Bill mentioned the big EMD Diesel engines. Alco built it's early Diesels with four-strokes. Some Alco Diesels were re-engined with GM two-strokes for both reliability and (believe it or not) emissions. The four stroke Alcos suffered from massive turbo lag. They were actually banned from Los Angeles and Orange counties in California due to smoke emissions during turbo spin up. Back to mixers for a minute - I don't think rust is the big issue for rear-discharge mixers being replaced with front-discharge units in the northeast. I lived near Varney Brothers concrete company and they had a row of what appeared to be perfectly good rear-discharge units that were parked. Their replacements were all front-discharge. My guess would be backing into a jobsite with a fully loaded rear discharge unit is probably not the favorite part of the job of a mixer operator. Many of the rear-discharge trucks here in sunny southwest Florida amid the algae and dead fish appear to be of very recent manufacture.
Except for when I was hauling logs I did my 1st million miles driving cabovers, I bought a new cabover Freightliner in May of 1985. Ended my owner-operator career with a 379 long nosed Pete. A lot of the new conventionals aren't much more than cab-overs with a short nose on them. The 85 I had with air ride suspension, cab and seats didn't ride all that bad. Bob H.
My Dad used to say "you could put a Detroit Diesel sticker on a rock and the rock would start leaking oil". Thats so you could tell they weren't out of oil yet. Those early EMDs were a direct replacement for Winton engines. GM bought them out to become Cleveland Engine div. The First Gen EMD didn't have turbos' and they needed a "boost" no pun intended. They came up with an over running clutch that wouldnt latch up at slower speeds which overcame the turbo lag. They came on at about 700rpm up to the governor at 990. Dont forget the G.E. engines; direct EMD knockoffs. Hmmm. ws This is a Winton 8-201 out of one of the original Burlington Zephyrs. OK... The math quiz: how many horsepower is 500KwA?
I always thought one of the coolest things about a 318 Detroit Diesel (besides the way they sound!) was that they could be set up to run backwards! Now I don’t mean you stalled it out on a hill and it rolled backwards in first gear and it then started running going backwards shooting exhaust out of the air cleaner. I mean that in certain applications, like maybe as a pusher in a bus or maybe a marine application they could be reconfigured to spin counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. That would be like spinning a BBB backwards and the firing order would be 2–7–5–6–3–4–8–1....
What youre referring to Phil is the blocks were cast Siamese. The fronts and backs were the same with all the accessories being able to get swapped end for end. DD's running backwards was also a phenomenon, but the exhaust would come OUT the blower and run pretty lousy. Youd realize some thing was wrong right away. The SBC's and BBC's are kinda like that too but only have a a chain driven cam and a gear driven cam for reversing. The cams always need to spin CW to run the oil pumps reversing the cranks. Only the cranks have different damper keyways for timing the engines. ws
That fact just impressed me as a kid! I would hear older guys talking about them running backwards or forwards and I couldn’t really understand all of it, but the part I did understand was impressive. The engineers really had some foresight to plan and design those parameters into that engine. And the blowers....an 871 or a 671, how many hot rods are running around with former diesel induction compressing gas and air for pure fun! I just think it’s cool!
A number of aircraft piston engines are available for both clockwise and counterclockwise operation. When viewed from the pilot's seat, almost all aircraft engines turn clockwise -opposite auto engines. For reasons of torque (and other stuff more complicate then we need to go into) a single engine aircraft wants to turn opposite the engine. Many twin engined aircraft will have the right engine turn counterclockwise. For reasons beyond my feeble efforts to understand, the P-38 did just the opposite and had the left engine turn counterclockwise and the right turn clockwise.
Boats do that as well to control yaw. Did the 4 engine radial bombers do the same thing? Often wondered about that... How about a vertical crankshaft Detroit? ws
I think the Gamma Goat had a three cylinder Detroit Diesel , They replaced the Dodge 3/4 ton weapon carriers.
Detroit Diesel two stroke, the super charger is for scavenging the intake and exhaust on the same stroke. Some also had turbo chargers in addition to the blowers.
I like cabovers and conventionals equally. They both have there "cool" factors Those swing out steps are NICE! Always likened getting in a cabover to a spider crawling up a wall
Me too (no #) - Maybe I've just been looking closer but I'm pretty observant on the road & have always checked out the trucks.
I bought a new COE Freightliner in 1985, it had a 400 horse 3406B Cat with a 13 speed, it was loaded as far as tractors go. I can't remember the exact wheelbase but it was long for a cabover, with air ride. It had a good size sleeper with air ride driver and passenger seats. There was a lot of padding on the doghouse too it would have been comfy for a dog! Bob H.
Didn’t know they were powered. I thought I heard that somewhere before about Celsius and Fahrenheit it being the same numbers below a certain temp
You guys and gals are fortunate in my book to have been able to drive these beasts, I’m sure it’s not all fun, but adventurous for sure. Guess I’m weird, most people don’t let tractor trailers in front of them if they need to get over, I’m more than happy to, the drivers of those things have A LOT on their hands, besides you can always pass later!
fun fact, when it’s -40 and you toss a bucket of water on the air it freezes before it hits the ground. I’ve tried:
