-
Having trouble using the site?
Contact support
18 Wheelers aint what they used to be.
- Thread starter Maggot
- Start date
Reminds me of the TARDIS. Looks way, way bigger on the inside. Even though the outside is still nuts. I've lived in Dorms worse than those.
You can fit a lot of dead hookers in there...
Doesn't even give the most important specification, how many Truck Stop Lizards can you you comfortably entertain in the sleeper ?
Not surprised that the company is in Shipshewana, IN. That stretch along the northern border of Indiana is home to more RV manufacturers and customizers than anywhere else in the country, and maybe in the world.
First the stripper pole in the back of the boat...……..then this?
I see a trend developing here.
Yep - lots of RV builders in that area, and a few others doing related things (like small buses).
The boat is way better then the truck so the quality of the women would be at a much higher standard found at the Marinas as apposed to a truck stop.
My name is Clcustom1911, and I approve his message
So do I.
It's obvious the man has been there (classy marinas and junky-ass truck stops) and maybe even done "that"
E.Bryant has something there. Loong tractor and a 30 ft. trailer? I bet that pays good.
I would bet those are a real bitch to try backing into a tight loading dock with a trailer.
With traffic, congestion. etc. I am really glad my time in the trucks is behind me.
All I do now is fuck off and anything else I want to do.
I would bet those are a real bitch to try backing into a tight loading dock with a trailer.
With traffic, congestion. etc. I am really glad my time in the trucks is behind me.
All I do now is fuck off and anything else I want to do.
I remember, back in the early 90's, the wife and I were team drivers and our first Co. rig, was a 91
I.H., you could barley stretch-out your legs between the driver/pass. seats, while sitting on the bunk, just to put your F'n pants on! We got a new 93 I.H. and thought we were in a luxury home, just because, we could stand-up in it to get dressed. Times/rigs sure have changed. Mac
I.H., you could barley stretch-out your legs between the driver/pass. seats, while sitting on the bunk, just to put your F'n pants on! We got a new 93 I.H. and thought we were in a luxury home, just because, we could stand-up in it to get dressed. Times/rigs sure have changed. Mac
I just don't know how they drive these thing with a trailer , doubt you could make turns in any city streets.
I can't see those trucks being practical for very many applications. I worked for Ryder for 14 years, and I'd hate driving one of these. Like Candyx said, it's got to be a pain, or impossible, driving through city streets, and trying to back a trailer in.
Everyone i have ever met with one of those hauled oversized loads cross country. Length requirements with them are not really a problem because there are many trucks that long with out the special sleeper.{I.E the one I have seen, they did not extend the wheel base, and most were shorter than all the bull haulers trucks, that need an extras long wheel base because its cool, and when combined with a dump valve, can transfer more weight and fool the weight station a little more.}
The big problem is weight. All those pounds of sleeper equals pounds of weight you can't put in your trailer. Length and weight requirements are not really a thing for oversized loads. even for non-oversized loads you can purchase an overweight pass, allowing you to run over the 85K most states set as maximum GVW.
I can't see those trucks being practical for very many applications. I worked for Ryder for 14 years, and I'd hate driving one of these. Like Candyx said, it's got to be a pain, or impossible, driving through city streets, and trying to back a trailer in.
Great bar hopper for when you can't see straight any longer you sack out in the truck till morning then drive home.
Those big bastards have a lot of mass...excellent for running through a wall of protesters without slowing. 
Yeah those are toterhomes. No OTR drivers have those. Cut load capacity and length in half. Not gonna happen. We seriously looked at toters before we bought our living quarters horse trailer and our toy hauler. Just never made sense to go that route. That and once you step in to big truck land everything is exponentially more expensive. Parts, tires, tow bill, getting worked on, insurance.....
Those toters are great when you're hauling loads like this and spending 3-4 days at the track. Did it with a buddy for 4 years, best of times having a house in the pits at the track.
So many drivers can't shift a straight box as is in the old trucks now. A lot of things like autoshift. or Allisons. makes it hard to find drivers anywhere that have that skill .
I have a lot of time on various trucks, both using them, or repairing them. and/or rebuild them? Both sides of that fence.
It doesn't take long to learn,--- learn to shift those boxes if you can eat bananas. to get to where you shift like smooth as glass or just grinding it into gear, that is another story. It takes a while to get good drivers as the good ones are all workin and gettin paid good, I hope.
Lot of good capable trucks around in lots because they can't find drivers.
.
I have a lot of time on various trucks, both using them, or repairing them. and/or rebuild them? Both sides of that fence.
It doesn't take long to learn,--- learn to shift those boxes if you can eat bananas. to get to where you shift like smooth as glass or just grinding it into gear, that is another story. It takes a while to get good drivers as the good ones are all workin and gettin paid good, I hope.
Lot of good capable trucks around in lots because they can't find drivers.
.
Sometimes, you mostly see similar type rigs, pulling residential (Allied Van Lines) moving, box trailers. A lot of those drivers "live" on the road, so, their sleepers are long, but, not quite as long as some of those pictured. Mac
Those toters are great when you're hauling loads like this and spending 3-4 days at the track. Did it with a buddy for 4 years, best of times having a house in the pits at the track.
Pretty much what I envisioned truthfully when I said toy hauler. They say racing is a great way to make a small fortune by spending a large one. Then again one could post this up in the "poor" thread and it would fit in well. It may not be Learjet money but it's close enough.
As a matter of curiosity how much different is a straight box than a conventional manual trans? Asking 100% out of ignorance here.
Closest I ever got to a Detroit Diesel was trying to jam the turbo from one onto a project car. That said, I could say after listening to a few on video if I were stupid rich I'd own one just for the sound.
Since I retired I help a farmer buddy in the fall during harvest by driving a truck. I had a little trouble shifting at first. You're right, it doesn't take long but it does take a little while. The length wasn't much of a problem for me as I pull a pretty long gooseneck with my pickup. But the shifting took me a little time. Part of it was because I didn't learn to drive a truck, I learned to drive 6 different trucks. I would take an empty one to the farm and bring a loaded one back, on and off all day long. Different engines, different transmissions, ect. And these were not great trucks. Think $6500 trucks! Five of them had 10 speeds and one had a 9 speed. It was a challenge but I finally got where I seldom missed a gear. It gave me a lot of respect for the guys that drive every day in all different conditions.
We have a few trucks and a Peterbuilt with manual shift and once you drive a automatic its insane to use a manual trans.
We have one truck on the farm with an auto trans. It’s so neat. It has this little slot to slide your man card into before you get to drive it. Stupid fucking thing will skip 4 gears loaded with 85k. And when your empty it will shift 1-2-3-4-5-6- and so on. And upshift going up hills. Give me a 10 speed and I’m at home.
Last edited:
Ours is a 10 speed shift five times truck moves like ten feet flick it into high and shift five times again then the light turn red and your start all over again. Probably not bad for OTR but when you have lights on every street corner its gets old fast.
Never doubled clutched once moving I just let up on the pedal rpms fall and you slip it in gear.
The Eaton 10 speeds are good and easy to drive and learn on. Add a splitter, overdrive, into the upper gears, not as easy. Takes some finesse.
The clutch on these is meant only to take off and stop. There is a clutch brake meant to stop the transmission from turning clear at the bottom of the clutch pedal travel. It lets you get into gear without grinding or minimal grinding. Easily burned out by inexperienced drivers that somewhat panic when they can't get the gear they want and push the clutch all the way to the floor.
These transmissions do not have synchros in them. You do your shifting by letting off of the fuel, never touching the clutch, going to neutral, then matching the engine speed to ground speed match and get the gear you need shifting either up or down so you may need to increase engine speed if shifting down or decrease as you shirt up and gain ground speed. It is not that hard, if you understand what is going on. Good drivers do it smooth as glass.
Not enough mechanics around that know how to properly adjust a clutch and it's brake after someone has burned it out or how to take a torch and cut the old one out and replace it with a new 2 piece one, an Eaton part#, let alone how to get proper free pedal travel and still maintain clutch brake function.
Then it gets interesting. Many older truck have a 5X4 or 4X4 with the main box and another gearbox behind them commonally called a Brown where you have 2 boxes to shift and 2 handles in the cab instead of 1. Thank God there are not too many of them around anymore.
Some of the combinations that you can select with those setups become redundant, as you can select 5 on the main box and 2 on the Brown and actually go where you didn't want to go, you needed 3 on the secondary or some such shit like that.
It is all about knowing how your truck works and being able to feel those shifts and when they are needed and keep your damned foot off of that clutch.
Double clutching is so far behind the times that I never bring it up when trying to teach new drivers. There is a better way to do things.
Working in the Oil Patch I have many miles with both setups and it is rare to find a driver that can do a 5X4 but they are out there.
All of them are OLD Ancient fuckers that for the most part have their shit all in one sock. Aging myself here>
The clutch on these is meant only to take off and stop. There is a clutch brake meant to stop the transmission from turning clear at the bottom of the clutch pedal travel. It lets you get into gear without grinding or minimal grinding. Easily burned out by inexperienced drivers that somewhat panic when they can't get the gear they want and push the clutch all the way to the floor.
These transmissions do not have synchros in them. You do your shifting by letting off of the fuel, never touching the clutch, going to neutral, then matching the engine speed to ground speed match and get the gear you need shifting either up or down so you may need to increase engine speed if shifting down or decrease as you shirt up and gain ground speed. It is not that hard, if you understand what is going on. Good drivers do it smooth as glass.
Not enough mechanics around that know how to properly adjust a clutch and it's brake after someone has burned it out or how to take a torch and cut the old one out and replace it with a new 2 piece one, an Eaton part#, let alone how to get proper free pedal travel and still maintain clutch brake function.
Then it gets interesting. Many older truck have a 5X4 or 4X4 with the main box and another gearbox behind them commonally called a Brown where you have 2 boxes to shift and 2 handles in the cab instead of 1. Thank God there are not too many of them around anymore.
Some of the combinations that you can select with those setups become redundant, as you can select 5 on the main box and 2 on the Brown and actually go where you didn't want to go, you needed 3 on the secondary or some such shit like that.
It is all about knowing how your truck works and being able to feel those shifts and when they are needed and keep your damned foot off of that clutch.
Double clutching is so far behind the times that I never bring it up when trying to teach new drivers. There is a better way to do things.
Working in the Oil Patch I have many miles with both setups and it is rare to find a driver that can do a 5X4 but they are out there.
All of them are OLD Ancient fuckers that for the most part have their shit all in one sock. Aging myself here>
I don't doubt that at all. Did you keep driving trucks all of your life?
Did you eventually learn that you didn't need the clutch pushed in in order to get things to mesh and some times with the clutch pushed in as you revved the engine that you were fighting yourself?
All of those OLD non-synchroed gearboxes ,and many newer ones ,are the same as to getting ground speed, transmission ,and engine revolutions the same ,then they slipped right in.
I too was taught to double clutch but an older more experienced driver taught me to do it right.
What is the difference when using non-sychroed gearboxes as to how you did it,? double clutching and holding a bit of pressure on the stick till it matched up as to ground speed and engine speed and it went in and just learning how to match engine revolutions/ground speed /transmission speed and pushing it into gear, other than a bunch of pushing the clutch in, revving the engine, catching a gear when things lined up and letting the clutch back out and causing wear and tear that you really didn't have to do?
WWII drivers were taught to double clutch and it took a long time to get away from that.
It all boils down to engine speed/ ground speed/ being in the right places at the right time then things will slip into place and it is a lot easier without pushing the clutch in.
Check out some truck driving schools and see if they teach double clutching now.
You may find out that you are Old School and we have moved beyond that but what the hell do I know? only a million miles or so I would guess.
The basics are all the same, engine revolutions, basic transmissions, and a clutch to get you going and allow you to stop.
They are the same, just much more modern now and way more reliable.
Did you eventually learn that you didn't need the clutch pushed in in order to get things to mesh and some times with the clutch pushed in as you revved the engine that you were fighting yourself?
All of those OLD non-synchroed gearboxes ,and many newer ones ,are the same as to getting ground speed, transmission ,and engine revolutions the same ,then they slipped right in.
I too was taught to double clutch but an older more experienced driver taught me to do it right.
What is the difference when using non-sychroed gearboxes as to how you did it,? double clutching and holding a bit of pressure on the stick till it matched up as to ground speed and engine speed and it went in and just learning how to match engine revolutions/ground speed /transmission speed and pushing it into gear, other than a bunch of pushing the clutch in, revving the engine, catching a gear when things lined up and letting the clutch back out and causing wear and tear that you really didn't have to do?
WWII drivers were taught to double clutch and it took a long time to get away from that.
It all boils down to engine speed/ ground speed/ being in the right places at the right time then things will slip into place and it is a lot easier without pushing the clutch in.
Check out some truck driving schools and see if they teach double clutching now.
You may find out that you are Old School and we have moved beyond that but what the hell do I know? only a million miles or so I would guess.
The basics are all the same, engine revolutions, basic transmissions, and a clutch to get you going and allow you to stop.
They are the same, just much more modern now and way more reliable.
Drove across greater Chi town with no clutch at all one day. Clutch linkage broke and went to the floor. I thought fuck it, I'm not rolling into the shop on the hook. Drove into the shop, and the told me I had to drop the trailer before they would fix the linkage. Lolz.
Boat is bottomless a money pit, big rig a money maker.
