Posted by Sherman in Idaho [72.47.153.28] on Sunday, July 13, 2014 at 19:57:03 :
There's the residue of an old truck way up in the mountains here that has me puzzled. Wish it were easier to post pictures, but will try a description. Not much left but the frame and running gear. Pretty well stripped of all movable parts, and sheet metal is pretty well conformed to ground contours on account of snow. Has mechanical external-band type brakes, tiny transmission that may have been a 3-speed. Rounded fenders. Engine is what is interesting. It's a 6 cylinder overhead valve engine with a cast aluminum crank case and cast iron cylinder deck. Updraft carburetor appears to have a bronze bowl. There's a tube running from one end of the block to the other, where it would have been under the valve cover (water distribution?) The crank case has a "port", if you will, at both the front and the rear, like where the starter would go, but why two of them? No manufacturer's nomenclature is visible.
I've never seen an engine with a separate aluminum crankcase, and I'm surprised any truck old enough to have mechanically actuated brakes (1920s?) would have an overhead-valve engine. It is not a chain drive truck. Was probably used at a mine. Instrument panel is there, but gauges are all gone. Cab was once attached to frame via wooden cross-members.
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