Yes, the pic brings back memories of when I was a mechanic for a sand & gravel company in the mid '60's. They had a mixer fleet of Reo Comets, some had the 331 CID six cylinder, a few had the 440 CID V-8. All were gas engines. The six cylinder trucks had hydraulic brakes, the V-8's had air brakes with an engine mounted compressor. These were all twin screw (tandem axle) chassis. According to Ford's book of words, hydraulic brakes were standard on the Q & Z series Big Jobs, even the twin screws. Air was an option.
I think it's safe to say that the A-car's had either 220 Cummins or the big 500 CID Continental gas six. It looks like they all had 5 yard barrels except for the second from left which may be a 7 yard.
My recollection is that there were starter motors driving a centrifugal water pump. When I had my last pour a year ago I saw a new Peterbilt 8 yard mixer with a Boost-A-Load tag axle. Everything was air over hydraulic and electronic push-button remote controlled.

 

Yeah, it looks like they just masked off the windows and lights and "dipped" them in red paint.

 

I put my 55 F350 (and me) to work today. My 55 hauled and I unloaded 6 yards of mulch today.
load #1

Load #2


Whew, I'm beat! 6 yards shoveled off and put in place. And this lady has a lot of plants in her beds....

 

my '50 F5 COE ... in service for 35 years as a Fire Truck in Northern PA...



this picture was taken in 1976




this is what it looked like when I brought it home in the fall of 2015

 

Got some work done today.I went for a run at 6:30 this morning and it was 77 degrees and 97% humidity.
Then mulch, ladder work on house, mowing....yeah I'm beat.

 

Ethyl THE Tool Truck....rolling tool store...she's a working girl!

 

Did you figure out the problems you had? I think it was the two speed rear.... Is she running good for you now?

 

We may have seen these before, but they're still so cool they're worth another look.

 

Edith Donor OD NP Trans Odd shift pattern


Edith donor OD "NP" trans id marks


Edith Donor OD "NP" trans side view
Yes thank you Abe..Ethyl the tool truck is up and running after a disappointing failure. I should have brpught my truck to a professional when i 1st got her for a condition function look over
A pro would have likely noticed the "out of clock" that the rear most drive shaft had and may have also noticed that this drive shaft had one unreplaced u jount while the other 5 in this system were shinny..The building i park in an lube her in is very poorly light and i never saw these two things that vibrated the pinion nut loose enough to ruin the pinion's threads that the nut fastens to The guy that lenghthened the frame for this "tool store"box failed me with those Bozo no no's. My other project "Edith" also a 1955 C600 that is becoming a resto mod....donated her carrier.. Thanks to my friend,Lyman Waterman, for supplying the big transmission jack and 3 days of his labor and the sacrafice of his body. Lyman retired a year ago after putting 20 plus years in fixing fire engines for the city of San Diego. Rolling around under this truck beat him up some..Lyman,as he says was a Navy Seal,a hundred or so pounds ago. So he has the mind of a warrior but the body has to be forced into action now...He was miffed at me for waiting to call him. Its a real crime that the now replaced carrier had to be replace. It looks like brand new except for that inch of missing threads at the end of the pinion shaft. Im still wondering about the performance differences i have now. The carrier that was removed thas 35 teeth for its ring gear. The replacement has 37. I never had a working speedometer and wasnt savy enough to use my cell phone to see how fast I could go with the now replaced carrier. I know i could actually "push" ,freeway speed traffic with it which i hardly ever did. This truck can weigh upwards of 17k lbs so i drive with that in mind and stay with the flow. The cell phone says I can do 65mph and maybe a little more in high with this 37 tooth unit and since I mostly drive city delivery type stuff mostly drive below 50mph and the truck seems maybe happier...not sure...I just added a very nice timing gun to my tool store inventory and will be checking rpm to see whats what...my ear says im ok but... Edith who donated her carrier has a 4 with OD transmission that is stamped "NP" while what Ethyl THE Tool Truck is a 4 speed Borg Warner T98.. I know nothing about the condition of this NP OD transmission...The engine for sure was why Edith quit running 20 years ago...

 

The NP 540, 541, and 542 all came with a .80 overdrive fifth gear designated with an "O" after the model. They had ratios of 1st - 6.15 (Granny), 2nd - 3.30, 3rd - 1.86, and 4th - 1:1.

 

Thanks Mixer Man. I will see what my t98 ratios are to compair see if there is any benefit to use this NP trans...are tese NP'si the (in)famous non syncro transmissions?

 

Wow, Doug's Headers!
I had a set of ceramicoat Doug's Headers on my '66 Barracuda! They were THE BEST headers available for that car; because of the lack of space in the engine compartment. Expensive too!

 

You're in luck. They are called "Selective Synchromesh", meaning they are synchro only in 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Granny and reverse gears are non-synchro.

 

OT - but I'm fairly sure this picture was taken in Sunderland, VT with Mt. Equinox in the background. My Grandfather was a selectman in the town in the '50's and '60's and probably knew the guys in the truck.

 

Thats cool!

Check out those stock 6x6 inch mirrors on that 55!