The Stovebolt Site Forums The Forum Gallery 1973 - 1987 Trucks 1984 GMC General

Here is the photo shoot I did about 10 years ago of the late Bill Alderson's GMC General. I can't find those notes and its hard to remember everything he told me. I do recall that the mechanical restoration of this truck was relatively straightforward -- it had been a well-cared for truck. It has the 1st year Cat 3406 engine and an earlier Eaton-Fuller 13-speed transmission.

He did say that most of the interior pieces were challenging to track down, but his dogged determination paid off. I recall that he could tell me the ultimate source for each piece of weatherstripping, each interior panel, each knob. Just a beautiful truck and a great job by Bill and his son Wayne (who did a lot of the work and, especially, the paint.

John

Beautiful!! That General looks better than any/all of the Generals we ever had in our fleet!!! Almost makes me want to own one!

I worked on a super liner Mack that looked very similar except it was orange V8 with triple counter shaft box with quad box overdrive a definite heavy hauler we had low loader behind it that opened to 14 foot wide 4 rows of 8 wheels on trailer We never had the GMC line of trucks out in Australia

MAAAACK! In a canyon, anyway. We got it out. http://www.bunchobikes.com/lineman7.jpg

Mark -- Should have left it there ...

Agreed, but those things were work horses. We'd race them from the canyon back to the home yard to pick up another load. They never seemed to break. First tractor they ever put me in. They didn't even train me! I think all they asked me was "Can you drive stick?" and threw me in the truck. They probably said "sticks" and I misheard them. Sink or swim. The standard answer after that point was "Sure! Show me where to start it!"

"Want to fly this Bell 500?" "Sure, show me where to start it!"

First time I hopped in a machine with a 10 speed Road Ranger, I thought I was in heaven!! I didn't have to put my sandwich down!!

The Generals with the 6V92 were work horses too. I actually miss having to replace the starter in one compared to the stuff we have to work on these days. Although, these days, we seem to kill less starters.

Mark -- Kinda sounds like the first time I drove a Class 8 truck -- 10 pm in a raging blizzard. My friend (now my boss) calls and says "Can you come drive a plow truck?" I thought he meant a pickup truck. It was a 379 Peterbilt triaxle dump truck with a 10-foot plow. 3406B Cat and a 13-speed roadranger. My course of instruction was merely how to operate the dump body, the plow and the salt auger and spreader. And the low oil pressure cut out to start. And the rest ... is history. Here I am now doing it for a job.

Anyway, back to Bill's General -- is that a 3406A Cat??

Could be. It's been so long......

That looks like a B 81. Or maybe a later model version of one.

The 2nd generation 6v92' AKA Silver 92's did good The first generation were a disaster. We ran a heavy duty wrecker service back then & did all the wrecker service for a large trucking company in our area (Carolina Freight in Elkridge Md) They got in a new fleet of the first generation 6v92's & they were blowing up so regularly, that when we were switching out units on the side of the road, we would just automatically take the broken down unit to the Detroit Diesel shop in either Whitemarsh Md or the DD shop in Beltsville Md It all depended on if the blowup happened up north or down south . Once GM figured out what was wrong with the original engines & got Carolina (and I'm sure a bunch of other folks too) equipped with the new , improved Silver 92's , they gave them an addition 100,000 warranty. Or, so I was told by the Shop guys.

A good friend of mine back then bought a new !984 General dump truck equipped with a 400 Cummns & 13 spd Eation He had excellent service from that truck

And speaking of the double stick transmissions. We had a '67 Autocar with a 220 Cummins & a 5 + 4 double OD & 750 Holmes wrecker unit. When the rear box gave out, I found a rebuilt 13 speed double OD to replace it.. It was still not as smooth to drive as a over the road unit but was way ahead of the old double stick unit.

When does the first generation of anything not fail?? The first 6.7L Fords we got were dropping valves. They seem to be doing okay now.

What made it "not as smooth?" -- that it was in a wrecker? I drive a 13 spd Double OD behind a 400 Cummins on a daily basis. Short W/B tandem axle day-cabbed road tractor. I think it's pretty smooth. The Transmission is smooth. The *truck* is rough (springs, not air bags)

I never got an opportunity to drive Bill's truck (the one this thread is about) but with air bags and a long wheel base, I bet it was nice!

It's been 40 + yrs since I owned that truck, but mainly I recall the 13 spd had a lot more overdrive whine then the 20 spd that it replaced. I guess the best way to explain it is that it was a big , heavy duty truck with a primitive feel to it and installing that 13 spd didn't change that too much.

I wasn't trying to be negative or whatever. Just talking big trucks & posting ,or linking, to T & T's down in ravines just lead me down memory lane & my time in the HD wrecker business.

I'm sure your friends restoration job on the General was first class. It certainly looks that way in the photo shoot.

Two shifters and crash box gearing separated the real drivers from the wannabes! I learned to be a gearjammer in a 1958 B-73 Mack with a 262 Cummins and a Tri-Plex 5 x 3 gearbox.
Jerry