Truck driving pedal steel players

[Rich Upright]

I have a pickup. Dos that count?

[Erv Niehaus]

A truck driving steel player knows how to double clutch a push/pull!
Erv

[Bobby D. Jones]

Thanks to The U.S. Army I started driving a Tandem Axle Dump Truck with trailer, A week after my 19th birthday October 1962. I delivered building materials to construction sites. Out of Ingrandes France, C Company 83 Engineer Battalion,
The truck had been rebuilt by Mercedes-Benz, Had a metal plate on the dash confirming the rebuild. Close as I will come to driving a Mercedes I guess. Came back to the States and ran a Cat 12E Grader till I got out.

[Don R Brown]

I sometimes drive/hi-rail one of these, on the bridge gang....

I would expect you'd be in the steel gang!

[Brooks Montgomery]

I'm not a trucker--I've only done one long-haul trip, but it was a cool one. Literally. In 1995 a 1000 Kilometer tractor traverse in Antarctica, 22-days in the field. It was an Italian-French traverse hauling thousands of pounds of equipment by a train-like team of Caterpillar Challengers. top speed 12 mph. We started on flat snow and ice at 10,800 ft in elevation and ended at a French base, Dumont d'Urville on the Antarctica coast, due south of Australia. I've always had a lot of respect for long haul truckers after that adventure.










Edit: It's really hard to play steel guitar on sastrugi snow. There. Steel content.

[Erv Niehaus]

That trip puts us ALL to shame!
Erv

[Brooks Montgomery]

That trip puts us ALL to shame!
Erv

Not at all. I'd rather do that any day than to try and get a big rig thru LA, or Denver, or name your least favorite messed up traffic jam city!

[Bobby Nelson]

A truck driving steel player knows how to double clutch a push/pull! Whoa!
Erv.

Ya know Erv, half of the new breed of drivers don't know how to jam gears. I've tried to train some of them, who act like they'd just rather not drive than have to learn a stick. Heck, one guy told me it was cruel and unlawful to expect a man to drive a truck without A/C haha.

[Wesley Medlen]

I drove a lowboy off and on in Kansas City for 30 yrs. Wes

[Douglas Schuch]

I've driven professionally most of my life, starting with driving a school bus when I was still in high school. I drove 18-wheelers (flatbeds and chemical tankers) for a while to make enough money to buy the boat that I sailed down to the Caribbean on 20 years ago. I did not take up pedal steel until after my last truck-driving job. However, I still "drive" boats for a living - working as a professional captain here in St John. I definitely prefer driving boats to driving trucks!

[Erv Niehaus]

Bobby,
Double clutching is nothing.
I had a Kenworth with 5 & 4 transmissions.
When you were running through the gears there was a shift where you had to put your arm through the steering wheel so you could shift both transmissions at the same time.
Erv

[Lee Baucum]

I drive a 2002 Ford Explorer.

All my gear will fit in the back nicely.

[George McLellan]

Erv, we had a Mac like that in the mine. We called it the "alligator". Wasn't the easiest shifting.
Geo

[Erv Niehaus]

There was a 13 speed Roadranger in the Peterbilt and I really liked that transmission.
Erv

[Johnie King]

Well my wife an I drove coast to coast for 33 years produce out of California to east coast An any think u can think of back to California 6 an 7000 miles a week. But we did take off sometimes for a few months in the winter just about every year.

[Wesley Medlen]

10 4 0n the 13speed

[Bobby Nelson]

Ha! Erv, I heard of them my whole career, but never had to drive one - I think I just missed them as I started about '83. I have driven some crazy transmissions though. There was this split rear end thing in a '76 International that kept you busy all day long - you had to let the clutch out and come to high rev, let off the throttle and flip a button on the shift knob (like a roadranger), then come back up to rev and push the clutch in, flip the button back, and shift - you did this through 5 gears, and the dang truck wasn't strong enough to skip any steps haha... was a bit like playing pedal steel as I think about it hahaha!

[Erv Niehaus]

I think they called that a 2 speed rear end.
Erv

[Dick Hitchcock]

Erv...I hauled swinging meat from Nebraska to California and produce back for about 10 years in the 60's. All with Cummins engines and 4X4 transmissions. We never had AC, and it was all 2 man driving. It's definitely not the same out there now at all!

[Erv Niehaus]

Dick,
Yes, and now with the large engines, all they have to do is set the cruise and go up and down the hills with no shifting.
Erv

[Andy DePaule]

Not an 18 wheeler but, I drove a Divco milk truck standing up for almost a year when I was 16 until I was old enough to join the army.
These had 4 cylinder engines and a 3 speed tranny. You could drive them sitting and use the higher pedals. But when delivering milk from house to house you push the seat out of the way and drive standing. There was just the one pedal then for the clutch half way down and then push it all the way down to break... Kind of a hairy deal with a full load of milk and ice stacked in the back.
The throttle was on the shifter and the steering wheel had one of those knobs for driving one handed.
Helped get me ready to play pedal steel I guess.


I drove one like this with the Combination shifter/throttle on the steering wheel;

They also made these with the floor shifter, but I never drove one;


This is how most of them look now if not junked years ago, Kind of a sad ending;

[Don R Brown]

There was just the one pedal then for the clutch half way down and then push it all the way down to break... Kind of a hairy deal with a full load of milk and ice stack

Man, a pedal steel does not seem so bad compared to THAT!

[Andy DePaule]

Hi Don,
Doubt they could build them today with all the government regulations... Guess that would be a good thing.
More than one milk man died under a load of milk in those.

[Bobby Nelson]

Man Andy, looking at that seat makes me feel better about the ride in my Peterbuilt - which will toss you around in the air-seat all day long.

[Andy DePaule]

Yes a sore bottom was part of the deal.
They were not built for comfort.