How much can an AA pull or haul?

[roccaas]

Looking at the MAFCA "A" of the Day for 2/15, I've always wondered at how much the big A trucks could pull or haul.

With a raging 40 HP on tap, could those big Gas Tankers, Stakebeds and Dump Trucks in anyway keep up with ever moderate traffic when loaded?

Does the foot actuated Tranny switch help anywhere except when you need tree climbing gearing and torque?

[2manycars]

Travel was at a slower pace back then. The AA is not fast, with it's low gears, but was rated for one ton with single rear wheels, and a ton and a half with duals. I suspect they were used to haul many times that amount in their day. They could not keep up with traffic on hills, which is why hilly roads have a climbing lane in the up hill direction. The foot operated dual high was an underdrive for use with the optional higher speed rear end gears, and the 3 speed transmission. The 4 speed that came out for 1930 accomplished the same thing with it's creeper gear. I guess you must drive one to appreciate it. It's life in the slow lane. Remember that the AA replaced the TT, which came out in 1917, and although it was much slower than an AA, it was much faster than a team of horses, and did not need to rest on hills.

[CarlG]

The AA I had some 50 years ago was a '31 280, had the 4-speed tranny. It actually did quite well in the traffic at the time in the wide open spaces of Arizona. It was a little slow going up hills, but then the thing weighed 4500# empty, about double what a coupe weighs. And it would climb trees in granny gear.

[Keith True]

They carried a lot more than they were meant to.A farmer here in town had a few,the cabs have rotted off,but the chassis are still in his junkyard.All the frames are bent down in the back,and they all have iron straps where the oak blocks used to go between the axle and frame.He used to haul hen manure from a big henhouse 11 miles from his farm,sometimes he could even get it into second gear.He still has a BB he bought in 1936,as he put it,a good truck with no motor.He says he put ten or a dozen engines in it over the years.We hauled it out last summer,it had been parked in one spot since 1965.I thought he had propped the dump body up to keep the rain and snow from puddling up,but he told me that he had bent the frame dumping a big wet load of hen manure.I asked about the missing doors,his daughter took them off and used them for gates to the cow pasture.She needed a people door to get in instead of opening the big gates.They like it that it irks some people when they find a pair of 32 truck doors nailed to fence posts.He also told me he used to haul 6-8 ton on a regular basis on both the AA's and the BB.He said the worm drive rears held up well,but the ring and pinion type rears in the later A's would break the carrier under too much load.

[Dennis Pereira]

[Dennis Pereira]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I think these photos came from dept of forestry Idaho

[rdscouple]

That last photo looks like testament to AA mechanical brakes

[pat in Santa Cruz]

I used to know an old dairy farmer hereabouts, who would load his AA with 5 tons of hay and pull a trailer with another 5 on it, over highway 156, Pacheco Pass from Los Banos to Gilroy. Its a very steep grade. They rigged the truck with two 4 speed transmissions to get more compound low. He placed a 30 gallon drum of water on the roof with a hose to the radiator cap, and another set of hoses to the brake drums. He would turn the spigot on the radiator on the way up, and on the brakes on the way down. He told me it would get so hot in the cab that he and his sidekick would get out and walk along side the cab on the way up and reach through the door to steer. That's how slowly it climbed the hill.

I took my 31 flatbed up a steep hill around here once in compound low, and my brother got out and walked backwards on his hands and kept up with me.

Another legendary local AA guy, George Olivera, used to drive his original 29 flatbed to Turlock every year. He says he averaged 45mph, a bit slower going over Pacheco Pass, but he made up for it going downhill and along the flatland. He had those old semaphore turn signals with a wooden carved middle finger wired to the end so anyone who got annoyed and started honking the horn got the high sign.

On the other hand, there is a guy in our chapter, who appears here on Fordbarn occasionally, who has an AA flatbed capable of 70mph. HC head, Warford overdrive, bigger valves, etc He has been known to load it with iron and roar down the freeway to the recyclers at 45=50.

[spectria]

The 1931 AA I own was the original Mail Truck for the Town of Sebastopol, Ca. It sat in a farmers field outside of town from 1965 to 1996 when I bought it at auction for $80. It had a 20 foot A FRAME rigged over the rear axle, and a 1 inch cable winch built from an early worm drive, mounted under the bottom of the A frame. The Winch was powered by a 3 speed transmission mounted behind the standard 4 speed, then a power takeoff sent power to a 3rd transmission mounted directly to the winch. The old Owner used it to haul logs out of the Redwood forests all up and down the Sonoma, Mendocino Coast. These pictures show it how I got it, before I carefully cut off and and removed all the extra brackets, mounts, the winch and all the other crap on it's way to being what it was originally sold as, although I have every piece I removed, and "A Few" more photos of the before!

[Chris Haynes]

Mine hauled three tons to the dump.

[vtwinsideways]

AA's were rated at 1.5 ton with singles in the back and 2.25 with duals. aftermarket kits were available to lengthen the frames and add a second (non-driven) rear axle that touted well over 3 ton capacity. Three gear ratio's were available in AA's depending on the year of production. The slowest of the gear ratio's available topped out around 25 MPH and the highest at around 45 MPH. Ford advised against carrying the largest of loads on the higher speed rears. Luke

[vtwinsideways]

Originally Posted by spectria

The 1931 AA I own was the original Mail Truck for the Town of Sebastopol, Ca. It sat in a farmers field outside of town from 1965 to 1996 when I bought it at auction for $80. It had a 20 foot A FRAME rigged over the rear axle, and a 1 inch cable winch built from an early worm drive, mounted under the bottom of the A frame. The Winch was powered by a 3 speed transmission mounted behind the standard 4 speed, then a power takeoff sent power to a 3rd transmission mounted directly to the winch. The old Owner used it to haul logs out of the Redwood forests all up and down the Sonoma, Mendocino Coast. These pictures show it how I got it, before I carefully cut off and and removed all the extra brackets, mounts, the winch and all the other crap on it's way to being what it was originally sold as, although I have every piece I removed, and "A Few" more photos of the before!

WOW! That is one interesting set-up Dave! Its got more levers than Vegas!

[hardhatz]

My 31 AA Dump (which has a '33 B motor) carried 5 tons of coal on several occasions. It would barely get into 3rd gear with that weight on it, maybe 15-20 MPH. Brakes were merely a suggestion.
The frame was fishplated.

I once moved a small house with it. Filled the bed with rocks, chained it to the skids, floored it, and dropped the clutch. It moved about 4-5 inches. Repeated that process for about 300 feet.

All that happened when I was a youngster. It still runs, I still have it. It's been in the family since it was 2 years old.

[spectria]

LOL Chris!

[Special Coupe Frank]

Originally Posted by roccaas

Looking at the MAFCA "A" of the Day for 2/15, I've always wondered at how much the big A trucks could pull or haul.

With a raging 40 HP on tap, could those big Gas Tankers, Stakebeds and Dump Trucks in anyway keep up with ever moderate traffic when loaded?

Does the foot actuated Tranny switch help anywhere except when you need tree climbing gearing and torque?

Trucks were engineered and built differently then - for moving heavy loads from point A to point B, and not necessarily very fast, even by 1930 standards.

Take a look at the Mack AC "Bulldog" (1916-1938), which were chain-drive to the very end , and had solid rubber tires on cast-steel wheels through the late 1920's. They rarely moved faster than 20 MPH, if that.
And getting that load stopped was another concern !

Long-distance transfer was done by rail, with the trucks carting loads between the shipper and the local rail-head.

The big trucks, like the Mack Bulldog, GMC "Big Brute", Packard, White and such were "heavy-duty" trucks, with capacities ranging from 3 to 15 tons.

Trucks in the 1 to 2 ton range were considered "medium duty" ( with a single rear-axle).

As for the "Raging 40 HP on tap", remember, it's TORQUE that moves things (especially from a dead stop!)... with the proper gearing ( and traction), you can pull huge loads with relatively low HP... the only HP spec I could find for the AC Mack Bulldog was from about 1928: 4 cyl= 60 HP @ 2200 RPM. Couldn't find any specs on Bore/Stroke or displacement, but I have seen a few of these in person, and the engines are huge, probaly 300-400 cid.

Another factor was the condition of the roads you were hauling over... try to go fast with an overloaded truck on winding / bumpy / washboard roads, and you'd probably break springs / blow tires ( remember 1930 "Rag-tires"), or possibly roll the truck on its side...

With the advent of improved , paved roads in the mid-to late 1930's, Over-The-Road trucking became a practical alternative to rail shipping, and the power / speed of big trucks increased.

All that said, I wouldn't be surprised if a stock Model AA could repeatedly pull two to three times its rated capacity... but top speed would probably be a bit lower than it's un-loaded top-speed....

[Keith True]

I had a B model Mack that used to gross 80,000 daily.It had 140 HP.It had a 5X4 transmission,and with no HP I had to row to get up to speed.I would leave N.H.and be halfway across Massachusetts before I could find a road smooth and flat enough to get into high gear.My old boss had a Bulldog Mack,I think it was a 23.I repainted the truck,and put a push bar on the back to start it.It started and ran nice,but nobody would crank it.You could push it with a loader for 3 feet and it would start.Even if you were alone you could push it in gear,and when it fired you could climb out of the loader,walk up to the truck and climb in.It might have gotten 15 or 20 feet away by the time you could catch it.

[Special Coupe Frank]

"You could push it with a loader for 3 feet and it would start.Even if you were alone you could push it in gear,and when it fired you could climb out of the loader,walk up to the truck and climb in.It might have gotten 15 or 20 feet away by the time you could catch it."

I love it !!!!

[rob mcdonald]

I would never volunteer to bring the logs down the mountain! When I was little my Dad and many old timers traded yarns about how much could be carried by A PU's, AA and other special modified vehicles.

When I was growing up in the early 50's my dad built modified Ford flatheads and stock Oldsmobile for drivers Curtis Turner and Glen Wood. Dad built an extra long 1934 Mack van that would hold parts, tools and two racecars inside and pulled one behind. In about 1951-53 there was a bad wreck at Darlington that burned many modifies including the two we brought and then Curtis Turner wrecked the Stock car so we came home a bit down and out.

The old Mack was later sold to a man in Roanoke, Va who wanted the long wheel base for a well drilling unit.

Thanks for sharing the photos

[Milton]

2/3 of a yard of #2 stone (1600lbs plus two people) up a three mile grade. Felt like power steering.

[Special Coupe Frank]

Originally Posted by Milton

2/3 of a yard of #2 stone (1600lbs plus two people) up a three mile grade. Felt like power steering.

I'm surprised you had any steering at all !

I remember riding with Dad when I was about ten... he had picked-up a load of bagged feed-corn in my Grandad's '65 Ford F-100 long-bed 1/2 ton... I don't remember how many bags / weight, but the rear springs were flattened-out, the headlights were shooting up into the sky, and we had to keep it under 25 MPH, because the front end was so light that "steering" was a vague concept at best !