What options is there for adding cruise control?

An old trucker buddy I knew 35 years ago said he put in a throttle lever on the dash with a separate cable for cruise .

Kinda like a choke lever.

 

those computer black boxes from the late 80’s was an attempt to electronically control a mechanical throttle during the transition to full electronic N14. They are some of the few “legends” that people hear about but have never seen. They didn’t sell many here in the States. There was one being sold on ebay for $1800 without wire harness. That is the only one I’ve ever personally seen. Cummins had an advertisement and a patent was issued. Years ago I read a paper written on it about it’s development but have never seen one in action.
Cruise control has always been the right foot.

 

Peterbilts always had the hand throttle come outta the floor left of the driver seat. Just reach down and set it for cruise. The only problem is the PT pump governor will always hunt around rpm and is next to impossible to keep steady with anything other than the peddle.

 

There was the E Tech system on the mechanical Cummins in the mid 80's. It had cruise. Doubt you will ever find one, probably set at 58 MPH but I can tell you how to overcome that. Then there is no support.
Some Cummins had dual governors. Normally used to operate PTO and such. Some people adjusted them for the road speed RPM they desired and used them for cruise. Can be dangerous as mentioned but requires the mindset of when to use it and when to shut it off. Suppose you could tie an air switch into the brake light switch and such.

 

Even the old dual governors are scarce. Every Cummins powered mixer and pneumatic tanker yanker had them and the oil field had bunches. The dump guys usually just used their right foot to throttle up. I often wonder what scrap yard they all went to.

 

Cummins Australia sold a Boat load of them back in the early '90s. Because they also had a Speed limiter inbuilt. In 1990 The federal Govt Mandated All trucks to be speed limited to 100kmh (62mph).
But I haven't seen one for years..

 

Bendix used to sell a cruise control kit for mechanical engines.
I installed a few they worked okay.

 

looking for cruise also on a b model cat, that crusie king looked perfect til i seen they out of business,currently have a throttle lock, it sucks not worth putting on, starting to look at cruise set ups for classic cars in summit racing catologs but not sure how it would work or be strong enuff

 

Cruise King out of business? That sucks! I waited too long to replace the one I had. The clown I sold my truck to took it off so when I bought truck back that was one of the tons of stuff I needed to repair. Got about everything but that done and was thinking I might try to do that in the next month or two. Guess I will be experimenting with the ebay/summit thing too.

 

Never thought of that. That is an interesting idea. It would have to be all electric operated because obviously vacuum isn’t an option. Did oem’s make any electric only that maybe could get cheap off of a parts car to try? Everything I’ve seen is vacuum.
Would hate to buy something expensive from Summit that didn’t work just to experiment.