Karsen

So I have a yellow knob on the dash, and I know usually when there’s a yellow knob in a modern semi it’s a park brake. It’s what I was using to slow the truck down on the drive home. I’ll send some photos if yall want to help me figure out how to get my front brakes free and help me find a replacement pedal that’s not $450

We got the truck home! 2 tires went flat on the drive home, and we lost all brakes. The foot pedal is rusted stuck and gave out, and the parking brake knob isn’t up to snuff like it should be, but luckily we didn’t make a 755 sized hole in anyone’s house! I’m gonna need to find some tires and some brake equipment for this old truck. Motor runs like it shut off last week, no hesitation on startup what so ever. Does anybody have any questions about this truck? I’m new to Mack’s in general and understand that I struck gold with this clean machine sitting in my driveway, I’d love to share with y’all’s community any important info.

Well, I just got the truck to start today for the first time since 1985! Shifters were both rusted solid but some CRC penetrant free’d em up. I saw two six volt batteries per side so I swapped them out with one 12v per box. Bypass line from the pump to the top of the can filter was roached so had to swap it out. Little bit of ether and rebuilding the solenoid got it started. Whole lotta rat crap and nests under the seats. Realized that’s where the solenoid was by following the smoke cloud. The guy before me parked the truck infront of his barn in 1985 because the insurance back then was too expensive for him. Sadly, he made a custom shag carpet floor mat and left the drivers smoker window open, the floors gone. Good thing they were ment to be removable! Just gotta get some 14 gauge steel and fab up a new floor and some runners for the bottom. Looks like 4 years of metal shop paid off. The bellcranks were rusted solid for the splitter transmission, the hole in the floor was a big help to access them and free them up. Now I just need to get the air horn valve to close (it’s froze open and honks anytime the engines running) and I can start building air pressure. Time to play Mack roulette with air lines😂

Didn’t know there was anyone else around Sonoma who cared about these things! Are you up near Windsor or down near Rohnert Park?

I live in Sonoma County, CA. Up here we have a smaller collection of old trucks, CA smog laws really kick you around when trying to restore and keep a classic. I love the old 864, I know the rotary pump likes to have issues and that the heads crack under load. Luckily the truck only has 75k miles on it (I checked multiple sources and it’s the real mileage, not rolled over). I plan on building a gantry crane that can strattle the truck to remove heavy components when I need to. I want to keep the 864 in the truck, but with so little parts available I may swap it out for a Detroit 12v71 down the road! Gonna be hard adapting it to the old quad box though. I would love to share more photos, but if I try to submit anything over 2.8mb, I get a message saying unknown error -200. I know there’s a limit, but if the first picture is 3.3mb it still says it, drives me nuts. Anyone have a solution?

I’ve always appreciated old semis all the way back to my dad taking me to car shows. I never thought there would be a day that I’d find a unique truck for myself but after some unfortunate events, I stumbled across an old Mack and fell in love with it. I talked with the old man who owned it previously and offered to exchange tractor work on his property for the truck and he agreed. 4 months later and the title is in my hand! From my research and experience working on it so far, it has the END 864(I know it has issues, don’t be a stinker) and a quadruplex transmission. I’ve already done some work inside the cab to make preparations to drive it off the guys property and back to my house 5 miles away. I may be 19, but I’ve worked on engines since I could walk and have found a good connection to this truck already. Good thing I have the land to restore it. To my knowledge, there was 456 of these made, but that could just be a bunch of bull. Anybody have any fun facts a first time Mack owner should know about his truck?