WHYDTYTT: What Have You Done To Your Truck Today?

[Gary Lewis]

Gary, Jim, I have driven some stuff with low gears and transfer cases in low, that we used to say, it didn't move, it turned the earth. These were old (even in 1966) USMC trucks, gasoline powered 5 ton (which is deceptive, the rating is cross country, highway was 10 tons) these had a Continental RD602 in-line six of 602 ci and first gear low range at idle you could walk around the truck.

The other was what we called a PC for personnel carrier, a Dodge M37B1, and one actual M37 that had a much lower number than the others and under the Marine Corps green was olive drab and a white star on the doors. Speculation was it was one of the trucks Chesty Puller brought out from the Chosin Reservoir when the army abandoned them and pulled out. Those had a 4 speed with a granny low and a detached transfer case with the noisiest gears I have ever heard. Low gear/low range, max speed was 4 mph at the Dodge flathead six's WOT governed rpm, max in 4th/high range was 62 mph and was a scary ride, steering wandered and the brakes, well, lets say in a panic stop, if someone pulled in front and hit their brakes, if it was a small vehicle they would be dead. It was not possible to lock any wheels on pavement. The trucks were the style you saw on MASH, with the spare outside the driver's door and they were essentially a 1950 Dodge Power Wagon with 24 volt electrics and full waterproofing (ours had fording kits for each).

Jim - I agree with Rule #1. Lots of false info out there and it is oft-quoted, which makes it "true". Instead I like factory literature, but even then there are errors, which is why I checked it out.

Anyway, glad to see that the ZF ratios work well. Particularly the 3rd gear ratio as that is just too low on the T19. Oh, and the 5th gear ratio is infinitely better.

Bill - Those old trucks are cool. There's a guy down the street from us that has a Deuce & a half. And several of the local fire stations have rescue vehicles based on the old military trucks - many of which have been used over the last few days.

Speaking of that, it was a wild evening. After the SERIOUS rain we had a couple of days ago we had another round last night. But, with it came tornadoes. We had two sets of neighbors over in the shop hanging out, and at two different points in time most of the people were in the storm shelter. Apparently the storms went just north and just south of us so we had no damage. But, the rain added to the misery as the east end of town was already under water and the level will now come up even more.

We are safe but many families have had to be evacuated, so please keep all in the paths of the many storms in your prayers.

[Nothing Special]

That's funny! And the NP435 has an even better 1st at 6.69, so with an NP208 your truck would be doing 7 MPH at 5000 RPM - assuming 3.55's. And, as you said, it would appear to accelerate very rapidly, only to slow down immediately. That had to have been a shock. ....

Yes, that truck had 3.54/3.55 gears. I'm pretty sure it was the BW1356 transfer case (but that was a long time ago...)

My Bronco now "only" has a 4.0:1 1st gear in its NV3550 5 speed. But behind that are 4.10 axles and an Atlas with 4.3:1 low range:nabble_smiley_good: But even that 70:1 crawl ratio is NOTHING compared to the Tacoma I saw out in Ouray last summer. It was owned by the president of Marlin Crawler and boasted a crawl ratio of 572:1:nabble_smiley_oh: I told you about how he got out and watched his truck idle up a line on the Wall on Poughkeepsie Gulch where no one else could even make it up!

.... Speaking of that, it was a wild evening. After the SERIOUS rain we had a couple of days ago we had another round last night. But, with it came tornadoes. We had two sets of neighbors over in the shop hanging out, and at two different points in time most of the people were in the storm shelter. Apparently the storms went just north and just south of us so we had no damage. But, the rain added to the misery as the east end of town was already under water and the level will now come up even more.

We are safe but many families have had to be evacuated, so please keep all in the paths of the many storms in your prayers.

I was seeing the black boxes in your part of Oklahoma on the news last night and thinking about you

[Gary Lewis]

That's funny! And the NP435 has an even better 1st at 6.69, so with an NP208 your truck would be doing 7 MPH at 5000 RPM - assuming 3.55's. And, as you said, it would appear to accelerate very rapidly, only to slow down immediately. That had to have been a shock. ....

Yes, that truck had 3.54/3.55 gears. I'm pretty sure it was the BW1356 transfer case (but that was a long time ago...)

My Bronco now "only" has a 4.0:1 1st gear in its NV3550 5 speed. But behind that are 4.10 axles and an Atlas with 4.3:1 low range:nabble_smiley_good: But even that 70:1 crawl ratio is NOTHING compared to the Tacoma I saw out in Ouray last summer. It was owned by the president of Marlin Crawler and boasted a crawl ratio of 572:1:nabble_smiley_oh: I told you about how he got out and watched his truck idle up a line on the Wall on Poughkeepsie Gulch where no one else could even make it up!

.... Speaking of that, it was a wild evening. After the SERIOUS rain we had a couple of days ago we had another round last night. But, with it came tornadoes. We had two sets of neighbors over in the shop hanging out, and at two different points in time most of the people were in the storm shelter. Apparently the storms went just north and just south of us so we had no damage. But, the rain added to the misery as the east end of town was already under water and the level will now come up even more.

We are safe but many families have had to be evacuated, so please keep all in the paths of the many storms in your prayers.

I was seeing the black boxes in your part of Oklahoma on the news last night and thinking about you

Take this with the way it is intended, but my father would have said "The first liar doesn't have a chance."

Seriously though, 70:1 is pretty serious gear reduction. But 572:1 is insane! Yes, I remember what you said, but I still can't fathom it.

As for the little black boxes, they were red rectangles here. I don't have TV coverage in the shop, but I do have good internet usually as I have three of Google's meshed wifi routers and one of those is in the shop. So we pulled up two of the Tulsa TV channels on the big monitors, picked one to listen to and put it on the Bose speakers and we were set. At least until we had a lightning strike close by that took out the cable for several minutes, so I tethered my iPhone to the computer and away we went again.

One storm was reported to be out at the lake, which put it maybe 10 miles due west and coming east. But it appears to have gone slightly south and missed us by 2 1/2 miles. Another went less than 10 miles north of us. And all the while there was thunder, lightning, and RAIN!.

So Kaw Lake is 35' above normal and is having to let out lots of water, and that flows into Keystone Lake, which is equally over full and is having to release 215,000 cubic feet of water per second just to maintain the level. But that is flooding Tulsa and may literally wipe out a brand new casino.

Meanwhile Skiatook Lake is 15' high, the highest it has ever been, and while they don't want to let out any water as Bird Creek is WAAAAAY out of its banks with historic flooding, the water is going over the spillway.

So are very fortunate. No damage, at least of which we are aware. Some neighbors lost large limbs, some had a bit of water damage, but for the most part nothing serious. But it was a BUSY night.

[Nothing Special]

.... Seriously though, 70:1 is pretty serious gear reduction.

It's pretty good. But to show how much difference a real granny gear makes, my stock '85 F-250 with 6.69 in the NP435, 2.69 in the BW1356 and 3.54 in the axles had a 64:1 crawl. The measly 4:1 first gear in my Broncos trans needs 4.10s and an Atlas to match the stock F-250!

.... As for the little black boxes, they were red rectangles here.

The red rectangles were "only" tornado watches on our news. Most of eastern OK was covered with those. The black boxes were tornado warnings, where tornadoes had already touched down. There were only 3 of those in OK on our news, but 2 of them were right about where I think you are. Glad you're weathering it so far.

[fords4life]

Take this with the way it is intended, but my father would have said "The first liar doesn't have a chance."

Seriously though, 70:1 is pretty serious gear reduction. But 572:1 is insane! Yes, I remember what you said, but I still can't fathom it.

As for the little black boxes, they were red rectangles here. I don't have TV coverage in the shop, but I do have good internet usually as I have three of Google's meshed wifi routers and one of those is in the shop. So we pulled up two of the Tulsa TV channels on the big monitors, picked one to listen to and put it on the Bose speakers and we were set. At least until we had a lightning strike close by that took out the cable for several minutes, so I tethered my iPhone to the computer and away we went again.

One storm was reported to be out at the lake, which put it maybe 10 miles due west and coming east. But it appears to have gone slightly south and missed us by 2 1/2 miles. Another went less than 10 miles north of us. And all the while there was thunder, lightning, and RAIN!.

So Kaw Lake is 35' above normal and is having to let out lots of water, and that flows into Keystone Lake, which is equally over full and is having to release 215,000 cubic feet of water per second just to maintain the level. But that is flooding Tulsa and may literally wipe out a brand new casino.

Meanwhile Skiatook Lake is 15' high, the highest it has ever been, and while they don't want to let out any water as Bird Creek is WAAAAAY out of its banks with historic flooding, the water is going over the spillway.

So are very fortunate. No damage, at least of which we are aware. Some neighbors lost large limbs, some had a bit of water damage, but for the most part nothing serious. But it was a BUSY night.

This one is more like what did someone do to my truck..... A couple of months ago I was running an errand and some little punk tried to sneak around another car in a driveway to turn right. Needless to say he couldn't see me since he was making an illegal turn and hit my back bumper with the front of his little Kia. Admitted fault at the scene and said he'd take care of it. Seemed trustworthy so I didn't call the cops and we traded info and went on our way. Fast forward to a few weeks ago after multiple attempts to contact him and get him to pay for the bumper, he pretty much told me to F-off. I reported it to his insurance and of course he lied to them. I sent in photos, text messages with him, email, diagram of the accident, etc. After reviewing my info and his lying statement, his insurance reversed their decision and they are paying me. All in all, he got what's coming to him. Now instead of just paying me, he is paying a deductible and has a black mark on his insurance for not reporting the accident and lying about what happened. Now the search is on for a bumper. I'd love to switch to a non-step bumper, but am struggling to find the brackets.

[Gary Lewis]

This one is more like what did someone do to my truck..... A couple of months ago I was running an errand and some little punk tried to sneak around another car in a driveway to turn right. Needless to say he couldn't see me since he was making an illegal turn and hit my back bumper with the front of his little Kia. Admitted fault at the scene and said he'd take care of it. Seemed trustworthy so I didn't call the cops and we traded info and went on our way. Fast forward to a few weeks ago after multiple attempts to contact him and get him to pay for the bumper, he pretty much told me to F-off. I reported it to his insurance and of course he lied to them. I sent in photos, text messages with him, email, diagram of the accident, etc. After reviewing my info and his lying statement, his insurance reversed their decision and they are paying me. All in all, he got what's coming to him. Now instead of just paying me, he is paying a deductible and has a black mark on his insurance for not reporting the accident and lying about what happened. Now the search is on for a bumper. I'd love to switch to a non-step bumper, but am struggling to find the brackets.

fords4life - That's a shame. Glad you got it worked out.

On the brackets, you might have luck searching for them via the part numbers, which are shown here: Exterior/Bumpers. You might find them new.

Bob - My to-be 1st gear/low range ratio will be 55.6 with the 3.55/ZF5/BW1345 combo as opposed to 49.7 with the T-19, which is a 9% improvement. And, 5th gear is much, much better on the ZF.

[fords4life]

fords4life - That's a shame. Glad you got it worked out.

On the brackets, you might have luck searching for them via the part numbers, which are shown here: Exterior/Bumpers. You might find them new.

Bob - My to-be 1st gear/low range ratio will be 55.6 with the 3.55/ZF5/BW1345 combo as opposed to 49.7 with the T-19, which is a 9% improvement. And, 5th gear is much, much better on the ZF.

I have been including sending emails to all of the NOS suppliers that I know of. Dennis Carpenter only has 1 of the 4 for $50 and now one else had anything in stock. I will keep looking though. The bumpers are easier to find for sure.

[Gary Lewis]

I have been including sending emails to all of the NOS suppliers that I know of. Dennis Carpenter only has 1 of the 4 for $50 and now one else had anything in stock. I will keep looking though. The bumpers are easier to find for sure.

Check this out: https://www.rearcounter.com/results.php?s=1&page=1934. That should take you to Rearcounter and a page that includes the brackets.

Then hit Control & F at the same time for the search function, and type in what you are looking for, such as 7787, and hit enter. I see listings for most of the parts. You then click View Details and then on the next page click Request Pricing.

[fords4life]

Check this out: https://www.rearcounter.com/results.php?s=1&page=1934. That should take you to Rearcounter and a page that includes the brackets.

Then hit Control & F at the same time for the search function, and type in what you are looking for, such as 7787, and hit enter. I see listings for most of the parts. You then click View Details and then on the next page click Request Pricing.

I had tried there first and that's how I found the Dennis Carpenter stuff. The part numbers I was searching for were:

E0TZ-17787-B - This is the one Dennis Carpenter has

E0TZ-17788-B

E0TZ-17795-B

E0TZ-17796-B

E0TZ-17906-A....this is the bumper

[Gary Lewis]

I had tried there first and that's how I found the Dennis Carpenter stuff. The part numbers I was searching for were:

E0TZ-17787-B - This is the one Dennis Carpenter has

E0TZ-17788-B

E0TZ-17795-B

E0TZ-17796-B

E0TZ-17906-A....this is the bumper

So you contacted the dealerships and they all said they didn't have it, even though they show in Rear Counter? That's strange. Anyway, good luck. That's all I know to suggest.