The truck currently has a rebuilt 5.9 Cummings 12 valve with an Eaton 6306x transmission with a 3 speed spitter box. I don’t like the tranny. It will grind going into third if you don’t have the rpm’s just right. I have a truck driver friend that found an old school 8.3 down in Spokane out of a 1987 Kenworth cab over with a rebuilt fs6206A tranny. I like the idea of swapping the 5.9 for the 8.3 but would like some advice on transmission options. My friend says a 10 speed would be nicer to shift. Appreciate any advice, thanks.
Must be a Volkswagen KW. I drove one with an 8.3 that IIRC was 220hp and a 6 speed. It must have had synchros because you just stomped the clutch, rowed around all the slop until you found the next gear and let it out, like a pickup. It was pulling a 2 axle tilt deck with a Tako TB070 plus buckets. Don't know the weight but it had tonnage for 48k. Seemed like you were always winding the crap out of it because the next gear was too high so a 10 speed would have been much nicer!
For the 10 speed you'd probably need a rt/rto6610 there not too easy to find unless they had a full size trans in them but I doubt it. I had a f800 with a 8.3 had a little 9 speed that was a direct box cut the front of the truck off and make it tractor towable. Wish I wouldn't have sold the trans.....
Thanks for this JaredV. My ORT truck driver friend took it for a spin and thinks there must be an issue with the tranny. He also thinks a 10 speed would be better. He also wants me to move up to the 8.3 so he can take my 5.9 and put it by into a Ford pickup.
Thanks Tyler. I’ll do some digging on the rt/rto 6610.
When you say three speed splitter box, do you mean a brownie/auxiliary with under, direct and over? Depending on the ratios, you could use a 5 speed, direct or OD and two-stick it old school and impress you friends with how you can grab gears in reverse.
I’ve got a T300 KW with an 8.3 and a 10 speed. They seem to be paired well.
That sounds right to me JaredV. I'm not a pro truck driver, that's why I'm thinking about the 10 speed. I'm looking for easy. Thanks ahart. Unless it's totally cost prohibitive this is the direction I'd like to go.
The 3rd gear syncro is probably worn out. They are a pretty simple transmission to work on. Does the 6306 work for the application your using it for?
mekanik. I can't say for sure.I only had it out on one road trip pulling my 34' tilt trailer. Had a hard time with the gears plus the 5.9 is to weak. I would like to have some real torque and easy shifting when I'm hauling. The truck sure felt stable pulling the trailer compared to my 2001 Dodge 3500 5.9 24 valve.
Do you have hydraulic or air brakes? If you want a 10 speed you’ll need some air for it. Heck find a 13, you’d really like splitting the top side.
This is what your looking for-but don't be surprised at the prices-used from $1,500 to $2,000 rebuilt from $3,000 to $4,000. It's the core charge that hurts.
Or install a cheap 12 volt compact compressor and a small tank-compressor won't work to hard.
It has Hydraulic brakes right now. It also has a small compressor that charges the air bag suspension with a tank. There are a bunch of gauges in truck with the different zones for the bags. I'll go and take a few pics to give you guys an idea what's going on. Thanks again!
That should be plenty of air for a trans to swap ranges. It’s a nice lookin truck.
Yes Junkyard. Its a cool unit for sure. Here's the story....I found it up by Vermillion east of Edmonton on Kajiji. I was planning on going up that way to look at a couple Cat rock truck west of Edmonton so headed up to look at the International first. My mechanic friend from Calgary said if you buy it you are going to want a 8.3 in it. When I got to Vermillion the farmer/banker told me his story.......His uncle was fixing it up to pull a horse trailer but got diagnosed with cancer so he put it in everyones favourite auction up here Ritchie Brothers. When it came up there was no interest in it and was going to take a big loss on it so our farmer/banker ended up biding on it and ended up with it. He used it for moving hay on the farm but kept getting stuck not been a 4 wheel drive so he put it up for sale. Most everything other than cosmetic stuff has been done to it. The 5.9 in it was rebuilt, air bags installed all around including air seats inside. Some new gauges, low profile tires, aluminum deck with fifth wheel drop ball, tow hitch, all kinds of stuff.
Here are some pics
A few more
Interior
Truck Shop. Looking at the rear wheels how would one replace the existing hydraulic brakes with air brakes? Not a lot of room back there with the air bags and brackets.
Oh, one more thing Truck Shop. Where did you find that transmission?
It could be done but only with different suspension, the air brake, s-cams and chambers would have to be mounted on front of axle and shocks moved to out board with what you have.
Most are located in Fla. There was one in Alberta-used, but it was a RT not RTO-overdrive.
Thanks for this Truck Shop. I'm out of my wheel house when it comes to trucks but I would like to learn how to work on them. Back to basics for me. So is doing air brakes realistic or should I leave well enough alone? On another note how do you get info on the vin number from the truck? I was curious to see if the International guys show the build sheet kind of like the Cat SIS system. Thanks again.
I ran the VIN and there is virtually no information on the Navistar site. Converting to air brakes would be a big and costly project. However if you did decide to do do it once you were done you would be the HEF authority on air brake troubleshooting. I suspect the 5.9 engine in that truck is not original as I remember the A,B and C series came out around 1985.
If you want air brakes sell it and find a truck with air brakes there's no way it could be cost effective to go though that only my opinion of course
Good enough them, mechanical it will be. Good thing about that others on the farm can drive it if I can't. Know I'll start focusing on engine and transmission. Thanks mekanik.....Tyler d4c. I saw there is a International dealer owner in Lethbridge that has a Site called Old International Trucks. He has the second largest collection of old International units in Canada. My truck is a 1982 model so maybe they can help with parts and advice.
The Wisconsin historical society has a bunch of IH archive stuff online. I've heard that if you send them your VIN, there's a chance they can give you the build sheet if they have it. I think their info goes into the 80s. I've also heard of build sheets being taped to the top of the outside of the glove box at the factory, though that was in reference to 50s and 60s trucks but might be worth a look.
Thanks JaredV. I’ll have a look. I pulled off the front wheel to find leaky wheel cylinder. I can just start to feel undulations on the drum. Should I get it turned? Also should I do the seals and bearings while I have it all apart?
How does the drum look wear wise, do you have a drum gauge? I am assuming grease hubs. It wouldn't hurt to take the bearings out and clean and inspect them. New seals are a good idea. You could also switch it from grease hubs to oil with the right hub caps.
The drums have very little wear from what I can tell dragging my thumb over the lip. I don’t have a drum gauge. I’ll clean everything up and inspect. Is switching over to oil filled better than grease? I have grease ones. Thanks mekanik.
Oil hubs are cleaner to deal with. Grease hubs in a light duty application work fine. I would run the drums if they look good.
On a farm truck, if it has greased bearings stick with them. If packed properly they have no problems. If an oil hub leaks and nobody checks them regularly you may be on the side of the road three-legged with a burned-up spindle. Don’t laugh i’ve seen it happen as recent as a couple years ago just down the road
Ok, thanks guys. Waiting on the parts guy from Old International Trucks to get back to me. I guess he is going to look on microfiche because the truck is too old. I broke one of those little springs. Do they sell spring kits? Hope so.