Mack58B42

Yup. Out on Rt 2 by the turf farms, if you're familiar with that area.

No, not THAT sort of corn! This place has the best sweet corn I've been able to find in the 2-state area, so I keep going back almost 2-3 times per month in the summer to get a few ears for dinner.....

The DM still has a plate on it, (a nice, low 2-digit number, so it's probably been in that family since the dawn of time) but I didn't check to see if it had a current sticker..... Next time I'm out that way I'll try to sneak another peek to check. Might be out that way later today, but more likely not until next weekend.

Was buying corn at a farm in Richmond last week and spotted these two old beasts parked beside a barn. This farm has always seemed to have have had Macks floating around. I think they have one or two more stashed away somewhere...

My 2-cents worth on the "converted truck" issue: 1. Many tanker drivers in volunteer departments are not necessarily experienced tank-truck drivers, and in many states a CDL is not required to drive fire apparatus. So a smart chief will want a tanker that is over-built to carry the full weight of, let's say, 3000 gallons of water under stressful conditions, with a driver that may not be as aware of truck/load/road conditions as might be ideal. 2. Related to above - petro tankers are specified to carry, usually, gasoline, which is 2-plus lbs lighter than water per gallon. If the tank/chassis of the truck is designed for that, and not water, it can cause weight distribution problems, especially if not well-baffled, or baffled at all. In a 3000 gallon tank, that's 3 extra tons of fluid, and, again, if the truck is not correctly specified for that additional weight, combined with a part-time driver who might have questionable training, it's not usually recommended that a petro tanker be converted to fire service. 3. My feeling about tankers vs. pumpers/ladders is sort of just the opposite.... BECAUSE pumpers/ladders are subject to annual testing to confirm that they do what they are supposed to do, I'm a lot more comfortable with a 35-year old one of those fighting fires than a tanker that may or may not be spec'd for fire service, may not be baffled correctly for the stop-and-go let's-get-there-fast type of driving by potentially inexperienced drivers, and which may have been converted by amateurs who aren't aware of the physics and math involved in properly specifying a truck for fire service. That being said, I came from a volunteer dept. that, back in the 50's did a couple of their own conversions for their first pumper, and brush trucks, but they were done by a guys who actually ran a trucking business and knew what they were doing. But when it came time to get a tanker, they did not mess around, and bought a huge Peterbilt that was well-baffled, and properly equipped for the modern fire service, especially concerning safety, and made sure that the suspension and weight characteristics would make the truck as safe as possible, understanding, that not all of the drivers in our district would have the same truck-driving experience that they would have had over the years. And they nailed it. In the 21st century, we now only have one professional truck guy that drives the truck - the rest are mostly guys that have never driven anything bigger than their F250, with the exception of fire apparatus. In this case, I think that the NFPA, and insurance industry is right to push for tankers that are purpose-built, and not petro/gas/milk/military tankers that are re-purposed to try to save money. It's a nice thought, and I understand that some departments have absolutely no choice but to do it due to lack of funds, but, having driven our tanker, I can see how easy it can be for an inexperienced driver to get into some big trouble very quickly in a truck carrying 25,000lbs of water sloshing around, while under high-adrenaline driving conditions. And it's tough to not have the ability to draft, have proper dump chutes, be able to carry a portable tank, or SCBAs, and have all the other equipment needed at a fire ground.... Now, as for purpose-built tankers, my opinion would be the same as for pumpers/ladders. If it's getting older, but will still pass a safety inspection and can get the job done - let it keep working!

I hadn't planned on pumping it, so I did not do a check of the oil in the primer tank (although I did notice where that is at one point recently, I think), so I'm not sure what (if anything) is in there. What would have been standard for that back in the day? I was only pulling up from one length of hose to the main intake, so it wasn't being over-worked. One more thing that I hope to get to as the weather cools down and my schedule lightens up a little bit. And, honestly, chances are that it could be years before I ever pull a draft with it again! But that and all the drains and seals throughout will have to be looked at at some point. I just hate to pull apart things that don't need to be without confirmation, because experience tells me that once something comes apart, it seldom ever wants to go back together again easily, and before you know it, there are 50 things on the bench that all need repairing or replacing or re-fitting! So since it's not an in-service truck, I'll be a bit more lax than I would be for something that was expected to actually save buildings.... I just wanted to confirm that it would actually work. Next test is to find a way to get some water in the tank to see if it leaks (or more likely, how MUCH it leaks), and to find out why my tank-to-pump valve is stuck. Hoping it's just a bit of rust, and nothing more insidious..... But my garage is a bit tight for working on things, so I have to sit tight until my neighbor has some floor space available in his barn. And since he as nice radiant heat in his floors, and bright T-8 lighting, that sort of thing will be a good project to do some chilly Autumn Saturday afternoon....

Vlad - what's funny is that i haven't pumped an engine in almost 8 years, and I actually forgot to close the drains before pulling the draft, so water was flying everywhere out of 4 different drains at 200psi! But I did remember to re-open them all before putting the truck back in the garage when I got home. My garage does get a bit chilly in the winter, but rarely ever drops below freezing (since 3 sides are underground, and the open side gets full sun all day), and even then, only by a degree or two, so frozen pipes isn't a huge worry. But thanks for the reminder!

I talked to one of their guys, because when I listened to it, it sure sounded like a 3208 to me, so I asked him if it was one, and he assured me that it's just a standard Ford diesel that they would have used in their F250s...... But I'm not sure - I may ask that question again some time. The one I drove for my department had the 3208, and it sounded the same to me....

Bulldogboy - you sent your message while I was writing mine. You nailed it.

That is their camp truck behind mine. I don't think they've had that one all that long. they used to have an old military rig outfitted for firefighting, but it was getting pretty tired. I was talking to a DEM fire guy a couple weeks ago, and he was telling me that this one came down from the Washington Management Area up in the northern part of the state when they replaced it with another one there. It's obviously a C-Series, but it only has a pickup truck diesel in it. They say it's not very powerful. But then, it never goes anywhere, so it doesn't need to be. And it is all wheel drive with super-singles.

That's exactly what I did with my first B-model a few years back. Couldn't for the life of me find "Mack" wiper blades or arms, and after doing a bunch of research found a Chevy pickup model from the late 30s or early 40s that used exactly the same setup, and found them at a Chevy Specialty site for a lot less than $400. I have that information written down somewhere. If I can find that model and year, I'll pass it along. But that truck's been gone for more than a dozen years now, so it'll be a lucky find if I can put my hands on it at this point. But 41Chevy's got you on the right track.....

So, I was able to get the B85 out a couple times this month, once to a fire dept. open house in town, and on Saturday took it to Boy Scout Camp Yawgoog in RI as part of a fire instruction series they were doing at camp last week. Westerly Fire Dept. brought their 1860 hand tub (have a video if anyone's interested), and they pumped that out of a 3000 gallon tank. When they were done, there was still a couple thousand gallons of water left in the local FD's tank, and since I haven't had a chance to pump my truck, I thought perhaps they'd let me suck a few gallons of their leftover water up. Hope Valley Fire Dept was kind enough to agree, and let me borrow some hard suction, a hose, a nozzle and some tools from the camp's forestry truck, and we got it set up. Was pleasantly surprised to find out that it sucked up a draft in no time flat, and was comfortably pumping 150psi with an open nozzle at 1500rpm. It pumped smooth, and sounded great doing it. And the truck ran wonderfully on the 20 miles there and 20 miles back. Temp rock steady at 160, oil rock steady at 55, and air rock steady at 100. So it was a good shake-down trip, and comforting to know that everything is in good working order. Here's a quick video of the pumping. Can't see much, but you can hear that it sounds pretty good.... 2016-08-20 15.23.00.mov

PRM had a nice little fleet with quite a few of those A-Cars in it. Used to like seeing them - good looking trucks..... Here's a YouTube video that shows what appears to be a few remnants of PRM's fleet:

Looks great! Nice to see a rig in it.....

Welcome! You ARE going to post some pics for us, right?!?

I think you should just give up on the thing and sell it to me for $500....

Big difference - looks good!

Occasionally drove a C-Series fire truck back in my firefighting days. It was not at the station closest to my house, but I kept up on it just in case..... It wasn't the fastest rig in the world, but it drove like a luxury car, and had a very quiet Cat, with an Allison automatic. All in all, it was a nice truck to drive, and except for backing it into a huge oak tree trying to find an unmarked house on a call, my experiences in it were positive...... Oh, and it had the best Grover air horn I've ever heard! Anyone in front of this rig when laying on the horn knew something was going on behind them.

'Doh!!!

I know a lot of people here have strong feelings about mods, and honestly, it's not my first choice for how a B85 should end up, but, wow, I think this is the nicest B-model mod that I've ever seen. If I didn't already have a B85 in my garage, I'd be all over this..... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Other-Makes-MACK-B85F-pickup-/272315344837?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3f674267c5:g:PVgAAOSw-FZXkRct&item=272315344837

I like the heavy Ls, but I think the B-81 is by far the better looking of the two, here, and in general.....

Awesome! Hope you'll be working out a deal on it! I just bought my B85 from Dennis, and I checked this one out before I settled on the one I ended up taking.....

Looks good. That's just about the size I'd like to be able to afford to put up one day. Sometimes it gets tiring pulling my truck in and out of the house garage with about 1/2" to spare on all sides.... I dream about a 10' door..... btw - I assume that's a plastic target deer in the background, and not a pet deer just out taking a nap?

Nice find! My great uncle owned Wescon Cement in the Westerly RI/Pawcatuck CT area. He didn't have any B81s that I remember, (mostly Autocars, until they switched to the front discharge type) but since I'm partial to both B81s and cement trucks, I'm glad to see this still around with intentions to restore it.... Would love to find one of his old Autocars or the LJ dumps that were left abandoned in the lower 40. Speaking of the lower 40, I remember his collection of drums with a full load that had hardened due to driver error or a truck breakdown. Every time I mentioned it, he'd go on and on about how expensive it was to lose one and have to replace it....

So, I'm sure this is a long shot, but I currently have a painted bumper on my B-85 (see below), and would like to upgrade that to a chrome bumper, like the one in the pic below from GA_Dave's archive. Yes, I know that I can take this one off and have it stripped and chromed, but I'd like to keep all the original equipment on this truck as original, even if it's no longer actually on the truck. So if someone has one, or knows where one is available, and it won't require a second mortgage on the house to acquire, I'd appreciate any leads..... Shiny just looks so much better - especially on a fire truck!