1968 Atkinson 8 wheeler for L.Arthur & Co

Hello viewers
A group of 3 transport enthusiasts in NSW have purchased the Atkinson prime mover that was used by L.Arthur heavy haulage in Melbourne.
Built in 1968 to Arthur's specifications it featured twin steer axles,Kirkstall hub reduction bogie, Cat 1676 v8 diesel engine of 340 HP, Fuller Roadranger RTO 913 gearbox and Fuller 4 speed auxiliary behind that.
We are looking for images (preferably colour) of the unit to enable restoration to ex factory condition.
Missing are the rectangular fuel tanks with inset foot steps as well as the front bumper and bullbar which was fitted later.
Any help that you can provide would be most gratefully accepted.
It is the goal to have this truck going in about 12 to 24 months.
regards David

image copied from Facebook
L Arthur photo

Think n Lou Arthur had the contract to deliver all the Cat products from wharf to Cat
Driver me thinx was Lindsay

cya

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The Cat 1676 motor wasnt much good,and only fitted to the 621J scraper...dunno if Cat still have spares for everything ....I remember seeing two similar Atkinsons sold at Overetts Auction....same motor and box and Kirkstall triple reduction diffs......overhead drive centres and reduction hubs...Kirkstall were making hub reduction axles long before Albion and Leyland pinched the idea.

Looking forward to seeing some photos of how it looks at the moment.

There doesnt appear to be to many photo's of L Arthur trucks ( I dont think they had a snap happy Swishy working for them)
I have searched for some time for photos of my old L Arthur Mack but have found none

There was a few years truck and bus magazine ran a few pictures of some of their loads, think this early 60's ish era

And yes would be good to see some more current photos of this jigger


Paul

Swishy wrote: Think n Lou Arthur had the contract to deliver all the Cat products from wharf to Cat
Driver me thinx was Lindsay

cya

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Swishy I went on a tour of Cat's warehouse southern side of Brisvegas (Yatala) around 12 months ago and the bloke taking us on the tour told us that all contractors doing work on their site or working for Cat must use a Cat product if one is available. Cat Australia will pay extra for the contractor to hire a machine of the Cat brand to do the job

When we arrived at the loading bays for trucks heading south that night I noticed Toll never used Cat trucks and I was thinking this cant be a good sign for Cat trucks ?????

Paul

Given that Caterpillar would advise major contractors to utilise their own product, (and as stated L.Arthur & Sons had the contract for carting all the heavy gear), I wonder why they would have specified that particular engine?
Around that era, both the 3406 (inline six) and the 3408 (V8) would surely have been around, and although being heavy in weight as well as not the most fuel-miserly engine ever assembled, were a proven unit. If they weren't, the 1693 would have been.
Extra weight of the 3408 (or 1693) wouldn't have worried a twin steer 8 wheeler.
Reading up on the 1676, must have been really advanced for their time, given the specs. As John.K. noted, the engine was used mostly as a scraper engine, would have thought that only low numbers would have been built so why use an odd engine? Unless Cat themselves wanted to "prove" it in OTR conditions over here, already had been fitted to trucks in the States but only in limited numbers?
Cat seemingly didn't mind trying out new concepts when it came to innovation, some of their designs (OHC diesels, lots of alloy components on engines) were around for yonks before becoming generally accepted into the industry.
I remember they put out a 613 open bowl scraper, cable operated, that had a 4 cylinder in-line, OHC engine . And this in a time when the Alloy OHC engines were the domain of classic European sports cars.
Another of those mysteries of life.
Dave_64

Oilman wrote: Looking forward to seeing some photos of how it looks at the moment.

Here's some taken when picking it up.

From here> forum.aths.org/PrintTopic143620.aspx
"We had several 1676 engines down here, 1 in a KW, 1 in a ATKINSON, 1 in a OSKOSH and
another fitted to a ATLAS COPCO oil free air compressor.
The KW disappeared ? the OSKOSH was a service truck on a dam job and we did not see it.
The ATKINSON was a twin steer bogie drive prime mover built especially for heavy haulage
by L ARTHUR a trucking company that worked for CATERPILLAR moving all the machines of
the whalf to the dealer.
We rebuilt it once after the bigend bearings failed, on disassembly it suffered the same problems
as other D336 had which was the connecting rods thrusting into the webs of the crankshaft."

She must have short prop shafts ?

FWIW




cya

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