ranchhopper

Went to Woodstock today with our head mechanic and another driver and drove one of the two CH trucks welch bros bought at an auction up there not bad trucks one with a 427 the other with a 350 neither had over 325,000 on the odometer. Not a fan of CH trucks but rode nice with full air ride aluminum wheels all the way around nice clean interiors the one I drove back was all set up to pull a powder wagon.

The biggest drawback was the light 10500 pound axle on the front of my truck I believe these parts will fit on a #12000 or larger axle.

The gunite people were the ones that gave me the incorrect hub number to begin with that is what that link is for mine didn't cross so I called the headquarters 50 miles west of me. I cant get a straight answer when I tell the parts guys the size of the bore of the bearings as to which axle they will fit that go into the hubs I have some parts guys that are great some that don't want to be bothered maybe its a time issue where they have better things to do. Fact is I now have two new hubs that wont work plus the studs that go into them about 650 dollars worth of parts which I stand to loose over a hundred dollars on with return shipping and restocking fees so the axle swap is more economical I should have done it that way to begin with and I would have been money ahead.

I have given up with dead ends and people who say they will call back and it never happens Im going to buy a whole front axle with piloted hubs next week an hour and half drive from here and I will be done with it.

I will give it a try thanks if all else fails the truck salvage yard in des moines has several take out axle beams for sale.

I have a dilemma I wanted to convert my front Dayton hubs to hub piloted front wheels I called gunite and told them my hub number and they came back with a HF819K hub for the conversion. I shopped around and got a great deal on the hubs they arrived and are the same size length wise but the bearings and races are considerably larger and wider. The new hubs take a 555S outer and a 6461A inner bearing which is for a considerably larger spindle where the old daytons took a bower 3877 outer and a bower 3982 inner bearing. My truck has a 10500 pound front axle which has a smaller spindle and bearing combination is there a place to find out which mack axle spindle uses these larger bearing combination where I could get a used axle beam instead of returning all these parts I cant believe gunite was so far off on their conversion. When I gave them the hub number cast into one of the spokes they even said it was their number they made the hub for mack and the HF819K hub was a direct replacement any suggestions here is a picture of the size difference between the outer bearings the smaller being the one off my truck.?

Maybe if they left him go alone he wouldn't come back we couldn't be that lucky.

I just checked and they are trying to find the wear plates that are missing there is a parts guy at mack who seems to like puzzles he has been very helpful in the quest for parts for this truck however long it takes he manages to find the pictures for me in an old crash book the body lines match the hood now like they are supposed to.

Check on gov deals they have a good number of nice old rigs come up for sale directly from the departments that own them.

I finally got a diagram you are right they never had rubber on them they are a guide but as the truck gets older the fiberglass has a tendency to sag inward with the weight of the fenders and the hood rubs the firewall. I bought some one inch rubber pads and cut them to fit and bolted them on they look like they could have been stock the hood rides perfect now also the top rubber rests were a little worn so I shimmed them the hood rides perfect like the thing just left the factory. In all the years I drove a truck this was one of my pet peeves not keeping the hood adjusted right so every time you hit a bump the hood wouldn't slam into the firewall creating an irritating banging while I drove down the road not to mention the damage it does to both the hood and firewall.

Heres a picture of what I have on my truck I assume at one time the lowers had some kind of rubber grommet or bumper on them they may be the same as whats on a superliner.

I would like to buy a set of 22.5 aluminum wheels for the front of my truck they don't have to be pretty I can polish them out myself as long as they are not badly scratched or have dings all over them.

Kind of like waste management and the garbage business.

That had crossed my mind too.

Those western trucks were hauling from ozinga-Hampshire last week.

Im trying to find a set that mounts to the back of the cab .

Im trying to find a P/N mack dealers around here have a tough time with anything over 10 years old.

Yes it did had everything the same as mine 237 with a five speed also had the older style buds wheels in the front Im looking for the brackets that bolt the stacks to the cab like that one had so I can do the same to this one.

Yes it did it was owned by an oil company in elgin that's where he bought it from now its shanahans low boy truck.The hood bumpers I need come off the lower cowl over the battery boxes they are like the CH design but are different shorter and flatter.

Thanks appreciate the tip Im having a hard time finding replacement rubber for the lower hood supports right now.

Im in need of a couple pictures of the lower hood rests on a RS700L truck the steel part is still there but the rubber is gone they look like they might be like the lower hood rests that peterbuilt uses. If I can get a picture I can make new rubber pieces but need to know what they look like first I have been busy polishing up all the aluminum on the truck these will be next on the list.

Yep that's where he did it I drove the truck all day just a bit of pull to the right no worse for wear after its ordeal I did start calling it the general lee this morning.

Im sure it wont be like it was when I drove it this spring for a day.

They are hard at work putting the RB I used to drive and the trailer back together sorry no pics but the driver missed the stop sign at a T intersection in the fog Saturday with a load on and dropped into a narrow four foot deep ditch on the other side dropped in and bounced into and over the other side and went through to fences before coming to a stop in a field. Any other truck in our fleet would have lost the front axle this has a 20000 front and 44000 rears hitting the other side of the ditch destroyed the bumper and when the bumper came up messed up the hood they had to heat the bumper brackets to bend them down again. the trailer had one of the saddles ripped off that keep the frameless trailer aligned going down the road also had to replace the steering wheel as it was cracked by the driver slamming into it I hear I might be the lucky guy who has to haul gravel with it tomorrow.

Im kind of used not having power steering been driving around 2 1/2 ton military trucks for years but being three years away from the big 60 it doesn't get any easier.