I went to see some old equipment today and was blown away. 2 Hopto 1900 excavators and the Henuset Polar Bear trencher were a couple of the highlights. Anyway there was this Autocar with an original extended cab. They thought it was a 1964.
Surprised it's still setting, those are not common and even less when trying to restore. But I bet the base of the cab is probably rotten, was a issue with those cabs.
They leaked everywhere, had issues with boxed cab sections as US auto makers had, led to deep hidden damage that once uncovered could not be repaired.
It was the standard design of the day, plus a all steel cab.
As was reading on that A-Car, remembered the Western Star they had at Siemer Milling when worked there. Driver would grab a box of rags from the garage stock, stuff for close to half hour into all the rusted out holes and gaps so could get enough heat to defrost W/S. Truck was eight years old. Cab mounts failed to keep cab seated and failed a DOT inspection just two years later, sold to scrapper per the guys I had worked with.
The reason all those old cab designs were frost bite prone, most all had open pockets in all four corners. All those old mack cabs had a 4"x4" unsealed area in the corners of floor. Drafty, allowed dirt and moisture to collect & start the rot, easy access for rodents.
I never looked inside but apparently all the machines ran when they were brought there but sitting for years some will take a lot to get running again. There was a guy from Saskatchewan working on an old D8. He got the pony motor running good and they were trying to start it but it didn't appear to be getting fuel pressure. I went home as I was aching pretty good from walking around for over 3 hours but they were still working it. Apparently the guy has a collection of his own so is pretty knowledgeable about the older Cat's.
The new stuff isn't much better. Run a 22 T880 at work, it'll freeze your arm from all the air coming in through the door. Real fun when it's -50* Floor stays cold too unless you kick on floor only heat and crack a window. Brand new Deere 624 the same. I have to run the heat wide open with a window open to keep my feet warm. It'll freeze my lunch otherwise. I brought my dog with me one night and got setup in that loader vs my old Deere. Noticed he was shivering in his sleep. I was quite pissed how **** the heat was on something BRAND NEW. I didn't notice my feet were froze, don't have feeling in them ever since I got bad frostbite and almost lost a few toes. I ended up taking off my coat and keeping doggo warm with it. Wasn't even that cold, maybe -10*
There was a place here about like that place i had done mechanic work for them and know about a lot of the stuff . The owner died they ask me about cleaning up the place but i didnt want the job. They started hauling stuff out and i thought what a shame but it had been over 10 years that anything had ran and it was all in bad shape. I ended up buying the FLT cabover it was in about the best shape of all the stuff but it truned into a mini nightmare . I ended up selling it i got my money out of it and learned a valuable lesson.
Our Ford Exploder HVAC is not any better than the systems of the late 90s, had better control in my 77 K20 with cables and levers. The Ford is about as bad as my 71 Beetle as to not able to rid condensation on inside of windows. Technology is not all a good thing.
Remember the petrol fired gas heater for VW's, die of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Oh yeah!! Brothers had two 66 beetles both had that Option, one tried to use and quit the other never bothered. Traded those as soon as out of college.
Good thing they did, I know of one that exploded.
Have to laugh about the Bugs, the 71 I owned was as bad on w/s fog up and winter ice over. Carried the window scraper in between front seats not so much to clean outside but scrape inside in winter. Great on gas as got close to 30mpg city on the 71, brothers got over 30 on their gutless bugs.
Back to trucks, the hvac in nearly every truck Today is as worthless as they were 40 years ago. Engineering at its finest.
Freeze or Fry-Freightliner.
You ought to try driving a school bus in cold weather. I don’t think any of those companies know how to design a defroster, not to mention the heating is either at roasting level or freezing level. My left elbow is about all that stays warm.
Worked on and inspected all too many, refrigerators in winter, ovens in summer.
Those cab fans are not so much for keeping the driver cool in hot weather, they are for aiming at the windshield attempting to see when it is raining or snowing.
Remember my First AC work on a 8664, 60 degrees from Roofmount Vents, 84 in driver seat not three feet away! All the AC work I did for years could wrangle nearly Ice Cold from vents, changed filters that had been ignored, closed water valves(STILL installed by OEM) and Still Hot in cab in Summer, then had same trucks arrive for Winterizing not two months later where always Cold inside!! Had three quarry loaders could fog windows INSIDE in summer, old Payloaders with Roof Mounts, and heat in Winter would run operators out as kept Cores Cleaned.
Not to cold at -10 well at them Temps here I'm calling the boss and we arnt doing nothing that day.
You need to come up here to the Lake sir......They work at DonJon all winter outside.
Well I personally would be fine the problem is everything else isn't there to function clothing and the equipment isn't equipped with enough heaters to start. It always ends up everyone is froze half to death and nothing will run
What are you on about ? -20f happens every Feb around here, nothing stops. Even the school busses plug in every night. 12" of snow is a Tuesday for us, not an emergency. Life goes on.
South western pa if we see 5 days a year 0 or below is about it and the last few probably had only 2 or 3
We generally consider shut down at -40*
Anything below -20°C feels the same, its just a matter of how long it takes to start feeling it. Back when I had about an extra 80 lbs of blubber hanging off me I had no problems with the cold. Then I slimmed down and now I can't take being outside when its much colder than -15°C.
Went from a early 50's Autocar now headed to sixty below.
I hate the cold now and it's much worse with wind. When I was kid didn't mind it as much and played hockey in the cold on outdoor rinks. I remember 1 game we spent more time warming up in the dressing room than playing. I think -20C was the cancelation limit.