Waukesha gas V8 heavy truck engines ?

[Gary Roth]

Did Waukesha ever make gasoline V8 engines for heavy duty trucks ?

[stephen girouard]

thats a good question i'v worked on small vrd's vrg's up to 7042's on natural gas compressor stations, and in a industrial engine shop (i e w) sence the late 70's and owned many vrd's there were some large 6 cylinders ( very large stationary generators that were gasoline , then converted to natural gas i saw 1or2 , they were before my time, so i wont say what series till i'm sure but i am sure of that,, i have a 82 year old friend who worked for waukasha many years, i'm curious myself , i havent herd of one,, but some people never herd of some of my tractors?????? i'll help research that!

[John G. Simpson]

Wauhesha is still in business. they build a large engine for generator units.
called THUNDER PUMPKINS. don't know their address, but they might be able to answer your question.

[stephen girouard]

they have a site , just went to it, still large into natural gas in the oilfield here there is a distributor 7 miles from here lotsa friends work there, i'm guna quiz the oldtimers but my books say nothin of a v8 gas truck motor , that doesn't mean there auint one,, do you know what kinda truck??

[John Schwiebert]

Also remember they purchased LeRoi who did have a V-8 truck engine in the 50's. Waukesha also has a historical group. I only saw them one year but the U. S. Army 10 ton trucks from say 40 years ago had a larger V-8 and if I remember they were a LeRoi or Roline as they were known after Waukesha purchased them.

[stephen girouard]

only v8 so far is a 400 horse, probably diesel, i dont know nothin else about it yet , saw one in a auction listing nothin else, i'm not familiar but there is a marine version that could fit in a large truck H866dsu

[John Schwiebert]

I think you are answering your own question. H would be the designator for an 8 cylinder, the d after the displacement would be for diesel. Also with a model like that that engine is from the 60's or later: Example an F283G which is a "twin" to an Oliver was not introduced till the fall of 62.

[Gary Roth]

Stephen, John, and John, thank you very much for your replies. Hanks Truck Forum says there were no Waukesha gas V8 heavy truck engines except for the LeRoi. They also say there were no Buda gas V8s.

[Bud Tierney]

While I don't pretend to be knowledgeable on Wauks, don't recall seeing anything on relatively modern Wauk truck engines, and nothing on a truck Wauk V8, on the truck sites. My Wauk stuff is all from the 50's/60's, and the only V8's I have are the industrial diesels; the few VR's I have are all 4's and 6's, and the 5100's to 7040's are the V12's, a bit heavy for a truck (I assume we're talking over-the-road trucks here, not Euc-Lectra Haul).
I've always wondered why the early (teens? 20's) V's never really become popular, most production being inline until the V's became popular again.
Wauk reportedly got out of the "small" engine business, but I've never seen anything definite as to dates. I've got a couple Roiline brochures, but only for heavy industrial stuff, diesel, nat gas, sewer gas.
Has anyone here dealt with Wauk, or their Historical Dept, for old engine info?? I've seen a number of posts that Wauk had been no help at all for old parts or info on obsolete engines.

[stephen girouard]

i can tell you they are not helpfull on smaller or older engines here, i get my stuff through arrow, from a independent machanic. i dont even think they like seein me come in the door, if its not bigbuck, naturalgas, oilfield, they dont wana help, at least here .

[Ed Malcom]

i have a service parts list book for the le roi model h 540 dated 1949. if i can help anyone out i will make some copies,just email me your address. Ed the le roi man

[John Schwiebert]

Getting Back to Stephen, Waukesha sold the rights to those small engines at least 15 years ago to Arrow. That is one reason they don't talk to you about the smaller stuff. Arrow did build the 220 & 330 engines and may still do that today. Last time (and this has been a few years) I talked to Kevin he was thinking maybe about producing a few of the D-155g Clark fork lift engines. Also the Roline (Waukesha) V-8 engines are V-8 gas but one version is about 22 cubic inches smaller (H844)than the engine you mentioned and the other one is 22 larger (H884). You don't think this was a special version built for something the military had? One of my customers had a 220 in a military speced forklift truck. Parts for it were different than the models you and I would have.

[stephen girouard]

there were some converted military engines here on pumps and comp. that were different, cant remember them all i only went service afew dont remember the #, never had to get into them much i did lotsa smaller rebuilds and packages, there were even 2 fairbanks morse diesel submarine engines on large compressors , converted to natural gas in the state that ran for many MANY years , i think they were pulled out a few years ago, some of that military stuff was very durable

[stephen girouard]

john, have you ever looked at diesel engine trader.com just went there , there is many catagories, a good wauk. catagory and some nice pictures

[stephen girouard]

oh , again i apolagise to this catagory for gettin off their beaten path of antique truck engines, i saw truck engines on some units independently built then my mind strays, i am sorry if i offend anyone

[John Schwiebert]

What do you call smaller Waukesha engines? My experience is mostly with the Waukesha built engines that were used by Oliver. The V-8 Buda topic. In 1976 there were still 3 trcks in the Toledo area with Buda/A-C diesels. Did Buda have a Modern truck engine in a gas engine and for Bud, what trucks before that used the Hercules diesels?

[stephen girouard]

the last 2 questions i cant answer off the top of my head,, tho first , oliver tractors i had many , and these engines were in many other aplications, in versions of diesel, lp, ng, i just sold a 1550& 1650 my father purchased new no farmers here use this stuff anymore (what farmers left) now into case, olivers were very popular here , and the many wauks i can think of comes to mind i worked on in oilfield 145 wak 817 vlr , mostly inline 6 ,, i am horrible with numbers, have to write them down good with tools, and # i use often, i'v bein in a machine shop last 6 yrs,, and many chevy and gmc truck aplications from 50's on up, work on many model A cars here, presently searchin machine info on insertin these engines, not many good babiters left her , last one just died at 95 still turnin wrenches,, would of sent this as private message not to bore others, new on computers and suck at it ,

[stephen girouard]

forgot to ad i worked on those clarklifts with wauks on propane , friend still has one just converted his pointsplate to chevypoints, dont know what it had before someone stuck pertronics in it ,couldn't find no parts, waukasha had 1 left on a shelf somewhere and wanted a fortune for it.
when i went to clark &wauk with my # they just said what are you talkin about??

[Gary Roth]

Ed, does your LeRoi H 540 service parts list book have illustrations, I was wondering if the block extended below the crank center, and if the block deck was perpendicular to the cylinder centerline. Note Ford Super Duty, MEL ( Mercury Edsel Lincoln ) and Chevy W series ( 348-409 ) the block deck is at an angle. John, Kenworth used Hercules engines around 30s and/or 40s. Thank you all.

[magicmikey]

Gary
I have an illustration of the H540 engine which indicates the block ends at the centerline. There is a bolt on extension piece to reach the oil pan. The deck is perpendicular to the bore centerline, that might be "artistic license"?

John
I recall seeing Hercules Diesels as optional in `30s Ford & Chev trucks, the topic was transmission shifter linkages for a "cab forward" style truck. Whether any appeared in real life is ?????.
mike