convoyduel

There were a fair number built. Green seemed to be the most common color, followed by red and black. There were a couple of black tractors with 24.5's and dual exhaust that I wish I would have bought. The problem with the RD Legend is that had the AI or AC engine. Those late '03 and early '04 ASET engines were total shop queens.

That's a tip turbine so its either a U686 or a U612.

The 8V92 between the jade green and the silver series was a OO92 and was painted black. It was marketed as the Owner Operator 92 I believe at the end of the 70's or very early 80's.

All it needs is one part...so simple....that's why I'm trying to unload it unfixed instead of fixing it. Uh-huh.....

That's at least a whole late '72-up Western hood, not just the grille.

When I think of party, two words come to mind.....Churubusco Indiana. Keep up the good work, T!

If you look at a 10 year old Freightliner or International, they trucks are almost always used-up and worn out, with just about every joint, seam and assembly broken or loose. Volvo's aren't much better. My 2000 CH612 and 1997 MR688 with 600k on the clock are in 10 times better shape than the 2005 Freightliner Columbia a friend has, and he's pretty diligent about maintenance. My '73 Peterbilt 358 and '77 RS700L are in better condition than most new trucks, and neither of them are susceptible to total shut down by a faulty sensor, loose wire or bad computer.

I bought one new like that 4 years ago from Mack and paid a little over $500, and that was after shopping a number of dealers. The multi-piece assembly for the grilledensor style are no longer available.

It's an excellent truck as-is, I was just wondering if there was a simple way to increase hp. It really does just fine as-is for local work and its fuel efficient as can be. I probably should leave well-enough alone.

I was wondering what VMAC-based options are available for a 2000 E7 300hp to uprate the hp? I was just curious if there's any way to have a dealer change the program on the ECM to uprate the hp. It's in my '00 CH612 Postal Puppy with the Allison behind it.

I'm getting EM codes 3-2 and 3-4 (blinks of the light) on a 2000 E7-300. The EM light only comes on at high RPM's, then goes back out at lower RPM's. There is a slightly noticeable surge when the light goes on or off. Any ideas?

Trucking can be a race to the bottom. Superdog has it 100% right....longer and heavier trucks are a shippers dream and a trucker's worst nightmare. Just like the move from 48' and 96" wide trailers to 53' and 102", if you show up with something less than a 53/102 nowadays, you probably will get turned away even it the shipment would fit on a pup. If this ridiculous thing goes through, you're going to see triple axle trailers everywhere and most of them hauling loads that would have fit on a 48' tandem. Rates won't change one single bit and everyone will be bidding today's truckload rate on the heavier capacity. That means anything paying by the weight hauled at 80,000 gross will pay about 75% of what it does today (figuring 44k payload today versus 60k payload if this passes). Also, your existing equipment (tractors with tandems under 40k and tandem axle trailers) will be as worthless as a 44'x96" reefer was after the move to 48's and 53's. Personally, I'd rather see trucking go back to 73,280 and 44' trailers. Why any trucker would be in favor of this is beyond me.

I feel for ya' and hope you find it. I had a pup trailer stolen in September. Found out this past week it was a fellow dump trucker and contractor from the area that was caught stealing all kinds of trailers and equipment. Worst part for me is, 20 minutes after i noticed it stolen, I drove about 3 miles over to his yard to ask if he'd seen it around, figuring he knows a lot of people in the area. Some people are just SOB's.

In Missouri, we have laws for St. Louis, KC and Springfield that mimic Michigan laws.....no gross and a per-axle weight of 22,400lb. Trick is, its in the metro areas and some interstates are not part of the "zone". Without 44k or 46k axles, your sunk because you're carrying whatever's in your bed on your steer and tandems with the extra axles lifted in the quarries and on-site. 38's and 40's won't handle the abuse for long. You can get an RD or Granite down that low. There's a ton of single 3/8" frame mixer chassis running around with 18's or 20's on the steer and 44's on the rear. For your application, unless the law specifies otherwise, go with a lower 8 or 10k lift axle to get your 62 gross. Davigou's right, a Bibeau bed is the strongest, lightest steel box I've ever seen and I can't tell you the abuse ours took without a ding. You can drop rip rap on those from a 993 Cat and it wont even ding. I'd look for a Mack RD mixer chassis, get a Bibeau bed and a smaller lift axle. I'd bet you're close to 24k with that combo, especially if you can make a 15' bed work. My '02 RD with a double frame, mack 18, 18/20/44 with a 16' Bibeau boarded up and a full pup plate set-up was 27,000 wet.

The other flag is the 10 speed, not a very common dump truck transmission. I've seen CX and CXU's factory built as straight trucks for a dump now and then, but they were bridge law trucks purpose built for longer hauls with 3/8" frames, 3 or 4 lift axles and a 20'+ bed where the operator was hauling ornamental or specialized river gravel for long hauls and bridging 73k gross. In those cases, the fact that it is a dump truck is more of a non-issue because its not taking the off-road abuse typical of a dump truck application. The RD and Granite chassis were purpose built for the severe abuse the chassis and cab receives off-road, but typically the CH and CX are not unless the severe service option is ordered along with beefier chassis components. "Dump truck" can refer to an extremely wide range of applications from 20K+ per axle loads down to a 5 or 10 ton dirt dobber or rural gravel hauler. The CX might do okay on the lighter end, but I'd stay away from it on the heavier end. The 44K axles are a good start, but the transmission and engine seem like tractor material. What is you intended application?

As Trent said, the low gearing likely isn't there. We got by with our set-up by using the 18 speed. On deep pulls, especially uphill from a dead stop, we used the splitter on the low side frequently. God I miss that dumb truck.

I'll take anything they're offerin'.

3P, Back in '02, I was able to come to Macungie to walk down the line with my truck. Does Mack still let customers do that?

I had a new custom 2002 RD with a 355/380, Mack 18 and 4.11 Mack 44 rears (maybe 4.10). Should have been a gold dog but for whatever reason, Mack wasn't doing that on the RD in April '01. The truck was a tri axle dump truck 20/20/44 and sometimes pulled a pup grossing 120k. It's a decent set-up and I never had a problem with power, but the 427's and 460's of that vintage pulled slightly better. It was no comparison to the way a 475 Cat 6NZ walked up the hills, but I'll take the Mack any day overall. I would be hesitant with a 10 speed 355/380 combo pulling that weight.

No, I believe there's a picture of the pumper behind a Superliner in 2004 at a convention but the tractor was not there and reported in bad shape. I believe the tender is the truck in the hands of a collector down in Texas. The Napier Deltic wasn't running, though.

Jay, I take it you gave up on the swap?

There was a truck on eBay recently with a modified Superliner hood on an older R600. In my opinion, it looked bad, but to each their own.

GHG, I've been meaning to ask you...in my humble opinion, those Postal trucks (both MR's and CH's) have to be the most intelligently laid out trucks I've ever driven for local/regional work. Auto's, LED lighting, grab handles everywhere, gladhand handles, excellent step arrangement, key actuated air start (electric solenoid over air), turn on a dime, air ride, air dump valves, auto greasers, etc. I think you worked for USPS for quite a while. What is your take on the trucks? Did you see any shortcomings with them (other than no A/C)?

They were replaced by schedule. The local St. Louis dealer confirmed that they have done similar work in the past for the USPS, including 26 sets of rod and main bearings a few years back, one truck after another. They ran them thru a single mechanic who was getting them done at a rate of 2 per day. According to my records on the trucks, both were replaced when the odometers reached 400k.

The '97 MR I bought was likely a spare hold-over but the CH612s from the '99-'00 order are just coming off of front-line service at many locations. The 1999-2000 order was the last of the CH orders for USPS. The Vision CX has been the conventional model for subsequent orders. I forgot to mention that the '97 MR has an EM7 with a 4 speed Allison and the '00 CH has the E7 with a 5 Speed Allison. Both run out at 70 mph, but we had to have the VMAC reprogrammed on the CH to remove the electronic 60 mph speed limiter. The two trucks I bought are in better shape than any Freightliner I have seen or driven with 300k miles on them. As one example, my friend has a fleet with a '99 IH 9300, '00 Freightliner FL112 and a '04 Columbia among other trucks. Each of those trucks has around 300k on the odometer and the trucks are just absolutely junk. Not a lack of maintenance, just loose sloppy everywhere, interiors wearing and falling apart, cheap plastic breaking everywhere, etc.