always at a higher engine speed than peak torque. The crankshaft torque starts falling off as the engine revs up but this is more than made up for by the increased rpm and thus more transmission gear reduction to achieve a certain vehicle speed.

 

[Fritz Maurer]

To get the most torque at the drive wheels at any given vehicle speed the engine must be running as close to its peak power as possible and that by definition is always at a higher engine speed than peak torque. The crankshaft torque starts falling off as the engine revs up but this is more than made up for by the increased rpm and thus more transmission gear reduction to achieve a certain vehicle speed.

Just seems like a wash to me....have to downshift most anything to pull a given grade when crankshaft torque is exceeded.