Mackman686

Hi All, Thanks guys, very much appreciated on the nice comments!! Just have to juggle work and Spare time to work on the RB. id thought id chuck up a couple of photos of when it was brand new working for Thames Freight-lines in the North Island of New Zealand hauling wood chip for most of its life. Cheers Keegan

Hi All, Have a few updates on the rebuild of the Mack RB, November it went in a got the chassis sandblasted and got a coat of paint on it. December holidays i got the rims and spacers all painted and started assembling everything. Its coming together and looking awesome!! Here are some photos to show you all the progress. Cheers Keegangan

Hi Vladislav, Yeah not much we can do about the people in the world who stuff it up for the rest of us!! yes the twin steer axles and tandem drive axles (8x4) is very very common here and has been for a lot of years in every part of road transport with being able to get a decent payload with axle weights. that MH was on logs and towed a 3 axle and or a 4 axle trailer pull trailer which is still a combination that is still an everyday use and in the last 10 or so years they've added a 5th axle to the trailers for more payload. cheers Keegan

Hi H67st, Yeah they've come up really good and Ive gone for the old school look and gone back to bulb tail lights.

Hi Vladislav, Yes it was the last E9 V8 Ultraliner built in New Zealand, the last Ultraliner in the world was also built here aswell in 1999 and road registered January of 2000. It now sits in the Bill Richardson Transport museum in Invercargill.

Mack rb air start.mov

Hi All, Sorry about not updating you all sooner, so it's been nearly 18months from the last photos I posted and the RB is back together and I'm waiting on the sand blasters to have a spot ready to get the chassis blasted then I can paint it. So in the mean time Ive been tiding up wiring and air lines and now it to the cab and doing the same in there. I fabricated the guards and rear light bars myself and made up a set of Aussie road-train style rubber rear mud guards something different over here but i like them from when I drove road trains myself in Western Australia. any other photos that that I take ill make sure i post them!! And there is a video for the died hard Air starter fans like myself. Cheers Keegan

Hi Bob, This one here is an E6 350, it was originally a 12spd Mack box but changed out for an 18spd Mack box somewhere along the way. They come out with an E7 300 or 400 in them in the later ones but not V8. As for the E9s being in NZ yeah they are here getting fue and far between now but they are still about. This was the last V8 built in NZ, in 1999 and was a 610hp.

Thanks mate, yeah there is a lot of differences. I think these were the first macks in NZ to have the air cleaner under the bonnet, everything else was external.

Hi There, Yeah they do look very unusual, they were only built for 2 years as well. So sort of rare as such here in NZ but not everyone's cup of tea. Here is a couple of photos of the Interior before i pulled it all apart.

Thanks rubber duck, They are unique to New Zealand, they only built 52 inbetween the end of the R series and the start of the right hand drive CH. They are R Series chassis and running gear, with a MC set back front axle, MK2 Superliner cab, NZ designed and built bonnet, an Ultraliner centre part of the grill and an Australian Valueliner front bumper.

Hey Paul, I was cringing when I was deciding whether to do it or not, but I found it fairly easy the rust only started from the cross member from behind the cab so that was a bonus. Yeah the cabs a galv one being a MK2 Superliner cab so no rust at all that I can see. cheers keegan

Hi Everyone, I'm rebuilding a NZ built Mack RB688RST, so ill share some photos of what Ive done so far on the journey. I done the camel back bushes and elephants feet which were all original, so they done pretty good for 33 years and 1.5mil kms. Then i split the chassis rails and attacked the chassis heave, it wasn't bad but at least now i don't need to worry about it now. Cheers

Hi All, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from New Zealand. I'm going to replace the bushes on my 34K Camelback during the Christmas holidays and I'm wondering if any one had the torque setting for the U bolts? Ive been looking everywhere and cant find anything. Kind Regards Keegan Hewlett

Hi doubleclutch, its not the door sticker im after, its the door card/panel for the door. Cheers anyway