Tractor and trailer

D

Dave Mellor NJ

Well-known member
Hook 'er up
 

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Here's a larger view of that photo. Note the location of the spare tire on the tractor:
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......and here is the trailer (are there any brakes?):

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....and all hooked up and ready to hit the road:

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Brad in Maryland





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I've read stories about that kind of fifth wheel hitch,but never saw a picture before.That plate on the hitch slides into slots on the underside of the trailer.Then the whole thing actually pivots on the truck.No pin as we know it now.The pin type we use now was in use in that era too.If you look at the plate on the truck,you will see it has a vee shape to it.That was part of the suspension for the trailer.
 
The hitch does not seem to be the same as modern trucks. Any info on the antique hitch?

Keith posted while I was typing. Thanks Keith.
 
Might be a promotional photo of some kind.Everything is kept tidy for the picture.Not electric or vacuum lines cluttering up the picture.And,no vacuum actuator cable for the trailer.It hung under the trailer,and hooked to the brake linkage on mechanical brake tractors.The vacuum hose is visible in the first picture,coiled up behind the cab.They were big,with an inch or larger diameter ID.There was usually a vacuum tank on the trailer,but the large hose acted as somewhat of a vacuum tank too.Once you applied the brakes on one of those,you kept your foot down.You did NOT press and release.It took a long time for the engine to replenish the vacuum you lost just stepping on the brake just once.Not sure just when they came into use,but a Convex vacuum pump helped cure that problem.
 
While the cars look to be 1930,the truck looks to be earlier.It has the rubber plug filling the lock cylinder hole just above the door handle.That hole was a carryover from when those doors were used on T Coupes.I thought that hole was done away with at some point on the A trucks?? Maybe not???
 
The runningboard aprons look to have the seam in them,straight down from the door/cowl joint.1930.Also it looks like there are no upper panels in the radiator shells,just the stainless part of the one piece shell.Also 1930.
 
Keith True said:
I've read stories about that kind of fifth wheel hitch,but never saw a picture before.That plate on the hitch slides into slots on the underside of the trailer.Then the whole thing actually pivots on the truck.No pin as we know it now.The pin type we use now was in use in that era too.If you look at the plate on the truck,you will see it has a vee shape to it.That was part of the suspension for the trailer.
Click to expand...

Keith, Do you have any more information on that type of hitch? I have been looking for years and have also been in contact with a few truck museums with little to no help with information.

The truck is a 1/30 - 6/30 production AA.
 
I figured it was the early 30 truck,but I can't tell from those pictures if the gas cap in a screw on or a quarter turn type.What throws me off is that I thought that rubber plug in the lock cylinder hole was eliminated by that time frame.I could be wrong about that,it just seems to be what I remember.I read the article on the hitch sometime in the early 80's,but I can't remember just where.I didn't belong to the ATHS back then,so it probably wasn't in their magazine.
 
The wheels on the truck are the "five hole" disk wheel which was popularlized during the "Borg-Warner" bevel gear rear end period.

6 hole disks straddled the borg-warner and worm gear era. John-Boy's AA on the Waltons was this one, but probably had a worm gear. The Borg-Warner setup was "late" in the 6 hole.

Spoked wheels were exclusively worm gear era - except for the "dress up" AAs such as funeral coaches, ambulances, higher end trucks.

Interesting on the key-lock "plug." I've heard of this but the lockset/handle for the truck includes the square for insertion of the key-lock. A hold-over from the Model T production. I bought a key-lock thinking to use it in my restoration of the "Avatar" (March 29) but now I'm having a re-think.

Joe K
 
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Keith True said:
I figured it was the early 30 truck,but I can't tell from those pictures if the gas cap in a screw on or a quarter turn type.What throws me off is that I thought that rubber plug in the lock cylinder hole was eliminated by that time frame.I could be wrong about that,it just seems to be what I remember.I read the article on the hitch sometime in the early 80's,but I can't remember just where.I didn't belong to the ATHS back then,so it probably wasn't in their magazine.
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...
 

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Joe K said:
The wheels on the truck are the "five hole" disk wheel which was popularlized during the "Borg-Warner" bevel gear rear end period.

6 hole disks straddled the borg-warner and worm gear era. John-Boy's AA on the Waltons was this one, but probably had a worm gear. The Borg-Warner setup was "late" in the 6 hole.

Spoked wheels were exclusively worm gear era - except for the "dress up" AAs such as funeral coaches, ambulances, higher end trucks.

Interesting on the key-lock "plug." I've heard of this but the lockset/handle for the truck includes the square for insertion of the key-lock. A hold-over from the Model T production. I bought a key-lock thinking to use it in my restoration of the "Avatar" (March 29) but now I'm having a re-think.

Joe K
Click to expand...

Everything you want to know about AA wheels can be found here: https://aafords.com/aa-chassis/aa-1000-wheels/
 
Keith True said:
Joe,does your truck have the extra hole for a lock above your door handle on the riders side?
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That would be yes. It was empty (no lock or plug) as I acquired the truck.

A later 29ish AA truck which I took out from under a barn in Amherst, NH didn't have the plug or keyslot either, but it had the hole.

That 29ish AA I disassembled and kept the "best parts" for use on the next AA truck - which as it turned out I didn't need anything. The next being the 1930 26K "original" chassis I found in Connecticut.

The 29ish AA had been in a frame failure in it life, and had been seriously reworked with sister plates VERY NICELY DONE and it was kind of a shame to cut it up for scrap. But by then I had that much nicer 26K rolling chassis.

Somebody put some serious money into the 29ish AA. Sistering, Borg Warner high speed rear, 5 hole wheels, double wheel rear, CAST IRON brake drums - all would have been part of a 31ish AA truck. And parts which would have been available from a dealer in say 1936.

And yet from the mid-line forward, the 29ish AA was original - 3 speed ****** the notable originality.

As I say, parts were removed, the frame scrapped, and I kept the parts for "just in case."

For a while.

Unfortunately when I sold the Connecticut 26K rolling frame to the buyer in Texas, I let him have all that extra. My life's situation just didn't allow messing with a "car" Model A much less an AA truck.

Retrospect. I should have kept the 29AA intact and covered it with a tarp. It was a VERY strong frame to cut up - after the manner of these things.

Hind-site is 20-20 by its very nature.

Joe K
 
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