Bullheaded

These are my very good friends trucks from back in the day in Ontario. The Superliner and the R he had on with Arnold Brothers both pulled float and oversize loads. He hauled lots of big crushers and mining trucks up to the Yukon. He is also a master fabricator. He built those sleepers and the R Model had an APU before that was even a thing. he made one using a Vauxhall engine and it even heated the wetlines hydraulic oil tank in the winter. The Superliner had an E9 V8 450 in it but it was turned up.

Dug up some pics I had of some old R Models in my town back in the day. The new red RD at the dealer ended up pulling log trailers (there were also two like it in the steel mill that pulled a 100 ton float), and the black one was a lumber hauler. The oversize load was a project in the steel mill here, Algoma Steel.

Awesome! I think that's out of an old Canadian Bulldog magazine. That used to be a really cool magazine. Was broken down into each province and just had pics of new Mack's delivered and on the job. Now it's nothing except plastic Volvo's and the marketing department telling you about the "3% more fuel efficient" every year.

Hope he don't mind, but I had to share this here. Picture posted by C.J. Hall on the Old Canadian Trucking Companies FB page. Here was the info he provided. John Crowell purchased this long wheelbase Mack Western F-model brand new. Powered by a V-12 Detroit Diesel. John was leased to Hope Freight Lines and ran around B.C.

There were a few loggers around here that ran 8V92 Detroit's in their Superliner's. Detroit's were real popular around here.

Dug out some old pics the other day. Here's a brand new Superliner at the dealer in my town back in the day. Pretty sure it ended up pulling log trailer. It was a long time ago, and I can't really make it out in the pic, but there is a badge under the Superliner oval on the side of the hood. I can't remember if it was a Caterpillar or Cummins badge?

That looks fantastic Keith!

As much as I'd love a new Ford copy, just beware. I have seen people on some of the tractor forums that did get FarmTrac's in the US and they said parts and support were almost non existent from the dealers. My new ones are Kubota, but Yanmar and Kioti are also very good. Kioti and Bobcat tractors are pretty much the same.

It's got lots of get up and go! It geared to barely go 60 MPH but it accelerates good. And it's surprisingly good on fuel. Not much worse than driving a pickup around. It was a cheap way to get in to a vintage truck. These fire trucks sell cheap and they are usually like new inside and out. When I was a kid I drove so many of these Fords with every model of Detroit. They were the most popular dump truck combination in my area. Even a lot of Superliners around here were Detroit powered. I don't know why? Maybe because we had two very good Detroit mechanics around here? Wish I knew how to post video. It sounds awesome with both the supercharger and the turbo.

Yes Kevin, FarmTrac's are made in India. They appear to be copies of these old Ford's. Not sure if you could even get one in the US or Canada? Apparently they love these old Fords over there. Mine is a 1967 3000 diesel 8 speed made in Basildon England. but it was switched from headlights in the grill to the American style pod headlights. That was my original plan, make a vintage looking flatbed for the Louisville and put this tractor on it and drive it to the shows.

Thanks everyone. Ya that's why I don't have the heart to pull the body off it now. The people from the township I bought it from seemed real happy I got it and said I would preserve it and show it, even though I know nothing about fire trucks. I even outbid myself on it, LOL But still happy. Apparently it has an identical twin in my area too but I haven't seen it come up for bid.

Been out of trucking 5 years now and decided I wanted a play toy. So just bought a 1980 Ford L9000 with a 6V92TA Detroit Diesel and Allison transmission. Truck has 162,000 KM on odo but has way less in reality because when the PTO/pumps are engaged it runs the speedo at around 10 MPH. My intent was to pull the body off and put a flatbed on it to haul my 1967 Ford tractor on it to the shows and use it as basically my pickup truck. But it's in such good shape and so many people have shown interest in preserving it as a fire truck, I'm going to keep it as is for now. That 6V92TA seems to be pretty good on fuel. It's no big expense to drive around. And boy does it sound sweet! It's been oil sprayed every year, so the rims and everything are black right now, I haven't washed it all off yet.

A freind of mine drives for a big Mack Pinnacle fleet up here pulling 5 axle pneumatic bulk tankers. They have MP8 505's and M-Drives. He told me very little problems. He said earlier ones would need the injectors replaced periodically. He said they'd start to vibrate while pulling and you knew it was injector time. But other than that, they leave them running during sleeper berths and he said no real ongoing issues. Maybe the pulling heavy helps. he said the newest ones are better then the 2009 to 2019's he started on.

I'm afraid the new Granite is just gunna be a Volvo VHD to continue the trend. In todays world of cost cutting and cookie cutter manufacturing, you know they aren't going to keep the current Mack cab for one model. Unless the MD model is it's saving grace.

Yes, I've always wanted one but haven't got one yet. Missed out on a couple at auction. Massey needed a high horsepower tractor to sell quick to keep up with their competition, so they bought these tractors from Oliver and painted them red. White Motor Corp who ended up owning Oliver also bought Canadian Cockshutt also had a model that used Detroit power. The 1900 with a 4-53 Detroit.

Same here. I drive my pickup twice a week and that's enough for me. Driven enough for my lifetime. LOL

What Mack should have done with the MD is offer an extended or crew cab. Something with a back seat to compete with the others for the RV hauler applications. Especially now considering here in Canada, an new loaded Superduty pickup truck is $120,000. Better off to just buy a medium duty to pull your trailers. Not much more, easier to service and will last a whole lot longer.

Ya, I know. Isn't it sad how everything we know about trucking no longer applies, LOL Remember the days you could diagnose any problem just buy looking at your boost, pyrometer, oil temp and air and fuel restriction gauges. I miss those days.

So I guess the new Granite and Pinnacle will be a Volvo VHD?

With plain jane flat plastic panels and no gauges. Except for the stupid looking cyclops speedo/tach that I absolutely hated in the International HX and Cat trucks. No styling whatsoever. But like you say, don't need that anyway. New breed wouldn't know how to read gauges anyway. They just need their tablets, laptops and headsets mounted somewhere so they can telemarket call while going down the highway.

They have a new feature on the Mack web site where you can split between the old and new Anthem, so you can see how much better the old one looked, LOL

I just don't see it fitting in with what the current Anthem is doing. I just can't picture that thing with wide base steer tires pulling live bottoms, dump trailers, and floats. Not to mention my other gripe.....if I wanted a Volvo, I would just buy a Volvo.

Count me out.

Well, I kinda disagree with some of the comments. I had a 2000 CH, 460 Mack, 18 speed, 4.11 ratio and 24.5 rubber. It grossed 140,000 every day (I have the second place record scaling in a board mill with 167,551 gross) and it pulled it just fine. And I ran with the rest of the rest of the company owned fleet of trucks with C15 475 and Series 60 500's. It's all constant hills ranging from 7 to 12%. They could pass me on the big hills but they didn't disappear on me either. And I beat both the Cat's and Detroit's for fuel mileage on same trips, same days. So I wouldn't say they lacked power or torque. Did pretty good for a 12 litre. Should add, this was a 2000 model year. Wish I still had it.

Don't forget, that is Canadian dollars, but it's still a lot, LOL