ciw65

I have mentioned in my introduction I had a White 4000 that I stripped and rebuilt. Here are 2 pics I have on disc from the article done in Big Rigs in June, 2002. Background is it was bought in Melbourne for $15,000 in about 1996, by a mate of mine, hooked onto a trailer loaded with steel pipe, and driven back to Adelaide. Then she was parked in "the shed" (workshop) and slowly stripped back to bare chassis rails, which are full double rails. The rebuild took around 6 years all up and in excess of AU$80,000 (that's when we stopped counting). She came with a 335 Cummins small cam, 15 speed direct road ranger and 4.11 rockwell SQHD diffs on long tail hendrickson and a day cab. During the rebuild she transformed into a 400 Big Cam III/IV American import hybrid (BC IV pump, injectors, turbo and heads on a BC III block), 15 speed o/drive, same rear end but rebuilt and a 30" low line bunk. The cab was completely stripped bare and rust cut out and new steel welded in, new reinforcing plates made for the air cleaner mounts, 6 coats of "Stark White" 2 pack paint inside and out. All the cab lining and upholstery was redone with original brown vinyl where we could get it, except the bunk which was slightly wider embossed stripe as the original style is unavailable now days. Think we stripped about 4 old 4000/9000/road bosses interiors at the truck wreckers to get one good interior. The drivers seat was replaced with a rebuilt high back bostrom air seat. The panels in the dash were replaced with new laser cut stainless steel plates, cover in imitation woodgrain. Every piece of wiring, air line, fuel line, tubing, plumbing, pipe, hose, fitting, nut, bolt, washer, clip, rubber, bush, you name it was replaced with new items, and stainless fittings used where possible. The old cab supension spring was turfed out, and we designed our own air bag system with shockers. The doors you will notice from the handles are not original. Again U.S import white/western star doors. So the right hand door handle is nice and tight, not worn and rattly like most drivers door handles here. All door and window rubbers are brand new. The bunk was from the wreckers, off an International S line originally, with a "letterbox" opening. Turned the back of the cab and bunk into a "Walk through" size. Bunk was de-skinned, and rusty frame parts cut out and new steel welded in. 3/8" plate was welded into the frame on the back wall top and bottom both sides and drilled and tapped to take the exhaust mounts on the outside. All bearings were replaced as well as seals. suspension was completely rebushed and pinned front and back. A new crossmember was made to replace the original one over the drive axles, as it was slightly twisted. New lights all around, custom made polished aluminium checker plate side skirts under the cab as well as so much else I can't remember. When finished on her maiden run she pulled a tautliner with 24 tonne of steel to Pt. Augusta, and a flat top loaded with power poles back to Adelaide without a hitch. Couple of blokes in more modern gear with big horsepower still have gravel rash scars on their chins after we passed them.......going uphill!!! Unfortunately (yeah, right) the truck never came with a speed limiter, and somehow it was one job that got overlooked. Oh naughty us..... Speedo on a White of that vintage (1974) only goes to 125 km/h. The needle had been known to go past there after she was run in........ occasionally Unfortunately, economics and the sky rocketing price of fuel triggered my common sense button which said she had to go after 18 months or so of work. I have seen her out on the highway since then, still getting along quite merrily, but the new owner has put in an 18 speed o/d trans now, only because he had one lying around and prefers the ability to split gears. He admitted to me one day that he has had a "play" with her when it was safe, and with the 18 speed trans, says she is good for about 139 km/h. Not bad for an old jigger. Hence the name on the bug deflector. Unfortunately, the pics are only scannned from the Big Rigs article, so not the best quality.

Hi again all, found the only 2 pics I have of the White I have on disc. The rest are "real" photos so will have to get around to scanning them. These are from the big rigs article. http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?showtopic=3496 This link will take you to the story about the truck in the "other makes" section.

just to clarify things a little, as someone who works on these Titans and Superliners, the only real difference apart from cosmetics and price tag, is the GVM. The Titan is available to be specced up to 240 tonne GVM, where the Superliner is up to 180 Tonne GVM. Basically its all in the chassis rails used. One of my customers has one of each, both triple rated, both rated at 180 tonne GVM, and both with 550 hp Signatures, both with Maxitorque 18 speeds and same rear ends. Cab interiors are near identical, and both have the same 42" integrated sleepers. The chassis rails in the Titan are much heavier though, therefore pushing up tare weight. Nearly 800 kg difference between both trucks. So obviously the Titan gets the dirt road, rough as guts work, although the Superliner used to do it. And not too many Superliners I know of get used on Bdouble work as they are too long, and therefore the trailer length has to be sacrificed to stay inside the 25 metre rule. More the domain of your Trident, or more commonly K104 Kenworth, purpose built here for the B double market. I still think the "new" Titan is ugly as sin though!!!

Interesting view Mr. Abelson has there, considering the Volvo D16 is a Cummins Signature clone!!!! The company I work for has 5 Ovlovs, with 2 having the older D12, 2 with the new D13 and one D16. At 125,000km, we were advised Volvo had a new engine ready to replace the D16. We were shocked as ours was running fine and Volvo didn't want to elaborate, but when pressed they spilled the beans. Seems the D16 has the same problem as the first Signatures. Talk about a true clone!!! So we got a new engine for freebies. We call the Volvo engine the green Signature! Coz that's all they are. When volvo brought out there "big banga" a few years ago in Australia in the last of the NH series, they didn't have there own big 16 litre engine anymore, so all the FH and NH 16's all had Signatures. What a disaster that turned out to be! As for Volvo taking over Mack, well in Australia we have had the misfortune of experiencing the merger of Mack and Renault in the form of the Magnum and Quantum, neither of which are available here any more, and for good reason!!!

Not to disagree with you here, but in Australia, millions of miles have been done by hundreds of trucks with eaton/fuller ( we call 'em road rangers) transmissions, especially on the northern run to Darwin, over dirt, through water pulling 120 tonnnes or better as a triple road train behind 550 and 600 hp engines of all breeds. And these transmissions have lasted a million miles or more before rebuild. Agreed 3 countershafts is stronger than 2, but the trusty old road ranger has proved itself for many years here. Yep, all those oil lines look scary, but oil coolers are a good idea, and some Mack boxes here have them too!!

OK folks, no pictures on my computer, but have some on disc of the "little White". Stay tuned. Has been a big week at work so I haven't been on the forum this week. Anyone who reads big rigs newspaper would have seen her and me in it in about June/July 2001.

Thanks for the welcome.

I'm guessing around 2500 to 2700. sound quality is pretty poor on my pc. I used to build 8V92TTA's and marinise them for trawlers and big boats. Used to have a play on the run in dyno with them. They actually start to scream at about 2500. Wicked sound though. trick is don't do it for too long or it gets messy.

There are more pictures at www.mack.com.au Click on the Mack cavalcade link and you can see the pics from the release around the country. Still can't warm to the Titan bonnet and square tanks look though.........

G'day all. My name is Chris and I am from Port Pirie, South Australia. I am the workshop manager/mechanic for a small transport company here that does general and refrigerated freight to and from the local area, as well as oversize loads around the state. The fleet is being updated constantly consisting of mainly Volvo FH prime movers. At last count it was 5 Volvos (4 FH 12's, 1 FH16), 2 Scania 3 series ( a 113 & 143), an old 112 slimline scania yard truck, a Mack Quantum (Renault cab and chassis with a Mack EA7-470 engine, 18 sp r/ranger, Meritor diffs), 1 AT9500 Sterling 550 C-15 Cat 18 sp 4.33 Meritor 46,000lb air bag rear, 2 Nissan/UD rigids (1 with a crane fitted), 1 Isuzu rigid as well as numerous trailers of all configurations, last count was about 14 from memory. I have 1 bloke in the workshop with me to help with the maintenance, which gets pretty full on at times. We have a new drop deck, widening float ordered that should be here in a couple of months, built to spec. As we are in the driest state in the driest continent on earth, we have our own unique set of challenges to meet, and at the moment are in the worst drought in history. Summer temperatures here get up to the mid forties (that's 110 deg F) on a regular basis and there are more dirt roads than sealed once you leave the highway, so its hard on the gear. The boss is talking of trading in the Quantum (happy dance) in the next few months for something else to do the dirty work. That is the oversize, dirt road, heavy loads. And he is talking CH or maybe even Superliner with 470 to 500 hp. Here's hoping. A Titan would be nice, but about as much chance of that as me flying to the moon tomorrow. I have found this site and the forums very helpful and hope my input has been of assistance as well. Some of my posts might come off as being pretty biased, but i am only drawing on my experiences over 25 years in the transport industry here not only as a mechanic, but as a driver as well. I have owned my own truck which I restored from the ground up, a 1974 White 4000. Ended up with a 400 NTC Cummins, 15 sp o/d, 40,000lb hendrickson & rockwell diffs @ 4.11 ratio. Quick little toy. The Engine was a 2nd hand USA import that was a Big Cam 3 & 4 hybrid. Hope I haven't waffled too much and hope to chat to you all soon, Chris W.

Impressive towing that! I'm just amazed it's legal. In Australia that would require 3 tow trucks or 1 tow truck and a truck and low loader/drop deck. If anyone did that here, the cops could retire on the funds from the fines!!! As for DPF "technology" (sic), you can keep it well away from us thanks. Looks like we are getting stuck with either EGR or Urea injection which has created a whole new set of problems in regard to B doubles going longer to fit the tanks on. Quite a dilemma the law makers have created for themselves here. Would be hugely amusing if I wasn't caught in the middle of it. We have some very restrictive and basically productivity choking road laws here.

Pretty much spot on. I worked for a company a few years back with a tow truck that also was used to move heavy gear( White Road Boss with Cummins K-19 @ 575 hp, 15 speed o/d roadranger, 3.9 rockwell diffs, 56k hendrickson, not sure on tow body make with a 60,000lb winch). Normally a stiff bar was used between the truck and the load to do the pulling and the winch and boom were used to vary the load on the drive axles. as the boom base is forward of the drive and the stay is pretty much over the centre of the drive, you can load the boom cable up to increase load on the drive to a point. Eventually you will lift the steer off the deck. There is an art to it. Usually the tow point on the truck for the stiff bar is below the centre line of the rear axles to help prevent steer axle lift and also by design this helps pull against the force of the cable. But as can be seen, not always this idea works.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?showtopic=3214 Supposedly these are the new Titans. I cringe at the thought. These are the current Titans at work. I'll let you decide what looks better as the Big Dog of the range.

I can quote the workshop boss and head salesman at Mack trucks, Adelaide, South Australia here. " Volvo will no longer produce a bonnetted truck and Mack will no longer produce a cabover." basically if you want a cabover, you buy a Volvo, and a bonnet, you buy a Mack. hows that for corprorate enforcement. you will do as we say, not what you want.

OH NO!!!!!!!! (falls down in tears..) Where is the big bonnet, and what the F^&* are those stupid looking square things on the side. They've finally sacrificed a Titan!!!!! looks like a crossbred Kenworth/International/eurosnot something. take that up a dirt road for 500 miles at 120+ ton and see what falls off!!!!!!! (walks off cursing at Mack/Volvo interbreeding) Looks NOTHING like a REAL Titan. How dare they take an Aussie icon like that and deface it. Titans aren't meant to be pretty!!!!

Will be very interesting to see what the US Titan specs up like compared to the Aussie titan. They have earned their stripes here and generally get used on triple road train / high gross tonnage work and not always on highway. On the triple work you can pretty much narrow the field to either Titan, Kenworth C501 or T604, Western Star Constellation (not many though), and a couple of International Eagles. And nothing with under 525 hp, usually 550 or better. And the Mack boys love their Titans! like I said, be interesting tosee what shows up as a Titan in the USA.

G'day bloke. yep aussie here too. Mack stopped putting Cats in their gear about 7 or 8 years ago. I think the last one I saw was one of McBrides titans in Alice with one just before Bunkers bought them. One had a Detroit too, apparrently some special trial thing. Obviously failed. The mob I work for have a C-15 in a Sterling rated at 550 and has just racked up 810,000km since new in Oct '03. The worst thing that has happened to it is a clutch plate broke a couple of springs and jammed up the works, so had to be replaced at 730,000. Other than that, the troubles have all been Sterling related, cab mounts, electrics, etc. This one goes to Broken Hill 3 times a week on fridge work, and does the heavy general work on the other days. Being a Cummins man from way back I wasn't impressed when this thing turned up with a yellow peril in it, but it has proved itself. As for the 'RED Demons", they have had their serious troubles and turned a lot of blokes off. however, i work on a couple of Superliners with them in doing nothing but double tanker work 24/7. And so far so good. The older one has just racked up a million and the biggest drama seems to be starter motors and batteries. The newer one is only 4 months old, so we will wait and see. The older one spends most of its time on the dirt to Beverly so cops a fair flogging, but seems to be holding together quite well, just eats drive hub seals regularly ( got to expect these things on that goat track). If you want to PM me. i can put you in contact with the owner for a frank opinion. He was a sceptic about the Signatures too. Sadly, i too have to get used to the swedish invasion....(shudders)

Generally only the vehicle manufacturer, or their authorized agents, can tell you what rear ratios and suspension are in the truck by the VIN. they should be able to tell you everything about the truck from the VIN

All I can tell you is Mack trucks in Australia have been used for doing the hard heavy work for years because of their reliability. Mack boxes are near on bullet proof. Anything with 3 countershafts has to be. Same with their diffs. earlier models weren't renown for their economy, but that had as much to do with diff ratio as type of work. Many old R models with 320 and 350 HP engines has pulled a triple road train from Adelaide to Darwin and back grossing 120 tons or more. And gone over 1,000,000 km before rebuild too. Our EA7-470 doing general with single trailer as well as oversize loads on and off bitumen averages around 2.4 km per litre. Our best figures for one of our 460 Volvos is only 2.7. That's a 1999 Mack vs 2006 Volvo FH12. The Volvo is on bitumen all the time doing single trailer reefer work. Hope this helps

Thanks for the heads up on that. I don't do a lot of Mack engine work, mainly Cummins and Cat, but my memory of doing valve adjustment on an old E7- 350 wasn't all that fresh. as for second guessing, sorry, but as a young apprentice with a very wise and knowlegable tradesman as my teacher many years ago, he drummed into me from day one, double check everything you do, it avoids reworks. So I always have. lack of experience on type is the key here I think. thanks for your input, cheers

To all those who read my post and ran off scared, well done (these Quantums are a very scary thing). I have since found out that the exhaust cam lobe profile has been modified on post 1999 EA7 Etech engines. Turns out after re-doing the valve adjustment thanks to some VERY helpful information posted elsewhere in this section, the exhaust valve gap actually increases after you rotate the engine past the Valve set marks. I rang Mack trucks in Adelaide today after finding this and nearly tearing my hair out, to be told, " oh yeah, that's normal" I did question him about a 1/4" valve clearance being normal????? and he started on about modified lobe profiles, etc, etc. Why couldn't they tell me this last thursday when I rang??????? Oh the joy of it all.

Interesting dilemma. The thing that sparked my thinking was the false fuel consumption readings. That isn't out by just a little bit. That's enormous. The EECU thinks it is using more fuel than it is. The fuel flow sensor and/or fuel pressure sensor and their associated wiring need some serious attention. Our Quantum with an EA7 470 Etech had the opposite problem. Was over fuelling. Cost Mack a rebuild at 400,000 km. Good thoughts with the earth wires and straps too. Can cause multiple dramas, but usually show up in a diagnostic somewhere.

Yep, puff limiter, and just double check air filters and the intake plumbing for restrictions. If its been sitting for a while, who knows what could have nested in there.... You may laugh, but here in the country areas of Australia where some trucks sit parked for 6 months or more waiting for harvest, all sorts of nasties find intake pipes suitable accommodation.