|
|
Posted by ScottW [75.209.251.25] on Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 18:48:25 :
In Reply to: Swivel Frame Info posted by Clint Dixon [74.206.62.94] on Saturday, December 26, 2009 at 14:22:18 :
Great info on the patent history Clint! What I want to know is when any why did the engineering on the joint change.
I have one truck from the Ed Willock era and another from the Truckstell era. The two joints are completely different.
All the pictures in the swivel frame pictures section of the forum are Truckstell manufactured joints such as pictures 5,6,15,18. The joints measure out at about four inches square. My Truckstell truck still had the original Truckstell/Willock I.D. tag (see picture #5 in the forum swivel frame sectionattached to it when I picked it up out of Oakhurst Ca. The previous owner had purchased the truck out of a Florida municipal auction. I can say with confidence that this truck was in fact a Truckstell manufactured truck.
On the other hand the trucks that are from the Ed Willock era have joints that are much larger in all dimensions as compared to the Truckstll joint. The Ed Willock Joint is over a foot thick on each side of the joint. In fact the joint is so wide on the engine half of the truck that the e-brake band has to be removed to allow the joint to clear the height of the joint is over a foot as well. The most compelling thing between the two designs is that the pivot point on the Ed Willock era joint is much lower than the Truckstell/Willock Joint Pictures #1 and #9 are Jonas Smiths truck which is a Ed Willock joint. Perhaps Jonas could post some close-up pictures of his joint. Randy Baker if you are out there maybe you have some pics available of the Ed Willock truck I got from you.
So the question remains as to why was there such a fundamental and significant change in the design of the Swivel joint, which seemed to occur between Ed Willock and Truckstell.
Another interesting question is that it seems to be common knowledge that there were about 40 Willock Swivel frames built. Forty what? Forty Ed Willocks swivels. Forty Truckstell Joints. Forty combined Ed Willock/Truckstell? Who knows! If there were forty Willock trucks built then how many Truckstell trucks were built?
I have both trucks, Willock and Truckstell, here side by side so I can answer any questions that might arise.
Just stirring the pot!
Scott W
Follow Ups: