New guy with an OLD truck

Hey all, lets get this introduction out of the way and onto the new and fun stuff.
My name ins Eli, I am currently in the Air Force working as an aircraft mechanic on the F-16 fighters. I've been doing this for just under 10 years now. Currently I am living in Glendale Az, but with the military that can change at any time.
My background is actually in classic cars, hot rods and drag cars. I worked at a few different shops From '96 till 2002 with a short break in the middle to attend WyoTech in laramie Wyo. In May of 2002 I left for the Military(was actually schedualed to leave on the 13th of sept. 2001, but there were a couple reasons why the government decided to postpone that.)
So, I am here because I steped away from my usual comfort zone and picked up a 1945 White model 666 recovery/bomb transport 6x6 truck. This thing is a beast of a rig, 24,000lbs front winch, 20,000lbs rear winch/boom set up, running on 14.00x20 singles. It has a '45 Cummins h-6, which isn't the correct engine from the very limited info I can find on this truck, so any tuning help will be very appreciated.
That about sums it all up for now, I am looking forward to finding a weath of knowlage hopefully. Feel free to PM me any time.

welcome to SS and i would becareful with that truck. with its model #, i wouldnt feel too safe with it. jokes aside, hope you enjoy the MV hobby

welcome... for some reason i cannot see the Attached Thumbnails
on any posts right now....

welcome to the site and the addiction you will find a lot of help full stuff here and nice looking truck

Welcome to the site! I'm one of the few other 666 collectors on here, so I can help you with any questions. I have two, a regular White cargo made into a tractor, and a C666 Brockway crane truck without the crane. It is set up like yours with the 14.00-20's and front winch. The original engine is a gas Hercules HXD, 855 CID. I would keep the Cummins if it runs good. Good luck with the truck and please post lots of pictures of it so we can learn about this wrecker version that is not discussed in any books or manuals.

welcome great piece of history you have there keep the pictures coming

Thanks all, I will get more pictures of the truck as soon as I get it back to the house, it is currently sitting in an equpiment storage lot while I finish up the last few things for my CDL. (Don't need one to drive these big truck in the military, but that all changes when its civilian owned)

Welcome and send more pic's. "Please"

Thanks for your service and welcome to the Steel Soldiers family. I look forward to following your restoration of that uncommon and unique truck.

parlusk said:

welcome... for some reason i cannot see the Attached Thumbnails
on any posts right now....

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i had to log out for the link to the pic to come up then log in and refresh the link.. nice rig!

Welcome, and yes, I would also like to see moe pictures.
MHassett

Ha, they are coming, I'll have more to post this weekend I promise. The storage lot where the truck is parked is almost an hour away from me.

Very cool rare truck! Look forward to hearing about it as you dig into things


Welcome to the site

Guess this post got to popular in the "im new" topics and got moved, but thats cool I guess.
To the guys that have these 666 trucks....what are you getting for top road speeds? I do intend to use this truck once in a while, so I may be looking for a gearing change. Boyce equipment in ogden utah says they can get lockers for my axles, but I think they are assuming I am running a rockwell or other common 5 ton axle, they didn't say for sure if they could get the different gears, and I couldn't tell them what was stock since info for these trucks are pretty hard to come by.

White666 said:

Guess this post got to popular in the "im new" topics and got moved, but thats cool I guess.
To the guys that have these 666 trucks....what are you getting for top road speeds? I do intend to use this truck once in a while, so I may be looking for a gearing change. Boyce equipment in ogden utah says they can get lockers for my axles, but I think they are assuming I am running a rockwell or other common 5 ton axle, they didn't say for sure if they could get the different gears, and I couldn't tell them what was stock since info for these trucks are pretty hard to come by.

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You have a 7.33:1 ratio in your Timken Detroit SD-353 axles. They are double reduction, but that is where the similarity to M-series 5 ton axles ends. With 12.00-20 tires and 1:1 top gear in the trans, mine runs a redlined 2500 RPM at 40 MPH. This is with a C-160 Cummins. The bigger Cummins you have will not turn past 2000 RPMs if I am correct. The bridge trucks and crane trucks did have lockers. About the only surplus dealer remaining that has driveline parts for these is Sam Winer Motors.

NDT said:

You have a 7.33:1 ratio in your Timken Detroit SD-353 axles. They are double reduction, but that is where the similarity to M-series 5 ton axles ends. With 12.00-20 tires and 1:1 top gear in the trans, mine runs a redlined 2500 RPM at 40 MPH. This is with a C-160 Cummins. The bigger Cummins you have will not turn past 2000 RPMs if I am correct. The bridge trucks and crane trucks did have lockers. About the only surplus dealer remaining that has driveline parts for these is Sam Winer Motors.

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Thanks for the info, I read a little about the timkens before you posted, but the bulk of the info was on the 3/4 and 1 ton set ups in the willys pickups. The redline an this cummins is somewhere between 1750 and 1900rpm stock, I may start looking for a newer cummins 220, as my original H-6 is basicly the same as the 220's that were put into every make of OTR truck all the way into the late 70's/early 80's, some even with twin turbos. Should be a fairly painless swap, might get lucky and find one with a 10 or 13 speed behind it, make this thing a towing monster.
I have quite a few friends in a couple of the local jeep clubs, a few times a year they like to do trail clean-ups where the pull all of the abandoned/stolen cars out of the hills and trails here so the state can round them up. Figure a rig like mine may come in handy.

Welcome to the site. Nice choice of truck to start with ,very rare . I like the look of the front fenders. Best of luck with your restoration.

Ok, have a couple more pictures.....took alot but very few actually came out...the sun was not in a good place for pictures.






Im the guy with e goofy smile on the truck...thats the guy I bought the truck from...with any luck it'll be home in a couple weeks. Anyone here in AZ that would like to come trailer this thing home So i can get the batteries replaced, lights installed, get the old thing running and get tags on it?

Couple more, have to see if I can lighten the others enough to see anything in them.