Jolly will dig this!!!
 

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

Greetings AZKen!

I just looked at the photos of this truck, and I must say from all outward appearances, the truck looks to have been well taken care of. Given the rarity of a truck such as this one, (it is after all almost 50 years old) it would be my hope that whoever buys this truck would leave it as is instead of "restoring" it to original delivery condition, or God forbid, using it as a workhorse for some construction firm where the use and care it would receive might be questionable, not to mention the difficulty in finding replacement parts for it if it were to break down. The patina mentioned is what gives this truck its character, and is what sets it off as a collector item and showpiece.

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

I can see that truck being able to carry 15 ton, it's a full twin-screw with a light engine/transmission. But no way that crane lifts 15 ton except by taking tiny bites!

Be interesting to know where that truck has been the last 30+ years. I bet a concrete contractor owned it for a while, used it to haul forms for poured concrete walls.

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

Man I wanna get that truck! lol

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

It does look in exceptional condition. Very complete. Arizona rust free. Runs and operates. The "starting" price is not bad either. Probably not a lot of buyers in that small area who would appreciate it. Bit of a transporting problem. What is a 'browny" gear? (see title of ad)

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

I never knew the grill folds in like that.

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

It should read "Brownie". Watson made Brownie auxiliary transmissions, typically installed right behind the main transmission. With a 5 speed main box, a 2 speed Brownie would give you 10 forward ratios to choose from. My one ton Suburban has one.

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

A " BROWNIE" is an auxiliary transmission behind the 4 or 5-speed that gives 3 or 4 splits of each gear.

The '66 White ready-mix truck I drove summer of '76 had a 5+4, and the 4 was a Brownie with really close spaced ratios. The '74 Diamond REO mixer I drove summer of '75 had a 5-speed Allison A/T and 3-speed Brownie, a 2:1 reduction, maybe just a bit lower, used for creeping around on soft work sites, then Direct, 1:1 for most driving while loaded to 50,000-52,000#, and an Overdrive, .8:1, for running home empty, and running to distant pours if the roads were level enough. Hills, loaded, and Overdrive didn't work well. I always shifted the Brownie into O/D while moving, run up to maximum speed in 5th direct, shift the A/T to neutral, shift the aux. to neutral a split second, then into O/D, then slap the A/T back into 5th. My Buddy drove that truck summer of '77, said it was the only truck of the five Reo's the company had you couldn 't shift on-the-fly just by backing off the gas pedal, that just seemed potentially too hard on parts if you mis-timed the shift to O/D.

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

Good info all, thanks. The grill folding is pretty neat. Good old GMC engineering.

Re: Jolly will dig this!!!
 

Guy my Dad hauled livestock for had a Chevy C-70 with the same cab as that truck with a TORO-FLOW in it & 5+2. It had dual exhausts, and big mufflers by the back of the cab, then straight pipes running up each back corner of the cab from the mufflers and the pipes had muffler hangers supporting the pipes in the top rear outside corners of the cab... All FACTORY. Just enough vibration from those pipes into the cab less than a foot from your head to absolutely drive you NUTS! Nobody would drive the thing. The guy had two Emeryvilles, a full twin screw and a single axle tractor. The other drivers took those first. But that little Chevy was easy to get in & out, lots of windows, was new, everything still worked, Dad disconnected the brackets from the cab to the straight pipes and you could drive/ride in the thing 2-3 hours at a time then and still focus your eyes. Not sure if it had the big V-6 or V-8 but with a 40 ft tandem axle livestock trailer and a load of hogs or cattle it was no speed demon. An IH CO-190 w/450-6 Red Diamond engine would walk away from it loaded.