Asplundh bucket trucks, that bad ?

Wesspur
Rugged made
Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
tree MDS said:
The 366 and 427 are tall deck big block chevy motors, made for big (or "medium duty") trucks. "Tall deck" refers to the longer stroke/lower rpm's. These only came in bigger trucks.

What you are talking about is a smaller truck or car engine (to my knowledge anyway) with the 454. not the same deal, its all about torque..
Click to expand...

Put up some pics of your puddlejumper , I love those 6x6 buckets they are tough looking , I always wondered if the 2 wheel drive can be set up if you found a transfer case and front rear ..... Someone told me the outrigger legs are longer if they have 4x4 are the full of sugar or what?
 
tree MDS said:
The 366 and 427 are tall deck big block chevy motors, made for big (or "medium duty") trucks. "Tall deck" refers to the longer stroke/lower rpm's. These only came in bigger trucks.

What you are talking about is a smaller truck or car engine (to my knowledge anyway) with the 454. not the same deal, its all about torque..
Click to expand...
I dunno , to my knowledge which often ain't much there are some 454 out there with the forestry packages more so with the 4x4's and elevators the 366 could not get 6 tires moving enough to break through a wet paper bag...
 
tree MDS said:
The 366 and 427 are tall deck big block chevy motors, made for big (or "medium duty") trucks. "Tall deck" refers to the longer stroke/lower rpm's. These only came in bigger trucks.
Click to expand...

What "long stroke" are you referring to? The 366 and 427 truck engines have the same 3.7" stroke as a 396 or 427 in a car like a SS Chevelle or Vette.

The "tall deck" 366 and 427 medium-truck engines are tall because more room was made to add an extra piston ring to each piston. Pistons are 4/10ths of an inch longer, so the block was raised 4/10ths of an inch.

Bore and stroke is exactly the same in the low-deck and tall-deck engines.
 
TDunk said:
I'm looking at buying a used bucket truck sometime this year (with a chip box) to retire my other bucket with no box. There seems to be alot of '97-'00 Asplundh trucks coming up for sale, and was looking for some opinions on them. I know there all gassers witch doesn't bother me to much because there cheap and easy to rebuild but other than that i'm looking for the good and bad on these trucks. My one concern is i'd have to travel to go get one and didn't know if they could handle 9 Hrs. of interstate travel or not. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

TDunk,

I drove my old orange truck from the coast of Oregon to Denver, roughly 40 hours of driving. There was plenty of time for quiet reflection at 50 MPH with no radio. I had the used truck dealer drop it off at the Chevy dealer and they gave me a full report for $250.00 before I decided to make an offer. Saves some headache, especially buying a truck over long distances. Gives you a little bargaining power as well.

For my money and operation, an old orange truck with 50K miles on it is a pretty good investment.
 
jdemaris said:
What "long stroke" are you referring to? The 366 and 427 truck engines have the same 3.7" stroke as a 396 or 427 in a car like a SS Chevelle or Vette.

The "tall deck" 366 and 427 medium-truck engines are tall because more room was made to add an extra piston ring to each piston. Pistons are 4/10ths of an inch longer, so the block was raised 4/10ths of an inch.

Bore and stroke is exactly the same in the low-deck and tall-deck engines.
Click to expand...

Jdemaris,

Is the stroke in the 454 just longer than the 366? They put 454's in GMC Topkicks right? I see them advertised as such, so just wondering.
 
Sunrise Guy said:
Watch out for those outfits that advertise huge inventories, online, and in the trades. I drove all day and night to check out a truck and chipper. The owners of the place assured me that the truck was fully reconditioned and had just had a brake job. Only a half-mile from the place, on a test drive, the brakes locked up and caught on fire! So much for their "quality reconditioning." The dump body, when up, revealed badly leaking cylinders. "Oh, that's nothing out of the ordinary" they told me.

These "nice guys" even tried to keep my deposit, but I assured them I would contest the charge to my credit card and I would prevail. They refunded the complete deposit.

These outfits spend their money on painting facilities, mostly, where they white-wash all trucks and chippers they buy so you're fooled into thinking you are getting a nice rig. No way!

Be careful.
Click to expand...

Your visit to Clinton, IL.?
 
I have had 2 Asplundh trucks, both real good, check them out real good and dont buy the white washed ones, to many hidden issues, I paid under 20000 for mine, painted it my self for about a 1000, I have the 454 in the new one, old one had 366, to me, no huge diff, would rather have the Diesel. Just remember what they are and who operated them, never gonna find the diamond in the ruf, all of them are well used and worked hard. I never go over 55mph or 3500rpm, gonna have the 454 replaces with a real healthy one, then put flow masters on it so you can hear the nice throaty cam!
CHECK THE BOOM, truck parts are cheap, Boom parts are NOT!

Yes, I got them both at schmidys in Clinton, ILL, I am pretty close to them by location, they also know no to jack with me, I know those trucks better than most, so they have always treated me fair, they are after all used car salesmen, REMEMBER THAT!
They dont care about u, just want ur money and for u to leave after they get it!
 
Last edited:
newsawtooth said:
Jdemaris,

Is the stroke in the 454 just longer than the 366? They put 454's in GMC Topkicks right? I see them advertised as such, so just wondering.
Click to expand...

366, 396, 402, and 427 all have exactly the same stroke and it makes no difference if standard block or tall block. All have 3.7" of stroke.

427 and 502 both have a longer 4" stroke.

Tall deck blocks for trucks having more piston rings, longer pistons, and higher blocks to accomodate. No different in stroke. They DO have heavier cylinder walls and gear-drive camshafts.

Years back I put a tall-deck 427 in my SS Chevelle because I got it cheap. It was a real dog. I wanted to put a hot cam in it, but then found out the tall-block motors are gear-drive instead of chain drive.
 
jdemaris said:
What "long stroke" are you referring to? The 366 and 427 truck engines have the same 3.7" stroke as a 396 or 427 in a car like a SS Chevelle or Vette.

The "tall deck" 366 and 427 medium-truck engines are tall because more room was made to add an extra piston ring to each piston. Pistons are 4/10ths of an inch longer, so the block was raised 4/10ths of an inch.

Bore and stroke is exactly the same in the low-deck and tall-deck engines.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you know what you're talking about.. I'll have to look into it today..

Any idea how the hp/torque compare between the 366 and the 427?? I have searched the web, as well as asked an engine shop, and a couple dealers. nbody seems to know..
 
tree MDS said:
Sounds like you know what you're talking about.. I'll have to look into it today..

Any idea how the hp/torque compare between the 366 and the 427?? I have searched the web, as well as asked an engine shop, and a couple dealers. nbody seems to know..
Click to expand...

You have to be careful to compare truck specs to truck specs, and not mix car specs with truck specs. That because cars often use momentary horsepower specs and trucks use steady horsepower specs which will often be 5-20% less.

Here are some 1970s specs, all in "truck talk." I'm pretty sure the 396s were low-block engines that were used in trucks. The rest are tall blocks.

366 - 8 to 1 compression, 235 horse @ 4000 RPM, 345 lb. torque @ 2600

396 - 9 to 1 compression, 310 horse @ 4800 RPM, 400 lb. torque @ 3200

396 - 11 to 1 compression, 375 horse @ 5600 RPM, 415 lb. torque @ 3600

366 - 10.2 to 1 compression, 325 horse @ 4800 RPM, 410 lb. torque @ 3200

427 - 8 to 1 compression, 260 horse @ 4000 RPM, 405 lb. torque @ 2600

The Asplundh truck I drove back in around 1968 had a 401 V-6 in it.
401 V-6 - 7.5 to 1, 237 horse @ 4000 RPM, 372 lbs. torque @ 1600 RPM

Some big-block car specs:

396 - 11 to 1 compression, 425 horse @ 6400 RPM, 415 lb. torque @ 4000

427 - 11 to 1 compression, 425 horse @ 5600 RPM, 460 lb. torque @ 3600
 
jdemaris said:
You have to be careful to compare truck specs to truck specs, and not mix car specs with truck specs. That because cars often use momentary horsepower specs and trucks use steady horsepower specs which will often be 5-20% less.

Here are some 1970s specs, all in "truck talk." I'm pretty sure the 396s were low-block engines that were used in trucks. The rest are tall blocks.

366 - 8 to 1 compression, 235 horse @ 4000 RPM, 345 lb. torque @ 2600

396 - 9 to 1 compression, 310 horse @ 4800 RPM, 400 lb. torque @ 3200

396 - 11 to 1 compression, 375 horse @ 5600 RPM, 415 lb. torque @ 3600

366 - 10.2 to 1 compression, 325 horse @ 4800 RPM, 410 lb. torque @ 3200

427 - 8 to 1 compression, 260 horse @ 4000 RPM, 405 lb. torque @ 2600

The Asplundh truck I drove back in around 1968 had a 401 V-6 in it.
401 V-6 - 7.5 to 1, 237 horse @ 4000 RPM, 372 lbs. torque @ 1600 RPM

Some big-block car specs:

396 - 11 to 1 compression, 425 horse @ 6400 RPM, 415 lb. torque @ 4000

427 - 11 to 1 compression, 425 horse @ 5600 RPM, 460 lb. torque @ 3600
Click to expand...

So I'm lacking 25 horse and 60 on the torque... seems like a big dif in a 31000 pound truck with only a five speed no?

I wonder if it would make more sense to order a Jasper motor, or have one built. I dont have a 427 core, so I'm thinking about just buying a 427 TD and having it built (just saw one on CL dirt cheap). maybe even bump up the compression a bit.

Any thoughs on this jd?
 
tree MDS said:
Realistically I still have to spend about 10k on my truck to get it to where I was duped into thinking it was at when I bought it..

Its been a while now, but I wish Clinton Ill. was a bit closer. I wouldn't mind playing some drive by frisbee with their office windows. lol.
Click to expand...

If that guy ever goes out of business the chrome simulator and cheap white paint industries will go belly up.
 

Similar threads

T
Trucks with built in chippers
Replies
3
Views
1K
ATH
ATH
kcurbanloggers
4x4 or 4x2 forestry bucket trucks
Replies
15
Views
3K
ElevatorGuy
ElevatorGuy
kcurbanloggers
Please advise: Painting a bucket truck
Replies
13
Views
3K
J D
J D
kcurbanloggers
Realistic capabilities of Bandit 200xp
Replies
9
Views
5K
Dave1960_Gorge
Dave1960_Gorge
mikewhite85
4x4 bucket truck?
2
Replies
38
Views
5K
flushcut
flushcut

Latest posts

Back
Top