how many guys on here know how to drive a standard shift transmission-in a vintage truck ?.....or think they know how HA

[TAKerry]

I like the comments about not needing every gear. That is so right. My experience is with dump trucks and empty you could always start out about half way through. We always got a kick out of an old school guy that drove the big delivery truck for the lumber yard. Didnt matter what was on the truck, what the terrain was, how far he was going he would start in 1st and go through every gear!! 

 

It seems that most guys want a manual trans in a car for some reason or another, especially a muscle car. Me personally after logging many miles grinding through the gear box in a Louisville Ford, I could care less if I ever shift gears again (actually I kinda do as my current resto project is a 4 speed and I would love to get it on the road but..........)

[arcticbuicks]

ha....that was common i think i saw too

[zepher]

4 hours ago, TAKerry said:

It seems that most guys want a manual trans in a car for some reason or another, especially a muscle car. Me personally after logging many miles grinding through the gear box in a Louisville Ford, I could care less if I ever shift gears again (actually I kinda do as my current resto project is a 4 speed and I would love to get it on the road but..........)

 

The '64 Malibu SS Convertible that I parted with a few years ago was my daily driver for many, many years.

Even back in the 80's traffic in the So Cal area was bad and after wearing out my left leg in bumper to bumper traffic commuting into LA I bought a '88 Camry with an automatic and commuted in that.

When I went somewhere with friends and I drove the Camry instead of the Malibu, my friends would ask, "Did you break your Malibu?" When I would say "No" they would ask, "Then how come you're driving your mom's car?"

It certainly wasn't very 'hip' for someone in their mid 20's to be driving a modern, 4 door family car.

 

Even after driving manual trans commercial vehicles, I still loved to row through the gears in a car.

I even ended up selling the Camry and buying a '78 Silver Anniversary Corvette that had the L82 - 4 speed combo.

After that Camry I didn't own a car with an automatic until I bought a 2002 Nissan Altima, which I still have with 250k miles on it.

My current daily driver is an automatic and I'm fine with it but I still love getting into a manual trans car and rowing through the gears.

To me, it feels good to be an integral part of the driving process.

[Paul S]

Our '59 Mack B61 with a triplex, 5+3 trans. 3 large gas engines on 1 load, grossed at 57K lb. and hauled them 250 miles. 2nd photo is a 45,000 lb VTL frame. And 3rd delivering a Rumley Oil Pull. And the Mack has a AACA Senior award.

 

 

 

 

[arcticbuicks]

those are some big hit n miss on there or is one steam ?

Edited February 2, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[Paul S]

20 minutes ago, arcticbuicks said:

those are some big hit n miss on there or is one steam ?

arcticbuicks

 

The 1 up front is a 94hp. 2 cyl. Blackstone Diesel. The only one in the USA. In the rear are 2 35 hp. Superiors side by side. The Blackstone is about16K lbs. and the superiors about 8K-9K each. Oh and there is a little 4 or 5 hp on the upper deck.

 

Edited February 3, 2023 by Paul S (see edit history)

[arcticbuicks]

nice,theres a lot still to be found up in this area ......but not those sizes much,i have a lil stover left ,sold off the rest

[Paul S]

9 minutes ago, arcticbuicks said:

nice,theres a lot still to be found up in this area ......but not those sizes much,i have a lil stover left ,sold off the rest

Thank you. 

 That load of engines came almost all the way across Pa. on Rt. 80.  So talk about shifting in the mountains, I did my share LOL!!!

[HarperAutos]

Just like riding a bike ☺️

[Dandy Dave]

14 hours ago, ojh. said:

I remember Dad reaching thru the steering wheel to shift both levers on his Mack B-63 Thermodyne logging truck.

I drove a 1963 Mack B67 with a Triplex. Grandma was just to get going. When you were rolling and ratteled though the first set of gears with a load you had to get back in second and intermediate at the same time to keep upshifting. Your hand though the steering wheel helped keep the truck going in the direction you wanted it to. Same for shifting to high range in the triplex. Basically you had 13 speeds. The one I drove was tired. It took a lot of shifting on every hill you came to.

Edited February 3, 2023 by Dandy Dave (see edit history)

[Mike "Hubbie" Stearns]

Both my wife and i are able to drive a stick. Her dad had a one ton dump. Either dad or I would load and she would go and dump and come back. I have driven semis and fire trucks with 5-2s. My dad made sure his boys could drive a stick. My first car was a 65 bug with a four speed. Now a days, almost all semis and dump trucks are automatic. You have three buttons R N D. You can’t even select different gears. Mike

[Steve9]

On 2/1/2023 at 9:34 PM, arcticbuicks said:

i love the old two stroke Detroits ,they sound like twice the rpm 

I learned on a GMC single screw tractor with a Detroit 2 stroke and a 13 speed Roadranger. That thing was a missile without the trailer.

[arcticbuicks]

and Dietroit scream sound

[TAKerry]

In reference to the op's video, can someone explain what the shifting pattern is all about? Looks like the middle lever is running through the gear pattern, what are the 2 outside levers? Is one for transmission and one for the rear?

[arcticbuicks]

im no expert but i have tried driving them and was not good lol ......yes the middle one in running through gears say going from stop to 10 mph,then you can use another lever to change the ratio ,and then use the middle one to go through the gears say from 10 mph to 20 mph.........and so on.......but gets more complicated as there are some other choices to shortcut and just skip using all the gears.....and no i do not think one is for the rear,there is no shifter rod to rear,its all transmission shifting ........its been years for me and hard to explain in a sentence .......others can correct or add from this

Think of driving a 1920s car with a 3 speed.......you get up to 30 mph and then thats it...............in a car say you shift into third gear and then use that gear all the way to top speed of the car.......which is fine.......but in a heavy truck load its nice to have say 7 or however many more gears in that range of a car having only going from second to third, as choosing second would be too high of a rpm and third would be not enough rpm power if thats all you had for choice in a truck........its all about keeping a constant rpm with power and not over rev the engine or lug the engine struggling.

Edited February 3, 2023 by arcticbuicks (see edit history)

[SC38dls]

I drove a dump truck with a three two. Taught my daughter to drive a stick when she got her license using a Triumph Spitfire we restored for her. The boys in high school were amazed a girl could drive a stick when they didn’t know how too. While in college she hauled her bosses horses in Freightliner. A 5’4” 110 lb girl driving a semi sized rig was unusual back then. 

[Dandy Dave]

It's the order of the Growl. If you can't run with the Big Dogs, Stay home on the porch. 🤓 

[NIOMARVIN83]

You're right! Those old three-stick transmissions in trucks were no joke. I remember my dad's 50s pickup - trying to coordinate clutch, gas, and three gear sticks in city traffic was a workout!  Now, it's just push-button easy with automatics. Huge difference!

Just upgraded from my 2007 Kenworth C500 to a 2024 Kenworth T680, and wow, the comfort is night and day. No more wrestling gears, and the automatic shifts so smooth. Plus, air conditioning, cruise control, and a decent stereo? My old truck never had those luxuries!

[peezduk]

I've drive several trucks with five speed transmissions and three speed brownie boxes. I was in the trucking industry for many years. They were fun to drive.   No texting and driving with these trucks.

[zepher]

I used to operate something like this, but it was a model 20 years or so older than this one.

 

It required shifting using a brownie box.  Miss a shift and you had to pull over and start over because the trans was so worn you could pop the shims out of the linkage if you tried to force a gear change.

Also, the turntable brakes were bad and it would not hold the upper structure when on an incline so you had to constantly feather the turntable pedal to stay in one place while operating the bucket and arm.

 

 

[30DodgePanel]

Whenever I see these old truck threads I chuckle. Anyone remember seeing this video of Ghost trying to do his thing starting at the 1:15 mark?

I haven't watched SNL for years (due to all the political BS) but came across this video and it seems worthy for a chuckle.

 

"What's a cluck"

 

 

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

11 hours ago, NIOMARVIN83 said:

You're right! Those old three-stick transmissions in trucks were no joke. I remember my dad's 50s pickup - trying to coordinate clutch, gas, and three gear sticks in city traffic was a workout

 

  '50s  pickup with three sticks??   I would like to see that!

 

  Ben

[R Walling]

In over 50 years of refinishing trucks, I have actually driven 10's of thousands of trucks. I have had no trouble delivering them.

 (Of course, I may have skipped 5 or 6 speeds while shifting them!   🤫

[Pfeil]

On 2/1/2023 at 6:17 AM, arcticbuicks said:

i cant imagine in a 1940s truck in the city traffic with no power steering or syncro and three shifters with 38 possible gears and  you had to know the combinations to select,just to get up to 50 mph.....then gear down to a stop sign  and then ............ start over again

You got to be like this alien. Check out one minute seven seconds into it. NO PROBLEMO!

Terminator 1 - Truck scene | The Terminator

Edited February 24 by Pfeil (see edit history)

[30DodgePanel]

13 hours ago, Pfeil said:

You got to be like this alien. Check out one minute seven seconds into it. NO PROBLEMO!

Terminator 1 - Truck scene | The Terminator

Ole Arnie picked it up pretty quick ay...

 

[Zimm63]

Growing up, we always had a car with a stick.  Mom insisted we know how to drive it to her satisfaction before we could take our drivers test.  Dad preferred the automatic, having grown up on a dairy farm and "done enough of that".  

 

I went to an automatic for commuting years ago due to traffic.  Sitting there kicking the clutch in a 3 mile back up every evening will do that.  Still have a 5 speed pickup and 4 speed with overdrive TR3.  I miss my 67 GMC with three in the tree.   

 

My brother always had stick shift cars and his kids had to learn if they wanted to drive.  Period.  My niece complained and complained until one day, during her supervised driving period, she picked up a boy she knew on the way to school.  The boy said something along the line of "you can drive a stick?" and she responded "or course I can".  End of complaining.   Her mother was able to keep a straight face somehow.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Jack Bennett]

In the early 1980s, I worked as a truck mechanic for Harmon truck, rental, in downtown Tacoma, Washington.

The company provided heavy trucks, of every sort, for contractors, engaged in heavy construction.

Having recently retired from the army, I went to several courses, which helped transition from military to work on civilian, mechanical equipment. So, I was relatively comfortable working on the ring and pinion on a 10 yard dump truck, or doing the air box on a two cycle diesel engine.
But, the real stickler to doing my job was the number of different shift patterns used between the different trucks.

Probably, the most memorable was the 1970s vintage IHC Cabover, which had the gearshift levers extending from the a space to the right side of the driver, coming from behind the seat.

The trucks two speed differential was controlled by a tab on the gearshift lever, but the auxiliary transmission was controlled by a shorter lever to the right of the  main shift lever.

If you have ever flown a Huey helicopter you would feel right at home driving this truck.

Jack

 

Edited February 24 by Jack Bennett (see edit history)

[Larry Schramm]

Does driving a 1915 Buick truck count? or maybe a 1908 Buick Delivery car?

 

 

By the way, the shift pattern is different that a modern vehicle. Reverse is top right, 1st is bottom right, 2nd is top left, 3rd is bottom left.

Edited February 24 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[ex98thdrill]

I learned on a '67 Mack that had two shifters with a 16 speed transmission.  It's been so long since I've been in one I'm not sure if I could do it, but the people who know me and can drive them tell me it comes back pretty easy.

 

I have two Fords, but they are only a 4-speed which isn't much.  The truck I drive is a Freightliner that has an Eaton Fuller 10 speed that I have no problems.  A lot of guys I work with don't like the truck because of the shift pattern, when in all honesty, it shifts just like our two Fords, it's just an issue of having more gears.  We have a '34 Diamond 'T' at the firehouse that actually shifts better than the two Fords.

 

I will be the first to tell you that I couldn't start a Model 'T' if my life depended on it.