Hauling it...How much truck?

[jimmoore]

GJH, I have driven an international school bus for the last 3 years. It has a DT466 "diesel turbocharged" with an Allison AT500 transmission. It will make that 66 passenger bus "haul a$$. It's easy starting on cold mornings also. We get real good fuel milage out of them. Of course, they are not pulling the kind of load that you are talking about. 4th gear has an overdrive and as bird said they "freewheel" when you let off the throttle. We drive in 2nd or 3rd in town with stop & go driveing, that way the engine will help slow you down. I love the automatic tranny. jim

 

[jgh]

12/2

[Sorry about the nickname kidding, Bird. I'll hafta stop winging it...]

Thanks, Bird, please tell me a couple of things:

What is a "pusher" motorhome?

Did the exciting stop (got my attention!) occur with ABS in the mix? I understand that is fairly new to the airbrake world, so I assume not, esp from your description.

Glad you made it thru that, wouldn't be the same list without you! And on that I am not kidding /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

Jim

 

[jgh]

12/2

Jim, that sounds like Del's trouble with his hst tractor. Is the so-called Jake brake common on large diesel vehicles--basically a special engine braking setup as I understand it. The CDL study materials make it sound very commonplace.

Thanks for the review of the DT466. One thing I have noticed is that it is hard to tell just what engine a truck has. Oh, you can tell the brand, but not the config sometimes. Caterpillar seems best since they stamp the engine model # where you can see it, but then you discover that each one has a W--I--D--E range of HP ratings depending on a myriad of factors like turbocharging, camshaft, injector pump, the list is endless!

Got to go to bed. Wife is in CA for conference (Hi, Harv et al) and I am going truck shopping on Saturday. Thanks to everyone for helping me so far!

J

 

[Bird]

Jim, I've been kidded about my name all my life, so that sure doesn't bother me; in fact, I guess I kind of get a kick out of it. One thing's for sure; with my name and my big mouth, people remember me.

A "pusher" motorhome is one with the engine in the rear, like most of the big busses.

And nope, no ABS on it. I haven't driven one with air brakes and ABS yet. On that trip through Knoxville, I was just delivering a brand new motorhome from a dealership in Texas to a customer in Virginia, and towing my little Isuzu pickup, so I sure would have hated to wreck that thing.

Bird

 

[Bird]

Aaah, Jim, this modern equipment is great, isn't it? The one year I drove a school bus was an 8 year old (1952) International, gasoline engine, 5-speed, no power steering, no air-conditioning, and almost no heater./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif And I thought I had really moved up at mid-year when I got the '57 Internatinal. In those days they called it a 72 passenger bus. Of course, that was figuring 3 kids to a seat.

Bird

 

[stevepio]

That first photo reminded me of one of my favorite jokes: "What's yellow and sleeps six?"

DOT Truck of course!

 

[jgh]

12/4

Rubbing salt in those [DOT] wounds, huh /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif?

Are you saying a lot of sleep ac-crews there?

J

 

[RobertN]

One thought about the Automatic... Most newer Fire Engines have them. Some engines, aerials, and pumpers are downright heavy! Consider too, that they get run HARD when going code three to a emergency.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

 

[Bird]

RobertN, I'm old enough to remember when the equipment services folks didn't want any automatic transmission vehicles because they feared maintenance problems. The police department didn't get their first automatic transmission cars until 1969. And later, they discovered that garbage trucks with automatic transmissons and hydraulic packers were cheaper to maintain than manual transmissions with PTO powered packers. And the same thing with wreckers. Things DO change, don't they?/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird

 

[Thomas]

Bird,
Things do change thats for sure.
Looks at us now with our video equipment..mircowaves..tractors etc..also we are chatting on computers who would have thought 20 years ago. /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif
The future one can only guess.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif