California Special

[Rockford]

Hopefully this post marks my full-on return to the forum. I'm sorry for being absent but the new house has been taking so much of my time that I can only snatch half an hour here and there at the bench and it's just not enough for an involved project like the 352. Plus the fact that, after opening every box I brought, I still can't find all my tools!!!

Back to business. I've been curious about the origins of this rig that was in Movin' On. Was it an old dromedary chassis that had the box removed and the company bought for the episode or something else? As poor as the pictures are I couldn't really see any evidence of it carrying a body or platform of any sort and they certainly hadn't spent money on painting the thing! The fifth wheel was also in the normal position over the drives, not set back as in most droms, and it had a normal pogo stick. 

Then I saw another picture of a very similar length tractor on interwebs which took me to a Curbside Classics article that shed new light on the subject. These were insanely long chassis used to exploit the bridge laws in California. Although the federal bridge laws applied by then, each state was free to employ it's own existing bridge laws within state boundaries if that gave a weight advantage to trucks within the state. In California, if the front axle was a certain distance away from the drives, more weight was permitted. 

That IH is so ugly it's beautiful! 

I don't know what either of those two figures were but if you look at the photos they're all a very similar length, which shows that they were each building to a specific number. Some companies have elected to use the extra space for a dromedary setup (which changed the category of the truck and permitted even more weight) but not all. (Question still unanswered: why not just build a conventional? I can only think of unladen weight but not certain.)

All that suggests strongly to me that the K100 in Movin' On is one of these "California specials". To add weight to that the episode was filmed around San Francisco apparently so that puts it in its home state. 

These things are just so American I've got to do my own. I've got a K100 Aerodyne that I got for £10 a while ago and a spare T600 chassis with the Reyco spring suspension which would be more fitting than the KW 8 bag on the Aerodyne. That will also help with the stretch. 

I'm trying to establish a frame length. Looking at the photo of the blue KW it appears to be 4 cab lengths and, judging on the cab being an 82 inch sleeper, that gives me 328 inches. In scale that's 10 and a quarter. I'm not far off but I think a bit more is needed. 

So far I've decapped the cab, cut it down to a single sleeper. Adjusted the rear wheel rims, built a Holland fifth wheel and made the slider functional. It's going to be a 'no front brakes ' rig because I think these would have been. It was thought to reduce the likelihood of a jack-knife. 

[Jürgen M.]

Wow Steve,

this is going to be another great build and I'm convinced that again it will look more like a real truck than a lot of the 1/25 AMT kits! (No offence to any modellers here, I'm merely referring to the basic kit quality)

Front row, popcorn, beer: Go!

[Biggu]

Wow ! What a come back. This is going to be really good. Your modification and scratch skills are off the clock, Mate. And really good and interesting research. I will be watching closely and learning new things. Sure glad you’re back buddy. 

[Gary Chastain]

Congrats on getting into the new home and glad to see you back. Will be watching

[BK9300]

I’m late to this reunion, but sure do echo everyone else - great to hear from you, and see another project on your bench!  Always an education, and will be great to follow along.

[cowboy rich]

16 hours ago, Rockford said:

Hopefully this post marks my full-on return to the forum. I'm sorry for being absent but the new house has been taking so much of my time that I can only snatch half an hour here and there at the bench and it's just not enough for an involved project like the 352. Plus the fact that, after opening every box I brought, I still can't find all my tools!!!

Back to business. I've been curious about the origins of this rig that was in Movin' On. Was it an old dromedary chassis that had the box removed and the company bought for the episode or something else? As poor as the pictures are I couldn't really see any evidence of it carrying a body or platform of any sort and they certainly hadn't spent money on painting the thing! The fifth wheel was also in the normal position over the drives, not set back as in most droms, and it had a normal pogo stick. 

Then I saw another picture of a very similar length tractor on interwebs which took me to a Curbside Classics article that shed new light on the subject. These were insanely long chassis used to exploit the bridge laws in California. Although the federal bridge laws applied by then, each state was free to employ it's own existing bridge laws within state boundaries if that gave a weight advantage to trucks within the state. In California, if the front axle was a certain distance away from the drives, more weight was permitted. 

That IH is so ugly it's beautiful! 

I don't know what either of those two figures were but if you look at the photos they're all a very similar length, which shows that they were each building to a specific number. Some companies have elected to use the extra space for a dromedary setup (which changed the category of the truck and permitted even more weight) but not all. (Question still unanswered: why not just build a conventional? I can only think of unladen weight but not certain.)

All that suggests strongly to me that the K100 in Movin' On is one of these "California specials". To add weight to that the episode was filmed around San Francisco apparently so that puts it in its home state. 

These things are just so American I've got to do my own. I've got a K100 Aerodyne that I got for £10 a while ago and a spare T600 chassis with the Reyco spring suspension which would be more fitting than the KW 8 bag on the Aerodyne. That will also help with the stretch. 

I'm trying to establish a frame length. Looking at the photo of the blue KW it appears to be 4 cab lengths and, judging on the cab being an 82 inch sleeper, that gives me 328 inches. In scale that's 10 and a quarter. I'm not far off but I think a bit more is needed. 

So far I've decapped the cab, cut it down to a single sleeper. Adjusted the rear wheel rims, built a Holland fifth wheel and made the slider functional. It's going to be a 'no front brakes ' rig because I think these would have been. It was thought to reduce the likelihood of a jack-knife. 

As far as the drom question, maybe, or maybe not, the long frame however improved the ride substantially, gotta remember not many air rides in that time although you can convert not many people did.

[Rockford]

Stole half an hour last night chop the T600 frame and splice in the K100 front half. It looked far too long until I put it at a certain angle with a trailer on, then it looked just the right proportions. 

 

 

[TopherMcGinnis]

Thank you for the information! I'm digging your build!

[bamadon]

I had often wondered about the reason for the long frame. Now I know. Thank you for the explanation.

[Russell C]

12 hours ago, bamadon said:

.. often wondered about the reason for the long frame....

Ditto. As a little kid when I followed my older brother into the model railroad hobby shops, I thought it was intriguing how the model railroad 1:87 Ulrich Mack kits had such long frames for the 3-axle versions, but over the years later as a model truck builder myself,  I'd only heard it was a 'western United States thing' and nothing more beyond that. (photo gleaned from the WorthPoint website of some old eBay listing)