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Old Age, Old Parts And Luck


vanscottbuilders

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Well, I feel old this week.

I fell down on the ice two weeks ago - a real classic, total surprise, feet straight in front of me, airborne crash.

For a couple of days, I felt fine. Then all of a sudden, I became a cripple for about a week. Had to cancel my

trip to Lake Placid this week (work) because a six hour car ride was definitely out of the question.

It's getting better - but real slowly it seems.

Anyway - because of the new found time in my schedule, I went searching for all of the seals and bushings

for my B-67 rear axle and brakes. All of these parts are obsolete from Mack.

What an education. And - surprise - total success!

Found an excellent local Mack parts guy at the dealer, after a disappointing first meeting.

And got some stuff from Barry at Watts. And FleetPride is in the mix too, for relining the brake shoes.

Whatever parts the local dealer (Beam Mack) could not get, they supplied me with a list of dealers nationwide

who showed that particular part in inventory. List was complete with contact names and phone numbers. Nice!

So, by Monday we should be back in action with the rear end assembly.

And, maybe I'll be able to move by then, too.

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Hey Paul,sorry to hear about your fall,but glad to hear you found all your parts. Ever thought about getting a pair of crampons?..and an ice axe? might come in handy up there.

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Tom,

Thanks for checking on those parts for me.

I feel pretty good about getting all of the parts from Mack, although

I'm sure NAPA or Fleetpride would be fine too - it's just that they do not recognize

most of the old Mack part numbers, so you have to take the old part in and

match it up to something.

Fleetpride is relining the brake shoes.

Good to know about "Bebo". There is no question that I will need some parts for one of these trucks.

Been snowing here pretty steady for a couple of days - probably 14 or 15 inches on the ground.

That helps with the falls - cushions the shock!

Paul VS

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Paul, while you were flying ass over tea kettle, did your entire life pass before your eyes? Did you remember your army training about how to fall down? My back still hurts every day from 25 years ago. I wasn't even going to get out of the house. We had such an ice storm the night before, and I had already called work to tell them not to expect me. I still had teenagers at home then, and between them and my wife, they had it so rev'ed up by about 9:30 I couldn't stand it. I am going to work I said. That was when my wife informed me that before I went anywhere, I had to go to the store for a gallon of milk a loaf of bread and several other items. Back at home, with a grocery sack in each arm I started across the drive. Whoooop, I didn't have time to think of anything, except why am I hurting so bad. I had two young hounds that had the run of the place, and to top it all off, thinking I was playing both of them piled on top of me. I couldn't beat them off, I couldn't move for 5 min. Needless to say I didn't make it to work that day or a full week either. I have no idea how people are brought up where you live. But here in the south it seems that women are conditioned from birth, to wait until the snow is on the ground to realize they are about out of Milk and bread. If they don't need anything at all, the guy they married can drive anything with wheels, and to prove it he has to go for something. Shucks, get well quick, James

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Hey Paul, there's a Fleet Pride in Lynchburg too. F.L.Moore and Sons gets a lot of parts from them. I ended up getting a 5" stack for the mixer from then and all the necessary adapters connect it to the 4" pipe.Then I made a bracket to put the old muffler guard over it so it would look sort of original anyway. Then I noticed 5" stacks piled up in every corner at the shop that drivers had taken off to put 6 or 8" ones on their truck that I could have gotten free.

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Paul, while you were flying ass over tea kettle, did your entire life pass before your eyes? Did you remember your army training about how to fall down? My back still hurts every day from 25 years ago. I wasn't even going to get out of the house. We had such an ice storm the night before, and I had already called work to tell them not to expect me. I still had teenagers at home then, and between them and my wife, they had it so rev'ed up by about 9:30 I couldn't stand it. I am going to work I said. That was when my wife informed me that before I went anywhere, I had to go to the store for a gallon of milk a loaf of bread and several other items. Back at home, with a grocery sack in each arm I started across the drive. Whoooop, I didn't have time to think of anything, except why am I hurting so bad. I had two young hounds that had the run of the place, and to top it all off, thinking I was playing both of them piled on top of me. I couldn't beat them off, I couldn't move for 5 min. Needless to say I didn't make it to work that day or a full week either. I have no idea how people are brought up where you live. But here in the south it seems that women are conditioned from birth, to wait until the snow is on the ground to realize they are about out of Milk and bread. If they don't need anything at all, the guy they married can drive anything with wheels, and to prove it he has to go for something. Shucks, get well quick, James
yeah,long as your bones don't start sounding like a hog eating hickory nuts when you walk-then you'd better go to the doctor.
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Paul, while you were flying ass over tea kettle, did your entire life pass before your eyes? Did you remember your army training about how to fall down? My back still hurts every day from 25 years ago. I wasn't even going to get out of the house. We had such an ice storm the night before, and I had already called work to tell them not to expect me. I still had teenagers at home then, and between them and my wife, they had it so rev'ed up by about 9:30 I couldn't stand it. I am going to work I said. That was when my wife informed me that before I went anywhere, I had to go to the store for a gallon of milk a loaf of bread and several other items. Back at home, with a grocery sack in each arm I started across the drive. Whoooop, I didn't have time to think of anything, except why am I hurting so bad. I had two young hounds that had the run of the place, and to top it all off, thinking I was playing both of them piled on top of me. I couldn't beat them off, I couldn't move for 5 min. Needless to say I didn't make it to work that day or a full week either. I have no idea how people are brought up where you live. But here in the south it seems that women are conditioned from birth, to wait until the snow is on the ground to realize they are about out of Milk and bread. If they don't need anything at all, the guy they married can drive anything with wheels, and to prove it he has to go for something. Shucks, get well quick, James
yeah,long as your bones don't start sounding like a hog eating hickory nuts when you walk-then you'd better go to the doctor.

James,

I had both of my dogs with me on leashes.

I must have hit the ground so hard, it scared them both because they didn't come near me for a minute or two!

And I did remember my "fall training" - about one second after I hit.

Hope you feel better.

Paul VS

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Tom,

Keep your eye on those 5" stacks.

I might need two - one each for the B-67 and H-63.

Apparently 4" systems are quite difficult to find, although I think

that Watts Mck has a 4" muffler, and I could probably have the 4"

pipe fabricated locally, if originality is a real question.

Thanks,

Paul VS

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Yeah I called every truck parts place from Richmond to Roanoke,and nobody had 4" stuff anymore. They said they could order it,but it might take a couple of weeks to get it. My muffler had a hole rusted through where the band went around it and I took it off thinking maybe I could weld a patch around it,but found it was so bad you could poke a hole through it with your finger most anywhere,so I had to do something. The muffler was open,no baffles in it at all,so I assumed the straight pipe wouldn't be that much louder,but that theory was way off for some reason-it's much,much louder!

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