convoyduel

As the video CLEARLY shows, the Subaru pushes it from behind.

I know that RS700L well. It's a basket case that sat for better than 10 years. Not 100% sure but I don't believe it was moved during one or more floods of the Missouri River.

We will be ok. We ran the history on this truck and it looked as thought the 71 series turbo had been upgraded but maybe not. I'm holding my breath. Won't mind a little more investment in the truck up-front as clean as it is and with everything that came on it. I'll wait and see what we find out. At the end of the day, my biggest problem is a truck, not an IED in Afghanistan. Keeping it in perspective, overall life is good here.

With the price on these turbos, I'm afraid they're going to use a 631gc5176AR** to denote the anal rape feeling when I get the bill. Nothing against the dealer, just dreading the parts and labor expense in general.

Checked today, it has the 71 series turbo. Wound up taking it to the dealer to go thru and check for recalls, updates, etc. They were shocked to see a 71 series turbo still on the road, even with only 183k miles. They were aware of all of the common issues and said right off the bat that the bark is almost certainly the result of the 71 series turbo. REALLY dreading the bill. I'll keep everyone posted.

I loosened the braided line to the turbo actuator and it had a fair amount of pressure behind it. I didn't pull it all of the way off though. The valve was in pressed all the way down against the lower stop. I'll have to pull the line completely off tomorrow. We don't have any coolant push issues showing with the truck, but the coolant line in question definitely has some sort of pressure behind it to make the hose swell like that. When the engine is off, the hose appears basically normal with only minimal/normal swelling between the clamps. The truck has decent throttle response when bobtailing and responds well when pulling some decent grades, enough of a grade even bobtailing that I would expect the issues to reappear. What I don't understand is why it pulled fine yesterday for the first hour or so then started giving the fits as the night went on. There were bigger hills and higher boost demands before it started backfiring. Are these VGT issues intermittent at all? What are the indications of needing a new venturi tube or a new EGR cooler? I've seen a few others use the word "burp" also with these ASET's and mention it going away when using higher rpm's. Is there a known burp problem with these and if so, what's the issue?

Spent a couple of hours pouring over it this evening and driving it around. The clap I'm hearing is actually a bark that comes back through the air cleaner when you decel thru most of the Rpm band. Does it with the hood up or down so its not an issue with the air cleaner seating on the hood. It's barking around 1000rpms. Only does it once per decel. I can even get a very mild bark if I'm running it at full rpm's while parked and let it decel. Best way to replicate it is to have the cruise throttle set to a high rpm then turn off the cruise and let the rpm's drop thru the band. I can't replicate the "boom" or backfire our driver was experiencing with a load. The whistle comes in around 1400 to 1500 rpms and whistles thru a boost, regardless of the gear under load, even bobtail. No, this is not a typical turbo whistle, its more of a piercing nails on chalkboard kind of whistle. Sounds like when someone runs their finger around the rim of a crystal drinking glass. I can't find any obvious leaks on the aftercooler or piping. I followed the stainless braided line from the turbo actuator over to the driver's side of the engine. It doesn't attach to the venturi pipe, it attaches to some sort of valve mounted up behind the centrimax approximately at the 5th cylinder position. I couldn't find any relief valve on the venturi pipe, but I'm not sure it was on the 310/330's. I've only seen it mentioned on higher horsepower engines. I've looked for soot leaks on the manifold, turbo mounts and other exhaust and EGR components but find none. Also, there is no smell of smoke anywhere around the engine, even when I use the cruise to set a high rpm and walk around. The truck has what looks to be all new gaskets, studs and nuts on the exhaust manifold. Everything on the turbo side is very clean and appears recent, but then again this truck is pretty immaculate so its difficult to say for certain. I spoke with the previous owner tonight who said he ran the truck in service even on the day he sold it to the dealer I bought it from. He said it was a shop queen its first year or so with all of the ASET problems and recalls, but that it had been a very good truck after that. One thing I did notice is on the coolant lines from the EGR cooler to the block. As the lines go to the block on the front right side of the engine, there is a short piece of hose (maybe 1" or 1.5" diameter, 3 or 4 inches long) that goes between a stainless coolant tube and the block. That piece of hose really seems very swollen between the clamps when running.

hoping my new purchase wasn't a terrible decision....'04 CH613 built 2/3/03 with an AC 310/330 and 184k on the odometer. VIN 155261. Truck has driven around bobtail just fine for a week locally while getting it ready. I was getting an intermittent 8-3 code, which according to my VMAC3 manual is an injector code. It was occasional. Called the dealer, they said as it was intermittent, it wasn't anything critical and could be looked at during next service. I did notice a slight whistle at high RPM (not road speed related, RPM related) and something that sounds kind of like a door slapping or a clapping when the engine RPM's drop back and bottom out during an upshift. I didn't pay too much concern as the performance overall was fine. Last night, the truck started running pulling a 53 trailer with a very light load. Maybe 40k gross - truck, trailer and cargo. Started out ok, but after about 45 minutes, the driver said he heard what sounded like a tire blow from the front right. He stopped and checked everything was fine. He went back on his route and maybe 25 minutes later, it happened again. He rechecked everything and found nothing. Maybe another 10 minutes went by and it started to lose boost and what he described as a backfire. On a 2 lane rural with not shoulders or turn-offs, he limped it another 5 or 6 miles not getting above 40 with the problem occurring during boost demand conditions but not coasting or downhill. He was able to make it to his next stop safely. He also stated that the engine malfunction light would come on before each of the backfires occurred then would go out. The driver is very careful and dilligent He had already called me after the second "boom" and I met him with a different tractor. From his description, I expected to find a blown turbo clamp or tube but nothing. I pulled the intake at the turbo and the turbo wheel was clean with absolutely no play. After we switched out, I bobtailed the truck back 60 miles to the yard without any problems, other than the same whistle and occasional clapping sound I heard before. I also occasionally got the 8-3 code but it always went back out on its own within a minute. Any ideas?

There's a Superliner 2 sitting in the back lot of the Mack dealer in St. Louis. Fresh red paint on the cab and hood, but tires are junk. It's on 34k Camelback. Reminds me of a Beelman spec tractor. The have it and a late 80's R model on Neway sitting there. They've been there for going on a year or more and I assume they're for sale. I can find out if anyone's interested.

We have been cleaning, pinstriping, detailing and adding a few things the past 2 days. Dropped it off tonight to have the tanks, wheels and battery box polished. Decals will be in Tuesday and then we're ready to work. This truck is absolutely amazing and well cared for.

Mack3P: I just bought a CH613 built 02/01/03 and the build sheet shows the customer as "03 Show DC/Tom Davis". For destination, it shows "Product Validation Pilot". Later in the build, it shows "Special Projects - Visibility Door". What does all of that mean? I'm very surprised that a MY2004 unit would have been built 02/01/2003. That seems awfully early for an '04.

Here is the truck.

Just got home from Virginia with the 2004 CH613. Amazing truck. Thought the truck had a Mack 10 speed T310, even had the Maxitorque ES 10 speed decal on the A/C unit, but the build sheets with the truck show it has a T309 and it does funny things when you shift into the lower right position on the transmission (would be 5th on a 10 speed). Looked through the transmission manual (truck came with every book and piece of paper it had when new) and found that there is a T309 that skips the lower right position in favor of the "Lo" hole with the range splitter in "Hi". This is a new concept to me...is this the correct way to shift a T309? Still trying to figure out why the shift pattern decal doesn't match the build sheet and apparently the truck. EVERYTHING on this truck is original and immaculate, so I highly doubt the owner changed anything.

Had a Jacobs Brake on a 1990 CH613 with an E6-350 Mack. The Jake was absolutely 100% worthless. We had the overhead run several times, tuned the Jake, etc. and nothing. It certainly worked as in "operated as designed", but it didn't do a darn thing.

It would be cheaper to buy a set of speakers, an iPod and get a audio file of a jake brake to play whenever you want to slow down. It's a lot cheaper and would have about the same effect as a Jacobs Brake on an E6-350.

The all-mechanical Macks are being cleaned out locally as well and heading to ports.

If you think Eaton's UltraShift Plus is a good transmission, you've never used one to back a truck into a dock or in an application requiring smooth and slow engagement. There was one in the Mack rental fleet locally and from what I understand, they're getting rid of it because of all of the problems. The M Drives locally are getting rave reviews.

I would submit that the thing driving a lot of these carriers with the race to implement these "green" technologies is to improve their SmartWay score. Most of the big companies of the world (Tyson, Frito Lay, Pepsi, etc) require their carriers to have SmartWay and rank their position on the dispatch/load list based in part on their SmartWay score. Each of those little things being discussed improve the SmartWay score whether they have a true cost benefit or not.

That makes me feel very very good. The truck looks fantastic. It's going to a very good home here. Do you know why he sold it? Did he get out of business?

Yes, its in unbelievable condition. Only 183k miles. I'm not a fan of polished aluminum. I prefer color-matched painted 5 hand hole steel. I had enough of polishing by the time I was 21.

Just bought a really nice 2004 CH with an AC engine rated at 310/330. Is there any uprate capability by software alone? Just wondering if there's a way to get more power without hardware changes.

I have a set of 34k aluminum Mack rears. That's the first set I've seen besides mine.

Been pulled over by mobile inspection officers. Some let me go right away others had to get on the phone to find out they had no authority to inspect or cite as long as I wasn't using it commercially. Let go every single time. Quack Quack.

We have a 2011 and a 2012 CHU we're running locally on rental in our fleet to meet a surge in demand. Both have the MP8-445 and Mack 13's. Extremely impressive trucks thus far. I had super bad experiences with '04 CHN613's with the AI-427 so time will tell.

The problem with the RD legend is the engine that's in them. You don't want an early ASET. What's interesting about the RD Legend is that the RB and DM were built into the '05 model year.