ThaddeusW

Mack or vendor rear ends and suspension?

Probably Axletech (ex. Rockwell / Meritor). I dont think Dana (ex. Clark) is making those types of axles anymore. Sisu axles topped out at 70,000 but I have seem them rated as high as 90,000 on Fabco's site before Marmon-Herrington took over Sisu distribution. Plus Sisu axle hubs mount the European hub pilot rims with the 335mm bolt circle.

I will be there as always.

Here is the line that has me thinking twice about historic plates:

Is a historical registration different from a standard registration?

Yes. You cannot use a historical vehicle for daily transportation. An automobile collector normally registers a historical vehicle or a vintage vehicle to use it for exhibits, club activities, tours, and parades.

I do want to use it for personal hauling so that appears to be out of the question. I will look up my options to see if there is an alternative, if not I might start out with historic plates and if they don't like what I am doing, then I change it if I have to.

What about dialithium crystals like the starship Enterprise used in the mid 1960's? Five years and no need to refuel on a single mission. Sounds like a plan.

Rob

Mr. Archer, set a course for the Macungie system. Warp 9. Engage.

I took some better pictures. The truck is so big I can hardley get it in one photo. The rear of the frame is 5' off the ground. This was a Mod Center job, they are currently building another one.

Awesome pictures! Is it possible for you to post them in a larger size?

What size are the tires?

14.00R25. Those are Michelin XMH tries and if you look hard enough you can see there is a 25 at the end of the tire size. The XMH is only available in 14.00R24 and 14.00R25 and is geared toward earth movers and logging.

So I am actually contemplating buying a truck, I have some pennies saved up. Now the biggest question is how to properly plate and insure the truck so I can use it to cruise around town or pull a small trailer now and then. I was doing a bit of quick reading and I read that a commercial vehicle can be insured using private auto insurance as long as its not used for commercial purposes. Antique plates as far as I can tell are only good for a very specific purpose: parades, shows and club events; you cant move anything with them and you cant cruise around town.

So I figure I could register the truck with commercial plates (you have to in NY state) and insure it with regular auto insurance for private use. Has anyone done this before? Any other advice/input?

John,

Thanks for the truck porn, keep it coming!

Even if you COULD recharge the batteries in the time it took to discharge them, it still would be far from practical. Doesn't take but 5 minutes to refuel a traditional car....and until the "alternative" fuel source is capable of that, I just don't see it catching on. Can you imagine the lines at the "recharging stations" if you were on a road trip? ...and people complain about them drivers parked at the fuel island NOW!

Yup. The recharge time is the biggest down fall. Electric cars cant fill the gap an internal combustion engine currently fills. A few minutes and you have enough fuel to go hundreds of miles. One idea for electric cars is there will be no gas stations but instead parking spots at malls, hotels, businesses and rest stops would have a charge station at each parking space. An incredibly costly infrastructure to setup and maintain (i can also imagine vandalism and theft a big problem as well).

I doubt that we will see electric cars take over for long distance trips. Current batteries are only practical for trips less than 100 miles. If you think about it, you have to plan your trips to ensure you have enough charge to get you to your destination and then home again. Kinda pointless to own one unless you live in a high density city where trips to multiple stores are short. And running the heat or AC will take away from your range.

Fossil fuels wont last forever but we have technology to make fuel from a variety of sources. Bio-diesel derived from algae is the best bet. Also coal to fuel plants could also become economical.

Heres a video of a Mack-pack and some other equipment i found on youtube,just listen to that detroit scream!...............Mark

AWESOME! So there is at least one still around.

The article is of very poor quality, its very vague and has no links to the original report that article is based on.

"Biofuels derived from palm oil emitted 55 times more carbon dioxide if the palm oil came from a plantation located in a converted rainforest rather than a previously cleared area, according to the report."

Huh? 55 times more? Why is previously cleared land less polluting then cleared land? Are they factoring in the CO2 released from the machinery used to clear the land? If so that is a one time release that is not repeated. Sounds a bit more like scare propaganda to me.

"Biofuels could ultimately emit 10 times more carbon dioxide than conventional fuel, the report found."

Again, WHY! Can we have a link to this report?

Clearly this is probably sensationalism that the author used to gain attention. He probably skimmed through the report, hand picked the scary parts and wrote about those. I bet you any money the report concluded that bio fuels are cleaner but there will be an initial high release of CO2 emitted to bootstrap the process.

Roudy,

The electric cars only use as much power as they consume. The bad part about batteries is you cant charge them as fast as you discharge them because you either destroy the battery OR you need more power then can be practically delivered.

Think about it like this:

A car has a 100HP electric motor, 1HP = 746 electrical watts not counting efficiency losses. To power that motor you need to constantly draw AT LEAST 74,600 watts (amps times volts equals watts)! A typical home has a 100 amp main circuit breaker and split phase 120/240 volts. 100 amps at 240 volts is only 24,000 watts, a third of the power consumed by that cars motor. Lets say the motor drains the battery in about an hour and a half. So for 1.5 hours that battery pack is supplying 74,600 watts (you aren't using the 100HP constantly but for the sake of argument we are). So to recharge the battery in the same amount of time it was discharged you need to pump that much juice back into it. No home has that much power available. So you have a smaller 30-50 amp breaker powering a charger and deliver the same amount of power over a longer period of time. 74,600 watts consumed for 1.5 hours equals 111,900 kilowatt hours. So if we have a 240V 30 Amp charger we can deliver 7200 watts, which for every hour of charging is delivering 7200 kilowatt hours. So we divide 111,900 by 7200 which gives us 15 hours minimum charge time for that car. Of course electric cars don't have 100HP motors running at maximum draw but that is our example. You have to spread out the charge time because you can only deliver as much power as you can draw from the utility.

Maybe in the future when our homes are covered in solar panels with large beefy battery banks we could draw the required power to charge the car in the same amount of time it took to discharge it. Although that future is closer to a pipe dream than reality. The above example also shows you why an electric truck is also a pipe dream without some really high density almost magical batteries and a huge power source to practically charge them. a 400HP diesel engine develops about 300,000 watts. Thats over a quarter million watts. if that motor killed the batteries in 1 hour you would need a 1000 amp 208V three phase circuit to charge them back up in about an hour or so. Imagine the batteries you would need to supply that much power, half your trucks payload would be batteries, something no trucker would ever consider sane. Imagine having 10000 pounds+ of batteries on your dump truck that only allow it to run for a few hours and taking hours upon hours to charge it back up.

Electric vehicles are currently only good for very light weight short hauls. Commuter vehicles or banging around town to run a few errands. I do believe we will solve the battery problem but it will take lots of time, money and research to get there.

About 15 years ago I passed a yard with one of these things .it kinda looked like a scrapper. Was parked near rt14 and rt31 in crystal lake il. Never seen another one like it.

I wonder where it went. Thats a real piece of Mack history right there. It would have been interesting if Mack went into the construction machinery business. Perfect match, Mack trucks hauling Mack loaders, dozers, excavators etc. Imagine a Mack dozer with a bulldog on the hood.

It is curious that Mack would use a vendor engine in such a machine. Perhaps with the E9 still in development in the late '70s the engineers didn't feel their own V8 was ready to go.

Gregg

Gregg,

The M series Macks almost all used big Cummins and Detroits. There were a few that used Mack engines such as the smaller single axle dumps and the M15, an M that used a tandem set of 80 mack rears with a Mack 865/866 V8.

The M30 and bigger used Cummins VTA's or Detroit 12v71's or 16V71's.

Mucking around today I found a Mack model I had never heard of before. According to the production listing I have of Mack Trucks from 1900 to 1990, the MP404X was built only from 1976 to 1978. The entire production was only 20 chassis. The parts pictures I was able to see are something else. The truck I looked up had a Detroit 12V71, Clark model 8820 transmission, all wheel planetary drive using Mack CRS139/140 carriers, 29.5 x 35 tires, weird articulating suspension, really a strange truck. Has anyone here ever seen one of these?

Here's the parts picture of the cab and hood

Not sure if its related to the Mack Pack, a hulking 2 axle articulating belly dump truck (or side tipper). Very few were made and 20 sounds about right. I don't believe any are still around.

IH does have a back up plan. They bought an emission reduction company that is working with a soild form of DEF (diesel exhaust fulid "urea"). This could be better that the current SCR system that everyone else is using. One small solid block of their "urea" equals 17 gal of our DEF and with a better shelf life and easier storage options.

That is an interesting idea. Sounds like a cartridge type SCR system that can replace the DEF tank and injection system.

I have heard that their engine brake is every bit as effective as rolling down your window and cupping your hand in the airstream.

LOL!

Interesting to see that IH invested in an epic fail of an emissions system. Here I was thinking, no they cant be that stupid, they must have an ace up their sleeve somewhere! Looks like I was wrong. Its funny too how they paired up with CAT for a big bore engine. The same company who was fined millions and whos reputation went down the bowl because of another failed emissions idea, ACERT. You would think CAT would be like: "hey guys, we tried doing some crazy emissions stuff around 2002-2004, thought it was pretty sweet but we got kicked in the balls."

If IH is really partnered up with MAN I hope they have an SCR backup, MAN does.

Crap ton of awesome rigs on ebay, but dear God why are they all on the other side of the dam country! The up side is rust free cabs and frames.

LJSWX (California, been looking for one too )

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MACK-TRUCK-EARLY-50-S-VINTAGE-MACK-TANK-TRUCK-/280669926139?pt=Commercial_Trucks&hash=item41593b32fb

6x6 B42 with spare chassis and engine! (Texas)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mack-B426SX-6-Wheel-Drive-/250814000431?pt=Commercial_Trucks&hash=item3a65aded2f#v4-37

Long frame G model ('nother Texas truck)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mack-G733LST-/250813999179?pt=Commercial_Trucks&hash=item3a65ade84b

Dr. Calvin Rickson, a scientist from Texas A&M University has invented a bra

that keeps women's breasts from jiggling, bouncing up and down, and prevents

the nipples from pushing through the fabric when cold weather sets in.

At a news conference, after announcing the invention, a large group of men

took Dr. Rickson outside and kicked the shit out of him

LOL

A good friend of mine has a 1979 Superliner glider. Chassis is 79, cab is 82 but registered as 79. It is a Western with a 2 valve 300 plus, 6 speed air shift TRXL107A?, 38 rears on camelback with extra set of rears and a pto with wetline. Cab is in bad shape with rot but the truck runs good. It is located in Orange County NY. Is this worth anything to anybody? He just doesn't want to scrap it. It also has steel budds on front and 5 spokes on rear, 10r20's. I can get photos if anybody is interested.

Cheers, Rob

How road worthy is it?

Ah yes I have heard of this system before, the redneck pickup air brake conversion kit.

Man that would put you up over 16 tall unless you beamed it. even then probally upwards of 15. Thats a hell of a lot to move. Might work on a 50 ton if you got the well for it. but I would think getting permits depending on where it's at would be a ton of problems esp if you get into the 16 range.

You could pull the tires. Its an ass load of work but it should drop it about two feet making it 13'6 legal. The tires are monster 18.00-33, maybe bigger. Those are something in the neighborhood of 5 to 6 feet tall.

I worked for Pratts, forgot about those gens. They are still needed to power some of the schools equipment. I recall they are A C too. Paul

Hey Paul,

The entire steam generator system down there is DC although there are two vintage diesel gen sets, one is from a battle ship! They had a motor-generator set running up until 2004 when the replaced the DC powered manual Otis elevators with modern elevators. The MG set converted 3 phase 208V AC to 120V DC.

I got a personal tour by Chief Engineer and steam aficionado Conrad Milster. He even started one of the engines for me, ran dead silent save for the terrifying knocking sound the flywheel counterweights make when it spins up. I even tried getting a job there and he even was willing to hire me if I had a boiler operators license since the steam pressure is over 100PSI. The only way to get one is you have worked with a boiler system for 5 or more years. But you need a boiler permit to work on a steam system. How you get one is beyond me, chalk one up for retarded government bureaucracy.

NICE!

There are three reciprocating steam driven generators in the basement of a building at Pratt university in Brooklyn. They all still work. If you look at the flywheel, it has the inertia type governor. As the flywheel comes up to speed, the offset weights push up against the spring and pull the connecting rod (disconnected and half laying on the ground). If the generator is loaded the engine will slow and the spring will push the weight, which pushes the connecting rod against the lever pulling on the rod going into the steam chest. That lets more steam into the engine to compensate for the load. As the generator is unloaded, the engine will try to run faster pushing the weights up against the spring which in turn closes the valve in the steam chest a little slowing down the engine.

Shame they are outside rusting away.

Mack M75SX, a 1988 triple frame RW713 Superliner and a lot of newer stuff:

http://www.myronbowl...Flyer-final.pdf

I like that 350 Ton lowboy. You could haul two D9's with ease.

Tonight I go to start my R612, (winch truck) and the thing won't start. Now this is highly unusual as the truck consistently pops right off. I used the truck yesterday without problems and after finishing the task, parked in the building, pulled the cable to shut down, and all was normal. Tonight I go to start the truck and it cranks readily but won't start. Thinking this is "odd", I check the fuel tanks, and there is plenty, HA!!! I then open the hood and look at the injection pump. The lever that pulls the rack to the no fuel position is all the way back towards the no fuel position. Thinking "you dumb shit", I jump back into the cab expecting I left the engine kill cable pulled out, look down at the red engine shut down cable knob, and discover it is pushed in as it should be to allow the engine to run. Now I'm kinda lost and wondering if the cable nut on the shut down arm had slipped. After looking close I discovered the cable had actually parted when I pushed the knob back in that last time. The cable actually broke from fatigue and the broken part slid behind the arm binding it tighter than the return spring could overcome. After removing the bind by pushing the arm back to the run position, the engine started right up as usual.

I have another cable and jacket complete and will install it tomorrow. Be kind of a pain to need to raise the hood, or dump the clutch to stall the engine to shut it down .

Rob

Rob,

You have no luck starting trucks, do you

I like the idea of CAT giving the truck market a try. We have been loosing brands so this is a welcomed addition. I would love to see one setup with a big C15 pulling a low-boy with a big piece of CAT machinery on the back, all painted yellow.