Vladislav

The main difference between those military Timken setup (and many others) and Mack Camelback is the attachment of the spring ends to the axles. Or more correctly to explain, the way axles of the bogie are designed to be kept in their place. Generally you need to have them both not moving front/back and side ways and not to turn over themselves. Usually 6 or 8 torque rods are used. 4 basic ones - 2 to each axle near the ends to connect to the central crossmember. Than two or four mounted higher, usually at the carrier housing, which working together with the lower pair prevent the axle from turning over. Mack Camelback is a bit another story. Mack uses only two torque rods. The upper ones. The role of the lower set of rods is played by the spring packs. They are attached to the axle housings and don't allow them to travel. As long as articulation of the bogie must be realized the spring ends are suited between two rubber pads which allow the springs to twist in them a little bit. When a vehicle turns its axles might be forced to go sideways. In most tandem bogies springs themself prevent the axles from going left and right. On Mack heavy series rears additional torque rod is installed connecting one of the carriers to the frame rail for taking that kind of stresses.

Almost out of likes. By some reason I enjoy them better than longer hood B73/75's. Is that a V8 thing?

Eye catching stories you guys already posted. Many thnks for. But let me toss a nikel to the original matter. The shortage of good tech speciailists is a well-known matter now and the reasons of its appearance are detailetely described above. On the other hand the world we live in is a market area (to some degree). Starting from that I too hope a shortage of offer with demand existing will force the job cost go high. If it happens sufficiently much more younger boys and girls will choose those "real" professions.

Ah so! Seems your right, Mike. Just one more extra spark and all Gladys is on fire danger.

I'd go with a sprinkler system with a metal shed inside

Best wishes on a speedy recovery. Alotta Macks need you to be saved in the country!

That's said.

The matter of difference between 38 and 44K axle housings was discussed on here a couple of times in the distant past. I myself is still "in a smoke" on that though. The general idea was 44's are cast banjo's and 38's are stamped steel/fabricated ones. I have them both setups in my junk but can't determine sharp having no knowledge on decoding the marks.

Recently I saw a book on Evil bay for sale which recovered the history of Mack rail transport affairs. Priced reasonable and looked interesting to have on a shelf. Haven't saved the link (and haven't bought it either). Probably would be easier to locate by the "search" option on there.

Swishy, Thank you for explaining that heartcatching setup. Never thought someone could get his ingenuity such way. Yes, I noted it mentioned in Retro Racer's post. Will ask him for more details. Vlad

Good to hear, and fingers crossed.

Thank you for sharing this story and the picture. I don't remember you previousely mentioned you bought that rig. Seems cool you could ride your lady there. Hope it was a lot of fun.

Wow! I have 14.35 or 2.35 PM right now. I made some counts in the past and it looked like I was 6 hours later than Aussie blokes and 6 h earlier than the East cost gang. Locals tinkered a lot with summer/winter time switching the last 2-3 years so i finally lost the track.

That's what I thought. Might cool off whole the cab in a half a minute on a hot day.

Cool trailer setup!

G'day M8! Tnxs the gr@ 4 the pics! My tongue is twisting though just typing this way regardless my mouth is closed Don't you have Aussie F chassis views? And what's about steering boxes? I heard a rumor the other day (or today?) that there were some Aussie Macks with RH steering wheel and LH box on the frame driven with a cross shaft. Does it sound a bit close to the truth? Have a nice snowy day, Vlad

Does the fan also go into the cab?

Probably I had to correct the sizes a bit.

The days when "Rubber Duck Mack" fan website was full of power I sawed a picture from there. It was adressed to modelbuilders who were requesting technical details. You can see the measurments of the sleeper and the shape of the walk-through cut out. When I had my R-model bunk redone I referenced to this drowing and found out it wery useful. The upper part I kept original (which just reflected the rear window opening) and the lower design was made as there. Worked out fine for me.

Looks like the progress is doing well!

That's one impressive lifting machine! Thank you for sharing.

Swishy mate, Thanks for posting that and other stuff explaining Mack design of the Brown land. Really difficult to figure out things you can't see just on trucks' pictures. No possibility to open a hood/tilt a cab. I would really like to go myself put my hands on. But you're nasty far ways off. Have such a plan on my shedule, just Dollar is short in my wallet now. Those frame rails. R's (US made R) have their rails spread in front and declined in height. From the cab area and down to the ass end they go straight and have a constant section (reil heigth). US F's have about similar (but different) front end but are made fatter in the middle area, between the cab and the rears, for more strength. If you have some chassis pics in your Down Under Mack library I'd be too likely to drool over a bit more on your classic truck iron. Cheers, Vlad

I doubt on that DM axle possibility. Axle beam castings look generally the same along R's, RW's, MH's, DM's e t.c. But they might have different location of holes for U-bolts. Depending on the frame width and probably front spring width Mack drilled beams different. At least R-model axle has less of distance between the U-bolt holes (left to right) than RW/MH one. And sure R-model beam (and DM as follow) has 3-1/2 wide front springs so the holes on each side are spiced 3-1/2. RW/MH has 4 inches there and I suppose a CH do the same.

Swishy, Am I not wrong an Aussie F-model was built using R-model frame rails? Or actually a whole R-model chassis with exceptions of the cab attachments and air filter bracket? And what does the script FR-700 (or FIR-700) on the dash mean?

Looks like a good addition to the collection. Have fun with it!