mattb73lt

I wish there was a straight forward process for registering a vehicle in Connecticut. I put the requirement of the DOT number exemption in the same category as the Affidavit requirement I was asked to produce. I have several friends that had to get the DOT exemption, prior to receiving a registration, but on both my trucks I was never asked to produce one. That was as recently as 2023 for the B73. My fall back whenever asked to produce some sort of documentation, is to ask for the statutory requirement for such. Then ask for a supervisor for clarification on where the requirement exists if it cannot be resolved with that clerk. Many times they can't define the requirement as it's just what they've been told and can't be backed up in black and white. DMV requirement have changed over the years, mostly with vehicle inspections leading to just a VIN verification, and I've stated the requirements as I've experienced them to register a former commercial vehicle with Classic Vehicle plates in Connecticut. I would be curious as to what you actually experience and if they provide you with written documentation requirements? If you do make any phone inquiries prior to going to DMV, please tell us the context of those conversations and the statute references if they exist? That would certainly be helpful as a guide for helping people in similar situations going forward. As always, I try to be pleasant during exchanges with DMV, whether in person or over the phone. The person I spoke with over the phone was able to confirm my requirements was very helpful in getting my truck registered. There was still some confusion with the clerk and supervisor at the counter. But, after some back and forth, I did walk away with my registration and plates. Matt

Egge Machinery Company for pistons and rings. (egge.com) Manufacturers of custom pistons rings and many other internal parts. Olson Gaskets for all the hard to find head gaskets. (olsonsgaskets.com) Many NOS and new gaskets in stock Both companies are excellent with their products and helping customers. I've used them both over the years.

Wow, that one is nice, great paint. The cab is a lot different. It appears to be a standard truck cab, with the necessary fire truck add ons. The truck you pictured has a much widened and contoured cab.

405A 1019, that's off the door. I haven't verified it off the frame yet.

That's too bad. I think I was only there for about 15 minutes total, barely time to finish the last few swigs of my coffee, and they were done. The guy walked out put it on and walked away.

Picked up the B73 a couple of weeks ago from storage. Needs service and a big cleanup, still. Still tweaking little things with it. Added some seat belts to it. Re-did the bumper nickname "KRACKERJACK" in vinyl letters after the painted letters proved a lot less durable than I hoped. It was a gamble doing it, but the trip home from Macungie last year in the rain gave it a real beating. Just had it put on this morning at a local sign shop and it took barely five minutes to do. I actually think it looks better and stands out more than the old sign. Been busy with a lot of other projects over the winter, like managing a project for my employer with recommissioning a 1953 Mack fire truck to roadworthy status. Just mechanical and electrical work until he figures out what he wants to do with it. Took on my cousin's '54 M38A1 for some mechanical work. I generally don't work on other people's vehicles, but he begged me and threw some cash at me to do it. Mostly finished all the work on the '41 ford cruiser for the CT State Police Museum and it had several big reveals over the St. Patrick's Day parades, participating in some big ones in Hartford and New Haven. Lots of coverage of it for the museum. So all my hobbies are keeping me busy while i still work on call for a great employer at this point in my life. I can't wait to see what shows I can make it to this year!!

I'm planning to go, but I never know until last minute.

Looks awesome!!

Great news, sounds awesome!!!

Matt Pfahl's shop just rebuilt three AB engines and transmissions for trucks the Nuss shop is restoring.

Haggerty for all my vintage vehicles. I've had J.C. Taylor and a few others, Haggerty has been the most responsive and has the fewest restrictions.

The ENDT 673 was used to repower the M54 series of military 5 ton trucks during Vietnam. I've see pictures of a marine version of the END673 installed in a boat, so I believe there was a marinized version of it and I think some earlier engines, too, were installed in marine applications.

I've been using Shell Rotella 15W40 in both my trucks and have switched my older cars (T's, V8, Caddy and M715) to it also.

That's the same valve body I have as your's and HarryS'. I'll have to look through my paperwork, but I made copies of the installation and plumbing routing from a maintenance manual I borrowed to install it. I'm going off memory, I recall it did say Garrison. As for the Ross unit, like Sheppard, that was a power steering box rather than an add-on assist unit. I've seen some that have a Ross Power Steering logo horn button on various make trucks. I know there's some casting numbers and IN/OUT markings on it, maybe a part or assembly number, but I don't recall seeing Garrison or an ID tag on the valve body. My pump was a Vickers unit I sent out for overhaul that had an integral reservoir bolted on top of the pump. I just went through my photo archives and I took copies of the plumbing from what looks like a Mack maintenance manual. I have a pic of the rebuilt and installed pump. The only picture I have of the valve body was from the donor truck, covered in grease and dirt. But, that picture also shows the steering arm limit stops that I grabbed and installed, too. I do have a picture of it hanging up after I painted it.

Could it be a Garrison assist system using a Ross piston? The control unit looks like the one I installed on my B73. I had both units rebuilt by a local hydraulic shop, made up the lines myself.

That looks fantastic!! WOW!!!

Getting back to the original question, will it fit? Yes and no. If it is the larger 72 series bell housing on both than yes as they are the same standard SAE size. BUT, there are two different bell housings and there is one for a single and one for a double disc clutch arrangement. A double disc arrangement was fairly common on the Quadraplex as it was the heaviest transmission offered. It also had a rear crossmember to support the weight of the transmission. An easy telltale between the two is the bolt arrangement around the bell housing, there's a 1" difference in thickness in the bolt bosses and length of the bolts. This also pushes the entire transmission back 1" to allow for this clutch. This leads to another issue in mounting the transmission to the frame mounts. You'll need offset mounts on the transmission to match up the mounts on the frame or you can re-drill the frame to move everything back. There could be another issue if the transmission in the B85 is the smaller 67 series, but that doesn't sound like what you have currently installed. My suggestion as you get into this, is dig into what you have and get all the archive info you can from the Museum that you can. Next, get all the info you can directly of both gear boxes you have. What's in the truck may not be what was installed at the factory. There's a stamped pad on the left side of the main box of the transmission, aft of the cast Mack emblem that has "Made with Tetrapoid Gears"(or something close). Clean that off and get all the numbers off it. Also, don't go just by the shift plate installed in the cab as to what is installed. The duplex would start with something like TRD-72 or TRD-720, the Quadraplex will be TRQ-72 or TRQ-720. That extra zero means it's an over gear(overdrive) transmission, 9 vs 10 speed. In the case of the Quadraplex, double overdrive, 18 vs 20 speed. There are other versions of both transmissions, like adding an X to the TRD, which makes it a TRDX deep reduction transmission or an L, which means it's a lightweight version with aluminum boxes. There's a lot of little things that without asking questions and educating yourself can cause a lot of headaches and wasted time trying to fit things together that won't go or mount up. Is this really difficult, no, it's actually pretty simple. Once you know what you have and what you're looking at. Picking the right components and making them work together is fairly straight forward. Asking questions here can be very helpful as many of us have been messing around with these trucks for a long time. Post some pictures of what you have and ask away. It'll save you a lot of time and aggravation.

Klixon C Series Thermal Circuit Breaker, available from 5 to 40 Amps. I found mine online after doing a search. Prices do vary a bit for them. I forget where I sourced them, but they're readily available.

Is that the air intake hose? Napa would be my first go to. I used a piece of aircraft SCAT tubing for my intake hose on my B73, as it was missing along with the whole engine. It's available in many different sizes and colors. Not too expensive, wire reinforced silicone impregnated fiberglass tubing. It has a lot of uses, fire resistant. Just google SCAT tubing and a lot of sources will come up.

Congratulations on the acquisition of your dream truck. Looks like some good bones to start a great project. Matt

I like the original look, but I always intend to drive my trucks. Sometimes very far from home. Reliability, safety and comfort are big considerations. Tires/rims(radials, 22.5/24.5 sizes), maxi brakes, air ride or spring ride seats, spin-on filters. I've built them to do what I need them to do and to go places and haul my other cars to events and tours. I try to make them nice, but as they're going to get used, they're not perfect. Upgrades to electrical systems like alternators and 12V starters are all geared for repairs on the road, just in case. Getting stranded away from home is a concern, so I try to update things that are common over the counter parts. I also carry some spares with me that might be hard to get, water pumps, small parts, things that might be hard to get on the road. I'm not big on a lot of chrome, but I do add some and try to keep them close to period looking.

As HarryS said, Houdaille lever shocks. Lever shocks were quite common starting in the late 1920's. Mack had the largest ones I've ever see. They are rebuildable but very expensive to have done. I think Apple Hydraulics is up to $450 each from a quote I got several years ago when I was doing my B73. I had several pairs I had collected off trucks I parted out. I picked the best two that didn't look liked they leaked and used them. They are adjustable for resistance. I worked the back and forth from the least resistance to the heaviest, then set them back to the original setting. As for fluid, I used some 600W rear end grease/oil for a Model T. It was the heaviest viscosity oil I could find, plus I had a fresh quart on the shelf for my T's. If there's no real issues (leaks) I'd just clean them up and reuse them. BTW, my B42 never had them on it, no shocks at all on the front axle. I always thought that was weird as it must have been an option on lighter trucks.

A few old D'Addario dumps. These had several lives after being sold off. I found several laying together in Rocky Hill in a yard on the edge of the Connecticut river in the late '90s early 2000's. They were being picked over for parts, no noses on them, lots of parts gone from the twin turbo V8's, but the HI-HO bodies were still on them.

I've done this several times and I believe 73-10 Ohms should be correct for the sender. A quick google search says that's the range for the Stewart-Warner fuel gauge sender to make the gauge work. The other range is 240-30 Ohms. The Stewart-Warner Technical sight says 73-10 for the 82342 gauge unit. Now you just need to get the right length sender for the tank. They all come with some adjustment to calibrate the sender to the tank.

Just to add a little more to this and several have mentioned it, but a Sheppard unit would be another option. Certainly a power steering box from another truck could be modified to fit and some have done that. From what I have seen, the Sheppard unit came in two sizes for B models, large and small. These were bolt in units that used a cut off and modified B model steering column with a u-joint at the bottom to mate to the box. The smaller one was for lighter trucks and the lager unit was for B61's and up. Old timers have called this "In the box Power Steering" compared to the add on units like Garrison and Air-O-Matic. This style to me is the best. Both units dramatically ease the efforts of steering and maneuvering loaded trucks in tight quarters. Someone may have one of these units available if you ask around. They are more rare and harder to locate nowadays. I lucked out and came across a large one when I bought 1/2 a B61SX 10 wheel dump to get the transmission for my first restoration and conversion to diesel of a B42. I didn't even know it was there until I disassemble the truck. Funny thing was, I didn't end up using the transmission, but all the little parts and mounts were invaluable to the swap. Once I got the correct pump and reservoir set up for it, it steered like a car. Loaded or empty, standing still on pavement it only takes one finger to move the wheel lock to lock. It really steers that easy. I added a Garrison unit to my B73 restoration and while it's a very good assist, it doesn't compare to the Sheppard box. Since L's are not that dissimilar to B's it wouldn't be difficult at all to add some sort of steering assist to your truck, like the Garrison unit HarryS offered up. Good luck and keep us informed of what path you take? It always adds to the general knowledge of the group.