Jack Mayer Posted June 1, 2015 Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 Dollytrolley, I love your stories. About my only related experience was driving an old 2-stick truck....that was hard enough (for me)....let alone what you describe That Osh would probably still be sitting there today while I tried to figure everything out!! Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member Living on the road since 2000PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail 2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it) 2022 New Horizons 43' 5er 2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units 2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck -------------------------------------------------------------------------See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar powerwww.jackdanmayer.com Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shorts Posted June 1, 2015 Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 I learned in a GMG dump truck 427 gas with a 5 and 4, miss a shift, coast over to the shoulder and start again. All of the newer trucks are easy just row the stick and flip the buttons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted June 1, 2015 Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 Low power and a ton of gears can keep a guy busy for sure........most of the old-timers did not even give shifting a thought.....it was just what you did IF you were even a half-a_s'ed truck-jockey. Sure I was just a hot-shot kid nudging the ole Oshkosh down some logging road but........."Grumps" was like the mad pipe-organ master when it came to making that old brute of a truck sing...... With a 117,000 lb cat on the lowboy a truck / lowboy almost as heavy you had the really know what you were doing to make a 220 HP Cummins move that rig at 50 MPH on the highway.......and you darn sure better knew what you were doing BEFORE you started down hill.... I can still see "Grumps" sticking his elbow through the steering wheel and shifting the main and brownie at the same time .....AND.......not spill a drop of coffee out of his stainless steel Stanley cup........... now that is ......AUTOSHIFTING......... "Grumps" would look at the newest trucks and say .......Well how much does a guy have to pay the truck owner to float down the road in one of these things.......... A/C Cruise control, Air-ride, GPS, 500HP............WOW even my flunky (me) could herd this thing down the road........ Things do change.... Drive on.......(with care) 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted June 1, 2015 Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 Dollytrolley, I love your stories. About my only related experience was driving an old 2-stick truck....that was hard enough (for me)....let alone what you describe That Osh would probably still be sitting there today while I tried to figure everything out!! Oh heck Jack........"Grumps" would tell folks.....oh heck driving truck is bit like your first few times in a canoe......you might get wet but try it again and you'll likely get the hang of it pretty soon .......(or drown)..... At the end of the day Jack you would likely get that ole Oshkosh out of the woods and along the way you might get a kick out of "thinking"-that-old -brute-down-the-road............. even those old trucks had "computers".......the "computer" was powered by coffee..... "Grumps" would say 'driving log truck sure beat "working"........(skin'n-cat, felling trees, setting chokers and topping trees or the hundred things that killed loggers all the time). Drive on..... 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkennell Posted June 1, 2015 Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 Awesome story! And that is how 220 (or 120 or whatever hp (or for that matter 2 horses)) could move a lot of weight. I always loved pictures of those little 20hp crawler tractors pulling huge loads of logs, etc. I also always wanted to drive (for about 10 minutes) one of those first "semi tractors" the ones with the rubber strip around the metal rims and the chain drives--- so I could better appreciate actually having a 10 speed manual tranny and a N14. No camper at present. Way too many farm machines to maintain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adept99 Posted June 1, 2015 Report Share Posted June 1, 2015 I learned on just the opposite, an old Mack Maxidine (sic?) 5 speed. No hi/lo, buttons, split shifters, two speed axles, or any of that fancy stuff. Hauling oranges out of groves back to Bradenton, FL. Usually way overloaded. You always started in 1st, wound 'er up to 2400, pulled it into neutral, and waited...and waited...and waited, until the rpm's dropped off to 1050, and then you pulled it into the next gear. Rinse & Repeat. As noted above, you only got one chance at this, and if you missed, it was stop and start over. I hated those d#@m things. Paul & Paula + Daisy the amazing wiggle worm dog... 2001 Volvo 770 Autoshift, Singled, w/ Aluminum Bed - Toy Draggin 2013 395AMP XLR Thunderbolt Toy Hauler 2013 Smart Passion 2012 CanAm Spyder RT 2013 Harley Davidson Street Glide Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickeieio Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 Trannies have come a long way. I started in a '59 International B-180, 308 ci gas w/ a 5 spd and 2 spd axle. The first three gears were closely spaced, then fourth was way out there, and fifth was just a little jump. The 2 spd. axle made the 3/4 split bearable. Our other truck was (and still is around here) a '49 KB-6, 256 gas and a straight 5 spd. I can still shift it without nicking a gear. That said, I wasn't kidding when I commented earlier that I had left the tranny (Mack w/ 10 spd Road Ranger) in high range recently. Older minds get distracted easier...... KW T-680, POPEMOBILE Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer. contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 As long as this thread is about shifting gears.......... maybe the Polish medium twin airplane with Soviet radials with TWO speed gear-driven superchargers that had Lucas electric shift (or shiftless some days). Imagine getting up to 15,000 and start shifting the superchargers to hi and the left shifts and the right drifts out of gear..........now you have one engine that is really wanting to re-power up and one engine gasping for air with about 30% power.......... No problem shift the high engine back to low gear and mush back to the airstrip.......oh no...... Lucas decides to fail to high ...........now you have a gasping right engine and a Hyper-boosted left engine.......... Some days you are better off being a truck driver than a bird-man....... If someone offers you a ride in a airplane.........ask if the engines have a gear shifter.........if they say yes.........you say no then ......go to TWA (Try Walking Again). Don't get me started on shifting boats...... I am starting to feel old now....... Shift on....... 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Mayer Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 Yes, I remember "fondly" the "miss it" and stop and start over "events". Did more than a few of those. I would never subject a truck to my current state of shifting "talent". I'll stick with my IShift. It never complains when I am so bold as to take over and "push its buttons".... Jack & Danielle Mayer #60376 Lifetime Member Living on the road since 2000PLEASE no PM's. Email me. jackdanmayer AT gmail 2016 DRV Houston 44' 5er (we still have it) 2022 New Horizons 43' 5er 2016 Itasca 27N 28' motorhome 2019 Volvo 860, D13 455/1850, 236" wb, I-Shift, battery-based APU No truck at the moment - we use one of our demo units 2016 smart Passion, piggyback on the truck -------------------------------------------------------------------------See our website for info on New Horizons 5th wheels, HDTs as tow vehicles, communications on the road, and use of solar powerwww.jackdanmayer.com Principal in RVH Lifestyles. RVH-Lifestyles.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jkennell Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 ANd each individual tranny had its own little quirks... WE had 2 nearly identical F600 straight grain trucks, 4x2 shifters. One you could float all day long, never miss. The other--- 1-2 shift I missed about 50% of the time. After 20 years driving the $%&^* thing. No camper at present. Way too many farm machines to maintain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickeieio Posted June 2, 2015 Report Share Posted June 2, 2015 Little brother went with me one day to help move equipment between farms. He offered to drive an '84 White/Volvo/GMC with a 350 Cummins and 8 spd, pulling a half loaded tanker with fertilizer. I warned him that shifting would be difficult........ First intersection, he coasted to the side, jumped out and ran back to the pick-up. KW T-680, POPEMOBILE Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer. contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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