Jarhead Enterprises

We changed out the drive tires not long after this picture was taken - you are right all "tube" tires with 2 piece rims. I had a lot of tire changing experience in the USMC so it was not big deal - got them all changed out in one Saturday. 

THANK YOU to each of you that responded. I appreciate the quick response.

I am looking at making a "hobby" truck purchase. What insurance company can anybody recommend to insure this truck and what is a good rate. Not going to use it commercially.

WE have customers running the Mdrive in both direct and overdrive with the 2.64 rear end -not sure one is any better than the other.

They run 80,000 all day long with no issues mostly east of the Mississippi. 2.64 is the standard ratio with the MP8-445 SE Super Econodyne engine. Plenty of pull and great fuel economy. Sold over 250 of these setups in the last 5 years.

They are just going to wrap this one truck as far as I know. Mirrors are an acquired taste for sure but the visibility is great.

We have seen good results from both the M-Drive (and I-Shift). We have a number of fleets running the M-Drive in both the regular and HD versions.  One fleet runs 285 tractors hauling chemical tanks, one fleet runs 140 tractors hauling glass and we have two dry van fleets just took delivery of 10 each 2018 Mack CXU613 70" sleeper tractors with the MP8-445SE package. On the dump truck front, we probably have sold over 100 dump trucks in the last 2 years all with the M-Drive HD including over 20 to Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). I have one customer I sold 10 to last year who has had no downtime with this transmission. WE hardly keep any manual transmission trucks in the yard anymore and all our recent stock orders for both tractors and vocational trucks have been M-Drives and I-Shifts.

If you follow the SERVICE AT A GLANCE repair intervals you will see good results. Your local dealer can provide you with these service posters; We provide them with every new truck.

I am going up to see the new model at the dealer reveal event in early September. I never understood the issue with the sleeper cabs not being a stand up over the driver seat - you don't drive standing up!. People find a way to bitch, complain and find fault with everything these days. The current CXU613 70" bunk sleeper is a high-quality truck. I have a customer running the MP8-445SE package doing in excess of 8 mpg hauling consistently over 40,000 in the trailer. I don't see Mack using the MP10 anywhere in the USA going forward. The biggest offering will be the MP8-505.

All kidding aside Mack is gaining market share because the M-Drive is a game changer and the engine packages are much more reliable. WE have seen a dramatic decrease in the types of heavy engine work we were doing in our shops 4-5 years ago - becoming more of a challenge to keep our 24 technicians busy and productive. WE just became a Certified Volvo/Mack Uptime Center in February 2017 so hopefully that will channel more work our way.

WE specify Mack axles only on vocational trucks anymore - if I am specifying a day cab or sleeper tractor (Volvo as well) I specify Meritor axles, Meritor brakes, Meritor slack adjusters etc. WE have a very good relationship with Meritor and they do a good job on the product support side for us. If you go with the Eaton 13 speed make sure it will handle the 505 - Mack will not let you upgrade if the transmission is no capable. WE are seeing more disc brakes being specified with our larger fleet customers.

I would go 3.36 gears on this truck or maybe even 3.25. I am surprised you did not like the M-Drive - it is pretty much all I sell anymore - 445SE package with overdrive transmission, premium shifter, grade gripper and 2.64 gears. Plenty of power and torque to pull 80,000+. Disc brakes are becoming more accepted as the overall cost decreases. Staying below 460HP will save you significant $$$$ if you choose to be extended purchased engine and EATS coverage that I always recommend. Not a fan of the twin Y, there are other ways to save weight especially by reducing fuel capacity.

If I were your sales guy I would recommend the MP8-445 SE super econondyne package, premium shifter option with hill assist, 2.64 rears and as much aerodynamics as you are comfortable with - probably recommend a CXU613 vs a CHU. MP8 has better resale - plenty of HP/Torque to do what you need to do and being under 460HP your cost of extended warranty should you choose to purchase it will be significantly less vs the 505. I have sold over 150 Mack CXU613 70" sleepers with this exact setup - Customer pull 48k plus loads of glass over 48 states and Canada and the trucks are doing a great job. The M-Drive transmission WORKS and is covered by a 60 month / 750,000 mile warranty. 

Emissions are part of the industry - they are not going away. I advise customers to go with the MP8-445E engine with the M-Drive in overdrive configuration and premium shifter package with 2.64 or 2.79 rear end gears for over the road applications. Keep the horsepower under 460 and you will see significant savings on Purchased Coverages. I recommend the Mack Plan 2 with EATS and the HVAC coverage. Depending on how these coverages are structured your cost per mile will run out at less than $0.015. That is a pretty good value.

EVERY OEM and dealer wants to drive business back to the dealerships and it is the strategy of every OEM and dealer to do all they can to drive business back to the dealerships - I don't care if you sell trucks, cars, bulldozers or washing machines - the entire dealer network of any OEM would fail otherwise. Unless you have been a GM or a manager at a dealership you cannot really understand the high level of fixed costs, employee training requirements, dealer operating standards and daily expenses required to open your doors everyday. Customers and drivers are demanding truck dealers stay open extended hours to include nights and weekends - there are real costs to those demands and if the dealer cannot capture enough of the parts and service business the dealership will fail and close down. There is a reason you see growth in dealer networks and the reduction in 1 dealership owners - they simply cannot afford to provide the extended hours, amenities and service capabilities demanded in today's trucking business. Truck sales used to be the driving force of a dealership but not anymore. You MUST have parts and service to survive.

Our BIGGEST challenge with selling the M-Drive is trying to sell it to someone who has owned or driven any competitor truck with the Eaton autoshift or ultrashift transmission. I was Director of Maintenance and ran a fleet of 500 tractors years ago in Florida that was nearly 100% auto shift and they drove me nuts. The owner go so fed up they went back to sticks, but are now nearly 100% I-Shift. The Mack M-Drive/Volvo I-Shift are completely different components  designed to be specifically what they are; 12 speed automated shift manual transmissions. They were a clean white sheet design, not a reconfiguration, ad-on or retrofit of something else. Also they were designed to effectively communicate with the Mack and Volvo engines ECM's. The M-Drive is a 12 speed available in direct or overdrive rated to 2050 ft.lb. torque. The vocational version is the M-Drive HD available in 12, 13 and 14 speed configurations also rated to 2050 ft/lb. torque. Nearly 80% of all the trucks leaving the Mack factory today are M-Drives. The standard warranty is 60/750,000 and the clutch has a 36/350,000 warranty on new trucks. Drive one for yourself and make up your own mind.

Look at something with an MP8-445E engine and M-Drive with 264 or 279 rears - will pull fine and get good fuel economy.

The 2010/2014 emission engines with SCR technology are a much better investment to me than the 2007 emission engines which just used a DPF filter without SCR. They are superior in terms of fuel economy, service intervals (DPF cleaning is now scheduled at 400,000 miles as opposed to 250,00) and overall I think they are much more reliable.

You have to build and stock what your local markets demand in terms of both truck and body specifications. Our WE locations in Dayton and Cincinnati sell mostly 7 axle configurations for dumps. Around east Tennessee on a state or federal job you can haul about 13 ton legally on a triaxle. It would be nice if all the states could get on the same page in terms of hauling regulations. I still like the old weight regulation in Metro NY area where you could legally haul the GVW of the truck - love the look of a RD688SX with 58 or 65 bogies, 20k front and high sided 14-16' dump box or the older DM800 with the 23 front and 80 rear bogies. Those were real trucks that demanded real drivers. I still think all this bridge law stuff is garbage.

Tennessee is increasing enforcing the federal bridge laws especially on state and federal road jobs. WE are selling many more quads and quints than we did 6 years ago with more of our local dump and mixer customers at least partial moving away from triaxles and towards rigs with more axles to meet federal standards. This is especially true of operators that run into western NC.

I am originally from Upstate NY and spent 6 winters in snow plows. Tennessee gets maybe 3-4 storms a year with not a lot of snow - I have been in East Tennessee 6 years and the worst I can remember here in Knoxville is 5-6 inches which was gone in a week. These trucks have been designed to keep main roads clean and probably will do more sanding and salting than actual plowing.