Vladislav

Looks like a B-model chassis. The # could be stamped at the rear of a frame rail.

The truck is a show truck indeed. But I sandblast the parts, paint them in a shop and going to install new king pins etc. So see no reason for poor repairs.

Yes, that's what I currently think about. The axle is out of the truck and I can bring it to machine shop. Just keep suggestions on figuring the most correct way. Installing the proper angle for milling the hole seems as a possible issue. Actually I have a spare axle of a bit heavier rating which seems as the same knuckles and the beam similar by its look. The axle is FAW538, not FAW537. My original plan was to keep it for future projects but now I'm going to take it apart and see how the beam is good or bad. Also I was likely to keep the original beam to have its stamping accorded to the factory records. But would better use one with just different markings than loose technical condition.

Wonder which way the sleeve transfer the load applied on kingpin? Or more correctly to say the load which axle beam normally applys to the kingpin by its taper. Seems like the sleeve must be dead stuck in the beam. Otherwise the latter would be sitting on a knuckle's lower eye instead of the bottom bearing.

Do they weld the sleeve in the beam or make stepped seat? I was offered to do the similar thing locally, They mill out the hole and make a sleeve with a lathe. But the wear seems of not too much to me. So basic reaming could work if having a correct reamer. Thanks for the guidance.

Sorry for your loss.

Yes, it was. Made by hands A friend of mine had a contact at some factory. There was a guy who could make custom springs. I gave the samle and got the result in a week. But there was a talk of the spring guy looked at the sample and said he couldn't do that because of lot of labour. My friend said he will look for another place. The guy than said "Ok, I will try". He made a cone in a lathe with a spiral track on its side, took a piece of correct steel wire, turned over the cone, put into a stoove and than cooled off. In theory I could order two of them but didn't see a reason. Another (and too probably the original) issue is welding. Spring is a heat treated part made of high carbone steel which 1st doesn't weld and 2nd would loose its strength if you try welding it. So what happened to my shifter was expectional but what Mack had of the desing is a mystery. My way of solving the problem could be seen at the pics. I ordered two steel rings with a notch to accomodate the end of the spring wire but had to make a cut out (by saw and file) to allow the wire to get out where elevating. I drilled some holes and also did that in the attachment parts of the shifter and assembled everything with small screws and nuts. Currently all that is installed in the truck and it shifter well. It just happened that the truck showed out other serious troubles so I had to put its restoration on a back burner. I too doubt PAI supply the spring and other shifter parts but worth checking. Locally PAI parts list is unavalible so I only check costs when have a part #. The interior boot is avalible, nearly $50. Seemed like a commonly used truck shifter boot. I had the # somewhere but can't find it right at the moment.

Took a front axle off the 2nd R apart to revise and restore. After I got the king pins out (with heat and a sladge hammer) I found out both holes in the beam rusty and one of them allowed the kingpin to play at its lower area. I basically cleaned the hole with wire brush and a bit of sandpaper and after that the pin could be set quite good in the left hole but the right side allowed it to move for nearly 0.5 mm (1/16") and the movement was more in the side directions than front to rear. So looked like the eye was worn. A question - is there any practice reaming beam eyes for taper kingpins? And if yes where to look for the tool? The axle is Mack FAW537 12000lb. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I never checked the parts ## since have no access to Mack parts list but the attachments of the carrier, lower spring (walking beams) clamps (elephant pads), brake spiders and the sizes of spindels to suit bearings are the same. So if you know the rating I see no reason avoiding swap one by the other. If you go that way note the size of the spindel to accomodate a hub seal. Typically Mack axle has one of "typical Mack" seals but once I got a housing where additional sleeves were installed (and I couldn't remove them) so larger ID seal went there, that one crossed to some trailer axle.

Personally for me no need in the picture since my shifter fell down either You could even take it off just sitting in a driver's chear. I found that spring's design very strange. It was (probably) originally welded to a steel cup which bolts on to the cab plate and the floor. It was difficult to me to recognize the originality completely because of multiple repairs i.e. welds of that poor spring. Being where I'm being I couldn't find a solid shifter assembly so I ended up ordering custom fabrication of such spring and two still rings I drilled holes in to attach the ends of the spring to both upper plate and lover cap. A hell of a job and I still have not solved issue of having no boot. Right at the time I don't have inside the cab boot either so when you start the engine the fan blows very intensive into the cab and your face. I'm going to order the lower boot at upholstery shop made of leather (don't see other options) and the cab boot is already new on a shelf (avalible from PAI). But currently I don't work on the MH since had to concentrate attention to other projects.

In fact 8 inches could be enough. I'm not almost sure but the idea is to drive off all the cap screws of the compound top cover and try getting it up. It would go but there is a shift fork which wouldn't allow to remove the cover. Even possibly it would but I would say 50:50, didn't measure its length. But it seems there could be another way. The shift cylinder is a cast boss on the down side of the cover. The cylinder itself is a hole drilled in the boss and closed with two covers at each end attached with bolts. The air leak you expect is through a gasket of one of those or through the piston seal. Telling all that I'm about sure you'll be able to remove the covers having 8 inches gap. Possibly the piston too. Another point if you suppose the cylinder as the reason of leak I would try locking every air line going to it for a check. Pretty sure much easier than removing the top cover of the tranny. Find some suitable plug such as piece of rubber, steel ball etc, unscrew the fitting, put the plug into and reattach. Than put your shifter in operation and watch for any difference. Do one line at a time.

Yes, I think between 1 and 2K depending on how hard you want it. Another side of the coin the amount of cash required to get it running and over the road would be 10-20 times more than what you're going to offer for the truck now. So worth to figure out the reason of the entertainment at all. From looking the pic the engine is Mack gasser, the most probably EN-510 or similar of different displacement.

Wow! A whole lot of cool pics this time. The Superliner is my favorite but nobody would argue Pepsi is a good deal Nice B-model too.

With red or green fender?

The banjos used both for Camelback or Walking beam are the same. Even those were used for Neway airride at certain applications with bolt on brackets for equalizer beams (normaly they are welded to banjos). Another point earlier 44 banjos were cast iron (up to about 1990) and than later they became a welded steel style. Look the same as 38's but (too probably) harder to bend and heavier. From what I saw about the attachments you can swap cast housing with fabricated and vice versa. And no big issue is seemed if you even put one cast and another steel in the same bogie. Of broken axle spindle i saw at one of those a marking was stamped into its surface with a part # and "replacement spindle" or so. From that I suggested you can (or could) order such part and change it right on the truck. That one with the marking had a massive weld seam where inserted into the banjo housing, looked like someone did that in a shop. And that weld was initial reason to note the marking.