Freightrain

Making headway: Got the compound shifter bolted back on, new clevis pins and lubed up. The rod holes and the holes in the clevis' were slightly egg shaped but the new pins did help. Someday I'll maybe make new slide rods for the shifter and new rods going to the back box? Maybe. What I did should at least help.

Mid mount of transmission to the frame. This is what the top half of the bushing looks like. The lower half was literally nothing left. The bushing is upside down compared to its actual placement. That small pilot(what's left) went through the frame mount hole.

That's for when that 0.99 2 liter of Coke just isn't good enough for the party??

But..... Amazon has FREE SHIPPING!!!! I like Amazon, it's handy, but like anyplace you have to shop around! Same goes for Grainger, Mcmaster Carr, MSC, etc. They will be cheap for one thing, gouge your eyes out on other things. I've been contemplating a simple weld table for the garage since my work benches are always overflowing. I've found them for $50 to $200 depending on who's name is on it. Harbor Fraud is by far the cheapest so far.

Yup, Pacbrake has the knockoff version. Barry used to offer it on the Watts site, he emailed me the instruction sheet like 14 yrs ago. I bought some used Jacob brakes for my 237, and piece mealed it together. Found the throttle switch on Ebay cheap, the rest I made. It works well, in my usage.

Pretty sure it is 15 passengers for buses

What kind of visor. Lund used to make a plastic one, likely no longer available. There's been talk years ago about making a stainless visor, but no one has ever finalized that. I think about it constantly, but never get around to trying to fab something up. I have the equipment available to me, but just don't get started.

In Ohio, we were told that since we cross borders, we need med cars for our 1 ton. Plus all the other crap that goes along with it, DOT number, etc. We are just a machine shop, moving our own stuff to vendors. We now use a 1/2 ton pickup and a little tag trailer to help fly under the radar easier. Looks less "business like" then a stakebed truck. So goes the saying "looks like a duck, walks like a duck".....so now we try to be like a mouse! I guess you need to call your DMV and see what their take on it is(anonymously, being just someone that is looking for basic information). Maybe the officer is incorrect in his assumption. Though dealing with DMV might not go so well either? I think maybe the crossing state lines might have more to do with it then anything? Just my .02

Not a bad looking unit.

Found some Energy Suspension bushings that I can cut and make what I need. They make all kinds of body mounts stuff, that is what I used to put the bunk on my truck. Just coming up with the correct sizes, thus I may buy the universal stuff and make it fit.

What are you guys using on a B model? Mine are way gone and on the list to fix this winter. Watts doesn't list them anymore. I have no problem going to Summit Racing and buying polyurethane bushings to upgrade from rubber. 5/8" hole approx. 1" thick.

Yes, parts for the old Jakes are getting to be hens teeth. I had to go to Facebook to find the lash cap for early big valve stem 237. They are NLA from Mack. Sorry to say I blew a bunch more money then I should have getting these up to par. They do work well now.

Well, after 15 yrs of dealing with it, I thought I might tear into things this winter and try to make things work better. The first issue was the compound shifter had a horrible "buzz" to it while driving under power. I typically kept my hand on my knee and kept a finger pushed against the handle> Better, but a PITA. There was a horrible oil leak coming from somewhere up top. While pulling the handles off I realized it was the main stick gasket was no longer around and likely the cause of the constant drool down the sides of the transmission. I pulled the handles apart and found worn out pins, so I got new pin material and re-lubed everything and got it all back together: Notice lots of sludge everywhere. The compound shifter is outside the box, so it was the main stick that was making the mess. The pin areas of the shifters were worn, so I TIG'd them up a touch and then carefully ground them back to proper size. Starting to get them back together. The pivot pins are just tacked welded on both sides. I found the grease zerks and did get some grease into the compound shift rails. Though I have since pulled this shifter off the transmission as the shift rods going to the rear box are worn and sloppy too. So I have it all cleaned up now, need new 1/2" clevis pins and can put it back together. I have more pics, will get them downloaded later. The box is still pretty worn inside. Bearings, gear lugs, sliders. It stays in gear under power, but on decel it slips out. Even worse with the jakes on. I have to really hold main box handle in gear. I want something different, but that is for another winter. Here is the compound shifter box all cleaned up. I got new pins today, but can't get too dirty as I have party plans this afternoon. The box is aluminum, the holes aren't too worn from the shift rails rubbing on them for the last 50+ years with likely very minimum lubrication. That will change. The fresh pins will tighten up the sloppiness in the shifter rods and hopefully eliminate the annoying "buzz" running down the road. When I drove Dave McDonnell's B61SX dump in PA a few years ago, I commented to him how different his rebuilt Quad was to drive compared to my sloppy mess. His shifter was very tight and precise shifting. No wiggly-wobbly stuff going on. I hope mine is improved now!!(beyond the worn out gears inside).

David...I think you're holding back.........tell us how you really feel about Mack transmissions......................;)

Towing company I bought my B from had a big Autocar wrecker that was sold many years ago. It showed up on Facebook, someone posted a pictures of this beast sitting in a lot looking well worn. It is currently in Canada somewhere. I asked owner about it, it was sold because he couldn't keep a driver that knew how to drive something that old(three sticks, no power steering, etc).

Looks pretty solid!

Big fan of the paint jobs back then! Love those stripes.

Buddy and I stopped over at the Hill this past summer. They had some kind of eliminations going on(wasn't the big weekend like from that picture). We stayed and watched for a short time. The Akron Rubber bowl is right next door and they were in the process of tearing it down this summer. I haven't been over that way for a few months so don't any update.

From the stories I got from my sister, employees are hit and miss. She was HR over the Romeo Ford Engine Plant. Oh, the stories I heard.

That's called "fun on Friday" at the factory.

Welcome. AMT is re-releasing a bunch of old models. I know the R model is out, along with the Cruiseliner, plus many other brands. https://www.autoworldstore.com/product-p/amt1062.htm

^^This..........

At least you aren't in SC!! Geez, we don't have squat up in Ohio. Lucky us. Man cave is looking good! Buddy just started on his 40x60. Bad weather stopped him til spring. Got the drive in and ground leveled out. Foundation will wait til spring. Trusses will be delivered shortly. Not sure if he can have them hold til spring?

But it's "automatic" now. For any steering wheel holder to be able to use.

I hand drilled all my work when I stretched the truck. I did have a large, 3/4", gear driven, all alum CP drill from way back. It was a brute. While stretching the truck, I had it sitting on the frame....and it took a header and hit the floor. Busted the handle off with the trigger switch. Ugh. Old casting, not much to try to fix so I bought a new Dewalt 1/2" drill. It finished the job just fine. I drilled/reamed all my holes, except for the aux box mounts. I do remember having to deal with that crossmember above the box. That shot looking back, you can see the shift rails just below the crossmember with the notch on the bottom. Lucky me. I might have had to drop the centerline down on the box compared to the motor/trans centerline. So the angle of the box downward in the back looks worse because of the drop in height to clear the crossmember and keep the 3-4* down angle. The nuts on the front mounts kinda get into the lower frame rail channel just due to location. It's close, but works fine. As mentioned, no crazy vibrations and I've had it near topped out at 80+ mph with the 4.10 gears out back.