Is a throttle on dash rare?

[suburban99]

72 k10 custom deluxe...is a throttle on dash rare?

[71swb4x4]

Manual throttle is fairly rare. I think it was mainly used on trucks that had something driven by a PTO.

[leftybass209]

It's not the most common option, as it's purpose was fairly limited. However, I have seen them before in junkyards and usually move past them.

[rsmarr1982]

My 72 k20 has one. Not sure why doesn't have a pto. Just a basic pick up. I think maybe because it was a colorado truck and need to harm up sooner?

[pritch]

I guess most of the trucks that had them ended up wrecked.

When I worked on the drilling rigs in the '70's, I had a driller that had an early Blazer. He rigged up a hand throttle like those for cruising. One night, he took the eastern most Evanston (Wyoming) exit and tried to push it in and it wouldn't go. We took that exit at about 90 and he finally had to just shut off the key to kill the engine. We wouldn't let him use it with us in the car anymore after that. Dude wasn't called Crazy Dave for nuthin'!

[chevy71super]

My dad had one on his 1972. We used it to feed livestock in the winter - 4 low, first gear, jump in the back to feed. The truck would creep along with a little throttle applied via the dash. I would say it was more common in states like Montana where I grew up for that specific purpose.

[landy]

My '72 Blazer has one, and a '71 GMC I used to have had one.

[suburban99]

The story I got when I bought the truck goes like this...
Truck was originally a Weyerhaeuser truck...the guy who drove it retired and Weyerhaeuser rebuilt the engine and tranny and gave him the truck as a retirement gift...as he wouldn't let them replace the truck with a new one for years...I bought it from him. The area I bought it gets to -30 in the winter so could be a cold weather option.

[RichardJ]

A farmer would use a throttle like that on a truck or tractor in the fields. The farmer could walk along the truck bed or a flat trailer and load or unload by himself. Even if he had a helper or two, they were more useful, helping with the loading. If there were plowed furrows, they never had to touch or correct the steering till they got to the end of the field.

[tristan]

I could sure use that deluxe throttle knob!

[68panelman]

My '70 Blazer has one, labeled on the spid, northwest coast truck, still have no clue why it's there. I do use it for warm up though.

[68 CRACKERBOX]

my 72 longhorn gmc has one it came out of Canada. I would say it was warming the truck up on cold mornings.

[jocko]

yes rare. useful if you're doing some of the above-mentioned activities, PTO or not. Also handy for breakin in a new cam!

[Ian71GMC]

Not to hijack thread - but what do you do with throttle knob when truck is fully warmed up and you just want to drive, say like in a truck without a dash throttle?

[Elliot949]

Originally Posted by Ian71GMC

Not to hijack thread - but what do you do with throttle knob when truck is fully warmed up and you just want to drive, say like in a truck without a dash throttle?

You are confusing this with a Choke... A Choke closes the butterfly in the carb to allow the truck to warm up then once it is starting to get warm you start pushing it in until the butterfly is fully open...

A Throttle work with the accelerator pedal to lock the throttle in a position to hold the rpm at a level that you want...

My Dad used it as a "Cruise Control" on our truck... I am not sure it is all that rare and is found mostly on 3/4T and up...

[68panelman]

Since the beginning, GM trucks and most others had throttle pulls. My 1942 had one, seen them in 50's trucks and so on. I assume it was mainly for warm ups, and by 1972 they had the automatic choke working well. Just my opinion

[BILT4ME]

My Dad's 68 3/4T with 292 6Cyl and 4 Speed manual (and no power anything) is the only one I have ever seen in person with the throttle. It also had the manual choke. So, it had (4) knobs with the headlights and wipers on the left with the throttle and choke on the right.

We used it to pick up hay bales in the summer for one person. Put it in 1st gear, set the throttle, get out, walk ahead and grab a bale, then throw it in on the way by. We also used it like to one other poster suggested, to climb in back and scoop out feed into the feed bunk while the truck idled along.

Our truck was self-driving before self-driving was cool!

My dad also used it in the field as a second tractor before we had a second tractor. He would pull the truck into the field with a tandem disc behind it, then use the tractor to set the hydraulics for the depth of the disc, then lock it in low, and make it go. I think he usually pulled it in second gear, low range 4WD.

That truck would pull ANYTHING if it could get enough traction. I watched it sit and dig holes with the throttle set while he was trying to pull a tractor out.

[GASoline71]

The farm I worked on as a kid had 2 trucks that had in dash throttles. Both 1972 GMC either C25's or C35's Dually's with flat beds. They were used in the hay fields. Both of them had the doors removed. A crew of 4 dudes would head out to the hay fields and when we started picking up bales, we'd shove the tranny into low gear and set the hand throttle at whatever pace we could pick up the bales at. No one in the drivers seat, and every so often someone would pull the steering wheel one way or the other to point it where we needed to go.

Gary

[palallin]

I added one to mine in anticipation of the air compressor and possibly the welder I plan to add.

[ratty69]

My truck has one too. It looks like it was mainly a farm option, which would make sense given the other options on my truck that make me think a farmer or big rig trucker ordered it: clearance lights, driveline parking brake, oil bath air cleaner, etc. On a 1/2 ton CST!