Have you ever driven a 16 speed? Looks complicated in the video.

I've always loved old iron and have wanted to drive a truck with a set of sticks.
You really had to know what you were doing. I respect the guys who put a lot of miles on those old trucks.

Here's an old bulldog with a 5 and a 3.

 

Thanks for the video. That's an awesome truck.

 

My first trucking job was an old International. 5 speed,.. but had a split rear. Hi/lo was on the shifter. Kinda like a 10 speed,.. but you could just leave it in hi most of the time.

My first tactor/trailer was an old Mack with a 21 spd Spicer pulling a home made low boy trailer with ramps on the tail. Had the 3 stage dial on the shifter. I was 22 and got a 5 minute explanation on how it worked and then hauled an old Link Belt excavator from Md down just south of Richmond VA because the regular driver had quit.

The Excavator was an experience as well. It had air over hydraulics for its controls, so there was a slight delayed reaction anytime you needed it to do something. Thankfully I only had to get it off the trailer.

This was back when $8 and answering about 25 questions got you a class A chauffeurs license. No road test, no pre-trip, just thank you,.. have a nice day.

I have driven the old B model Macks with the 3 sticks. 5 spd, a hi/lo and the 3rd was for forward or reverse. You could shift all five gears in reverse if you wanted. Another was an mid 70's Kenworth with 18 speed (It may have been older, I just assume it was from the 70's because it looked similar to the KW that Jerry Reed drove in Smokey and the bandit. Turn signal lights were hung under the mirrors). It had the hi/lo air actuated but the splitter was on a 2nd stick. I recall wondering why the hi/low couldnt be the stick and the splitter be on the air. What a job shifting that truck was.

 

Ya know Marmon cut my teeth on a B model w/6x4--and miss boxesl--BUT-)I had to read ur post Twict! And one thing I know is it sure sounds WAY MORE COMPLICATED reading bout it than it ever did driving it! LMAO
And I miss the flexibility of boxes--is y I like my 18 so well--but as four double clutchin--depends on how u learned and Who
taught ya--still do it quite a bit--especially pull in a grade heavy in trfx--can down shift w/split from what some call 18th into what some

call 15th--MUCH QUICKER and keep speed up--course I got a big horse
Just sayin

 

Thats what I've been saying for years. A driver, a real driver, can drive any truck, any transmission, any piece of equipment, any trailer, any load anywhere. My first truck was an old cab over with a 9. Ran team in it for a month. When they issued me my own truck, it was a two stick and ,"Go pick up this load". There was no excuse...either you could drive or you couldn't.

Had a safety man come up and ask me what should they do about the rash of accidents where drivers are hitting stationary objects (light poles, fences, street signs...etc), since everything the company tries fails. I told him to quit trying to hold drivers hands. If they can drive, they will do just fine. It's quite evident when they can't.

 

A guy I dated had an 18 speed,he always told me its just a trk with a few more gears.Never did learn how to drive it.Arent those trks mainly for over size loads?

 

Thanks ol timers for the stories. Sniff. god those old trucks were loud and armstrong steering. Funny I use to drive like my hair was on fire. Now I don't have any and drive like an old lady. A mere shadow of my former supertrucker.

 

Don't need no movie. Drove 4X4 not a 16 speed, 5 and a 4 and a Mack Triplex, 4 X4 had a cable linkage and would get loose and you could'nt shift it. Drove a Steel fendered Canadian oilfield truck with a V 12 Cat and a 10 spd, 2 speed Browie and a 2 speed rearend. Would go from 1 MPH to 120. You could'nt figure what gear you were in. My favorite is the 5 and a 4 because you could skip gears depending on the load or grade and ety you could run it like a 6 spd. YA, A 335 Cummins on a 379 Pete with straight stacks hauling a bull wagon up in CO and NM. Boy did they bark. I have trouble hearing in my right ear from the howling 13 speed transmissions tho.

 

You see all the time how people recommend wannabes and rookies to go and apply at the smaller companies. That's how things are in the smaller companies. They tell you go drive this truck and you go. Old school toughness, "jump in and figure it out".