JoeH

22 hours ago, Mack Technician said:

I'm zooming in on the DM with the 4 tier front hitch thinking I was going to read the plaque...…..in Flemish!!!!  What were they tethering 4-ways?

 

Cool Pics!

 

 

Not to hijack your post, but I'm throwing one in. Pretty unit sitting outside our shop this morning.

My guess is the DM front hitch is for pushing. I think for some super heavy loads they run a puller and a pusher, especially for making it over some hills.

My 95 e7-350 mechanical has a Jacobs so yes. Just don't know what all you need.

Wonder what kinds mpg he gets...

What is the proper way to do it? 😀  My 95 rd688s steers like the Titanic, we have adjusted it to get about as much out of the 315s as we can reasonably get.

Our dm686sx used to top out at 47, dad ran it for 15 years that way then it dropped a bearing in one of the differentials so I made him buy a junk yard pair that'd do 60+. Was much better to drive after that, except for the 20k steer axle that felt like you were riding a brick down the road... There's only two highways around us that we drive on and they're both 55mph. We don't need more than 65.

We call them pumpkins.

Every municipal plow truck I've ever looked at has been destroyed by salt. By the time they let them go their frames are horrible. I don't imagine these are any better...

Or shock absorber.

My cousin had a Pete with a Cat motor, the piston cylinder walls were eaten through and air bubbles were getting into the coolant that way.

6 hours ago, turckster said:

Most cam issues for a mp8 are most likely from either poor maintenance (no valve adjustment) or improper valve adjustment. Mack/Volvo had some issues with the rocker arms but by your year model that should have been fixed. Seen some issues with the reman injectors, hopefully Mack is on their ass about improving the quality. 

I'm currently overhauling a 1996 e7 engine (level 3 overhaul) in a R model (cotton module hauler). Everyone in the shop was saying the truck wasn't worth it and the owner was crazy to spend that kind of money. The truck is in awesome shape, they take great care of their equipment. It is a mechanical engine (non V-Mac) with no emissions other than a LDA (puff limiter), it's a no-brainer in my book. I'm not a fan of modern emissions but it is what it is and that's what I get paid to fix. 

Need more truck owners like him, and less shop monkey's like your Co workers! Glad there is someone taking care of their "older" stuff! Make sure you tell the truck owner not to let anyone from Molvo convince him to trade in.

So who is operating the air brakes on the Cheyenne?

I had a tractor that did this, it blew the line that runs from compressor to the governor. I've had new governor's bad out of the box. Don't rule it out.

Of course it hurts mpg. It's injecting diesel fuel right into the exhaust pipe. Unless the truck uses Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) instead.

Also important is probably safety wire. Haven't worked on this style in a few years, forget if it uses safety wire.

+1 on boost. Every Mack I have puts out around 25psi boost, and yours isn't much older.

1979 r686st,

1980 dm686sx,

1995 rd688s

Disconnect puff limiter, see if you get a cloud of black smoke when you gun it. If you don't then you could have fuel issues.

Personally I think my ideal truck would be an early granite with a blown motor. Would use the cost savings on the junk motor to drop a mechanical e7 into it. Would need a little dash overhaul to accommodate it, but worth it to be emmisions and computer free.  After what I've read about Volvo's BS injector cups on the mp engines I don't want anything to do with the mp series.

Not sure what "legal" issues there would be with a cop at a DOT stop if he doesn't like that your engine is older than the truck.  9.5/10 times I'll bet he wouldn't even notice.  And I've only been DOT stopped 2 or 3 times in the 11 years I've been driving our trucks, so I'd probably never run into the one cop that notices an older engine in a truck.

^^^ the reason to buy used: someone else takes the hit on depreciation and Lemons.

  I figure if its not too old and has 300k+ miles it must have been a good truck, and any major kinks have been worked out. 

Buy a used truck and stop making payments on the Mack.  Keep a well documented explanation of everything you've been through with it so if they threaten to take you to court you're prepared. Their argument that ride alongs didn't see anything wrong probably won't hold up for the exact reason that they put a new engine in, etc.  Ultimately they'll just repossess the PoS anyway, and your credit will take a big hit, which is why you get a replacement truck before stopping payments on this one. Your credit score is really the only reason to sue Mack, so you can get out of the truck with your financial reputation intact. After the fiasco with this one I don't think you even want a replacement truck from them.

Never thought about it like that red

Not mine, hood and fenders look solid. 

https://www.coopskw.com/product/used-mack-dm685s-for-sale-1979-18p219/

Coopersburg Kenworth probably has a few. We just bought a triaxle from them in the winter and had them keep the dump body. Truck is about a 218" wheelbase, RD690S. Steel body. I think they have a few used aluminum bodies too.

Wow 40 antiques! Easily could have cost 5k to clean that up! Well worth it if you have the extra cash laying around!

Our property is zoned "light industrial" so what can pretty much do whatever we want. Except paint our house whatever color we want because we're in the "historical district." Its a stone house built in the late 1700s, but it's far enough back from the road no one bothers us when we do anything to it.  Plus we're not too belligerent, owning an old house requires a certain amount of TLC, just like an old truck. You wouldn't turn a B61 into a pink Batmobile just like we wouldn't paint a rainbow on our stone house!

Put a carport over it. Ordinances probably don't forbid a portable carport, and if the chassis is inside then they can't see it.

21 hours ago, 41chevy said:

Most all panels are available.  BUY IT !!

Where are panels available from?

Probably same way this unit us completely rust free. We have owned it for decades, and all it does is load our concrete trucks, and clear the snow around the property.