Differences between driving in the seventies and today

I started in 87. And those men you speak of, they were our mentors! If you acted like you had common horse sense they would guide you along. But act like a know it all and you got left behind....

Our mentors came up through the ranks the old fashioned way, no big fancy driving schools like today. And most of our mentors went away with the introduction of the CDL license. All because they couldn’t read or write that well, and were afraid of the written test. These things were mentioned to me by these men, it’s not hearsay!!

I bought my 1st truck in the spring of 1987, paid for my chauffeur license, already had a physical, and away I went.

Things have truly changed.

 

Some of the engines of yesteryear. It is said that today’s engines are better, they may be. One thing for certain.... your not as likely to bring a modern truck home with hay wire and duct tape like we use to....

 

I took a set of heads to the machine shop a while back. Told them to go through them and replace anything that looked bad. Magniflux, and pressure test too.

Couple weeks ago a valve stem broke right where the keepers attach to the stem, letting the valve drop. Broke the side out of the valve guide too. I thought a rod had come loose or piston came apart since they are 2 piece pistons.

After some roadside wrenching I drove it home over 200 miles, on 6 cylinders.....

Got the fresh heads in last night, finish up today and be back on the road.

Oh, and I brought it home with a 1” hose clamp and piece of a rubber tarp strap.....

Not likely you’ll see that today in most cases.

 

I'm sure some know of this site, which I'd heard was no longer being supported due to age and cost but I thought I'd post it here and maybe the pics and articles are still accessible.
Was a great resource and brought back memories from long ago.
Hanks Truck Forum...

Hank's Truck Forum - Index

 

A lot less traffic than there is today. On the back roads, you would only meet a few trucks in the wee hours of the morning. AM radio from the super stations.

 

Back in my day we only had 4g none of this fancy 4glte . My tv was only 720p and a ps3 is or xbox is all we had . My GPS was 5in instead of 7.5 inch and sometimes went minutes with out a cell signal . Oh how far we have come .

 

Bought my first truck at age 22 in 1976, a used 1974 White Road Commander. Single axle spring ride, 290 Cummins 134" wheelbase. Lets see if I can add a few more tidbits to the observation.
Tires and wheels were horrible. Multipiece Dayton wheels with tubes, never straight. Going in to a truck stop to the "phone room", 15-20 phones on the wall to call dispatch. Stand by the phone and wait for them to call you back. Or use the lone phone booth at the edge of a gas station in 10 degree weather and wait for the same phone call. Sections of Interstates were still not completed, I-40 in NM and AZ made you get off at almost every town back onto Rt 66 as long as possible to keep the businesses from dying. 40' foot trailers were standard, 45's were just coming into the fleet. Ran bedbugs, then New Products. Ontario California Union 76(now twin TA's) would have the bedbug row every weekend, dozens of drivers, mostly in cab overs waiting for shipments to come out of California, inbound loads were 4 to 1 vs outbound. Park on the street in any industrial or business area there or just about anywhere, no one cared. Wide spots on any non interstate highway were common, grab a nap, or stop for 8 hours, well maybe, you never ran out of hours.
Big power was a 425 Cat, but some guys goosed their 318 Detroits, and it sounded like it. You will never forget that sound....

 

Back in my day 2000 lol. I was driving 30 year old trucks for about the first five years. It's pretty awesome driving with no power steering, getting passed by everything even when you are empty, and having it become second nature to pull the 4 ways everytime you see a hill coming lol. I don't see how anyone can say they miss that.
"but but I could fix it on the side of the road."
Doesn't matter, with how freaking slow they were it's faster to call road service, get towed, get a loaner truck and be on your way lol. I wasn't around in the 70's and didn't drive in the 80's but I have driven all those God awful trucks. I road tested on one just like this in 2000, please tell my anything good about driving one of these because I apparently missed it
All that being said this is a cool thread to read thru and hear stories about guys actually talking to each other and helping each other instead of shoving roller dogs in the pockets of their fat ### sweatpants with a blinking blue light on the side of their heads.

 

Dont hate on rollerdogs bro. The 70s woulda been better with em and you know it.

 

I harbor no animosity twords the roller dog. Their existence has been tainted by fat slobs buying eight at a time and washing them down with a five gallon bucket of mountain dew.