Semis--Pete cab

O/T Anywhere a guy could find a forum or site similar to this one for guys working on, or restoring big trucks? I am looking for a cab and hood from a 90s day cab Pete. Always wanted a Pete so I would like to put one a frightliner frame I have. I have a good driveline, just a beatup fld cab.

Valley Truck Parts in Grand Rapids, Mi. used to have a lot of cabs there. I haven't been there since I retired in 09.
I just googled them and found they have places in a lot of other states too.

I worked at Valley in 88. Where you there then? Hoping to find a cab from someone other than a salvage yard. Prices I got out of the big guys in GR is more than the trucks value. Got to be someone with a cab out behind the tool shed.

Price wise, I would look for a complete truck without a motor. Petes are not that big around here but I see KW and IH all the time in the local trader mags,just keep looking. Just a shot in the dark--B&W 573-393-2357, they sell parts(new and used) and run a scrape yard too, pretty easy to deal with.

90s Pete is to new why not do a say 1963 Diamond 990 day cab truck or the like. Ya I own one by the way it is a true classic

Called a few yards. One wanted $3000.00 for the cab, $2000.00 for the hood!! Thats alot of cash to drop into a farm truck. Most farm trucks sit more than they are used. I would just like to build one that is a nice looking ride.

Engine is a C500 Cummins. I have to have a cab new enough for the electronics. I could rewire 100% of the cab, but I didnt want to bite off that big of a job.

Sorry I am old school and not wanting to hit you but in the day a Pete was 2nd class to the Diamond-T till the gov closed Diamond down

My Dad drove a Diamond T when I was a kid. It was red, and I remember how cool it looked. Wasnt that company somehow hooked up with diamond Reo? I cut my teeth on a REO with 318 Detroit and 13 speed.

Diamond-T bought out Reo back in the late 50s early 60s. Then Diamond -T made both Diamond-T and Diamond-Reo's. The Gov had a contract with them to make 6X6 truck but no inflation close so as the cost went up Diamond-T could not charge more and went bankrupt. Wish I had the $$ to fix my Diamond-T I love that truck even if it will only go 55MPH

Seems like the REO plant was in Lansing Mi. Think it closed in the mid to late 70s.

Yep Diamond-T went bankrupt in the mid 70s. There is or was a new company called Diamond line that has the original diagrams etc from Diamond-T and makes or made 6X6 trucks but few if any are sold in the U.S.A.

Picture of my Diamond-T

They were making Diamond-Reo's in the 80's yet in Harrisburg PA. I was there on a warrenty problem for a few days.

Diamond Reo in Lansing closed in the mid to late 70s. They had just come out with the Royal II cabover and the Raider conventional. They were beasts.
Click here

We're they heavy?

Check us out over at aths.org it's
the American Truck Historical Society. Lots of helpful info and nice people. Also try justoldtrucks.com a lot of the same folks on both sites. I haven't learned to do pics but I'm working on a 1964 Emeryville cabover.

Hribar of racine wi. might have one

I think the mounts for the cab and such will be a problem with lining up unless you are going to re drill the frame. If you use a Pete cab the rubber mounts also are usually screwed up by most places. The steel bushing that goes through the center of the mount goes between the big flat washers such that it is tight and the cab can wiggle in the rubber on the washers. so the hole in the frame has to be big enough for the bushing not just the bolt. If you farm out any of the body work it will be best done at the dealer. This is from experience. It seems like most of the body shops don't know how a Pete is done or something. Had one put the wrong shocks on the air ride cab and then try to tell me how they should be like that until somebody drove in with one to show them the difference.

(quoted from post at 19:18:27 12/21/14) Sorry I am old school and not wanting to hit you but in the day a Pete was 2nd class to the Diamond-T till the gov closed Diamond down

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There were never Petes here in NH until mid early seventies, then they really came on strong. There were probably never more than a couple Diamond T's in the state.

Reo was a Lansing firm founded by Ransom Eli Olds (yes the same guy who brought us Oldsmobile) Reo was struggling since the 30's the war bailed them out but when the war contracts ended they were in trouble again. They switched from cars to trucks and in the middle years they built lawnmowers and small engines and about anything else they thought they could make money on. The lawnmower stuff was eventually sold to Elmer Ponds in Indiana who used some of it to get the Wheel Horse company going. Reo merged with Diamond T to become Diamond Reo, they were a division of White trucks, I can't find any supporting documentation but I suspect White purchased both Reo and Diamond T and merged them much like they did with Oliver and Minneapolis Moline. In the early 70's Francis Cappaert bought Diamond Reo from White. What actually happened is debatable (we lived in Lansing Michigan and heard a lot of theories) Some say Cappaert had some bad luck and Reo went broke, others say he mismanaged it and it went broke, I've heard he played some games and took some risks and lost, some say it was a Union busting tactic that went wrong and still others feel Cappaert was paid to or made money by running Reo into the ground. As for the 6x6 contract I heard Reo had the parts to build out the contract when Cappaert took possession of the company but sent the parts back for the money figuring he could get a price adjustment on the 6x6 contract when he reordered the parts at a higher rate, well he didn't get the price adjustment. I've also heard that once he had the company Cappaert sold the tooling, fixtures and equipment to another company (that he owned) and leased them back to Reo, again trying to force a higher price on the government contracts and stripping assets out of Reo allowing him to keep the assets and shed Reo and any liabilities it had (like money loosing government contracts, pension obligations and such). My Dad worked there for 89 days it was a bad situation- you hired on for about $3.40 an hour, after 30 days you started paying Union dues but couldn't file any grievances. You'd get a substantial raise at 90 days but no one ever got to 90 days, at 89 they'd lay you off and hire another group of new hires at $3.40. They never had to move any of the new hires to Union scale (around $7.00/hour) or pay benefits like health insurance, vacations or pensions on their new hires. The Union was basically bought off with the 2 months of dues paid by the new hires for which they never had to deliver anything. Other accounts I've read and heard was that as the heavy truck market matured there were things changing, we had an over supply of manufacturers and capability and Diamond Reo wasn't one of the companies that positioned itself to become one of the big dogs in the new market. Remember in big trucks Paccar, Volvo and Mercedes Benz (Freightliner) are the big three.

There where likely to be a whole lot of Diamond-T in your area you just did not notice them since they where a common truck in there day

Late 70s maybe but not the 80s. I have talked with a number of the people who worked for Diamond-T back in the day had they told me what all went wrong that Diamond-T closed there doors. Unless of course some company like White bought out that line from Diamond-T

(quoted from post at 09:07:59 12/22/14) There where likely to be a whole lot of Diamond-T in your area you just did not notice them since they where a common truck in there day

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Maybe in my area they were called Whites. I know that your Diamond Reo looks a lot like the White Road Bosses that a lot of the common carriers had at the time. I remember that there were a lot of GMC 9500s, and Ford L9000s, R Model Macks, A few Auto Cars, plenty of Internationals. So I was aware of what was on the roads but never saw Diamond Reos around here.

Now don't be cussing my Diamond-T calling it a Reo because it sure the heck is not a roe but a Diamond-T.
Or in other words the Diamond-T and Diamond-Reo where in fact to different brands of truck. Sort of like calling a GMC a Chev which if not correct

I'd take and R model Mack any day

I would think if you got in touch with your local truck wreckers they could put you onto someone with a cab...
Any particular reason you want a Pete cab? Seems like a lot of work to shoehorn that onto a Shaker frame... and probably a lot of stupid little things that won't line up and have to be..... modified. You're definitely in for a unique project.
FLD cab would be easy to find and easy to mount..

Rod

So if you get the parts to do this project what are you going to call it? A Petershaker? :lol:

Because you guys had an overall length limit clear
up as late as 2002.