Lmackattack

off topic. how is Norm doing. I have not spoken to him in a few years now. my last visit with him was probably 8-10 years ago now

the air pressure needs to be above 60 psi to be pushed in without it trying to pop out. I think the actual pop out psi is closer to 40 psi but I always wait until 60psi to push them in that aux valve needs to be traced to what its for. Like I said most R models had a blue vlave for tractor parking. If the yellow is pushed in first you had to make sure you pushed in the blue as well. In this photo the 3 valves from left to right..... trailer supply......truck trailer parking........tractor only park

I was one to always say keep it original and such but now im 20 years older and I feel that is not always the best advice anymore. These days I would recommend a air ride that is tried and proven. If a hobby truck Airliner is one of those options many have looked too simply for cost to buy used and cost of repair. Parts are easy to come by and the ride quality is good. only thing I would say is to make sure it has locking rears for when you are off road. If this is a dump truck you may look at Hendrickson HAS40K air ride for heavier speced axles I use to swear by camelback until I drove a properly speced air ride dump truck. The pete I was driving with air track / Locking rears was much better than the camelback I was use to. sure you could louse traction if you did not put the power divider in but if you locked in it would just walk thru just about anything. With macks auto power divider you never knew if the power divider was truly working or not and you still did not have a rear axle lock so at best you had 2 wheel power and 2 wheels spinning. with manual power divider and locking rears you have 3 wheels of power and only 1 can slip. But im getting off topic now. What ever you chouse just make sure you know what your buying but I suspect anything air ride will be better than the ryco spring suspension

I wonder if these modern 34k axles are diffrent than say 40k axles. If I recall right back In the R model days the 34k camelback was cast round tube and the higher capasity rears were welded square tube.

what is the aux valve you speak of? Most macks had 3 buttons blue= tractor only yellow= parking (both trailer and tractor) red= trailer air supply If you are dropping to 90psi when you push in a button Id check the tractor protection valve or the brake buttons first (Primarily the yellow and red buttons)

From what I see 34K camelback rears did not have transverse rod. everything over 34k I think did have one. Not sure on newer macks if they even offer 34k anymore? regardless the transvers rod deffenatly helped keep the axles aligned as now the axles had 3 points of contact to prevent side to side movement. the down side to the transverse rod is it puts alot of stress on the upper diff housing. some guys say over time it can make your diff bolts loosen up and thus leak oil. also your diff needs to have 4 holes drilled into it so that it can accept the bracket to recive one end of the rod. I think the rod is still better than not having one.

that would be interesting to see how it comes out . the R model hood is going to be too narrow for starters. Maybe a modified superliner would be a better starting point but you would still have to modify to hood to meet the cowl to look anything like a truck

Very cool truck. Definitely Looks like it was set up for a heavy spec. Those are older mack rear axles with newer style top load differentials. Never knew you could interchange them. If the stamped ratio is correct, that's a 7.00 ratio. You can check by lifting the rear up rotate drive shaft and count how many times the shaft turns to get the wheel to do 1 full rotation. Obviously all those aftermarket air assist steering and filter housings etc are add ons. It definitely has character and somebody enjoyed improving it thru the years.

I use to buy my 1/14 scale tamiya cabs from shapeways. Not sure if you can still buy from them?

Dan sent me a signed copy a few months back. It really was a great read about the movie and how it barely made it to the theaters.

I remember seeing a truck with wheelchare access and then years later, seeing a article about it. I thought it was bisom but could be wrong

Yes very early 80s had 2 valve 300 hp The 4v came out around 1983-84 if I recall

I might be. Dan Bruno asked me that same question.

I'm trying to recall my trip to walcott IA back in 2006? Did bisom truck lines have a cruiseliner or superliner set up so a disabled driver could enter and exit the cab. I know mike Harbison would know Thank you

I used a service truck crane. To remove and replace the heads as 1 assembly. Made life very easy Yes, I wire brushed all stud holes in the head. Pressure washed them and blow dry. All the stud holes in block were wire brushed and blown out after I cleaned the deck surface. All studs were wire brushed. Lowered heads on with 4 studs used as guides until the dowl pins located them. Then I put all studs in hand tight and backed off 1/2 turn. All studs were same hight. Bolted down so far so 👍

I decided to make a walk around video of the truck. Just a little bit of what i've done to it over the years. I'm gonna start making more videos of other truck related stuff I have. Subscribe to the new channel, if you'd like to see more. https://youtu.be/WLYYPPEpJNA?si=Sa-nvGi5nnHn4A1v

Yep I just pulled my 2v heads off about a month ago. Replaced the head gaskets and cleaned up the mating surfaces. Total cost was less than $100 in parts. Great help from people here.

https://youtu.be/WLYYPPEpJNA?si=aNrdX5jOmOGj8e_U

A CF686 denotes a 285 maxidyne. my truck is a RS786 with the same engine. A 300+ would be a CF612 Also a 285 hp usually had a 5 or 6 speed transmission as it was a high torque rise. where the 300+ needed minimum of 8 gears due to its shorter powerband

Not yet. Been busy. I will report back soon

My memory is fuzzy but I know the axle tubes from b models to R models are definitely different. For example a r model differential will not drop in a b model era housing. The spiders may swap over. Another thing to consider if your truck currently has camelback is just swaping in R model axles. It might be the same labor but you could get some 4:17 ratio and have a great highway speed now. Just a thought

Oh man.... and can you repair it in the truck or does the pump need to be pulled out?

Yes sir.

On my B model i tried puting a 24/24 chamber on but its very tight to the rim. I'd assume you would have the same issue. To get 30/30 chambers you Probably need spiders and S cams off a R model to get the cans away from the rims. Possibly re clock them so the cans don't hit the frame rail. That being said I have never tried to swap b and R spyders so not sure it will inter change?

Runs smoother than before. At idle it's much quieter. Knock on wood