Bullheaded

I pave with Air Liner and no issues. The local contractor I haul for has new Mack's and Star's with the PAX air ride and also no issues. Air ride will get you better traction in sand and won't wash board the dirt haul roads up. But mechanical suspensions are still superior when you have a lot of articulation. When I'm off road with my air ride, the suspension dump valve and the diff locks becomes your best friend. You get a knack for knowing when and how to deflate and inflate your suspension as you go to keep traction.

So there has been some DD talk and some MP10 talk here so thought I'd post this to hear what you all think. We all know Volvo pulled the plug on the 16 litre engines here. So yesterday I was at my dealer and salesman asked me if I was still impressed with my new DD13 505/1850. So again I told him it is way better than my previous DD15 505/1650. I said "I don't know why Detroit still makes the DD15, because they have derated it a few years back to max out at 1650 torque (it is now back up to 1750), but the DD13 is now way stronger and engine braking is just as good." I also told him I would have no issue in running this DD13 in a highway truck. So long story short, he said the DD15 is still the jewel at Detroit Diesel. They lowered the torque a few year back because they wanted you to buy the DD16. But he said sales volumes of the DD16 are very low and Detroit has been putting all their effort into the DD15 and DD13. He said he spoke to the Detroit rep and there was some mention that Detroit may also abandon the 16 L and bump the DD15 ratings back up to where they used to be.

Just a few locals I saw today.

There seems to be many versions of this story, but I have read many articles back in the day in a few trucking trade magazines that John Deere had a part in the development of the 60 Series. And this discussion on the ATHS web site. G.M. was concerned about Detroit Diesel's loss of market share in the early 80's. The 2 cycle's day had pretty much passed for highway truck service. Deere was making noises about entering the truck diesel field. So, Detroit and Deere cooperated on a new 4 cycle diesel, the 60 Series. The 60 was going to be manufactured and sold for truck use by Detroit Diesel, and for construction/agriculture/industrial use by Deere. Supposedly, early 60's had Deere casting numbers on them. G.M. starts testing the 60 in '84, and in '86 offered the 60 in GMC Generals and Brigadiers. At this point, though the 60 Series was showing a lot of promise, GM wanted to sell Detroit Diesel. The plan supposedly was the Detroit was going to be merged with Deere, and Deere was also going to supply existing Deere diesels for GM medium duty trucks. I believe a few were built with Deere diesels in the late 80's (I saw parts listed for Deere powered mediums in GM parts calatlogs at the time). Also, the new 1990 Topkick and Kodiak trucks were designed to take Deere engines. Something happened. Maybe because GM decided to merge their class 8 truck line with Volvo-White, maybe because they got a great offer from Penske, who knows. But, Detroit went to Penske, the 1990 Topkick and Kodiak went with Caterpillar (and they got their own exclusive diesel, the 3116), and the class 8's went to Volvo.

John Deere played a big part in the design of the Series 60.

Why would you replace a Mack V8 with a Detroit though?????

I LOVE THAT TRUCK!!!

I used to go see Tyrone's shows all the time when he came up to Canada. I have all kinds of pics and videos somewhere. Those V12 Detroit race trucks sure sounded wild! Tyrone was very nice to talk to. But some of his people were a little odd, LOL.

Rob....when did that E7 have the air compressor issues? My 2000 CH E7 460 I used to have was one of the ones that came from the factory with casting sand not properly cleaned out of it. I got towed home almost every trip for the first week until they got it all flushed out. It would plug that small cooling line to the air compressor, then it would over heat. I fried 5 air dryers and compressors before it finally got flushed out. Then other than dropping a valve and having that mass ground issue that always had the lightning bolt coming on, it was otherwise a great truck and engine.

I really like those. Brings back a lot of good memories. because I worked for an all Mack dump truck/trailer fleet that was painted white. So I drove Superliner's like those....breathers/no breathers, sleeper tractors, dump truck/ponies, spoke wheels and buds, E6/E9/3406 Cat. They still have many of those trucks in their yard, but they are all rotten now from the millions of miles hauling salt their whole life.

That stripe job would look nice...on a Pinnacle. I don't hate everything about the Anthem. They should have put that grill and front bumper on the previous generation Pinnacle and left it like that. I hate those Anthem headlights and the giant screen doors they stole off someone's cottage for the air intakes on the hood.

Thanks for posting. I knew of Scot Trucks (especially the Midland fleet) but I never saw the cabovers or the off road trucks. We lost a lot of good truck manufacturing here in Canada over the years.

I've seen everything from one hour shop rate for engines that have no warranty, to over $2000 for new engines under warranty.

I saw that too. I used to watch Motorweek every weekend on TV. I liked that show.

That's because his trailer is already jammed under a low bridge somewhere.

Nice pics. I love that Brockway cabover. Oh and the first pic of the glider.....that is a DM800. It has the offset cab. Man that would be cool to build now.

I like those 6x6's. I built a lot of logging roads many years ago with a 6X6 Paystar 5000 and it was a blast. Those things will go anywhere. I always wanted a Mack RM 6x6.

That is cool. Reminds me of the first RM I ever saw....with the single tires on the rear.

Thanks for the advice gentlemen.

That is sweet. Love that truck!

OK thanks Hobert62. Do you wash the pads with water when you are done to clean them out for next use? What do you do to care for the pads between uses?

Yep, I can picture that as a dump truck!

Looks like it's been there a while, LOL. Wonder what kind of shape it's in?

Nice Truck Shop! We don't have Harbor Freight's here, but I guess our Canadian Tire and Princess Auto are about the same kind of deal. Got any tips for me? I guess just keep going steady straight lines back and forth?

Well, did an internet and you tube search. Seems all the professional detailer's use a specific model of Dewalt. But I couldn't find one cheaper than $285 around here and I'm cheap. I only have one truck to do the odd time so I don't need anything that fancy. So I went to Canada's go-to store for cheap junk...Canadian Tire. LOL. Got this on sale for $71. It is variable speed from 600 to 3800 RPM.