I spotted this one day awhile ago and had to stop and talk to the owner. According to him it’s a 1972 model. But I can’t see how that is possible given it’s R series cab. He also told me it had a large gasoline V8 engine. I can’t remember what it’s exact displacement was but it was over five hundred cubic inches.
It has a five speed transmission with a Brownie axillary that is no longer able to downshift. It’s his primary drill rig and has seen a lot of work over the years. But it sure sounds like a pain to drive! Kudos to you if you can tell me the exact displacement of the engine and the model nomenclature of this truck.
Yeah that same basic cab stayed in production until the 70’s for the big trucks. Not sure of the exact nomenclature for the model but it is likely sporting an LV549.
I knew you would know that
Sounds like the 549, which was destroked from the 605.
http://www.binderplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=453567
The squared-off steel deckplate front/fenders was used on a lot of construction trucks.
Here’s some old-timer driving an IH with the 549-
I can’t tell how well it’s running; every 549 I had anything to do with had cracked exhaust manifold[s].
Reference the Ford 534- on the best of days they never sounded “right”.
He said they did that allot
The more I think about it, it could be an early Paystar, they used the L/R/S cabs for awhile.
I drove an old R model for a while but diesel it had a 12 speed extended shift box quite a weapon in their day but thar was a long long time ago
Yeah, that would be the V-549. I never worked on an R-model but they were fairly common in Fleetstars at one time. Once gas started getting expensive in the mid 70s the diesels got more popular. The government agency I worked for had a few, all with Clark 5 speeds and a 3 speed tandem axle setup. You needed every one of those gears in the mountains of BC. I remember lots of cracked exhaust manifolds also, as well as bent valves. It wasn’t hard to over rev one of these coming down a hill and if you got much over 3200 RPM that was it for the valves. They were a real peach to work on in a Fleetstar.
For a few years Dodge also offered these big IH mills in the “swing fender” heavy duty models. Quite popular with dump truck operators back in the day. A number of years ago I had one in the fleet that was pressed into service as a spare truck. If you smashed up or blew up your unit, and I thought the incident could have been avoided, guess what you got to drive for awhile? It was known as the “penalty box” and i didn’t get too many repeat offenders.
Yeah, International was always a good one for hanging on to the older cab in the big trucks when the lighter-duty rigs were restyled. That particular cab with its one-piece curved windshield was ahead of its time styling-wise when it was adopted in 1950 and was used by several other manufacturers, Diamond T in particular.
I have kind of a soft spot for big old Cornbinders because my father had a 1949 KB-11-F that was used to pull the lowbed trailer. It had a 5-speed transmission with direct drive in fifth and a 3-speed Brownie. It also had a double-drum winch behind the cab, and came with a boom that could be mounted on the frame behind the fifth wheel. This came in real handy for jobs like overhauling the steering clutches on the TD-18 bulldozer. That truck could sit for two months and would start as easily as if it had just stood overnight. I can’t remember that we ever had to do any major repairs on it.
I have owned four of these R series cabs (with the 50’s era trucks attached).
Back when trucks were designed as capital assets, designed to cut costs and earn the owner money, cab design was critical. It needed to be big enough to accommodate the driver and short enough to leave most of the chassis for cargo duty.
These R series cabs achieved that remarkably well (can’t say the same about some of the other components). As pfsm says, they were used by other truck makers as well.