View Single Post
  #33  
Old September 11th, 2018, 01:34 AM
BillT BillT is offline
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Moneta, VA
Truck: Drove and Owned Many
Posts: 301
Rep Power: 151
BillT is on a distinguished road
Default Re: 637 V8 gas engine

Quote:
Originally Posted by LEWISMATKIN View Post
Only one weak point I know of on these engines is the crankshaft. The crankshaft on the 637 is not flame-hardened(called Tocco hardening or armasteel), instead, it is TUFF-RIDED, a chemical washed on hardener only penetrating .006" into the surface of the shaft.
The Crankshaft can't be that weak, lol.

The '71 9500 I used to drive had a 637 V-8 Gas with a 10-Speed Road Ranger behind it. I was the 2nd driver of the truck. The first driver was old school 5-Speed, 2-Speed and never learned to shift the RR properly. He did fine Up-Shifting, but never learned and probably never even wanted to learn how to Downshift a Non-Synchro Trans. I rode with him a few times and could not believe how he would lug the heck out of it, which we all know wreaks havoc on a Crankshaft. I would always joke saying that the Crankshaft is going to end up on the front seat someday.

Anyway, I left the company after about 3 years. Then one day saw the truck when it was about 15 years old, for sale as is by another owner. And guess where the Crankshaft was?

We would haul some heavy loads with it. Probably up to 48 or 50,000 on a 46,000 GVW truck. It's amazing how long that Crank actually lasted.
__________________
Drove and owned many, but some of the more interesting ones were:

-'60 GMC 2500 Dump, 305 V-6
-'62 GMC 4000 Flatbed, 305 V-6
-'62 GMC 6500 Flatbed Dump, 478 V-6
-'67 GMC 7500 Box, 6V-53 Detroit
-'71 GMC 9500 Flatbed Dump, 637 V-8
Reply With Quote