New to big trucks with my 1968 peterbilt 359

Back in those days Petes were hand built and production was low. By 1967 they had only built 26,000 total trucks since the first one in 1939, and that included the first 6-10 Frieighliners they built for Leland James on 1941before CF had the tooling set up to build them themselves. Since production was only in the hundreds to a thousand per year for all models combined they had time to build them right. By 1973 they were building 10,000 a year. 75% of those were 282/352 cabovers around that time frame.

 

Probably the same thing with worn out column shifters years ago. "Rounding the corners", I like that, would result in both shifting arms to move jamming the linkage. Bringing both back to neutral usually solved that.

 

I see that now, that seam on the hood looked a butterfly, but not sure you could get a butterfly hood once the tilt hoods came out. Those square doors rattled like all heck, but liked the look too. The Rockwell rears have a smooth rear pumpkin, and the Eaton has a groove, I think, and Rockwell has a bigger axle flange, they're both bullet proof. Have fun, that's the most impartent port!

 

Steer axle brakes were not required until everything built after july of 1980. Every truck Ive ever drivin except my 99 do not have front brakes. You do not notice a difference in stopping distance and it is less heavy on the wheel while braking hard. With manual steering front brakes will kill you.

 

I have an 89 378 that started life as a logging truck that has a valve to shut off the steer axle brakes. It appears to be factory, but I'm not sure.

 

Should be factory installed. Anything speced as on/off road had them up until the second abs mandate. Allowed you to turn them way down so they wouldn't lock up on soft ground. The guys that had trucks that didn’t have the valve just ran the brakes backed off full time. Lol.

 

It's an actual quarter turn valve in front of the steer axle rather than one of the "Slippery Road" valves in the dash, but I always wondered if it was added or not.

 

Column shifter three on the tree. Anyone ever drive a D600 Dodge 361 with a 5 speed on the column? Do not round any corners, fish for the middle and go. Just like those C10 pick ups. When you were locked down in the middle of an intersection. Set the parking brake, open the hood. Shift levers back in neutral by hand and go again. You get better really fast.

 

Upon inspection you will find that them rods may have a few spots were they have some pretty good wear spots on them from the 50+ years of rubbing on brackets, hoses, or crossmembers. Don’t be surprised if they have burn marks from oxy/acetylene torches that had to custom bend them at one time or another. It’s part of the old truck life.