1974 Kenworth W900 startup w/ 350 Cummins! Possible 50th anniversary edition!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- This is our 1974 Kenworth W900. It has a little 350 Cummins with a 13 speed. We have been told by several guys that this is a 50th anniversary truck because of the gold emblems. We aren’t sure though because our truck is a ‘74 and anniversary edition should be ‘73 according to math as the first Kenworth was in 1923 (google). So if anyone knows and can tell us if we have a 50th anniversary please let us know in the comments. This truck has an aluminum frame with torsion arm suspension. It needs some work but is a very solid old truck that runs great!
We called Kenworth with the VIN number and it was built on 11/21/73 and delivered to the customer in January of ‘74. Maybe with the build date being that late in the year is why it is titled as a ‘74, or maybe it is because the customer didn’t get it until ‘74. Anyways, that is why it has the gold emblem because it was built in ‘73 which would indeed make it an anniversary year! However, we have seen other ‘73 Kenworths with red emblems, so we aren’t sure how many were produced with gold emblems.
73's would still have red on the emblem. What would be the chrome part in later years was the gold part. The red paint wears off in time.
Would believe 74 is a model year. Auto manufacturers sell " next year " models the last few months of the current year. ( 2021 model car sold in say 9/24/20 ). Built in 2020 yes. But registered as 2021 model.
Yes that is a load cell on the 5th wheel. Some of our old log trucks had them on the bunks
Diggin around on the old interweb it is said the Gold Emblems were introduced at the end of 72 as 73 models to commemorate their 50th Anniversary. One of the three Smokey and the Bandit Kenworths was a 73 with the Golden Anniversary Emblem.
That radio pretty impressive their name is on it. That must have been big livin 8 track and all.
Looks to be a Good Ol Beast glad your keeping it together.
Your correct sir I have a 1973 50th anniversary A model Kenworth day cab with gold emblems came with a 290 Cummings 13 speed trans and Rockwell rears on Henderson suspicion !!! Was bought new as a log truck in Alabama !!! ✌🏻😎✌🏻 there's nothing like an A model KW !!!
@@genepaulk6902 That is Super Cool
Douglass Schaub Great that you know about the 50th anniversary Kenworth !!! Have a great day !!! ✌🏻😎✌🏻
KW torsion would lean a lot on the corners and would scare a lot of drivers who were not used to it. Had very good traction . Kenworth claimed superior tire wear. Maintenance nightmare as it had to be greased every week no matter what with many grease fittings. Didn't ride that bad .
I drove a Transtar II with a 350 big cam and a 10 speed in '78. It was a 80 + MPH truck. I achieved that by getting almost 4.5 MPH in a Rollins Leased truck and they put a bigger button in it because my fuel mileage was so good. But I want to tell you running Ohioh, Penn, ect. rolling hills that truck with 40k + on it performed really great. I had guys on the CB telling I was empty and I had like 38-45lbs in the trailer. Wonderful motor.
4.5 was good??? Geez
I proved myself to Hodges as a fair driver , didn't take long to get into their heavy haul division, my 1st heavy haul truck and trailer weight in at 60,320 empty . I remembered one load I hauled , NET weight was 380,000 lbs .
Love the sound of a Cummins turning over and starting up!
Thank you for sharing:~) That looks almost Identical to a 1980 KW Day cab I drove for Many Years around Arizona, New Mexico and California. I Loved that old truck. I went back a few years later to buy it from that company, But they had parted it out. That was a Great old truck. And what was funny was, It made More money than the Newer ones. Fewer breakdowns, Less shop time, and she just Kept on going up and down the road. They never put me in Any of the newer trucks because I did allot of the work and maintenance on it myself, so I could just keep her running well. Everyone else was in the shop Every time they turned around... LOL!!!
Those sensors are called scale transmitters , and those long steel blocks are scale pads and they are an electric scale system that all log trucks still use today, the fellow that used to own it probably pulled a small two axle 40’ hay rack log trailer with it. And that’s why they have a fifth wheel system with scales underneath.
I love your old Kenworths ! I myself have a 1964kenworth w923 logging truck ! Big cam 400 with a 9 and a 4 in it !
If you keep the old torsion bar on the orange KW. Then you need to make sure to grease all suspension joints religiously. I was told to grease mine every morning I run a 55KW that I have with torsion bar suspension. Love the video's and both of your trucks. Please keep them coming.
Wow... Didn't think I would see that truck again. I came from Medici Logging up in northern California. It was at a court ordered bankruptcy auction. I have a ton of pictures of that old KW. It was a shuttle truck and also pulled a cozad lowboy hauling logging equipment. I still have all the service records and oil sample analysis reports.
Had a K100 with torsion bar. Best way and easiest way I found to maintain it was to cut if off and replace it with a 4-bag air ride. Less maintenance cost, repair cost, and a lot better ride.
Those ant eaters are cool too.
The company I worked for had a 1973 w900 LH it had gold hood emblem also had a factory detroit diesel v12 13sp what a pig would love to have her today the screaming demon
Had a 74 K100 series cabover..same suspension....380 hp Cummins....Spicer air 4x4....3.70s.......92 anytime....loved that truck
Yes sir, big wheels rolling, moving on!
I had that 4x4 Spicer in a Freight shaker with a 425 Cat. Loved the engine, hated the transmission.
An air 4 x 4? Had a '69 Freightliner with one. I loved that transmission.
🇺🇸😎Nice K W. When you unhook your batteries unhook the negative (black)that goes to frame 1st,then hook it up last to avoid sparking an explosion. Just had to make sure everyone knows that. 🇺🇸😎
Just watched a Twin Sticks Garage video posted today I believe, he says the gold KW emblem is for the 50th anniversary in 1973
Yup yup yup
The problem is, it's possible the truck was a late 73, and the gold were put on and it turned out to be a 74, instead.
I drove a 66, Mack that had a 237 horse engine, but it didn't officially come out until 67. I have heard of several that had the 67 engine in the 66 truck.
So it's possible the factory made a mistake
Bert Grau could be built in 73 but 74 model year. same with your mack, built 66 but a 67 model year
@@chikendagr8994 , yep, back in those days, things could be titled by what year they were sold.
He's a nice guy but in the videos I watched he didnt seem to know what an LW or a C500 was, but hey he could well be right. The thin lettered slanted kw emblem did not appear after 1973 as far as I can tell, if my memory serves me, which makes that truck a 74 build...but almost every kw rule seems to have the odd exception due to various factors.
That is a beautiful truck. I would get my cdl just to drive that thing.
Great walk around, never knew some of the details on this truck like the speedo gear. Now I can use this to add proper detail to the AMT models I have. I know a Kenworth nut who drove these during the prime time of trucking. He said the torsion bars are very good suspensions, you just have to keep them greased. Don't change them out. That truck looks like a time capsule.
yeah first time seeing that (speedo) and I've been working on trucks since 82
A lot of those trucks with the wheel driven speedo came with 2 or 3 speed rears from the factory, in those trucks running the speedo from the wheel was simpler because it didn’t require an adapter box at the rear ends that changed ratios when you shifted them.
Thank you for the memories my first 🚚 was a 1973 kenworth, thanks man
You’re welcome!
Nice truck. I'd say it left the factory in late '73 and was sold new and titled in '74.
What a clean survivor....still has the factory radio....that's cool.....I grew up around alot of old trucks like this in Bakersfield.....seems like torsion bar suspension was pretty common out there
Hodges trucking out of Oklahoma city Oklahoma, had a fleet of that body style, every of them I drove or worked on , had big cam 400 Cummins. They were double steel frames, Hendricks suspension. 15speed with a 2 speed auxiliary transmission. I wish I had a dollar , for every time I worked on one of theirs or a dollar a mule I've put on Hodges trucks .
Little bit of cleanup a good tuneup and a good set of tires that truck could still earn it's keep. Weird spedo drive. Never seen that before.
It's a dam shame how people let trucks rust away . I hope these guys realize that this is an anniversary unit and is worth more than they can ever know.
The anniversary trucks were in 1973 not 1974 this is not an anniversary unit
Esta. Potente ❤su corazón se escucha bien. Todo con fe y amor. Su camiones. Todavía. Tiene mucho camino por recore
Nice old truck , that speedometer drive is something I never seen before
When that truck was built, front brakes were considered to be dangerous. If those tortion bar suspension are kept well greased and if they are properly adjusted it will ride as good or better than air ride! They didn't quit putting them on KW's because they weren't any good, they quit putting them on em cause people wouldn't keep em greased and they would wear out prematurely and the customer would come in mad as hell claiming they were sold a piece of junk. I'm checking with some other sources now and I'll get back to you but I do know the emblem on the anniversary model had gold on it😎
Thanks for the info!!
My father had a 1973 cabover with that torsion bar suspension and it worked great off-road but bobtail it was rougher than hell!! But off-road it would work better than a Hendrickson walking beam or a mack Camelback.
Those are scales so that truck was a “quick change” so they could put logging gear a 5th wheel ect. Sure it’s earned her keep! Thanks fer saving these W9s n like yer channel
Yep 1973, the 50th anniversary of KW. Mine had a blue emblem on the hood. The box with the wiring under the the 5th wheel is connected to the scale pad on one that you see...it would transfer to the inside on a meter that would give you your weights. They look to be Vulcan scale pads, but SI also was common early on. In the cab a signal that could be read inside so that the driver tell the shovel operator what was needed to finish loading the logs. Air scales where more commonly used early on in Oregon. The very first truck I drove was a 1973 KW. Old #4..
My Dad also drove that truck years before me. That truck had electric SI sczles on the tractor end and hydraulic or Juice scales on the trailer. It was at times a challenge to get the juice scales to right-on because as the temperature out side would change it would also change the readings of the scales slightly but we got to know how to use them in fact they were real close if you were sharp enough to figure them out...l would sometimes refer to them as Guestimatics LOL 😆. Those were some 'good times' back in the day.
Thanks for the info! We like reading all the old stories too!!
Torsion bar suspension rides pretty good. Just grease them often!
From what Ive been told by an old timer that drove k w's with tortion bar suspension as long as you jack them up to take the weight off when you grease them and keep them greased they ride good and are pretty trouble free.
Thanks for sharing, nice old trucks!!
I agree. I have always had a thing for the w9's and a Cummins. Great starting point, and I'd love to see ot restored. Nice find!
Thanks for waking up your 350 sm cam cummins and the RTO-9513 Eaton Fuller Road Ranger. My Dad had a short nose Ford 9000 had the same engine/ transmission combo. Please keep the updates coming for both rigs. i would like to hear that KTA-600 Talk at Full Song!!
Love it... keep the old iron alive.
Nice
Air ride in the 70s? We were ahead of time and stopped
50 years later and trucks still look the same in a way.
Kw did offer a 4 bag system in the 70s.
Definitely scale bars on the fifth wheel, I’ve ran log truck for several years and that’s very common. Sweet old iron ya got👍
Love old truck s
Beautiful 50th edition truck!!! Thanks for sharing the old iron!!!
Compared to today's trucks 350 might be small horsepower, but for 1974, that was some BIG horsepower. A lot of folks were still running 238, horse Detroit's and 250 horse Cummins . Mack had the 237 too
Looks very original and quite well cared for .
Nice old truck. This was a common configuration when I was working OO for a tank line. Torsion bar can be a bit rough empty, but they work fine otherwise. Intercooled 350 was a reliable motor. All over good everyday package.
1/4" bolt and 2 washers through the exhaust flapper counterweight will stop all that. More balanced, so if it's running at all, it stays open :-)
The chassis number will tell you the year. The way trucks were titled back then could show a 74 when it was actually a 73. KW will be able to tell you for sure from the chassis number. Either way, it's a good old 900, keep it on the road!
The suspension is a KW deal, when they first came out with it they were so proud of it KW gave the trucks with the torsion bars there own model number!
The box under the 5th wheel is for old school scales. A shovel truck would primarily haul the loader and dozer, basically a lowboy truck. But it was likely also used double duty pulling a hayrack or other type of shortlogger gear.
Nice truck , a survivor thats been cared for! Great Find !
My father drove a Kenworth k100 back in the 1970’s for North American Van Lines.
Hi yes there was an anniversary about that time , Kenworth had gold front emblem and gold Kenworth emblem side of bonnet, that on the turntable is for weight scales, tidy old truck for that time, you are right , that is torsion bar , you adjust it level as it sits empty , like it you see it there ,undo 3 X bolts on end of the bar ,has teeth on the clamps , cheers , Wayne from down Under N Z
Beautiful truck
cool old trucks 👍
The 1973 usually had the thin slanted kw lettering on the emblem, and some say this designates an anniversary model...Torsion bar very rock and roll but were used on highway and logging in their day and rode well. In Australia it was not uncommon to carry a spare torsion bar strapped to the chassis rail. Very frightening when one snapped I imagine. Were expensive to fix and you could tell if they needed doing just by kicking a wheel backwards or forwards when truck empty and stationary......if the back end moved when kicked it needed attention..Suspension designation for torsion bar was 925 from memory so I'm guessing this is a W925 . Nice looking truck..Congratulations.
I have a 1969 W923.
Wish my front bumper was as nice as yours!!
Cool old truck. Looks tidy, nice find.
Super cool old KW.
i love those old trucks, im sure restoring one aint cheap tho
Im a young buck and I rather have an vintage truck than one of these new ones anyday
Nice Large car WOW
Twin Sticks Garage is looking for the black and gold Kenworth emblem for his Project Snowman.
My 71 Freightliner has the same speedometer setup. Hope to possible get it running. 350 Cummins small cam with 13 speed. It has a 28.5 foot long aluminum frame. It was a straight truck with 22 foot flatbed before I bought it. I want to move the drives to the rear and make a long wheelbase tractor out of it.
Nice, love the exhaust flapper
Nice old Ken Worthington model 900, tractor unit. 350 Clessie Cummins and Fuller Roadranger gearbox is the same as fitted in Ford Transcontinentals in UK,. Clessie Cummins still has a factory at Shotts Lanarkshire Scotland where in the late 1970,s the bulk of 14 litres built for the UK and European Markets. ERF, Seddon Atkinson,Leyland ,and Foden fitted the smaller E290 Cummins as standard with the E350 as an option . Would be iIlegal to run the Kenny without front axle brakes if imported to the UK, as for the speedo drive ,i have seen a similar set up on a vintage car. The box over the fifth wheel coupling ,i think is a load sensing device, as you said the wagon was used in timber haulage to calculate how much weight is on the drive bogie.
Nice old A model ... pretty sure 73 was the 50th anniversary models but maybe they had some gold emblems left over the put on a 74 🤔. That’s a wild speedometer pickup - never seen that before
The pads under your 5th wheel are scale pads there was a read out box in the cad that read the weight
Those Kenworth semis are beautiful, I hope you guys put video restoring those old trucks? I love big rigs as a kid i loved going with my dad trucking, best times of my life. Seeing those rigs brought back memories thanks again gentlemen. PS. Are you guys from Kansas? I live in Larned Ks. Well you guys be safe. Your new subscriber Eric Houser.
nice KW's the 73 needs some tlc,maintainence , Polish, longer Exhaust tips, Rims and a Visor.
Definetely a Keeper, I do want one to with a cummins VTA 903 very rare.
Funny seeing that the speedometer is hooked up to the passengers side tire, my Brockway is the same way
i love the sound of that truck and was that the air horn getting honked
Boy hadn't seen a torsion bar suspension in a long time. If you can get that old girl road ready you have something there.
Anniversary year is 1973 Gold emblem on the truck and it says gold on the back of the emblem
After the engine start up
Que the music for maximum overdrive
"The video games she play me!!"🎵
Was about to say gold is 73 but no need lol nice truck love KW I have a K100 ove here in the uk
According to the Webb, the 1973 was the 50th anniversary of KW and the letters on the badge that is usually red was gold
I typed in Kenworth trucks 50th anniversary then several pictures came up. That's probably what's left of an onboard scale on the 5th wheel. I'm not sure. Good sounding engine. I hope the information I provided to you was helpful😎p.s. there should be a tag on there somewhere that tells the born on
date
Those are scales, one set for the bunks on the truck and one set for the trailer. Then you have a display in the cab that tells you the Weight on the front and back
Those are electronic scale pads. It can be convert to log gear at rhe slider.
It looks like the white Starliner from snowrunner
Truck may have a title for 74 but it was manufactured in 73, which would explain the gold hood emblem
Awesome truck!!!!!!!
Hey man, just found your channel. Great video, I'm checking out the others now!
Yes thankyou.
I'm from back then. Those Trucks are cool, but compared to today's trucks,,, todays trucks are not trucks in comparison,, those trucks beat ya up every day. They would wear on ya.
I bought a 79 new, with kw 44000 torsion bars, didn't really ride any better than 38000 Hendrickson leaf spring. The kw 44000 torsion,, the heavier you loaded it the harder it rode, bout killed me .
The old guys back then told me if I didn't get Hendrickson or kw torsion , that I would be tearing out rears all the time.
I shouldn't have listened, should have gotten 8 bag air ride.
Thanks again
Nice 👍 I almost had a Pete 359 with a kta last year but another guy beat me to it........he pulled the freakin engine and sold off the rest-another rare piece of history wasted
No front brakes!!! Wow
Nice split axals
The 50th anniversary for Kenworth was 1973 they had a gold and black emblem on the hood
If you want to learn about k/w go to twinsticks garage he knows what he's talking about with Kenworths
Definately load scales on the turntable
I called it the OH SHIT sign
Looks like a old j&m truck they use the same setup as that truck
That sounds like the fan is something to me
love it
Están hermoso los 2 camiones. Yo se que. Aranca
Its electronic scale to check your wheight
That stereo looked like an 8 track cassette
It is an 8 track, Am FM stereo; a very rare one with a Kenworth logo on it!
Lots of cool things on this truck; she will clean up great.
Looking forward to that first ride.
Nice old iron found a good home. Thanks for saving it.
Nice brother 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽👌👌
The new trucks are garbage, old school is better, better built, better looking! 🙂👍
Kws are probe to fan belts breaking especially the surentine in a temperatures
Were are you guys located. I think you have my dad's old truck.
Great truck but wait till you try to find parts for that rear suspension they are obsolete been obsolete for many many years
that’s called a low air wig wag stemco makes them
1973 is the aniversary year and the badge needs to be yellow
Yeah the 50th anniversary would have been 1973