This truck was built & finished approx 1990. It has a rotating extending boom, 25k and 45k winches, front axle lift with extension, 2 front stabilizer outriggers, 2 stabilizers in the center & 2 in the rear. Aux engine was a 6 cylinder diesel industrial International with 2 hydraulic pumps. Truck also had hydraulic hookups for trash trucks to dump loads at the dump if the truck was dead & also had a cement mixer hydraulic pump for towing mixers & keep the drum turning if they were dead & loaded. Truck was customized at that era with a 2nd steer axle, custom headlights, grill, door handles, steps, tanks, dash, air controlled windows, steering wheel & front bumper. It was a 5yr project, started with nothing & ended up with something. Paint was imron with clearcoat. Cab is a 1966 Petebilt. Motor was a big cam cummins 400hp, 13speed, 4.10 rears on hendrickson spring. It has been apprx 20yrs since I seen it.
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I've never seen it but I always thought versatile hydraulic pumps were a good idea on tow trucks. sounds like an awesome piece of machinery.
Nice truck, but why an auxiliary engine?
I'd say its because he's got all those auxiliary pumps that would run all the time for no reason if they were hooked to the primary engine. Most mixer pumps and garbage truck pumps are direct drive be cause they're so big and the truck is constantly using hydraulic power. But on that tow truck he'd only need it once in a while. Plus that big cam needed all 400 of its 400p to do its job. lol
Yea but you can get some pretty hefty PTO pumps these days. Seems like a waste of deck space. Damn nice truck though.
Not all transmissions are set up to run the PTO at the same time as you're driving around.
twin steer tow truck I'm Curious How You Knox So Much About This Truck ? Are You Interested Io Buy4ng It ? Where Did You See It Last ? Better To Ask, Did You Live In Austsaila ? That Would Answer My Qustions.
PTO drives are limited in horsepower by the transmission gears they run off of, and stop turning when you depress the clutch. Sounds like they started building this truck in the mid 80's so not as many options as we have now. These heavy haul tow rigs are usually lengthened way out like this one, so a few feet of deck space filled and the added weight ahead of the drivers was probably more of a blessing than a curse. Nice looking rig.
We built this truck in Los Angeles. It was a 5yr project. Cab was customized on the headlights, door handles, step pockets under door, cutting the side cab bottom to miss the 2nd steering axle. Added & chromed the side steps & grill. Added air ride seats & air windows. (Not electric windows). The cab was 1966 & was rewired & plumbed with new air lines. Frame is 1969 & was added with bottom steel supports between 2nd & 3rd axles. We added the 2nd steering axle. The power steering box was off of a GMC/Volvo/White & was adapted the the frame. A helper steering cylinder was added. Custom dashboard with custom gauges & steering wheel. It was finished in 1990. A lot of the work was custom built in that time period. The paint was imron with clear imron over it. All the work was in house. Engine was upgraded to a 400 big cam Cummins with jakes. We also built the rear tow unit from scratch. All hand operated controls being the wireless was not available in that time period. Boom rotated also. Yes I lived in australia from 1966 to 1982.
Hundreds if not thousands of them in the UK , None will have the aux engine though
Twin steer was only seen on cranes or oil rigs. Did not see on trucks in California. Seen a lot in Canada in 1991.
Twin steer trucks were still common in Alaska 10 years ago especially on the haul road between Fairbanks and the North Slope. The tankers had a 4,000 gallon tank on the truck with a fifth wheel pulling a trailer behind the tank. Pretty much all the major truck manufactures were represented. I'm not sure if they were factory or aftermarket added. My brother serviced them for years(still lives there) in a truck shop in Fairbanks.
Was this wrecker used alot and is it still in service? There was a guy building a rotater close to me out of a HYD crane boom but he passed on before it was done. I have built 3 wreckers from scratch they were fun to build.
This wrecker was built in Los Angeles area between 1986 & finished in 1990. The truck was sold through a auction, I think around 1996 or 1997 back east through a dealer. There was a newspaper clipping from a towing paper showing it setting a 180,000lb railcar back on the tracks with some help of a small 2 axle tow rig back east. I do have the news paper somewhere. I have to look for it.