lol I to mind going to see convoy ,in dumfries , little did I think 30yrs later I would be driving old Mack trucks for a living. Driving an Albion reviver / Clydesdale (what I started on) were nicer to drive.but just the same. The Mack days for me are over but it’s now slightly newer freight shaker with merc technology
Hurryup&wait:
robroy:
It’s still going.
youtu.be/cnwI2-rABmIClassic movie (some would say crap
) very much of it’s time.
I remember going to see it as an impressionable young lad dying to become a trucker…how I’ve changed.Me too Rob and I must look at it again soon as I can’t remember too much about It now.
I never understood the song at the time until I did that OTR driving (Over The Road they call it whereas we might say coast to coast) in the U.S. a few years back.
Now I think that song is so well informed and relevant that it must have been written by a trucker rather that a musician and I still listen to it regularly on my Spotify playlist.
All this stuff is bringing back all sorts of memories of when I wanted to be a trucker. . Convoy, Movin on, Smokey and the Bandit,…and that classic CW Mc Call. song. 
How reality differed when I got into the UK version of the job 
.
But worse …how it has turned to ■■■■ from those days to the cluster ■■■■ of crap it is now eh? 
…those who have done it long enough will know exactly what I mean. 
Can you imagine a present day UK version of that song today… …
Something along the lines of this.
‘‘We crashed the gate doing 98"…maybe we shouldn’t lads because of Health and Safety issues’’
''Better back off another 10"…because tailgating is bad driving practice.
''Light of the moon on the 6th of June, in a Kenworth pulling logs"
…all strapped safe and secure in case we get pulled by VOSA
‘‘I’m about to put the hammer down’’…but stick to 40, remember we’re in Scotland’’
‘‘We tore up all our swindle sheets’’…but the firm’s yes man has grassed us up to the compliance manager
robroy:
All this stuff is bringing back all sorts of memories of when I wanted to be a trucker.How reality differed when I got into the UK version of the job
But worse …how it has turned to [zb] from those days to the cluster [zb] of crap it is now eh?
Can you imagine a present day UK version of that song today…
Something along the lines of this.‘‘We crashed the gate doing 98"…maybe we shouldn’t lads because of Health and Safety issues’’
''Better back off another 10"…because tailgating is bad driving practice.
''Light of the moon on the 6th of June, in a Kenworth pulling logs"
…all strapped safe and secure in case we get pulled by VOSA‘‘I’m about to put the hammer down’’…but stick to 40, remember we’re in Scotland’’
‘‘We tore up all our swindle sheets’’…but the firm’s yes man has grassed us up to the compliance manager
You’d have to go back to 1970’s then it all make much more sense.An SA 400 with a 290 pulling logs with plenty of chains holding them on no cameras or smart motorways only a Rover Jam Sandwich to catch us no tachos or limiters.I’m about to put the hammer down but cab over TM with reefer on is in lane 2
WhiteTruckMan:
It looks nice enough, but I suspect many drivers would soon change their opinion if they actually tried to drive it. Especially if they only got their license in the last 10 years or so…
Says more about today’s ‘drivers’.Than the fact that the gearshift is fingertip light don’t even need to use the clutch if it’s too much for the leg muscles in most cases and it won’t try to enter and exit a roundabout or junction in the wrong gear.
Carryfast:
WhiteTruckMan:
It looks nice enough, but I suspect many drivers would soon change their opinion if they actually tried to drive it. Especially if they only got their license in the last 10 years or so…Says more about today’s ‘drivers’. …
C’mon, you can’t blame these lads not being able to handle a CM or crash box if they have never been taught, and only ever used autos though tbf.
A friend of ours has upped sticks and taken the Washington dollar, most of what he says about the US truck parc is derogatory. Yes he has a fantastic cab to live in but the engineering is primitive, he has all the toys and is enjoying life after European & UK work.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I remember talking to Robinhood on here once, a Brit who was over there behind the wheel of a Kenworth Conventional. (what happened to him btw) he kinda shattered my illusions on US trucking tbh.
He said they also had more of their fair share of incompetents in the job, and also a high contingent of black rapper style ‘gangstas’ as drivers.
And I thought they were all old style reliable Sonny Pruitt/Kris Kristofferson types .
robroy:
Carryfast:
WhiteTruckMan:
It looks nice enough, but I suspect many drivers would soon change their opinion if they actually tried to drive it. Especially if they only got their license in the last 10 years or so…Says more about today’s ‘drivers’. …
C’mon, you can’t blame these lads not being able to handle a CM or crash box if they have never been taught, and only ever used autos though tbf.
Having used the above, whytf, would I want to exchange my nice I-shift, and go back to all that palavar, again, no thank-you.
Same as I wouldn’t want to go back doing market work with a TK Bedford, it’s in the past.
biggriffin:
robroy:
Carryfast:
WhiteTruckMan:
It looks nice enough, but I suspect many drivers would soon change their opinion if they actually tried to drive it. Especially if they only got their license in the last 10 years or so…Says more about today’s ‘drivers’. …
C’mon, you can’t blame these lads not being able to handle a CM or crash box if they have never been taught, and only ever used autos though tbf.
Having used the above, whytf, would I want to exchange my nice I-shift, and go back to all that palavar, again, no thank-you.
Same as I wouldn’t want to go back doing market work with a TK Bedford, it’s in the past.
Neither would I, as I said earlier…nothing to prove anymore, so anything for a quiet life nowadays.
Like Robroy I recall using Fuller boxes on my Daf.Apart from setting off and stopping use was clutch free.clutch should last forever.If there was a clutch component failure you could as often as not still get home.
I also recall a video on this forum several months ago showing a driver playing tunes on his 3 gear lever machine.Hard work by the looks of it but I wouldn’t want to tackle him at arm wrestling.
When working in Saudi in the 70s I had the dubious pleasure of driving a GMC Astro occasionally.It was an auto gearbox but you could barely see the n/s mirror due to the engine hump.
robroy:
Carryfast:
Says more about today’s ‘drivers’. …C’mon, you can’t blame these lads not being able to handle a CM or crash box if they have never been taught, and only ever used autos though tbf.
I think there’s a difference between any driver saying they ‘can’t/couldn’t’ handle it .As opposed to no problem they’d sort out it if they need to drive one as we all did.Ironically synchro manual boxes only really move the need to match engine road speeds to the clutch face as opposed to both clutch and gears while driving a synchro box the same way as CM lightens the shift loading.Either way matching engine and road speeds during gear shifts is a skill which drivers should maintain where possible.Even in the case of just driving a manual car.
biggriffin:
robroy:
Having used the above, whytf, would I want to exchange my nice I-shift, and go back to all that palavar, again, no thank-you.Same as I wouldn’t want to go back doing market work with a TK Bedford, it’s in the past.
Firstly I’ve always hated auto cars with a passion let alone trucks.
The I shift at least gets rid of the torque converter issues and often laughable shift quality of the Allison varying from silly amounts of slip to like a bomb going off under the truck.In addition it provides decent engine braking provision and auto engine/road speed matching and a manual shift option but still dumbs down the job for the driver in doing so.
While a decent air assisted clutch and hot knife through butter shift quality of a decent Constant Mesh box v a Bedford TK is like comparing apples and oranges.Some say that American trucks often,but unbelievably,don’t have air assisted clutch actuation which would though be a deal breaker for me if true.
These older Mack’s (1970-80)the DM especially were strange to drive for a driver brought up on uk wagons , I can honestly say it was a wtf moment when I was sent out on a practice run wae another driver , you had to take them right up to2100 revs to change gear clean , coming down was another learning experience , anyone that thought a uk wagon was a rough ride should have had a day on a 20+yr old camelback suspension Mack mixer on gravel rds . Never mind two gear levers 5+3 transmission. Now before anyone says , the job paid 50% more than Otr and was at the end o my street home every night, the wagons were built for the job rarely broke down and the company still has some o them parked up in a shed ready to go back to work if a contract that would “destroy “ the newer wagons comes up . These dms were 6x4s. The dmms 8x6 were real ball breakers 
jimmy