a documentary about trucking in the 70's

Kinda neat to see them boys from Texarkana out in Barstow loading critters.

 

You know, Doug, I wondered about that too. Nu-Way was the only air ride I knew about in the '70's. Not sure when Pete and KW came out with air ride, but a friend had a '76 W-900 with "torture-bar" suspension, and a place I worked for, had a Mack F700 cabover with Nu-Way, that "pogo-sticked" down the highway. The Ford CL-9000, I believe, had the 1st air-ride cab, but was troublesome, with many trucks seen leaning to one side or the other, and many owners disabled the bags. The nicest riding truck I ever drove was a late '90's Freightliner Columbia with "triple air". ( suspension, cab, and seat) You could have a cup of coffee on the dash going down the road and not spill it. Years ago, getting a spring fixed was a regular thing.

 

Dad's 1980 FL cabover was air ride. Had those weird pancake bags instead of a single tall bag

 

I think Pete came out with the air leaf in the 60's. Rode good and was tough as nails. They are still using variations of it today. I remember those FL bags with the steel ring around the middle.

 

New Way was a little tricky to get right.They used 2 leveling valves,one on each side,you kind of had to "tune it",to get it right,at least in my case.Need good shocks,too,but it was worth it.When I built that black Eagle glider in 85,I put the New Way under it,and rebuilt all the bushings.New Way's were a little more complicated than the air leaf set-ups.Made the glider 250"wb,and it rode as good as any truck I ever had,but they were a little heavier than todays air rides.

 

One of my first rides.....

Late 70s..... It was more fun.

 

Dual leveling valves are the way to go when using air ride off road. Really cuts down on the sway.

 

Let's go waaaay back! I got this book from my grandfather a few weeks ago. Book was written by one of the pioneer truckers in BC back in the late 70's. Its quite a good read and probably the best documentary of the origins of BC's trucking industry.

 

The Eagle motor coaches that Trailways was famous for using never had air ride. They had torsion bar suspensions. They called them Torsilastic and they rode pretty good.

 

That's why Montfort got a lane named after them on the entire stretch of 80 from their yard to NYC

 

If I hadn't grown up through the 70s and was a young guy today I can't imagine that I would ever want to get involved with trucking now.