glitchwrks

As mentioned in this thread I bought a 1990 MS200P Midliner recently. Drove it home, no issues. Could probably run it as-is but I typically go through new-to-me vehicles since you never know what the maintenance history is like. Removed a real heap of trash from the cab -- probably 2 or 3 grocery bags full! Never understood why people fill their trucks with garbage. Did find a nice Overnite pen between the dash and the windshield. Judging from the coat of yellow paint under the white and the instructions on the driver's sun visor, this is an ex-Penske truck. Fixed the dash indicator for the turn signals: one of the contact fingers in the socket was broken off. As luck would have it, the two dummy indicator positions on either end of the lamp row on the dash actually have bulb holders inside! So, I stole one of those. Works fine now. Annoyingly, the covers over the dummy indicators are black plastic, so if you want to use them for something you'll have to find a non-opaque cover. Figured out the horn switch Stupid thing just about made me fall off the step-up when switching on the high beams to check my lights. Good to know the electric horn works, will probably add an air horn as well. Unscrewed the leaking switch on the air system, it's a 70 PSI normally closed switch presumably for the low air lamp. Leaks like crazy and I suspect it doesn't work anyway. I suspect that's why the air system is slow to build pressure at idle. Removed and cleaned the two drain valves, one was extremely stiff and didn't drain well. I also unscrewed a fitting from the bottom of the wet tank -- there's no air dryer on this system, and I suspect this is either a safety valve or some attempt at an automatic purge valve. It was in the bottom of the tank, and had about a 3 inch plastic tube on top, with a screen-filtered section at the bottom. Completely caked in greasy crud. About 1.5-2 cups of water in the wet tank, so something isn't doing its job. Figured out the compressor side of things: Knorr compressor driven off a little jackshaft that runs on V-belts. The power steering pump bolts to the back of the compressor. There's a Wabco combination regulator/unloader/check valve unit right before the wet tank. Inspected more of the air/brake system: foot valve is indeed a much newer Wabco unit (seller said it had been replaced recentish). Air servo for the air-over-hydraulic front brakes was low on fluid, topped up with DOT 4, plan on switching over to synthetic. Passenger side caliper has been recently rebuilt and the lines replaced -- lines date stamped 2015. The hard line was replaced with a heavy duty looking braided stainless line all the way back to the tee by the air servo. Front pads look good, rear shoes are excellent. Looked over the cooling system, contains The Green Stuff. Very slight seep/leak in the bottom passenger side of the radiator, I think. There's at least one coolant filter, a spin-on type on the passenger side, and there may be a second on the driver's side, under the injection pump. Some of the hoses are getting pretty worn looking, some look new (probably replaced). I'll probably replace most of the older looking ones when I flush the coolant system and refill with something that won't eat my liners! It has air conditioning! The compressor isn't belted to the engine. Pretty sure it's aftermarket. The condenser coil is mounted to the back of the cab, pretty nice looking install job. The compressor's idler bearings sound like they're toast. Sure would be nice to have AC here in central VA! Speaking of belts, some of the ones on there still say Mack on them. Planning on replacing all of them Have an intermittent front turn/marker lamp socket. Need to replace a couple of marker lights on the box (one's out, one's missing a cover). Reverse lights don't work. Couldn't locate a backup beeper. Front bumper's a bit bent. I don't think it can be straightened out easily, so I'll probably look for a replacement. Dash is beat. Fortunately the panel with the indicators, gauges and switches is mostly fine, but the center and passenger side are totally smashed. I bet someone tilted the cab with something heavy on the passenger seat. Probably work up something custom anyhow. Driver's seat is spring suspension, passenger/middle is just a bench. Will definitely find something better for the driver's seat (air ride), possibly remove the bench and put in a single passenger air ride seat. Front shocks look original, bet they're not doing much for the ride! Lubed the stupid cab latch, no longer requires a cheater bar.

I've used eTrailer in the past and been happy with both the service and then quality of the parts.

My GVWR is 25K, previous owner had it registered at 22.5K -- supposedly VA goes by your registered weight but I know other states go by the GVWR, so I should be good in either case. It's unclear to me from the VA DOT and FMCSA where exactly I fit in on the rules and regulations. Not sure if I'll need to scale, carry a medical card, etc. I figure the DMV should be able to answer questions like that. I always scaled with the NPR-HD I had (14.5K GVWR) but always got green-lighted through bypass.

Yeah, I'd been planning on only hauling my own hobby hardware (antique engines, vintage computers -- the big ones!) but since I have to have a full commercial policy anyway in VA I should be good to go if I do decide to use the truck for business work. I'll have to run over to the DMV some time this week and get plates. Planning on asking the DMV counter person about DOT numbers. I'm pretty sure I need them if I'm going to go out of state with the truck.

Go to imgur.com and set up an account. Once you have it set up, you can upload your pictures through imgur's web interface or use their mobile app (I use the mobile app on my iPad, it works pretty well). You can click on images and there will be a set of "share links" for posting the images on forums. This forum uses the BBcode or Linked BBcode share links. This page has screenshots that show where the links are: https://community.imgur.com/t/posting-pictures-on-forums/21454

I use imgur.com for posting images on forums. No problems so far.

The insurance guy says I can do whatever I like with it, with the current insurance. It of course doesn't cover contents of the truck, but they can add that for additional money if I wanted.

Box truck found! Ended up buying that Midliner I'd posted about. As long as everything works out I should be buying carlotpilot's MB at some point down the road.

Pictures!

Picked up the truck today, drove home about 100 miles, no issues. Got the hang of the transmission, which is a Spicer 5-speed. First acts unsynchronized, not sure if that's intentional or not Definitely not the fastest thing on the road, but totally adequate for what I'll be doing with it. I poked my way home on US-220 and US-11, avoiding I-81 until it merges with US-11 north of Buchanan. Cruises at 60 MPH at 2100 RPM, which seems to be where it's happiest -- very quiet, didn't have to downshift going up the grade toward the Buena Vista exit. Could use an alignment I'm thinking. Owner confirmed that brakes were gone through in 2016, had receipts to show it. Looks like it has automatic slack adjusters on the rear brakes, previous owner thought it did and I couldn't see anywhere to adjust them. I gave it a few hard stops before heading home.

Hated the Aisin automatic transmission in my NPR-HD. Rest of the truck was pretty solid, engine was excellent. Oil didn't even turn dark until you had around 2000 miles on the change.

Got a quote from the local agent for $490/year -- apparently in VA they can't write it up as anything other than business if you don't have antique plates on it. It probably actually works out better that way since I can then haul the occasional customer order instead of paying freight if the customer wants me to. The $490/year is for $500K in liability and a typical radius of operation of 200 miles, but the agent says the occasional trip anywhere in the US is covered. Much better than Geico/NICO who was about 4x that amount per year for $150K liability and limited to the specified radius of travel! It looks like we can definitely do a lower rate if we want to put antique plates on a truck at some point. My wife would love to eventually have a B-series Mack fixed up for mostly show purposes so we'll likely encounter the need for antique big truck insurance at some point.

Good to know, thanks! I contacted a local insurance company in town to see what sort of prices they can get me. $150/year would be awesome -- I was paying more than that per *month* with Geico Commercial on my little Isuzu NPR-HD!

What's everyone doing for insurance on non-CDL trucks, specifically in VA? I had a Geico Commercial (really National Indemnity) policy until we sold off the last of our big trucks, which I kind of hated -- expensive, long hold times on the phone, and they were always screwing up the automatic bill pay resulting in a pink slip in the mail. Looking to find insurance for that MS200P I'll be buying, 25K GVW. Everything hauled will be owned strictly by me, not for hire. Probably won't do even 10K miles a year as most of it will be local, but I do go to upstate NY now and then.

Think I'm going to go ahead and purchase the one I looked at Monday. Seller seems honest, truck starts, runs, and drives nice. Price is better than I can do for a non-beat Isuzu NPR or Mitsubishi Fuso, and most of those are going to be *gag* automatic transmission. I'm pretty sure I can adapt the air pack from a military trailer if I ever end up with a dead air over hydraulic servo, or just put a full air front axle under it -- where it's already set up with full air on the rear axle, it shouldn't be a huge deal. Probably try and move it by the end of the week as it's still got a valid inspection!

Yeah, I figured some of the stuff had been discontinued, but it gives confirmation that the brakes on the Midliner I looked at *should* be full air S-cam, and not air-over-hydraulic drum or T-cam.

Looking at this Euclid/Meritor brake parts PDF: http://truckpartsetc.com/sales/PDFs/Arvin Meritor (Euclid)/Meritor_ImportBrakeParts.pdf Looks like hydraulic disc front/S-cam drum rear is appropriate for a 1988 and newer MS200P. This one's supposed to be a 1990.

Went and looked at it today, it's hydraulic front disc brakes and what looks like regular air rear drums. Seems to have maxi/spring parking brakes. From looking it over briefly, I can't tell if it's got a master cylinder at the pedal or an air foot valve -- I didn't really dig into it. There's a brake fluid reservoir down on the air booster, unlike the M35 deuce and a half boosters which take their fluid from the master cylinder reservoir. Is this just air servo control for the hydraulic front brakes? Are the rear brakes otherwise just a regular air system? The brake system seems to have been serviced fairly recently, the front calipers have a new hose and very new looking dust boots on the pistons. Looks like a rear chamber was replaced and the air line near the rear end looks newish. The owner said the truck had been sitting since last August when they started running their two newer Freightliner FL70 trucks full time and the Midliner went to standby. It started instantly, if he had already started it today it'd been a while before -- I checked the engine over before starting and it was cold. Smoked a bit on startup, smelled like too much fuel/old fuel/sticky injectors. Gauges seem to all work, 30 PSI oil pressure at cold idle. Air pressure built OK. There's an air leak at the low air warning switch. Low air warnings don't work unless they're disabled when the park brake is on (it's got a light for that, which does work). Didn't think to try and drop pressure with the park brake released. Shift is a bit loose but not impossible to work. Better than the old 1970 MB I test drove a few years ago. Power steering may have a very slight seep but it looks like hardly anything. Power steering is adequate -- not hard to turn at full stop, and not super touchy. I only drove around the yard and a section of the little secondary road near the shop, but steering didn't feel sloppy. Brakes felt solid, I gave them a good hard application and locked the wheels up. Typical air brake lag which is why I'm wondering if the air-over-hydraulic is air servo control over the front discs only. Box is dry (they just had a heavy snow), rear roll up door works but is a Whiting, side door needs a little help. Lift gate works but sounded low on fluid. Shut it down, blew down the air tanks. Water in both, about a cup in the first and enough to make mist in the second. Steer tires are OK, tread is a little low. Rears have good tread but are starting to get hairline cracks around the inside edge. Near zero rust on the chassis/frame, box subframe has surface rust (Superior body, way better condition than my last box truck's subframe, which was OK). Explained the situation and the seller agreed to come down to $5000. Still has a few days on its current inspection (expires 3/18). So, what's everyone think? Run away from the air-over-hydraulic system? Truck seems otherwise solid for a 1990 model. I like how it drives, feels like twice the truck my little Isuzu NPR-HD was.

Found the source: https://www.theonion.com/authorities-claim-the-true-austin-bomber-was-everyone-w-1824004129 I immediately thought, on reading that, "this sounds like an Onion article!" Turns out it is Glad to see we're not *that* far off the rails. The bit about having people who were at the site of the shooting demand stricter gun laws is just partisan/reactionary politics and the news seeing the opportunity to sell a story. Of course they're going to want more gun control, they just experienced a traumatic event that life has almost certainly not prepared them for. I don't know about the rest of you, but at that age I also thought my opinions on the world mattered a lot.

Yeah, that's a good looking MB box truck, eh?! I like the looks of the old cabovers, and you can't beat the maneuverability and visibility out of them. Hippy's got the MB I looked at in Bluefield a few years ago -- even left a deposit, and then my family picked on me so hard about how buying a truck + lowboy for $5000 was such a waste of money that I bailed. Felt bad and never even went to get my deposit back. Then that fall one of them had the nerve to make a, "if we only had a semi" comment when putting up hay Will probably come to a deal with carlotpilot since he's basically in my backyard...and I know not to make that mistake a second time!

Oh, and if you're hooking up a Tekonsha or similar on a truck with combined stop and turn lamps, you probably need to relay the switch on the brake pedal -- found out the hard way, pulling up Sandstone Mountain on I-64 in WV. Turned on the hazards and suddenly the trailer brakes are coming on in time with the signals!

I suspect people like them because you can quickly hook up to an air line. Friend of mine with military 5 tons keeps one with the trailer and, if I remember correctly, runs the controller off of a deep cycle battery on the trailer, since the trucks are 24V.

I've had Tekonsha on all of my hauling vehicles -- a F250, F350, and old F600 gasser. Put one on a friend's Toyota Tundra. Very good results, so much better than surge brakes! I did end up upgrading the pendulum type controller that came with the F600 to a solid state Tekonsha, the response was much better. As always, make sure you've got solid grounds back to the trailer, I switched over to ICC style round pin trailer connectors after having to replace the pigtail on my 16-foot trailer. A failing ground contact in the pigtail's connector caused all sorts of weirdness with the electric brakes and trailer lighting.

You're near Harrisonburg, right? What kinda price on the MB?

As I posted in another thread, I'm looking for a small to medium box truck. Currently have a few CL trucks lined up to go look at, including a Mack Midliner. I'd love to find something like this little MB-400: Seems anytime a MB shows up, I don't have the money or it's on the other side of the country! Top characteristics are diesel engine, manual transmission, and under 26K GVW (or usable at under 26K, I believe I can plate it at under for private use). Air brakes and/or lift gate would be a huge plus. My wife would be totally ecstatic if I'd happen to come across a B-cab Overdrive would be nice but I'll mostly be moving personally owned stuff around in a 100 or so mile radius so it's not essential. Prefer single axle.