dmlinton

Thanks, fxfymn. The VIN is, indeed, on the registration, which is now in my name. Wasn't sure if that as enough info. I will get the request and "fee" out this week.

I have not put in a request to the Mack Museum yet. How does one go about doing that? I checked the museum web site but do not see a page of details they need or a form. The only identification tag I have found is on the passenger door but I understand that it may not be reliable. I cannot find the chassis or rear end tags but there is a lot of gunk in some places that may be hiding them. I have to find out precisely where to look and then go mining for the tags.

Yabbut, she's got absolutely zero brakes. Now, I have driven enough of these old trucks to know that it would probably rather sit still than go once the clutch is released but, although with the terrain around here, I can guarantee she'd stop with a quarter mile (and maybe change direction), but I don't really want to find out until I have brakes ... just in case. Of course, I could just turn the key off if things got spooky. I do actually rather suspect that she will be running by Sunday evening. Would have been tomorrow evening but came across another crawler (JD 440C) that will take about 4 hours round trip to check out and that will start to make my collection JD pre-industrial series of crawlers almost complete. Don't have an MC but have a MTW and don't have a 430C but there were so few of them made that even if I could find one, I doubt I could afford the purchase price.

Thanks, Maddog. It all makes sense now. First thing to replace is the vacuum tank - it turns to dust pretty well wherever I poke it with my finger.

I need some help understanding the braking system on my B-30. First off, it does not have air brakes, there is no compressor. However, there is copper tubing that looks like it could be deliving a vacuum to what I would otherwise call the air tank. This "air tank" or vacuum?? tank is located inside and below the left rail just behind the cab. Above the tank is some sort of gizmo that is connected to the "air tank" and has a lot of hoses and tubes connected to it (I know I sound lke my girlfriend trying to describe what I see). This gizmo is inside the left rail (see pic below). To complicate, there is a control on the right side of the steering column opposite the turn signal switch that looks like some sort of air control. Copper tubing that appears associated with the tubing to the "air tank" appears to have been connect to this control but has been disconnected and plugged - there are two tubes coming up the steering column ending in opposite ends of a tee. The branch of the tee is plugged. The brake pedal will go to the floor with no resistance. There is the usual parking brake lever to the right of the gear shift which, when applied, seems to produce a barely detectable drag on the rear wheels. Notice the pillow bearing in the PTO shaft. Wonder if this can be done an newer trucks because .... yep, its wood. About 4"x4"x2" thick with a shaft size hole at the center. It was probably needed when the truck went from milk truck duty, where the PTO ran the loading pump, to dump truck duty where the PTO needed to extend back to the hydraulic pump beside the scissor hoist. Folks want to know why I didn't leave that ugly old dump body behind. I point out 45 feet, or so, of heavy channel in the rails (price that stuff lately?) ... and then I point out that there is a scissor hoist of at least 10 ton plus a hydraulic pump under there. Folks just say, "Oh". Utilized properly, that ugly old dump body is probably worth a good deal more than I paid (just under scrap price) for the whole truck, which I paid $400 to have it hauled 60 miles home.

I got the ol' girl home yesterday. No brakes at all. Clutch pedal stuck down. Construction guys giving us the thumbs up on our way by. I didn't like the spot I had parked it yesterday so was wiggling it into a better spot with my JD 420 crawler loader. Anyway got a brain storm as the old crawler found the truck a handful in neutral so figured I didn't have enough power to hurt anything. Pulled the clutch pedal up and shift trans into highest gear it would slip into easily, which turned out to be 4th. Checked the cooling fan position and jumped on the crawler and gave her a push. Wheels didn't slide and fan was in different position. Therefore, there is at least some clutch there, which I figured because the guy had been hauling a 2000 Imp. gal water tank with it, and the engine is free. Next step, because starter has broken bendix spring, is to jack up one rear wheel, install a flat belt from tire to pulley on my 1952 John Deere MTW (it should make a pretty good little starter), set him in motion, jump in the truck and see if she will start. There are, of course, a bunch of other checks like oil levels and coolant to check before doing any of this. Owner said he could get over 60 mph of it going downhill loaded (up to 2000 Imp gals of milk). Calculated the speeds given TR-73 direct, lowest ratio (5.37) rear end and 10.00x20 tires and, indeed, she could hit 62 mph at 2800 RPM. The upside is that she should cruise along at 50-55 mph at a reasonably sane RPM (2250-2500 RPM). In another development, I looked at a 1992 Navistar 4900 w/DT466 and 6 Plus transmission. Checked around and can buy this truck for less than the same motor and trans just pulled out of a truck. This could be a repower option to help insure that that Mack is going to run so well that I will feel very bad pulling the original engine out.

Hmmm. Guess a guy would have to get highway tractor and a lowboy rig. Oh, well, if a guy had to have a B61 or something, well ....

If the owner's spend some money on promotion, propose that if they give you the truck, you will restore it complete with company logo as a promotion vehicle with, of course, the "o/o jpavao" just so as everyone is clear who owns it and put that old good guy back in such nice condition. Can you legally drive one of these trucks down a public road?

Does anyone collect these kind of trucks. This is a Mack and may be a model LR. The owner says he going to get it running this weekend. It will be interesting to see how that goes. Could be fun truck to have around. All 15 ton of it.

Now, there, I have learned something new today - I did not know that torque/hp/RPM charts existed to identify optimum operating points for trucks - sort of like pump curves for trucks. I have no idea where to start looking for such a chart. I think I will probably just wait until I have the truck home and running and figure things out from there. It may be that it is already set up such that I can at least keep up with traffic on the highway. If not, I know what my options are to look for equipment to make it so that it will.

Hdmmm, don't know how I managed to post this again. Could an admin delete this copy?

The Mack literature I have found for the B-30 so far gives (max?) torque rating at 1400 RPM and max horsepower at 2800 RPM. Would 1400 be on the low end of shifting RPMs and 2800 on the upper end? Disregarding speed and transmission/rear end ratio considerations, about what RPM would that EN331 be happiest at cruising down the highway? The reason I am asking is that I have been working out ground speeds for the various combinations and permutations of transmissions, rear ends and tire sizes for the B-30P. Wish I had the truck home or had at least known enough to get the transmission and rear numbers when I looked at it. Calculation results are fascinating - one of the first things that occurred to me is that a buyer would really need to have a had a thorough understanding of what he was going to haul and what the conditions would be as it would otherwise be easy end up with what appeared to be a gutless wonder or a speeding snail. At 2800 RPM with the standard issue 9.00x20 tires, top speed would for the TR-85 trans with highest drive axle reduction (8.68) would give a top speed of about 34 mph. Same transmission with two speed drive axle (8.28 & 6.00) would allow top speed of about 53 mph. Interestingly, the standard TR-73 transmission with the lowest drive axle ratio (5.37) would allow for nearly 60 mph while the optional TR-730 (overdrive) transmission and lowest drive axle ratio would have allowed for nearly 70 mph. This all assuming, of course, that the truck did not either run out of horsepower or get to its destination or stop signs before it got up to those speeds. Thing is, I don't think 2800 RPM would be the happy cruising speed for that engine. Maybe 2400 or 2500 RPM? I need some expert guidance here as I work out what my options might be in restoring my B-30 while keeping it within the realm of what a B-30 could have been upon seeing its first light of day.

The Mack literature I have found for the B-30 so far gives (max?) torque rating at 1400 RPM and max horsepower at 2800 RPM. Would 1400 be on the low end of shifting RPMs and 2800 on the upper end? Disregarding speed and transmission/rear end ratio considerations, about what RPM would that EN331 be happiest at cruising down the highway? The reason I am asking is that I have been working out ground speeds for the various combinations and permutations of transmissions, rear ends and tire sizes for the B-30P. Wish I had the truck home or had at least known enough to get the transmission and rear numbers when I looked at it. Calculation results are fascinating - one of the first things that occurred to me is that a buyer would really need to have a had a thorough understanding of what he was going to haul and what the conditions would be as it would otherwise be easy end up with what appeared to be a gutless wonder or a speeding snail. At 2800 RPM with the standard issue 9.00x20 tires, top speed would for the TR-85 trans with highest drive axle reduction (8.68) would give a top speed of about 34 mph. Same transmission with two speed drive axle (8.28 & 6.00) would allow top speed of about 53 mph. Interestingly, the standard TR-73 transmission with the lowest drive axle ratio (5.37) would allow for nearly 60 mph while the optional TR-730 (overdrive) transmission and lowest drive axle ratio would have allowed for nearly 70 mph. This all assuming, of course, that the truck did not either run out of horsepower or get to its destination or stop signs before it got up to those speeds. Thing is, I don't think 2800 RPM would be the happy cruising speed for that engine. Maybe 2400 or 2500 RPM? I need some expert guidance here as I work out what my options might be in restoring my B-30 while keeping it within the realm of what a B-30 could have been upon seeing its first light of day.

True, never driven a B model. Growing up on the farm, Dad had an Dodge ex-dump truck with a flat head six and four speed (3 speed really because one was bull low). Farmers seemed to end up with these old dump trucks for some reason and always seemed to end up with a teeter totter of sorts in order to get enough platform to carry some kind of load. Later, after my brother and I took over the farm, we had an International Transtar 1800 ... yep, ex-dump truck. It had 5+4 and a gas engine. I know about trying to get these old trucks to move. That ol' Dodge sure instilled a healthy respect for proper load distribution. In the Hills of Northumberland County, Ontario, where I grew up, there is no such thing as level ground - you are either going up grade or down grade. With only a 4 speed trans, there were an aweful lot of grades where you ended up in bull low to get over the top. Shift timing had to be good when going for bull low because you had to be all but stopped to get her to shift. If you ended up stopped, getting moving without the front end threatening to become airborne was quite a sobering experience. I learned to operate the brake and throttle pedals simultaneously with one foot.

Well, yes, sliding - a fixed position would not leave a driver many options. I guess maybe what I am trying to get at is, with a sliding fifth wheel, is it any kind of customary to re-position it depending on what is being hauled? And, if so, how the positioning is determined. I presume that any sort of routine fifth wheel repositioning would be largely the domain of heavy haulers. I doubt if the pros do it the way I do with my RAM 2500, which is to move the load up the trailer until just before the truck sets level, which tells me I have about the max weight of just over a ton on the gooseneck ball or fifth wheel plate, whichever I am using.

I am definitely not an expert in such matters but I think the acid test in your case would be whether your tractor ever gets light (real easy to steer) on the front end when launching up a steep grade or pushing the limits of your rig's acceleration capability. You are pulling a very light trailer for a B61 so I doubt that it matters in the least where your fifth wheel is as long as it is not behind the drive axle.

My question follows from some of the discussion at http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?/topic/36019-ontario-1955-b-30-fully-restored-seen-on-kijiji-big-bucks/#entry249042. I am not a professional trucker so my question my seem a little basic to some. How is the fifth wheel positioning normally determined? I know that load distribution and axle weights become more important as the vehicle axle ratings and/or licensed gross weight is approached. Do drivers do a calculation to determine fifth wheel position to ensure proper load distribution over front and rear tractor axles or do they refer to a chart for their rig or do they follow dimensions set out in a regulation or is it more a rule of thumb sort of thing?

Interesting info, Joe. That cab and chassis weight is very useful as I am having some fun finding a way to get my B-30 home without breaking the bank. If I remove the dump body before moving, the truck will weigh less than the crawler I hauled home with my brother's 7 ton goose neck and my RAM 2500 the other week. I'll just have to make two trips but it's only 60 miles, or so. The loaded weights are getting a bit confusing though. From B-30 specs in the Wiki, it appears that the B-30P would have a GVWR of around 25,000 lbs. My truck has an old sticker on the driver's door reporting Registered GVW at 32,000 lbs, which is just 3,000 lbs less than the GCW of 35,000 lbs you note for the B-30T. I think GVWR and GCW are synonymous, right? Maybe in bygone days, the truck licensing depended only on how much license one was willing to buy without too much regard for the manufacturer's rated capacities?

Thanks for that, Bigdogtrucker. I'm doing a bit of crash course in old Macks and getting an idea of values is part of that. I have been wanting a '50's era truck for a long time to go along my interest in John Deere crawler's and wheeled ag tractors of that era. I never really expected to get a Mack - figured only a Chev or maybe a Ford would be affordable on my limited budget. I feeling a bit like I've won a lottery ... and that I have some learning to do.

Good catch there, Maddog13407. I thought it was just my eyes playing tricks on me (they don't work so well anymore). Seems odd that someone would install the fifth wheel incorrectly on any truck never mind a restoration.

So I set up an RSS feed to let me know about anything Mack being offered on Kijiji here in Ontario. This morning I spied a fully restored B-30 tractor at an asking price of $50,000 CAD ($45,896 USD). It is located near London, Ontario. Nice looking truck but I am more curious about the price tag. Is $50,000 anywhere near a fair price? I am having challenges envisioning how someone could invest that much in a restoration unless there is $10,000 or $15,000 in there for, "Look, it is all ready for you to hit the road and show off". What would the price tag have been on this truck when new in 1955?

The ad seems to be changing - now offering truck, trailer and tires as three separate items. $6000+ appears to be what he is looking for out of the truck alone.

Thanks guys. It was a long shot. Afraid I know little about Mack engines. Anyway, still leaning heavily toward keeping my B-30 original.

Came across a 220 Cummins with turbo and Jake reportedly "out of a B model". What B models would that engine have been used in? Would it be suitable to swap into my B-30? Any challenges connecting my 5-speed transmission to it? I presume this engine might produce a lower top speed than the original EN331? Thoughts?

I saw this on Kijiji this evening. Not sure what to make of it. Weird that if the guy knows what he has why he isn't posting an asking price, why he isn't posting the model and why he did not do a much better job on the pics. What to you guys think? $6,000+ seems a little steep to me. No, I am not thinking of buying it. Apparently it is modified in that it has a larger motor than the original. The truck's in Gravenhurst, Ontario. Here's a link to the ad: http://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-image.html?adId=600352746ℑ=1&enableSearchNavigationFlag=false