East Coast vs. West Coast rigs

[ABC Auto Industry]

Ever since I've gotten into model truck building, I've seen the terms "East Coast" & "West Coast" in reference to the style of a truck and I've been wondering what the difference between "East Coast" & "West Coast" rigs is? I've done a little research myself & it appears to me that "West Coast" rigs generally have longer chassis & use more lightweight components such as aluminum.

Anyone else have any info?

[Kodiak Island Modeler]

The eastern states, as well as many midwestern states had stringent length laws up through the sixties and seventies. If you look at pictures from the mid seventies on back, you'll see that many rigs from the eastern states had the trailers almost touching the back of the tractor cabs. Auto carriers, called Illinois Specials were the norm and sleepers were mounted above the drivers. At the same time, in the west, some tractors looked almost as long as their trailers. Naturally there were many exceptions, but this give a generality. Most of this centered around the power that the railroads had on the governments in the eastern states. Many of these states had laws that restricted total truck lengths to 45-50 feet.

[Bryan H]

Straight trucks differ significantly between eastern states and western states. To illustrate, consider a dump truck in Florida and a dump truck in California. In Florida (if I'm not mistaken), a tandem-axle dump can gross 66,000 pounds. To gross 66,000 pounds in California, one would have to use either a combination vehicle (transfer dumps and semi end dumps good for 80,000 pounds) or use a Superdump (66,000 pound gross straight truck with a trailing tag axle that extends the axles' bridge spacing by about 13').

Bryan

[SpreadAxle]

There are other visual cues as well. Whether or not they had spoke wheels helped narrow it down. As a general rule, western trucks had disc wheels. Spoke wheels were more of an east coast thing. You tended to only see spoke wheels out west if an east coast truck was driven out there. It seems like aluminum wheels(well, aluminum anything really) were more common on western trucks in the early years.

An observation I've made also from studying old pix is that east coast trucks were darker colors, with red and green being especially popular among fleets and owner operators alike. While lighter colors seemed to be the norm with western trucks. It wasn't a guaranteed thing, just something I noticed.

Double trailers weren't common if they were allowed at all in eastern states until later years. When they did find their way east, they were usually only vans. Out west is where you saw, and still see, double flats/tanks/dumps/livestock vans/etc.

With the exception of the turnpike doubles( 2 48/53 ft trailers) on I 90 in IN/OH/NY/MA where I've seen double flats, I only ever seen vans as doubles east of the Rockies.

Straight trucks pulling trailers were and still are much more of a western, than eastern thing.

Trucks carrying snow chains is more of a western thing. In the east, we generally don't chain up in the winter. Maybe in Northern NY, and the New England area north of Mass., where the weather is probably tougher in the winter(not sure as I rarely ventured north of I 90 in my career, at least in New England). Generally, though, if you see a truck in the east with snow chains on, it's a snowplow. Out west, even if you never use them, you better carry them or else. That's something the DOT man starts looking for in the fall, and it's an expensive fine of you don't have them with you.

Another thing, not counting Michigan, western trucks and trailers can be found with more axles. Lots of 4 axle tractors and 3 axle trailers out that way. I've seen 8 and 9 axle rigs out there as well. The 11 Western states always had higher weight limits. Even 5 axle rigs can legally haul more weight(off, and I stress OFF the Interstate system). At least I could when I had my spread axle flatbed. Back when the weight limit was 73,280# gross, the 11 western states allowed 80,000#. When that became the national standard, states like Illinois retained the 73,280 limit on secondary roads to discourage heavy truck traffic in certain areas. Namely on the stretch of State/US highway that parallels the Interstate near the weigh station.

Speaking of multiple trailers, with the exception of the OH/IN turnpikes, you will not see triples in the eastern states. Also, as their name implies, Rocky Mountain doubles can only be found out west. That is the 48/53 ft trailer pulling a 27-35 ft trailer.

Up until probably the 1970s(please correct me if I screw this up) East Coast and West Coast trucks could be distinguished simply by manufacturer. You didn't have the dealership networks like you do now, although by the early 60s that began to change. Mack and International had Western divisions that built trucks for Western operators(aluminum frames, chassis designed for more powerful engines,etc). While many eastern names were popular out west like Autocar, KW and Pete didn't start opening dealerships in the eastern states until the late 60s I think(correct me if wrong). Western Star seemed to stay true to its name for many years until the late 70s. It seemed to be the case with trailers as well. Fruehauf seemed to be the choice of Eastern carriers. Utility and Aero were more common out west.

Western flatbedders will use rope to tie down tarps. In the East, we use bungee straps.

From what I see in pix, and even on the road 2day in my travels, if you saw a truck with more than 2 fuel tanks, it was likely a western truck.

Someone made a note about dump trucks earlier. I notice Eastern dump trucks often have taller bodies. And the tri-axle isn't something I see out west. It's usually the transfer dump, or I'll occasionally see the axle that drops down behind the truck on a long arm.

Oh, and you almost never see cow-catchers/grille guards on Eastern trucks. That's a Western thing. Minnesota and the Dakotas seem to be as far East as you'll find those on American trucks.

That was fun. I can't think of any more right now, though.

Edited July 31, 2010 by FlatbedKW

[Jim B]

That's soem good info there, guys. I'd been wondering about that myself.

Thanks.

[ABC Auto Industry]

Thanks guys, that's very interesting info!

[matt delio]

straycat here, on most western trucks-more power- more gears in the trans.- longer frames- and most had sleepers or dromadery boxes on them. I grew up in the 50's started driving in the 60's, spent 43 years over the road loved every minute of it. later matt.