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O.T. Cabover Road Tractors

Its a fashion deal. All the guys that drove them years ago, have kids now, and the kids want an old truck like Pops drove.

I didn't like them then, nor do I like em now.
 
Oh, I don't know. I liked and drove them then (in the 60's) and I own one now (a 1985 model)and I still like it but must admit it is getting harder to get into it these days.
 
old mack
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Must be old used ones,I don't think any manufacturers make a class 8 CO anymore.My first one I owned was a 69 Transtar.Got rid of it in the 70's,went to a conventional as the length laws allowed then,and never looked back.CO's were rough riding,pita sleeper where you have to get dressed lying down,plus if you crash into something,you're the first one at the scene of the accident.Only plus to a CO is manuverabilty and doing a clutch job.
 
In the MDT range, lot nicer to drive around town, can get economical 4 cyl diesels in them. Very strongly thought about selling my F350 to get a Mitsibishi. Better mileage, easier to work on with the cab tilt, higher payload (less towing though) and 14 ft flatbed is shorter than my crew cab long box. Used to no power with my 5.4 anyways.
 
I noticed the same thing, CO's all over the place now. We never used to see CO's. Complete pain to inspect on the roadside. Saw a few real nice ones though.
 
Seems like they are smaller 1-2 ton delivery trucks. They seem to be Mitsubishi, isuzu etc. The real old ones 1940-50's are collectable and at truck shows. Have not seen any road tractors for quite some time.
 
Been noticing that too. Wonder if dragging them out of the weeds and fixing them up is cheaper than a newer unit? Know of 2 around here
 
When I was driving, we wood call them cabin-overs
I have been retired off the road fur aboot 22 years now.

I don't know if this is true or not. But I heard one reason they went to conventional cabs wuz, the lot lizards were complaning aboot it wuz to difficult to climb up in a cab-over.

There has been a lot of changes since I been on the road.
 
I had several back in the 60 & 70s. Right now the project we want to do is a Long roll back built on a DayCab Over Transtar. Hard to find but their are some transtars built that are strickly seat no sleeper. Something like 48 to 50 inches front of cab to back. If anybody see one be sure and let me know. Thanks in advance.
 
I have a co. Ford with a 33' steel roll back tilt bed Good 8.2 GM. with a 5 speed and 2 speed rear, Rebuilt ft.end, Only has one oil seal leaking on stinger cly. Needs a cab, But I fund a rust free one for $300.00 Would sell it cheap. In NW. Pa.
 
What brand bed.. Might buy it all just for the bed. Have no use for the ford..My e-mail is open.
 
Older vehicles are exempt from the clean diesel engine laws.I liked driving those cabovers.

Vito
 
They just are the current fad. Many of the guys driving them never drove them years ago.

One local farmer got rid of his regular semi tractors and fixed up two of the cab overs. He thinks they "LOOK" Cool. Now he can't get anybody to drive them. He used to have 3-4 retired truck drivers that would keep his grain hauled. NONE of them will drive the cab overs.
 
Hello rusted nuts,

I think you wanted to say that you have a good truck bed/chassis, and the engine is a 8.2 GM. A good 8.2 is like a white elephant......Pretty rare!
Ran in to some of THOSE in my working days

Guido.
 
I think one of the biggest reasons was the bridge laws. Most wheel bases are 200" plus to pull 80K. Yes, the older California trucks had those long WBs and were cabovers. I used to driver a GMC cracker box part time after I got out of the Army. Then the guy went to 9500's with tags. The first semi I bought was a 9500 long nose with a 238 and 13 speed. It was good enough for me at the time.
 
You won't see anything else over in Europe except the odd bull nosed Scania. Our trucks are all cab-over for ease of turning in our confined areas!
This is a typical English traffic jam.....All cab-overs!
Sam
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I drove one for a couple of years and really liked it. Air ride all the way around rode better than what I have now. When pulling my gravel train it would turn so tight I could read the plate on the second trailer. I"m looking for another but haven"t found the right one for pulling my pulling tractors,hmmmm I mean my flat bed for work.
 
When we were in Finland I noticed exactly what Samn40 said. All I saw was cabovers, only they were a fancier and more spacious than the ones here in the US. They were clipping right along at 100-110km pulling doubles so they had a few ponies under the hood, er, cab. Jim
 
(quoted from post at 17:25:23 08/13/13) I think one of the biggest reasons was the bridge laws. Most wheel bases are 200" plus to pull 80K. Yes, the older California trucks had those long WBs and were cabovers. I used to driver a GMC cracker box part time after I got out of the Army. Then the guy went to 9500's with tags. The first semi I bought was a 9500 long nose with a 238 and 13 speed. It was good enough for me at the time.
Click to expand...

I liked the looks of those 9500 long noses. There used to be plenty of them out of Quebec here in NH. I haven't seen one now in probably thirty years.
 
Don't think you will see to many older trucks in the future as most are made with a lot of plastics and all the electric parts that don't last like the older metal trucks. With the costs with newer epa trucks the over sea markets are great for our used older models and new truck dealers are happy to remove the older ones from our system so they can sell the new one easier and it also drives up used truck prices. You don't see fleets rebuilding the older tractors like they did years ago either. Don't even see glider kits much either.
 
hard to tell,the whole reason for the cabover was overall length laws back in the day, a shorter tractor could pull a longer trailer and still fit in the maximun overall limits, they had a side benifit of being more manouverable than the conventional cab too, but they had drawbacks too back in the day they rode like crap, and were drafty and cold in winter, even giving the poor heaters of the day, but back inthe day the main idea was to move freight, not make life nice for the driver,certain aplications may benifit today from the designe, and usually they cost less than a conventional truck due to the fact that none of the older guys who drove them back in the day wants one, i know i dont, now i havent driven a new one so they may ride better and be tighter built today i dont know
 
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