convoyduel

Forgot to say that the MR Postal trucks are probably the easiest driving, most thoughtfully laid out city tractors I have ever seen. I was never a big fan, but they really are extremely well thought out and turn tighter than most cars.

Yes, i bought them on eBay out of Sacramento, CA. Completely rust free. Trucks both had right at 600k on the clock and both had ReMack engines installed in 2005. Both had new steer tires, 3/4 tanks full of fuel. Also have automatic greasing systems. Trucks came with full service records. They were serviced at regular intervals, even if they only had 200 miles since the previous service. There's also an amazing amount of preventive component replacement. The vehicles weren't polish prepped (interiors were dusty/dirty but not trashed). Trucks don't have A/C or radios which isn't a bid deal from me but could be for some people. I understand that some US Postal Maintenance Facilities don't take as good of care of their vehicles, but these were well taken care of. The eBay auction description is only as reliable as the USPS Maintenance Facility's information provided to the person that lists the items. The prices they sold for on eBay were insanely low. They would have made more money scrapping the trucks. It's no wonder the USPS is broke, they're getting a few thousand for perfectly running trucks and replacing them with $100k+ trucks. I bought the first 2 that came up to the end of auction, should have bought the other 6. Units out of San Diego were a bit rougher, had 700k on the clock and went for about $1000 more per unit. i paid just about as much to ship them to St. Louis as i did for the trucks themselves.

I have a 2000 CH612 and a 1997 MR688P both with E7 300's and Allison Autos. Both are former US Postal trucks. Can't say enough good about them, but we use them for drayage around town. The only thing different about using the Autos is the speed with which you burn thru brakes. The horizontal pedal is the only means of holding or reducing speed.

Watched it four times here already with my kids. It was a good episode and seemed to represent Mack well. I personally like the mention about the difference between a chrome and gold bulldog.

S means dual drive. T means tractor, but it can be applied to a straight truck with a tractor protection valve package. There will be obvious remnants for a tractor application, including the bolt holes for the 5th wheel mount, possibly a TPV behind the cab at the lower rear cab wall, a tapered end of frame and an electrical plug somewhere near the rear of the cab. A cab and chassis shipped from the factory will also have an "incomplete vehicle" sticker in the door jamb near the other federal stickers. May be gone over the years, but it would have been there if shipped without a 5th wheel.

Rob, Where did you get the Red Dot from and what neighborhood is the price in? PM me if you like.

They are still in the original building from the early 1900's when the factory owned it. The EE is safe and sound inside the shop. B Model books may be gone. They still have the R, F and WS crash books.

It doesn't look bad, but i agree that converted tractors rarely make good dump trucks. There are so many reasonably priced used dump trucks that I wouldn't pay good money for a road tractor conversion, even if it is a Mack. When you order one from scratch, it becomes apparent in just how different a properly spec'd dump truck is from a road tractor.

I'm at F&C all of the time. They really are great to deal with. Parts guys all groan when I come in and they automatically pull out the R model crash books. They're family owned now and do really good with old to new. Call Nick in parts. Charlie and Brad in parts are great as well.

It went thry Ritchie Brothers Auction in December 2009. It had an E9, and like 140,000 original miles. Truck has a wet kit, 36" Able body sleeper, aluminum half fenders, same exterior paint scheme, immaculate blue interior. i posted pictures of it on here back then. It was the truck I was bidding on, had my hand up to call the next bid and the RB kid didn't acknowledge me. The people around me were up in arms over it with me as I was being VERY obvious about my bid but couldn't talk as I had just had a tonsillectomy the day before. I think I told the story about it on here. The truck sold for $8500 I believe. I just saw it a week or so ago still sitting over off of Old Gravios Rd. in High Ridge.

Does anyone have word on the Mack M Drive transmission? I'm contemplating a new CHU and curious about the M Drive's experience thus far. I had terrible luck with the '04 CHN613's with the AC427's. I was hoping to avoid that kind of experience again.

CodeJ, Did you ever sell the cab? I grew up about a mile from 5 Star and watched their stuff go through Ritchie Brothers last year. The prices were sad on some of the trucks. I saw the cab on Craigslist. PM me if you still have it or other R parts. I'd be interested.

A "690" would have come from the factory with a 300hp engine or under, unless the engine had to go through a special engineering review. I custom ordered a 355/380 Maxi-Cruise in my '02 RD and it came out as a 690 instead of a 688 as a result. Should have never sold that truck.

I have a CF with a 673/Allison combo that I'm thinking about taking the engine/tranny combo out of and swapping it into my '68 R608F with a Mack 5 speed. Anyone know if the engine mounts on a 707C and a 673 line up the same? The clutch is slipping on the 707C/5Spd and I'd really rather have the diesel than the 707C.

That lower fender hood debuted near the end of '72. In late '77, the top of the hood featured the center rib for the last handful of RS/RL7's built.

It's not a "low hood". It was the standard R7 hood mounted higher on the frame. In late '72 they came out with a new hood that dropped the fenders about 4 inches. There were a handful of the Westerns with the new hood and old shallow cab built. The hoods changed again in summer of 1977 to feature a top rib on the hood that matched the design of the RS600L hood. That hood was short-lived as the Superliners came out for 1978. As for Phantom 1, It had a 335 Cummins and Page & Page rear suspension.

Mack kicked International off of the Severe Duty contract for Missouri DOT (MoDOT) last year. MoDOT is downsizing their fleet by changing their fleet from a lot of medium duty International 7400's to fewer trucks by going with a larger truck that pull Tow Plows. Pretty neat to watch in action.

The 707 was such a low volume engine (apparatus only) and has been gone for 38 years at best. You're not going to have much luck finding viable parts for it. Are you adamantly opposed to swapping it out with a 673 diesel? One of the members on here has a friend with one available super cheap from a fire truck. My 707C had the same problems you describe did and we found it to be bad gas clogging the filters. The demand on hills was too much for the flow available through the filters.

Sold: PO St. Louis, MO

There's a whole bunch of things at play here and its easy to get screwed up. Before buying anything, if you don't know for sure, you need to post your exact size tire and folks here will help you find out the tires that are equivalent rolling diameters. Even though it is tempting to refer only to the "wheel" or "rim" size of 20", 22", 24", 22.5", 24.5" etc,, another important factor in the rolling diameter is the complete size of the tire mounted on the rim. For those converting from the most common tube-type tire/rim/wheel assemblies to tubeless, the size conversions are: 10.00x20 (bias) and 10.00R20 (radial) tube type tires convert directly to 11R22.5 tires when you change the wheel/rim assembly along with it. In otherwords, 10.00x20 has the same rolling diameter as an 11R22.5. 10.00x22 (bias) and 10.00R22 (radial) tube type tires convert directly to 11R24.5 tires when you change the wheel/rim assembly along with it. Note that the 10.00R22 (radial) is no longer available in the US and 10.00x22's (bias) are only available by special order from a limited number of distributors. These are the cheap Chinese and Indian tires that were referred to in an earlier post. Be careful when buying "22.5" or "24.5" tires as they come in various low-profile sizes that share the same 22.5 or 24.5 inch rim respectively, but have different rolling diameters. Some of the "low profile" tires also use a slightly narrower rim. Also, for heavier applications, some 22.5 or 24.5 tires have a larger rolling diameter, such as 315's, 385's and 425's commonly used in refuse, fire and construction trades. On tube type tires, although 10.00R20 and 10.00x20 are the most common size, there are 9.00x20's, 11.00R20's, 12.00R20's and many more. This can get very confusing really fast. On the wheel side, Dayton (spoke) assemblies limit the ability to increase or decrease the wheel size, unlike disc wheels. On disc wheels, however, you have to know if you have "ball-seat" stud piloted wheels or "hub piloted" wheels. The changeover was gradual but let's call 1990 the point where hub-piloted wheels started becoming popular. Today they are the industry standard. You can still buy new ball-seat wheels, but they are usually non-stock items. When buying a set of used wheels, be sure to find out exactly what they are as they are not interchangeable at all. Hope this is as clear as mud now.

No, this one went to the St. Louis City Parks department as a riverfront flush truck in 1990 until 2000 then to a junkyard off of Broadway by O'Fallon Park in north St. Louis City where I got it from. There were 12 identical units ordered in '68 (S/N's 1004-1015). This one is 1006. The City still has one in storage at that facility you mentioned, but it has a bum engine. One's scrapped out in a junkyard in Alton, another collector here has one in pieces in St. Clair. The other 8 ended up down in Alabama and Mississippi. The truck has a 707C gas with a 5 speed direct. The pump is a 1000 Waterous but is stuck.

Here's a few pictures of before and "after". I'm not done, but it's coming along.

It cost me $1308 with tax, a tad lower than the original estimate. I took off the fan shroud myself and there are no shutters on the radiator. They asked if I was in a hurry and I said no. It took 8 calendar days from drop-off to pick-up. They had zero reservation about doing a truck radiator. They acted like that's all they do. The shop was Al's Radiator in south St. Louis County just off of Lindbergh (61/67) and Tesson Ferry Rd. (MO Rte 21). Very nice clean shop, very nice people. I had never had anything done there before, but they came highly recommended from the Museum of Transportation folks. It's also very close to me as an added bonus. Steve is the owner (don't know who Al is or was).