T-Mack1

We haven't traced all the wiring yet. But, it seems that the choice is IGN "L" at regular voltage or "R" at regular voltage, or both. When I was installing the points, I noticed that the two distributors are ever so slightly timed differently. I do need to re-gap the points because at the time I only had the 707B tune-up info and the 707C are a tiny bit different. It does run better on both, but that could be having the two different firing times.

There's a company in Virginia , Brillman Company, that sells the parts online. http://www.brillman.com We got two rotors, two points and two condensers for our ENF707C for around $46, including shipping. Their business is selling electrical parts & wire for antique tractors and antique trucks.

Flex line is cloth outer, then steel braid and I assume rubber inside. The cloth is falling off. Areoquip...... I did a year in "Valve Groom" at the Macungie plant, which is next to the Areoquip guys.

I have a question for those that know. On our 1957 fire truck with air brakes (B85F-1211), the treadle valve supply line is a flexible hose but all the other lines on the treadle are copper pipe. The question I have is, should that supply line be a flexible hose, or a copper pipe? If you have a 50's era truck, what's on yours The reason I ask ...... when we took the fuel tank out to get repaired, I figured I would take the mounting brackets (J-Brackets) off and clean and paint them and the frame rails. Well, to get to the bolts I had to push the flex hose a bunch and it now has a leak.

My next project is going to be redoing the air brake hoses and converting to spring brakes. We only have service brakes on the rear. When we bought the truck last Nov/Dec, the air lines to the tiller trailer were just cut off. I had to disconnect and plug them so we could charge the air tanks and see if the brakes worked, which they did. Since then, we found leaks in the fuel tank so took it off and sent it out. Well, my thought was, with the tank off, why not clean up the j-brackets holding it and the frame rail. Well, in the process of getting the forward bracket off, I cracked the flex hose supplying the brake treadle valve. Now we have a air leak that I can hear, even with the engine running. Side story, when I was in Mack Trucks quality group doing audits on how the trucks were built, the young auditors would walk up to me and say, "Hey Tom, you have an air leak". They would walk over and eventually find it. Well, I would have to get my ears right next to it to hear it, where they heard it from yards away (note, our building was very quiet). So, if I can hear the leak with the engine running, it's a good leak. I want to replace the compressor discharge hose (101 line to you hard core Mack mechanics), that flex pipe to the treadle and all the rubber brakes hoses to the wheel chambers. Also want to check the check-valves on the air tanks, and the compressor unloader (called the compressor governor now a days) and clean or rebuild if needed. I already started compiling parts. Need to measure hoses and order them. I'm thinking of using the Plastic brake lines to run the park/emer brake chamber lines (I have experience with them, I got while working at the Macungie plant). It's easier to work with and the copper prices are rather high right now. One thing I was wondering, is that treadle supply flex line suppose to be flex or would it have been copper in 1957 ?? All the other line coming out of the treadle are copper.

We think out fenders and hood were replaced. In the Boston pictures, the R/S fender had a bell. Well we don't have any holes there. So, the question is were they correct. But, you are right and they are in really good shape and we are keeping them. The fender inserts I had to redo because they weren't original and were yellow.

A Huskie Chips bag that I believe belonged to my grandfather Carroll Mack. It is now in the possession of the Mack Historical Museum, along with a beat up one that I had used in my garage to hold stuff.

Our "1211" is an aerial and at lease one of the other Boston chassis' were too, so I believe the list is just B85F's and not limited to one type of use. A possibility is they may have been delayed or the orders canceled.

Thanks. I wonder where/when 1213 & 1217 were made..

There was a note in the Boston order paperwork for for fast shipment and one urgent.

minor correction. 1209, 1210 & 1211 delivery date should be "56" not "57". I did say it was hard to read..... LOL

Will do. I have been talking with my buddy who is most likely a genius that never went to college. Machinist, Top 50 GM mechanic at one time, and Electronic GURU. I had him look at all the options including using the more modern Leece Neville rectifiers (one Pos one Neg. ). His opinion, since the selenium rectifier has significant resistance forward, one of those 3-phase rectifier modules would be a big improvement. He said get one that is rate higher than the alternator output. 120A at a minimum, for our 100A ALT. Also said get the lowest voltage one you can get. So, after he looked at the spec's of one I found, we got a 800v 160A bridge rectifier module. I just have to build a heat sink for it. Again, working with him on size for it. He said that we should see slightly higher charging AMP's and at a slightly lower RPM. EDIT: the bolts on the module are M6-100 which is nearly equivalent to the 1/4-28 bolts used on the Selenium rectifier.

Next update. Thanks to the user posts here on Leece-Neville Alternator/Rectifier/Regulator systems, our truck has been converted from Positive ground to Negative ground. It was rather easy thanks to Leece-Neville alternators NOT using "case ground" methods. The rotor coils and also the output coils are isolated, and the regulator only maintains a voltage level and since the alternator make AC voltage (3-phase at that), the output of the regulator is not polarity sensitive. Only had to swap the rectifier output wires. Also had to also swap wires on the ammeters (A & B ) so it responds correctly. The water temp and Fuel gauges were bad and are disconnected. And since the starter is not a permanent magnet motor, it also is not polarity sensitive. Pictures: The rectifier before & after (note: we're upgrading away from Selenium). Notice the cloth on the thicker wires and you will see they are switched. And one of the alternator with labels added.

More updates. We have two air tanks and there appears to be a check valve between them. But, the air pressure gauge only had one of the two needles/lines/ports connected. So, I was able to find unused 1/4" air lines (I believe from a air valve at bottom/under the dash that is long gone) and there was a plugged port on a fitting between the tanks. And presto dual air gauge works.

DM800guy, We're looking for one. Message sent.

All, In the stuff we received from the Mack Museum, here a list of B85F's from 1200 to 1219, on a form called "CHASSIS REGISTER". It was handwritten and a little hard to read, so I typed it up and did a screen shot. Note: there are 3 chassis that were not on the list, 1203, 1217 & 1218. And for people in the future searching the internet to find their truck: B85F-1200 , B85F-1201 , B85F-1202 , B85F-1204 , B85F-1205 , B85F-1206 , B85F-1207 , B85F-1208 , B85F-1209 , B85F-1210 , B85F-1211 , B85F-1212 , B85F-1213 , B85F-1214 , B85F-1215 , B85F-1216 , B85F-1219

More Photo's. Fender inserts. They were missing so the seller provided them as they were not on truck when we made the offer, and were part of offer. Color is not a perfect match but looks better that the before picture.

More photo's of the project. Gauges. I cleaned up the bezels on the Air gauge, Speedo and Oil pressure. I inserted the Electrical tach (gas engine) in the hole where the water temp was only as a Photo-opt thing. And, we have a mechanical water temp gauge not shown in picture. The factory electrical water temp gauge was bad. The little fine return spring was rusted away. For the Speedo, I bent the crimped bezel open slowly, cleaned the metal, filled the pits with J-B weld quick, and painted and slowly bent it back. Also had to paint the inner black cover bezel. We are expecting the Fuel gauge to be bad since it uses a similar return spring as the water temp gauge.

Well hello neighbor. Emmaus & Bally.......

Yes!! We live in eastern PA and the convenience store chain WaWa carries Non-ethanol gas.

Great minds think the same. I just figured out the Youtube thing and edited them in. It wasn't too hard.

Here's an up date on my Brother and my B85F that was once part of Boston Fire Dept. It lives, moves and stops!!!! Sunday 3/9/2025, Jack and I got it running on a temp gas tank and got it to move around. Videos are my brother Jack driving. Note, I boobie-trapped him by having the auxiliary shift lever in neutral. He figured it out. And, even though he has been driving manual trans cars for over 50 years, he never driven a truck with non-scynornized trans before. Truck-wise, it builds air pressure to normal levels and the compressor kicks on and off where it should. The battery charges. Oil pressure is good. And clutch seems normal for the 2 times we drove it up & down his 700 foot driveway. On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/100009041979074/videos/538239552636001 https://www.facebook.com/100009041979074/videos/619931730934531 On YouTube.: Part 1 and below Part 2 Part 2:

In the last 14 years, I don't remember seeing any spoke wheels, and definitely in the last 7, while I was in the Quality Group, I can say have not seen any spoke wheels on any trucks at the Macungie assembly plant. Some strange big ass planetary hubs and associated big wheels, but no spokes.

24" is still made as a Euro spec tire. Last year Mack Trucks had a customer ordered trucks with a ultra duty axle that was imported from Volvo Europe and the only wheel available that fit the hub was a 24". BUT..... when I did the Quality Audit on the truck, I didn't look to see if it was tube type or not. Sorry. What stood out was the customer ordered White wheels and they only could get gray rims. The factory doesn't repaint the rims, so a Quality gig.

Yea, this thread was drifting off the RPM limiter and carb question. But, it help me understand that having a login only means you can do threads, and have a limited amount of attachments. So, I paid for the lifetime account and now, watch out........ pictures will be coming. Why...... because I figured out how the limiter on the EN707C (ENF707C??) works and took pictures. Plan to post pictures and if size allows short video so others understand too.