Driving a Semi Tractor for Fun

Matthew K said:
I've always thought it would be cool to get a old military truck (Ex: Deuce and a half) on the cheap and just drive it on leisure days. Would be interesting to drive that to my airport. :D
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It'll be fun for the first few miles until it jars all of your fillings loose!


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Imaging pulling up to the airport in General Patton's command car, a Dodge model WC 57.

WC57Patton1.jpg


http://www.pattonthirdarmy.com/pattoncommandcar.shtml
 
Duece and 5 tons are not too bad. I did a little bit of slow speed work with our museum's tank retreiver... 848 cubic inch gas motor with a 1 barrel carb. 48 mph tops in high range 2 wheel drive....
 
I saw a great looking rig on my way back from Norfolk this year in my RV. Huge fifth wheel trailer being pulled by a single axle Volvo. In the space between the back of the cab and the fifthwheel he had room for a Smart car to sit sideways and fold down ramps to offload the car. Big ole boy in a cowboy hat. I really should have taken pictures of that rig.

For anyone that has seen the Dave's Farm videos on Youtube, i wonder if Ted's Farm videos are in the making!!!!!
 
Matthew K said:
I've always thought it would be cool to get a old military truck (Ex: Deuce and a half) on the cheap and just drive it on leisure days. Would be interesting to drive that to my airport. :D
Click to expand...

I know a guy who bought a deuce and a half. Basically drives it for fun some days, but he also used it when they bought a country house and were moving a bunch of stuff there. The country house was a couple hundred mile drive.

tmyers said:
I saw a great looking rig on my way back from Norfolk this year in my RV. Huge fifth wheel trailer being pulled by a single axle Volvo. In the space between the back of the cab and the fifthwheel he had room for a Smart car to sit sideways and fold down ramps to offload the car. Big ole boy in a cowboy hat. I really should have taken pictures of that rig.

For anyone that has seen the Dave's Farm videos on Youtube, i wonder if Ted's Farm videos are in the making!!!!!
Click to expand...

I've never seen the Dave's Farm videos, so maybe I'll need to look at them for inspiration!

I've seen rigs similar to the one you describe. You also have race teams with "toter homes", basically a giant sleeper cab that's then towing a large 5th wheel that will haul race cars. That is usually for smaller setups, one of my friends has a Porsche shop and they have a full sleeper Volvo (mid to late 90s variant) with a full ~52' trailer.

I'm thinking a bit about what would be good options given our use, which would mostly be just for fun, but likely would also tow our trailer (and maybe boat sometimes) with, just because the Avalanche is such a rotten tow vehicle. A W900 a la Smokey and the Bandit would be fun, but the cabovers do have a benefit in terms of shorter overall length and smaller turn radius. With a 26k max there's still plenty of room for towing the sort of things we tow.
 
I spoze someone has to be the kill joy.
You city folks, with vapor for brains, have not a friggin clue.
You go tooling down the road in your "RV" semi tractor and several things will happen:
1. You WILL get pulled over
2. You will find you are in violation of a whole RAFT of laws
Among the many many citations you will be handed will be:
lack of a proper driving license, including cert. for airbrakes and 80,000# gross weight
lack of (or improper) signage on the side of the vehicle
lack of DOT number on the side of the vehicle
lack of a current inspection cert.
lack of a fuel permit (yup, ya gotta pay to play trucker)
lack of driver's logbook
lack of medical cert.
lack of drug test
and others the officer(s) will manage to come up with depending in whether they got any last night

edit: added - and arguing you are not engaged in commerce therefore the rules don't apply will probably have the officers (by then there will be more than one enjoying the spectacle) wet their pants laughing
such as tires beyond wear limits, and on, and on, and on

And ignorance of the law is no defense. Fines will exceed $1,000 and points on your license
Now, the likelihood of your getting in trouble is actually low because you will not be able to get plates for the vehicle because you will not be able to get an insurance certificate in the first place
You have no idea how much crap we have to go through just to move anything with a semi.
Oh yeah, and welcome to the land of Free

denny-o
pilot
farmer
trucker
and a whole lot of other bad habits
 
Dr. O said:
I spoze someone has to be the kill joy.
You city folks, with vapor for brains, have not a friggin clue.
You go tooling down the road in your "RV" semi tractor and several things will happen:
1. You WILL get pulled over
2. You will find you are in violation of a whole RAFT of laws
Among the many many citations you will be handed will be:
lack of a proper driving license, including cert. for airbrakes and 80,000# gross weight
lack of (or improper) signage on the side of the vehicle
lack of DOT number on the side of the vehicle
lack of a current inspection cert.
lack of a fuel permit (yup, ya gotta pay to play trucker)
lack of driver's logbook
lack of medical cert.
lack of drug test
and others the officer(s) will manage to come up with depending in whether they got any last night

edit: added - and arguing you are not engaged in commerce therefore the rules don't apply will probably have the officers (by then there will be more than one enjoying the spectacle) wet their pants laughing
such as tires beyond wear limits, and on, and on, and on

And ignorance of the law is no defense. Fines will exceed $1,000 and points on your license
Now, the likelihood of your getting in trouble is actually low because you will not be able to get plates for the vehicle because you will not be able to get an insurance certificate in the first place
You have no idea how much crap we have to go through just to move anything with a semi.
Oh yeah, and welcome to the land of Free

denny-o
pilot
farmer
trucker
and a whole lot of other bad habits
Click to expand...

Have you ever registered a non-commercial truck?
 
Theboys said:
I think you might even be able to get rv plate. I've seen old conventional trucks with a pickup camper mounted behind cab. That oughta work.
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Good point, Joe.

Another use that came to mind is the fact that we can tow a bigger boat with the semi. Although I would have to be careful on weight as I could easily end up over 26k combined and then require a CDL.

Thinking about what to get, couple of things that come to mind are keeping the turning radius smaller and weight smaller (i.e. shorter wheelbase/total length), so that would probably lend to a cabover.
 
But if it was plated as a rv the weight doesn't come into play. I've seen cab over with truck campers mounted behind cab also. I bought my first cab over diesel semi 44 years ago. Things were much different then. I've owned close to 50 trucks since then. When I used my trucks to pull campers and trailers I had all the permits and such needed as I ran a trucking company at the time. I still own a couple.
 
Interesting regarding the weight not mattering if equipped with an RV plate. That's worth considering.

Back in college I hauled cars around with my 3/4 ton Dodge with a Cummins. Worked great. Considered upgrading, but of course never happened. So this idea has been in my head a while.
 
weilke said:
What kind of brakes do the 25,999lb RVs use? Just plain hydraulic?
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Mines full air brakes loose the air, the brakes are applied by big springs.
 
James_Dean said:
Ted - I could see you mastering this.

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That is completely up my alley. My question being, why the need for the three sticks for shifting? Just a variation on the more standard shifting mechanisms?
 
I'm not an expert, but I think that is a 13 speed transmission. The "skull" is a high/low range selector that is used once. The left stick is a splitter that is used between as a half step.

Again, I'm not an expert, but from my memory -

Low is a creeper used for yard work. Use a normal H pattern for 1 - 4 and the splitter in lo. 5th is selected by going back to position 1 on the H and moving the skull. 6th is selected by moving the splitter and keeping the main in position 1. 7th is selected by moving the splitter back to lo and going to position 2 on the H pattern and so on until you are in 12th with the splitter in hi and the main in the 4th position.
 
That'd make sense. I've not driven one of these before, so I only have a cursory knowledge of them.
 
I'd thought I had seen switches before to do it. But the 3 levers is awesome. :)
 
I've driven a couple twin stick 20s but not a 13 speed, either button or 3 stick. The 20s keep you busy. The Allison automatics with lock-up converters are something else altogether. One of the Alisons was in a 70k pound, 4 axel machinery carrier. Ya drive that thing with both feet flat on the floor.

Only got the class A license on my last driving gig. By the time it was up for renewal the regs had shifted to the CDL with medical and crap.
 
If you really want to find relatively cheap trucks, look at the early 2000's that are still nice trucks, but are not "California Certified Clean Idle". That standard has made used trucks cheap to buy, and with lots of miles left.

You can definitely be in the mid-4 figures.
 
I'd love to have my dad's old 10 ton 54 Brockway, 5 speed with a 4 speed brownie on the tailstock, and two speed double drive rears. I learned to drive it when I was 14, got my farm permit, then my CDL at 16 in that truck. (fun days back then)
 
Here's a fun truck as long as you don't drive it on the hard roads.
 
So browsing around I found a 87 Freightliner FLC that caught my eye. Nice paint job on it and a Cat 3406B, but 1.2 million miles (wanted under a million) and not the kind of truck I was thinking, plus newer. I'm thinking I want something I can turn the boost up on, which that engine looks good for. But price on this is very good.

Thoughts?
 
Ted DuPuis said:
So browsing around I found a 87 Freightliner FLC that caught my eye. Nice paint job on it and a Cat 3406B, but 1.2 million miles (wanted under a million) and not the kind of truck I was thinking, plus newer. I'm thinking I want something I can turn the boost up on, which that engine looks good for. But price on this is very good.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
With some searching on Google 1.2 mill seems to be pretty close to it's limit and more than I'd personally want. But hey if the price is right than it might be worth it.
 
Kinda what I'm thinking, Joe. I'll stick to my search for an older Kenworth.
 
Only reason to go cab-over is if there is a length problem. The longer the tractor, the happier the driver while on the road. Yard/job site handling can be a problem with the longer wheelbase tractors.
 
Clark, our driveway has a slightly tight turn in it. Conventional oughta work so long as we don't get an excessively long one.

But also keep in mind this is about fun, not so much practical.
 
Cooter said:
If I'm not mistaken, vehicles with airbrakes require a CDL. I was going to get my CDL because I'm licensed in the military for large vehicles. There is a military competency that only requires me to fill out paperwork, but I was told That any speeding tickets I got, the fines would increase. That was enough to steer me away.
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This might be a state by state issue. If you are not engaged in commerce and commercial driving, you do not typically need a CDL, which is standardized by the Federal DOT.

You MAY however, be required to have a larger class of license than you would for just a car or pickup truck, based on size or weight.

In my instance, I had a CDL for several years because of circumstances. When I was 19, i was already a volunteer firefighter and began Chauffeur training with the engine companies. I went and took a driving test in the fire truck and obtained a Class B license that was CDL exempt (I was unpaid/volunteer). Later, I had a job that required me to pull horse trailers filled with compressed air bottles.. 20-40 bottles linked together into a breathing air station for industrial jobsites. The vehicle combination was only Class C from a weight/size requirement, but I needed a CDL with haz-mat endorsement because the compressed air was a hazardous material. I could not have a CDL Class C along with a CDL-exempt Class B, so.... I took the fire truck back up to the DL office to get by CDL test accomplished. The trooper took one look at me and the truck, said go inside and pay your money, and be gone... I never have EVER taken a CDL road test but I had that CDL for 16 years or so.. I only had the industrial job for about 6 months... but I kept the CDL Class B for several renewals simply because its easier to keep it than regain it.

After being a nurse indoors for about 10 years, I finally let the CDL go (tired of paying more for something I wasn't ever going to use again).. but I kept the Class B CDL-Exempt endorsement in case I ever go driving fire trucks again or have a heavy haul in my future.

So.. for the TLDR crowd, check with your local DMV regarding what you need, licensing wise, for personal noncommercial use.
 
Dr. O said:
I spoze someone has to be the kill joy.
You city folks, with vapor for brains, have not a friggin clue.
You go tooling down the road in your "RV" semi tractor and several things will happen:
1. You WILL get pulled over
2. You will find you are in violation of a whole RAFT of laws
Among the many many citations you will be handed will be:
lack of a proper driving license, including cert. for airbrakes and 80,000# gross weight
lack of (or improper) signage on the side of the vehicle
lack of DOT number on the side of the vehicle
lack of a current inspection cert.
lack of a fuel permit (yup, ya gotta pay to play trucker)
lack of driver's logbook
lack of medical cert.
lack of drug test
and others the officer(s) will manage to come up with depending in whether they got any last night

edit: added - and arguing you are not engaged in commerce therefore the rules don't apply will probably have the officers (by then there will be more than one enjoying the spectacle) wet their pants laughing
such as tires beyond wear limits, and on, and on, and on

And ignorance of the law is no defense. Fines will exceed $1,000 and points on your license
Now, the likelihood of your getting in trouble is actually low because you will not be able to get plates for the vehicle because you will not be able to get an insurance certificate in the first place
You have no idea how much crap we have to go through just to move anything with a semi.
Oh yeah, and welcome to the land of Free

denny-o
pilot
farmer
trucker
and a whole lot of other bad habits
Click to expand...

Most of that crap goes out the window if you aren't a commercial operation. You dont need a DOT number or signage if you aren't commercial. You dont need a logbook. You dont need a drug test or a medical cert.. Dont go throwing part 121 rules on a part 91 SubPart "G" op.
 
I've pretty well determined that I can get by locally without a CDL. Need to check surrounding states or any state I might drive through if I buy one out of state.

Any recommendations on enginesand transmissions to look for or avoid? Seems like the big can Cummins are good. Also thinking more gears is more better. Reminder I'm thinking 70s.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I've pretty well determined that I can get by locally without a CDL. Need to check surrounding states or any state I might drive through if I buy one out of state.

Any recommendations on enginesand transmissions to look for or avoid? Seems like the big can Cummins are good. Also thinking more gears is more better. Reminder I'm thinking 70s.
Click to expand...

For the kinds of loads you would be pulling, any kind of gearing would work. The tractor won't even notice your little boat. Just don't dump the diesel truck off the end of a boat ramp.
 
weilke said:
For the kinds of loads you would be pulling, any kind of gearing would work. The tractor won't even notice your little boat. Just don't dump the diesel truck off the end of a boat ramp.
Click to expand...

True, but more gears means I can do the 3 lever setup @James_Dean posted. :D
 
I had a peterbilt 378 model with a unicab single sleeper. Lot of room in cab and basically open front to back. Had a 430 Detroit with a 15 speed. It had a pusher axle, so was a 4 axle tractor. I bob tailed it to Virginia to pick up a rgn trailer and got 14 mpg on the trip down. On trip back with 25000 lb trailer I averaged 11. I wouldn't let anyone touch it, as it got crazy good mileage and plenty of power. I pulled excavator and dozers around with it. I had about 10 other trucks with detroits and this one was by far best mileage. The one I pulled my camper with was a kenworth t2000 that had a 500 Detroit and autoshift 9 speed. Was basically a show truck with diesel genset that had been used for the show wicked, to tour the country. Pulled 5th wheel nicely. It only got about 8mpg. I've got a Volvo right now with a Cummings in it. The truck is cheap and parts aren't. It will be heading down the road soon and will be replaced. You won't get good mileage with a Cummings. I get maybe 6.
 
Theboys said:
In Nebraska farmers can drive a semi without a cdl so maybe you can fit in that on your acreage. I used to have a kenworth conventional I built. Had a Detroit v12 with of course twin blowers but also twin turbos. I had the biggest injectors in that I could buy from Detroit. I had few other mods also. I drag raced it some and injected propane in then. It was over a thousand horse to ground and got 3 mpg if I was babying it. Made me slightly hard of hearing in my left ear. I also burned little transmission oil in the fuel. Man would that baby run. When racing I started out in 6th gear and dropped clutch at 4000rpm. Hit propane and flames would shoot out of stacks 15 ft.
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Need an old school pic please, can't leave us hanging in suspense...please. Please? PLEASE!
 
Well after spending a hour trying to figure how to post pics of the v12 truck and getting ticked off I give up. Never tried to post pics before and apparently I'm to old to figure it out.
 
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