mechohaulic

4 hours ago, james j neiweem said:

Mr. Hancock to the rescue. Offset cabs did give you a good line of sight down the drivers side. There was a predecessor to the U and DM back in the 40's or 50'sI forget the model' A huge Mack water truck sometimes makes the show circuits. FK maybe? It seems Mack out did them all by a long shot with the number of models

LM had the off set.   arute had one

On 2/3/2016 at 7:17 PM, BKrois said:

My neighbor hauled fill into my house today, sweet ride

I know  I'm  getting old when looking at pictures like these and realize  ;; I worked on his fathers trucks.  I see curt's address as Roxbury.  I worked many years for AJP milk haulers also . 

On 2/23/2015 at 9:45 AM, Timothy Maikshilo said:

My favorite Connecticut construction trucks were available here and I spent a lot of time at each location

my starting place ' great place; good people ,, march 3, 1969   $1.70 per hr.. waterbury

On 11/12/2014 at 4:37 PM, 2stacksuperdog said:

Roxbury Fire Department

Westport Public Works

what did Roxbury FD do with the MB fire truck from the '70's . I worked for  Mack at the time and installed the jake brake. it was the first and only MB with a jake. factory said it couldn't be done, wrong. 

On 3/29/2014 at 8:01 PM, BKrois said:

Dom Moffo from Prospect. Saw 3 of their trucks with tankers in Darien yesterday at a gas station under construction

Dom Sr is a great person .  another good company " chased out of business" Thanks  state of connecticut

On 12/9/2013 at 8:17 PM, BKrois said:

from the don arnauckas collection

can't see last three unit numbers, i'll almost guarantee I delivered that truck when it was new . different body when new 

On 2/21/2013 at 9:13 PM, 2stacksuperdog said:

I'm just going from what he says. It took him a week.

When he changed the bell housing they had to take the lift axle off before they could even start anything. He said half of the trans was stuffed in the lift axle.

I will verify week for clutch job, working at Waterbury mack ('69-"75)  took 8hrs to remove trans, had to completely remove third axle first. laws changed and every one was stuffing tag axles in spots not meant to have one. battery boxes were jammed one on top of another. I knew the owner of the DM getting clutch I was working on; boy was he upset when the bill came.  times have changed . 

 driveshaft balance weight missing  .   doesn't take much. 

On 3/13/2020 at 2:44 PM, Rob said:

They really were a very good engine. I believe they still would be to this day if the emissions could have been kept in check. I've worked on dozens of generator sets and there is no finer engine in that duty to produce clean power than a two stroke Detroit Diesel. This is given the power pulses imparted to the crankshaft which in turn drives the rotating field, etc..... 

Those old Detroit's were built much like a Model T automobile with the most simple of technology and most anyone could keep them going. Unless they physically came apart, they tended to run and run just like the Energizer bunny. Just wear ear plugs and keep oil in them.

when they come apart;; boy do they. working at mack in CT yrs ago there was a cabover with 318. truck sat for week or so. guy comes to pick it up. hits the key engine goes from zero to beyond wide open in seconds. as most cases the emergency stop cable froze.. my job to smash rear cab screen and climb on top of screaming engine ;; manually flip shutoff. too late engine trash. baskin robbins in ct had fleet of 318's and 350  DD 's.  baskins had a mechanic  ,jimmy Cassidy  he is one of the best for setting up a DD. the stack tips were blue on one ole binder with 318.. LOL . Texaco had long nose GMC 's with 318. clear night you could hear them climb  rte 34  . knew when  shift was coming listening to engine.  like real muscle cars of days gone by.. big truck engines had a sound of their own. maybe imitated  today -NEVER duplicated 

On 1/20/2013 at 8:48 AM, hatcity said:

Ah, the old Waterbury Mack dealer. Went there several times for parts for the fire truck when I lived up there.

Reckon thats when I first started to enjoy MACK

worked Waterbury mack '69-'75  .  had some of the best "teachers" . 

On 3/19/2020 at 2:13 PM, Mr James said:

I am wondering about the 1968  DM800 (light green) and trailer posted by Member Elsie in July of 2019.  I'm sure you sold it,

but  am interested in what a similar setup would sell for??  (price range)   This is what I would like to own in near future-not so much for work but to

take care of and enjoy.   I lived in New England in the 70s and this tractor was very common!  I collect interesting machinery, weld, and

have brought back to life a few tractors and a compressor left for dead.  Also build models-just finished a DM800.

Thank you,  Mr. James

 

 

do you have any pictures of the DM 800 model ??  i'm looking for mixer parts for my DM 8 00. 

On 3/29/2020 at 2:34 PM, Red Horse said:

Right Jim ..Like this old  dude.. Currently residing in the woods on Rt. 62 Sterling, MA

that must have been quite the workhorse and a challenge to drive back in the day. by looks of the neck  the trailer hooked to it  not  to skimpy either.  a number of steel haulers had straight jobs with off set cabs .allowed for carrying  longer pieces of steel. 

1 hour ago, Ditchdiggerjcf said:

We had an old head like that at tri-state in LR. He has been gone a few years now. He could rattle off part #'s without even looking it up. I miss that level of expertise.

Waterbury mack had an ole timer in the machine shop :Mr Al Dixon . he was my mentor and hero. I was told there wasn't a gear he didn't know.  count just the gears in a quad !  I found a gear, verified  the number and showed it to him. he not only told me the model number of the trans but the position it held. try that today.

4 hours ago, terry said:

Also gone are the days when you could go to a mack dealer, tell them what you want and go back to get it, or knew the part number by memory, all they want now is a seriel number, or give you a blank stare!    terry

I remember the days when walking  in to mack   all you needed to say was the part you are looking for and maybe the model it was for.  and they knew you by name !!!  Waterbury mack had an ole timer  in the machine shop ;; Mr. Al Dixon. he was my mentor, hero.  I was told he knew every gear for every transmission, I found a gear ,  verified  the number; showed it to him ;; he told me the trans model AND the position in the trans it held.!!!! find that today. back in the day it was a box of block and reline the brake shoes yourself.  parts room people  knew your vehicle application  and would suggest a different grade block  . never noticed a turn over in people back then. like today. no doubt  people changed jobs . company did what they could to keep you when you knew you job. parts people knew numbers , today a computer keeps numbers.   even vin numbers were simpler .  all the mack  magazines and brochures I had and threw away, dummy me.

amazing how  this crap spread so fast.  don't you know it took all the attention off the impeachment  topic, no one will gather to follow the political lies.  next thing you know the elections will be here and everyone will say "what happened.  . I'm still a firm believer in the chem trails from planes  aren't good. very few know what's coming down from the air.  at 68 my time is short; looking at my little grandkids I feel bad. now I see why they wait 75 yrs to tell the truth about major events (nov.22,1963 !!). most concerned  are gone.  like a bumper sticker once said ::I love my Country, it's the government I hate.

Beautiful looking Fire truck.  I posted some new pictures under '49 EE taking a break. check out the fire truck from the '82 truck races in NJ.  it was a demonstrator  for the company. guess people got scared driving up to it on highway thinking it was coming at them LOL.

new cable/gauge  only thing left is like Rob said , the radius.  it would have to be a 90 degree to break that many so soon; doubt it's bent like that. what vehicle is it in ?   been a while since working on fire trucks is there a rpm gauge on control panel ?   I don't remember how  panel gauge gets its source  ;  splitter  box ? either way complete assy  even a little  long shouldn't break. how does the tach work for first 20 minute when running.: bounces, run smooth :  other than angle only thing  left would be wrong cable end . when you tighten cable to gauge it jams cable too tight?  as earlier stated we made them back in the day. there was an assortment with different size ends.  some tangs were longer. leave cable nut a little loose on gauge   run it   ??

On 3/1/2020 at 10:16 AM, CaptainCrutch said:

That’s because back in the day nobody engineered the sound, they just let nature determine the sound... now a days they engineer the sound so much there are teams of people who can play songs using a car engine...

That and while some of us don’t mind being deaf taking care of and driving with these old engines... not everyone does... and unfortunately those are the people making the important decisions...

same said  for the REAL  muscle car days. a sound they try to duplicate today.  i'm all for saving the world and nature   and the rest.  my truck driving grandson tells me all the time about his high horse power triaxle. my response -" the sound of the old will always be better than the new.  back in the day Texaco  ran the long nose GMC's :318's with 13 speed.  on clear night  I  could listen to the tanker climbing  a long hill  the 318 was "singing " such a beautiful song. automatic reaction  take right hand  and move the imaginary shift lever as gmc was closing in on down shift. all the old whether mack or other sounded great. OK so there was a "little" smoke LOL,

20 min, was there a plastic insert  in original  housing  for holding cable centered  that was  misplaced .     what is broken  ; cable itself or tang  on end? 

when you say $160.00 from mack, means buying factory made for truck set up?  reason I ask , is we always made up inner cable or outer housing. I agree with phase1 with manually turn cable . also disconnect from tach and start eng see  how center cable runs. I've seen tangs break off in gauges  bind up cables,  believe you replaced  gauge ,that would eliminate  broken tang thought.   electric drill on  engine side with tach side slightly loose. 

you had heat!!!!   😀. now that's working in style > LOL  LOL  .  wife just said "this is first time you smiled in days " . I showed her what you wrote.  as we all know , you had to live it to understand it.  your situation brought me back to:  work all day,pick up parts (in ct  remember) drive to upstate  NY , during ice storm. K100 needed steering box. NO tarp, heat etc. there was a bridge overpass 100 ft away ; as per state official << you will not move that truck . the ice covered the tools  within minutes of setting them down. no air tools. I stayed at motel  after truck was done which wasn't that far from daylight. drive back to ct  a snowplow was over in ditch . and you ask but why does your body hurt so bad all over, 

On 12/3/2019 at 6:51 PM, 1977vega said:

If you really want to get a motor out, you could always do it like this...

I've done some "off the wall" things in my day; clutch job loaded dump truck side of the road  with snow on the ground or pull a quad out 0f DM600 outside  with tiny car jack with plywood for floor  and others! but did any really study that set up. LOL cement blocks on propane tanks  and not even straps holding the guess its a board on the ladder.

it's going to depend on what size rear. my vote goes with earlier comments  , noise being steel side blocks . now if truck has lighter suspension  that's another story. hear the noise coming you know your about to see a real truck!

real nice job. I HAD a 30x50 shop  as seen in some of the pictures posted. not massive, but for a residential  neighbor hood I got away with a lot. when the concrete floor was poured  (6in thick) I  made  two 3ftx3ft steel I-beam frames  which had large clevis in middle.  access to clevis after floor was poured was through  12in  flush mounted cover.  one at each end of building. use them more than expected.  straightened bumpers and more. was able to pull down  with chain hoist. no way was the floor picking up.

not only where you lift from;  biggest concern  - what  is being used to lift  the cab.  towmotor (forklift) , overhead chain hoist etc all make a difference.  did a few B-C-R  conversions back in the mack  days with forklift.  couple of mysterious  fire jobs on B model  ten -wheelers. with dump bodies still on clearance was a minimum .  nice set up in the pictures with over head  hoist