truck

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Roger's vans.Graystar.jpg

Pretty truck, designed by my Brother in law at Graystar in Melb

[T1 Terry]

An "A triple" road train using tri axle dollies, followed an A triple back up Mannum Rd using the same set up as a B double, where the turntable for the next trailer is at the rear of the forward trailer.
Shitte it was a long rig, the power to tow it must be massive and very hard on the drive tyres ..... every slight rise slowed the truck right down to around 20km/h, that low in the box to get over the climb, but it just seemed to settle into the pull not very far up the hill and stayed with it for the climb .... It must have been something to see if it came up the big hill out of Adelaide and through the tunnel ....

T1 Terry

[Dot]

We met up with one

Roger trailer.jpg

[attachment=1]
Top pic one leaving the factory and lower pic met up with one way up north This driver said this was the best set up he has driven)

[Greynomad]

I’d like to see any of these trucks tackle Cunningham’s Gap!

(Watching from a distance… definitely not following his tyre tracks!)

[T1 Terry]

I’d like to see any of these trucks tackle Cunningham’s Gap!

(Watching from a distance… definitely not following his tyre tracks!)

Just a hill compared to Bulli Pass climbing out of the Wollongong northern suburbs,
https://bigrigs.com.au/2023/11/30/engag ... ghams-gap/
Not sure if this will give you an idea of just how steep Bulli Pass is https://veloviewer.com/segment/658378/Bulli+Pass+Road ...... At the top of the first hill is the flashing lights and bells to warn those coming down, a short flat bit then up into Greens Pinch, that requires the bottom of the box and driving up the other side of the road because the pinch in the left hand bend is so steep the engine simply stalls out ..... after experiencing that once in an 8 Wheeler Kenworth with a 10 sp roadranger and 8V71 on full noise as I approached it, only to have some fool in a car demand his side of the road coming down, had to swing into the pinch, but not even the steepest part, we went from 2250rpm to 0rpm, then started rotating backwards till I reached the Bells ... had the hand on the door handle ready to step out and tell the reporters how spectacular the sight was, watching it plough through the houses on it's way to the bottom .....
A bit of a flat run (looks flat compared to the rest) to the hairpin and then up into the heavens, a short duck through the wishing well .... generally wishing you hadn't been so greed and not tried to grab another gear, and another section going to upper heaven .... and you come out of the clouds and onto what will be thought of as flat road anywhere after getting over that climb ..... going down is a whole different type of hell ..... from the hairpin to the top, single lane each way, solid rock one side a great view the other side ... just don't look down

T1 Terry

[Dot]

I remember the Bulli pass from 1969 , we had an old car and she used more oil than petrol the best memory of that car and pass is that we couldn't get very far up the normal way so we had a better success by going up in reverse. I wouldn't mind having a couple of the trailers for a house, BIL made all the fiberglass panels on site. Used to work for LUCAR but when the boss married an asian lady, the boss got ??? dementia and put in a home and bingo all went down hill as the new stepchildren took charge (not having any experience )so BIL and the old boss's son started Graystar.

[T1 Terry]

I remember having to drive up there when I first started out in the mechanics trade to replace tail shafts in trucks where the driver has selected the wrong gear for the climb and tried to grab a lower gear, twisting off the tail shaft because that was the weakest link back in those days, either that or snapping an axle ...... now it's the coupling flange to the first diff or the centres out of the clutches. Most of the really big trucks these days have computer controlled shifting to avoid putting all that torque through drive train in a less than smooth gear change, the only full manual shift trucks are driven by very experienced operators ..... and there aren't many of those still driving .....

T1 Terry

[Greynomad]

T1,
I was nearly going to say Bulli Pass, but thought the long slow grind up Cunninghams would be more of a test of engine and gear change technique.
Bulli is more a test of nerves, courage and steering accuracy.
We did it (downhill) in Girt… once.
Never again!

[supersparky]

Talking about trucks, most of the highway cruisers here are just little fluff buckets compared to what we are used to seeing back in Aust. Most of the prime movers are Euro brand single axle , no bogie drives here. Some have a super single load booster type tag axle. Most of the trailers are 30 ft running on super singles, either 2 or 3 axles. It's weird, but I'm getting used to it.

[Newcastle George]

When going to Wollongong in the MH I go down Mount Ousley, startingoff in 1st gear, but when returning I go up Bulli Pass.

George