2stickbill
Senior Member
Oh...I see. Uh, wasn't Mule was it?
That's a yep on the fancy knobs. Went to work for a crane company in the mid 80's, one crane was a small Grove hydro on a Crane Carrier chassis. Yes, the small, single cab for the operator. Had a 5 x 3 in it. Problem was, the main stick was right beside you. The aux stick was behind, kinda behind the seat in an awkward position to operate. Both shift levers were very short, not good leverage for changing gears. Operators hated to drive that rig because the hog box stick was just goofy to operate, they all tried just driving the crane with the main tranny. The first time I drove the rig, I was like "pfffttttt, this is stupid!" Went to a nearby truckstop and purchased some goodies. Put a straight handle on the main stick, which increased it's length just a bit. On the aux stick, put a short chrome extension on it, then a chrome 45 degree elbow, then a chrome 6" extension, lastly another straight handle. Now the aux stick was oriented just a little behind but above the main stick. Totally changed how that thing operated. The other operators were amazed at how much better it was to operate now, and no one grumbled about having to drive it now. It was actually kinda fun.
I drove a International like that.Friend bought it at a city auction.Hauled some tractors to an auction in it.Hate that truck.Shifters are set up like your talking about and in the main box the springs are gone.Got to be careful are you will be backing up.But he paid $2,000 and thinks it is better than a Peterbilt.
