Deezl Smoke

4 hours ago, noteven said:

I drove a 359 for a 2 truck owner. He retired his 352 and bought a 362, black, 400 big cam. It was a nice cab over. It had the flat screen with 3 wipers. 

👍 I remember those. Did it have center point steering? By that time full power steering may have been the norm.

50 minutes ago, noteven said:

Many moons ago while my DW was in college I drove a KW W9 with a NTC 350 that was in a good state of tune. You know this is so when the tailpipes are rainbow colored chrome above the mufflers. You also know this is so when you accidentally romp on the throttle driving through a sharp frost dip on a street by the refinery at 25mph and bend an injector pushrod. It didn’t “roll coal”. Musta had something to do with the non-stock turbo and a #10 or 12 fuel button. The owner zipped over and we changed it in the parking lot out back of The Chrome Stack cafe in the gravel parking lot. 
 

it was white with blue fenders, like this truck, but tandem drive

1981 W900

 Ya, roll'n coal is not a sign of good tune or proper setup, but rather a sign of "redneck" or shadetree  adjustments like a turn or two of the fuel rack limiter. Kind of like a young, in-experienced gas low compression, smog head, v8 owner installing a massive long duration camshaft with lots of overlap. Back in the day of that mechanical big cam, the gas engines still used  a fuel meter called a........."carburetor". And get this, the spark was controlled by a "distributor". I've all but forgotten how to even spell those words anymore.

 Now days we have stock, full smog cars that burn 87 octane that have more power with no "pinging" (remember that issue?)  than we could get from 3 years wage invested in a race gas only engine. 

 It used to take a KT cummins or a 1693 Cat to get over 500 hp in a truck. Now we have 12 and 13 liter engines with that stock and smogged. Pretty amazing.

 But like anything, you cant please everybody. Some just cant take it when others like to see something different. For the time period of that 362, black soot stains along the top sides of a white dry van were just part of how things were. I would rather see that long black trail of soot roll out of that 362 for a sunday afternoon than see 24" blings with 1" sidewall tires on a mint 69' Camaro.

 Best part of that awesome bit of history is, that mechanical cummins can be made to roll some serious black coal.👍

2 hours ago, Big5er said:

Glen, do realize this is a 2 1/2 year old thread that you are talking in? Cotreker has bought, built and is driving the truck in question. As a matter of fact it is parked at the HDT rally with me and about 35 others right now.    

 

 I think I saw it in the video on youtube of the west coast rally? For sale now?

 U-bolts are a standard method. Anytime one allows for the flex of the frame under the bed rails, it is also standard to put a soft medium between the frame and bed rails. Like rubber or wood boards.

 Do not drill holes into the frame flanges. (the top or bottom part) only drill new holes in the web. (the sides)

 If you use a heavy angle iron against the frame, use short pieces at the selected bolt holes rather than a full length piece. This allows for frame flex without shearing the bolts etc. Typically this scenario does not require a rubber or wood medium between the frame and bed.

 IMO

11 hours ago, rickeieio said:

Frames flex.  Don't try to make a rigid bed and attach it lots of places.  Something will give.

  Words of wisdom.

 Yep. Did'nt even get the pictures of the Pete fully loaded and I recognized it. They always seem to use the same price of 15k on several trucks.

 LMAO. 

The "job" box is what my friends have named it. When they call, the first question is "did I catch ya on the job box?"

We love this hot water heater. So to keep it......safe?.......as safe as we need it to be anyway, we attached the exhaust to the door and have a latch that holds the door open that 5" to allow the water heater exhaust to vent outside and a curtain on magnets hangs down to cover the door opening.

 So the last trip, labor day weekend, we went 5 days and had a bit of time to prepare a small bit better. This time we had our own shower and sink as well as we took our mountain bikes and had a couple job boxes to lock coolers and other items. We put a plastic pallet that is about 7-8" tall in the floor of the shower to stand on and it then gave us many gallons of grey tank capacity. The curtains are in the house as we need to shorten them a few inches.

 Not yet. I'll be at the rig later, and will try to get a few.

 This was our first trip out. The welds were still warm on the container rails. Last second assembly. But we had a blast and really got hooked on the redneck improvised build. This pic is from a fossil hill at Clarno Oregon.

Singled long. Rig Master APU. I love that style apu and if I ever have a second truck, it will end up with a diy copy of that style.

 Backed into the farm shop to prepare for removal of the power divider axle.

 Dave, I dont have to be bored to see truck porn. d:-) I'll go to your site this evening when Cari (my gf) is with me.

 I only have a few pictures so far, and I do not have a hosting site anymore since photobucket went commie, so I'll have to put a few replies with small pics, but i will keep it to a minimum.

 Thanks.

 Don.

 Oh ya, I've been calling around the big rig shops looking for the fiberglass fix for the ww, but no luck so far. Maybe there is still a chance that a fix it kit would sell?

 When I got it back from having the commercial name and number taken off.

Mr.Cob, Dave, just saw your truck on Suite Travels west coast rally video. NICE. Very nice.

11 hours ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy Deezl Smoke,

Under the windshield on my cab is aluminum, I can’t remember where I saw it but one of the large custom truck parts shops sells a kit to fix your problem.

Dave

 Super. Thanks Dave. Then I will be making some calls today. I already tried Peterbilt and they only sell the whole cowl.

 Don.

9 hours ago, Scrap said:

Can you guys put the KW stowable armrests that fold back on your Peterbilt seats?  I've never tried it but a National seat is a National seat...  They give quite a bit more width.

 OMG !!! That is just what I need. Thank you very much for the picture and info that that is available. I try to be price conscience, but I am willing to pay for that option.  That is awesome.

5 hours ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy Deezl Smoke,

Like I said in an earlier post for everyday practical reasons, my Freightliner was a better truck for RV purposes including passage between the seats and general cab space, if it had been able to carry a Smart Car, on the deck I would not have bought-built another truck.  The cost to rebuild the Freightliner to be able to carry a Smart Car, would have never been recovered when I eventually sold the truck so to me when I decided to carry the Smart Car, on the truck it made sense to sell the Freightliner, which I ended up selling for pretty much what I paid for it less the cost of the repairs I had put into it. 

As I was going to build a truck I thought I would build what I wanted not what someone else had built.  I remember three years a go I started a thread stating that I was thinking real hard about selling the Freightliner and building a classic truck that I KNEW would not be as practical for RV use but it would be the type of truck that "I" love, I decided then that it would either be a Pete 379, extended Hood or a Kenworth 900, extended Hood nothing else would be considered.  It took a year to find the truck I wanted and another six months to build it but I am HAPPY with it.  My aero Freightliner and the Volvo's are good trucks of that there is no doubt but as a life long gear head to me they just have no soul, they are an appliance that does a great job of moving freight but they have no style. 

I KNOW style is in the eyes of the beholder but to me nothing beats the LOOK of a classic "Hood" everything comes at a cost, that cost is something that has to be considered whenever a person does anything, I am 71 years young, I am a hot rodder of the old school, I don't plan on ever growing up no matter what age I live to so darn it I am going to enjoy my remaining driving years in the truck that "I" want and enjoy.  Hopefully when the time comes to hang up the keys I'll be able to find another person who will buy my truck who will enjoy it as much as I do and treat it well.  Here's a photo of my Freightliner, a great truck in its own right but which would you rather drive, the Freightshaker or the Pete?

Dave

A hunnerd percent understood and agree on the EXHD. Hence the reason I ended up with the 2005 379X I have. I used to have a white/purple FLD120, 12.7 DD. Though it turned in less than half the radius of my X, which is the truck's name, I just could'nt get that feeling of awe that a 379, or as you mention, a W900 give.

 I'm 56 and my gf is 54. We both love improvising our own inventions and love ever so much that we can say "we made that". Don't matter what others think, it's what we think that matters. As you can see from the photo of my X, it is improvised and under construction. But we love it.

 I'm not so sure a Volvo has no soul. A bone stock 379 or 900 does nothing more me than a fld120 etc. But a drop visored, unltra cab with stacks and a texas bumper?...........wood. I've seen some really cool graphic packages and ground effects on volvos that make them stand out and really look good.

 Is the front cowl under the windshield on you Pete fiberglass or aluminum? Mine is fiberglass and the wiper shaft support bumps have been broken. Looking for a fix.

 Ok, so.......I'm pretty sure "Leroy" belongs to an Escapee. ?  Here's a video that states mileage even with a D16.

 If my 379 were'nt so darn awesome styling, I'd be even more excited to look at the Volvo. But my gf and I are plus size and the gap between the seats, though tolerable for our younger age, is not the most friendly. We're weekend warrior types at this point and will continue to run solo without trailer for a while yet. So the sleeper is our main cabin. Spent 5 days in it over the labor day weekend and we feel we could easily do a 10 day run given the amount of driving we prefer.

16 hours ago, Scrap said:

17th is main box in overdrive and aux box in underdrive, which is the most inefficient combination in the upstairs - something like 90-92%.  So it should be worse numbers.  Worth a try though as it won't hurt anything in a 9-series to run it and it'll see if your numbers can see the resolution.

 Great info. I had not looked up the actual selection configuration for this trans. Typically, at least in a smaller torque trans, the OD drag is small enough to be considered parasitic, and in many cases, the gain of putting the engine in a more efficient range would outweigh the small loss. If your 90-92% range holds true however, it may be a wash or even a further loss as you suspect. Gunna try it when I get the valve fixed though just for the knowledge. Thank you for the reply. I appreciate them all.

48 minutes ago, Pete Kildow said:

First off 18 DO is killing you, if your running in 18th gear. People think OD gets you the best MPG. It will not do it in any truck. Now you can take that 18OD and run it in direct. That is where your going to do best on Fuel.

Not sure the model # of your trans, but 14th should be direct for you. With your gears you should be turning around 1350 at 65 +/- 2 or 3 MPH. But that can depend on if the truck is still running the factory tire size. As some change tire sizes to do a poor man's gear change.

But your driving a brick, and not going to get the MPH the better air stream trucks can get. Used to run a 1989 379. 18 DO top gear was back to the dash. 24.5 tall rubber, 3.36 rears. Fuel was turned up beyond hot. I had to drive by the Exhaust temps even empty.

That truck was a triple digit truck. And had it running those numbers a lot back in the late 80's early 90's. Got a unreal 3.1 MPG. But fuel was cheap, speed make money. Left lane truck it was, fuel sipper it was not.

Went into a T600 right after that truck. Set up the same way, run it the same way for 6 months. That truck would bet 5 MPG running hard all the time never shut off while on the road. But run it normal and seen 7 out of it easy. But when fuel is no though. And we all ran outlaw, it was fun. But no way would I run a brick today. If I wanted to get great MPG.

My 1995 T600 11.1 Detroit series 60, 400HP, 10 speed direct, 2.93 rearend along with 295/22.5 tires. 65 MPH is only cruising. And gets unreal MPG, but it was set up that way in 1995. By a company that wanted to save on fuel.

 This is fact. Direct, though OD is but parasitic drag, will always be the most efficient. To prove this to myself, this last trip I did in fact run in 16th any time speed fell below 60 or so. Prior trips were 7-4 and 7.6mpg running in 18th at all speeds over 55.

 According to gps speed, my truck speedo reads 2-3 mph fast. So 68ish is 65. It does have low pro 22.5s, not sure original spec as I have not looked it up.

 Reason for 16th vs. 17th, is the thumb splitter valve leaks when in low position. Soon as I fix it, I will try running in 17th when possible.

 Trans is RTLO-18918B

16 minutes ago, mr. cob said:

Howdy Deezl Smoke,

I also have a C-15, 550hp-1850t, 3.55 axles, 18 speed Auto-Shift.  Truck with deck and Smart Car is around 22,000 pounds, trailer is around 19,000 / 21,000 depending on which or how many toys I have in the box.  I have never gotten worse then 6mpg or more then 7.5mpg average on trips of 2,000 miles, usually more miles I tend to do long trips of 5,000 miles or more, I can't go anywhere without crossing mountain ranges. 

I got about a mile better fuel mileage with the Freightliner I had before I built the Pete, the Freightliner had a 12.7 DD, 10 speed Auto-Shift and 3.55 axle, in a purely practical sense the Freightliner was a better truck for RV use, it was shorter, weighed less, and was singled, but when it comes to climbing mountains while carrying the Smart Car on the deck and towing that big trailer, the SMILE the big Cat puts on my face is priceless and I wouldn't trade it for another mile per gallon. At my age my truck is a big toy and I enjoy playing with it, yeah I know I am going to HELL for causing the planet to burn up and destroy the lives of future children, oh well.

Dave

 OH YA !!! Well said. That "smile" is ever so priceless. Just set cruise and no hill can stand in it's way.

 Thank you very much for the reply. I feel better about my mileage already.

2 hours ago, Star Dreamer said:

Bobtail with just the smart car on the back of our Freightliner Century with a Detroit 14l, Ultrashift 10 speed and 3:55 gears, I saw just under 11 mpg at one fill up and in the 9 & 10's on the other two from South Carolina. With our old trailer at about 23k# we got about 7-9 mpg. Most of the issue with the trailer is the large gap between the truck and trailer. For a few years we closed that gap up and got an extra mpg. You are probably losing some MPG because you do not have an aero truck and your rear end gearing. If you can buy new and spec one out with what would work for your loads you could probably improve mileage into the double digits but you probably would also have a large truck payment too. It is all about compromise.

 Awesome info. Thank you. Yes, I am basically pushing a brick. I have been looking at the aero volvos, hence this thread. I have found more 6x2 drive configurations lately. I think that would fit my purpose well with a 2.6 axle. I see some people that use the dash mpg meter, are showing 15-16 when bobtailing  longer distances and when already up to highway speed. I'd be a happy camper with 10.

2 hours ago, Imurphy907 said:

Our 34' Diesel pusher got 8-8.5 mpg it weight in at 26,000 lbs. Our HDT that is 18,000 and our 45' 5th wheel that is 20,000 gets around at 9 mpg. So we are hella longer, and hella heavier but overall the MPG went up. I cant really complain about that.

 Awesome information. Thank you. I wondered about the fuel use of a flat nose MH.

 Thanks all. I guess I don't feel so bad getting 8.2 with the big Cat seeing what you all seem to average.

 Might anyone know of the video Gregg Shields put up here, was using US gallons or Imperial gallons?