convoyduel

The 2 line system is a loop. With the pony motor, there is a low pressure suction from a hydraulic reservoir to the pony pump and then a high pressure from the pump to the system. You need a T on both the low and high pressure lines. Easiest place should be near the pony pump. Put 90 degree shut offs on both inputs to the T, allowing you to choose from the trailer reservoir and pony pump or the tractor reservoir and pump. For the tractor, you'll just need to run a return line to your tractor reservoir. A single line wet kit feeds relief pressure back through the single line at the pump. After you add your return line on the tractor, putting the PTO on and the valve in the "raise" position, you'll have continuous high pressure flow to the trailer system.

New Jersey has nothing to do with getting interstate authority, just the plates. You would need Interstate authority to haul across state lines and you will need Intrastate authority for individual states to haul point-to-point within any individual state unless you operate wholly within the commercial zone of each state. I pray for you that you will not have to seek intrastate authority in multiple states. That process is still pretty painful. Interstate authority is easy enough to get, however it will significantly increase your insurance due to the filing requirements on the part of the insurance company. Progressive, for example, increases rates something like 40% if you have ICC filings. You will also have to have a cargo insurance policy in effect to get your ICC authority, so that's likely another $1000 per year just for that. You will also have to register with a Process Agent for around $300 one time. After you get your cargo, liability and process agent paperwork filed, then your company name is printed in the Federal Register. Once that happens and no one objects (no one does), you're authority will become active. By the way, choose Common Carrier Authority. You don't want Contract Carrier Authority. The Authority filing is around $300 itself. You will need an IFTA account and have to submit quarterly fuel use reports to IFTA. IFTA is basically no-cost up front, but you will have to keep track of every mile driven by state and route as well as every gallon purchased. No exceptions. You will also have an IRP account when you get your Apportioned plates. As a first time registrant, you will have to identify which states you want and estimate your total mileage for each state. Each year thereafter, your fees will be prorated based on your actual miles ran. Figure around $2000 for an annual Approtioned plate, but it is just based off of percentages of each desired state's plate fees prorated according to your annual mileage splits. IFTA and IRP are usually handled by the same folks at the state level, although a few states are still antiquated. I'm not sure how NJ is. Missouri is a 1-Stop shopping Enhanced CVISN state so everything is available online and it's a heck of a lot simpler. You will also have to go through the new UCR process. AND, not to be left out, regardless of any of the rest of this, you will need to register and get a USDOT number first and foremost. Everything else will tie back to that USDOT number. I'm not sure how NJ is, but in MO, if you have Common Carrier Interstate Authority, your truck purchase is tax exempt. That saves a boat load of money, but your authority has to be in-effect when you title it. They check online when you're in the office to make sure it is in effect at that moment and not pending or suspended. All of this should be in the name of your LLC. You as a driver are irrelevant in this process, other than rating your insurance based on your driving record and credit history. The truck does not have to be "owned" by the LLC, but it has to be "leased" to the entity holding the authority certificate. All insurance policies should be in the name of the LLC and name you and your wife individually as "Additional Insureds" As for the "other drivers", they are 100% wrong. They might squeek by with just having apportioned plates, but if they are not leased to a company that has authority, they will get zapped pretty hard. When you register for a USDOT number, you get on the radar screen. An audit can occur of operations based on that USDOT number, although audits usually are more common for carriers with authority filings. The state DOT folks will also audit, especially if they get wind of an illegal operation. When they do audit, if they find you are operating without authority where it is required, you will get shut down immediately and slapped with mind numbing fines. A local dump trucker who ran the southwest metro area like us (bigen might remember him) ran into this in St. Louis back in 2000 and again in 2002. He ran outside of the law for years. They finally shut him down and laid some hefty fines on him. He sold his Macks and I don't think anyone heard from him after that.

As a rule, I replace the glass, the rubber insert and the channel. I haven't found an R model yet where the channel wasn't corroded. The new rubber and new channel are relatively inexpensive and make it a fairly simple process.

It wasn't me. I was going to bid high, but not that high.

My wife's a cop, so the gun and handcuffs put me at a slightly bigger disadvantage than most of the rest on here.

My friend Paul Sagehorn has picked up my 2 latest purchases in California and is bringing them back to St. Louis. Thought I'd post a pic of the pair. One probably isn't of much interest to the board, but the other has a very significant history. My wife said I'm done buying trucks even I find a truck that someone claimed hauled Jesus Christ himself to Nazareth.

Well, I'm making progress, I suppose. I replaced the ignition coil, cap and rotor. NAPA's coil is an IC64 in case anyone needs the info. It's basically just a simple coil that does not require an external resistor. It also uses a more standard wire, not the screw-down type on the original coils. The kid behind the counter was going to send me packing because the Mack R608F nor anything else with a 707 wasn't in his computer by year, make and model. After I badgered him enough to pull the paper books and look, he found exactly what he needed. Not a big deal, just annoying. After it ran for a few minutes, it died again. Confirmed fuel to the carb. Pouring fuel down the intake tube into the carb got it to run again but poorly. I finally decided to take the carb off and pull it apart. It's pretty decent inside, but looks like the orifices may have some gunk. The top end with the float looks new and the trottle body does as well. I dropped it off at a local carb shop. After they picked themselves up off the floor from shock (hadn't seen anything this big and obnoxious), they pulled some old books and found a rebuild kit. They say $300 for round numbers and it should be rebuilt. I'll have to see what the results are next week after I get it back.

Well the truck has started and run well until this week. The tires are shot so it hasn't been off of the property at the Museum of Transportation. My running around has been on the parking lots and service roads. This week, after running about 3 or 4 minutes, I went to drive it up to the top of the museum, got out on the county road in front and pulling a steep but short grade is when it quit just before the top driveway. That's when I put more gas in it (after about 15 minutes of piddling) and it restarted for around 30 seconds. After we got it back into the lower parking area, we let it sit and that's when I started tackling the fuel system. This truck has 2 rear fuel pumps it appears - one above the rear axle and one right near the midship driveline brake behind the Waterous pump. Both take a large secondary fuel filter. I replaced the 5 stratoflex style 5/16 inch lines running between the 2 pumps and filter housings, everything else from teh tank up to the front is copper. It looked like the rear most filter was quite a bit older than the midship filter, almost like someone forgot there were two. At the front, I replaced the 2 stratoflex lines that run from the frame over to the block area. I'm not sure what the circular assembly is that one runs to that comes out of the lower mid block on the driver's side. Just past it is a small fuel bowl filter. I've replaced the element in it as well. Everytime this has stalled, there is always pressure in the filter bowl when you loosen the bottom nut to check the bowl. When the engine was running I always had it on L-R. It ran on both L and R, although there was a few misses when it ran on only one or the other. The last time I ran it on one side was before the thing started dying. Both times it crapped out on me, it was when I got heavy in the pedal. After I replaced the fuel lines and all 3 filters (took a day or so), it started up and ran like a top for 3 or 4 minutes. When I started getting more confident and running it harder around the lot, that's when it died again. I haven't been back to try and cold start it again. I did remove the right side coil and brought it to my Car Quest guru. I got a big GM style coil and was going to try it to see what I have for luck. Caps and rotors are new and perfect. Wires are older so that's another step. Will the regular automotive coils work or will they burn out quickly? I'd rather go with the $20 coils new than spend big bucks on something old that is just as bad as what I started with.

My R608F is coming along nicely. We replaced the floor panels, mat, pedals and broken glass. Running it around the other day, it died like it was out of gas (although I had just put in 26 gallons and hadn't run it much more than 3 or 4 minutes at a time a couple of times since). I got if off the road, put a few gallons in and it started up fine. About 30 seconds later it died. I replaced the stratoflex fuel lines to both large secondary filters by the rear axle and the small paper filter in the bowl on the engine. When I fired it up, it ran like a top but after 3 or 4 minutes, it died again. I checked the filters and all are good and clean. When I loosen the screw on the bottom of the bowl, I get pressurized fuel from the top of the filter cup. I haven't had a second person around to spin the engine while I check for spark. I was wondering what the collective experience would be with reliability of the coils or symptoms of a bad coil. The caps and rotors are excellent. Wires are good. I find it hard to believe with dual ignition that both coils are bad at once but then again strange things happen. If it is the coil, does anyone know where I can get them? They are big Delco Remy coils with built in cooling fins. Go easy on me, this is my first big gasser.

How are your horns operated? Are they lanyard pull or are they electrically operated air?

I'll keep my out for a Q for you if you keep your eye out for a B&M CS8B for my R model pumper.

No, the b/w photo is a end-of-production RS/RL7. The center rib long hood is extremely rare. They were fairly common on the RL/RS6 Value Liner series. I was told by a retired Mack engineer that the rib was for strength and stiffening as much as anything. The RL/RS7 hoods had a moderate stress cracking problem, especially when repeatedly lifted by the rear of the fender. End of production numbers would be VIN #'s 35500+ or so, give or take. 35500 would have been spring of '77. RW Superliners started not long after. The yellow RS7 is early production, pre'73 when the RS/RL7's shared hoods with the eastern R7's. Western cabs/hoods are mounted higher on the frame than the eastern models. In order to address the disproportion, the western models received new hood designs starting in late '72. The new hoods had the dropped fenders, longer side sill on the hood and the chopped fender splash guard arrangement. Battery box arrangments switched from the yellow photo to the b/w photo style in '74 mid production.

We picked up the R608F today. I was shocked at how well it ran. Having never dealt with a 707, what is the reason behind Left, Right and Dual Ignition. Truck runs and idles beautifully on dual. I'm not sure I understand why you would want to only run on one side's plugs or another.

You couldn't get one back into that kind of shape for $22,500. I understand your apprehension with the price, but a Superliner in that kind of shape with those options will easily go for $22,500 before long. You might get them to wiggle down to $21,000 or negotiate a set of drives into the price, but I think you'd do well to get either. If the motor has good paperwork, the price is not likely to waver much for the rest of the truck in that kind of condition.

I thought my books showed only 5 of the sedans, but either way, the only thing more rare was Port Vue's open cab R611F. I remember seeing those pics as well. I was thinking they found it under an overpass or something, but I do remember it was little more than a shell. I wound up buying the R608F this week. We're picking it up Wednesday or Thursday and hauling it to the Museum of Transportation for the time being. There's a truck show and fire muster there this Sunday, so it should provide for some good conversation. Since my first post, I found the disposition of all 12 of the St. Louis R608F's. Most of them wound up going through Harry Harless in Birmingham and ending up in small departments around Dothan.

What year was your R608F? If it is the one they have pictured on their website, it must be among the last of the 61 produced.

Group, I have come across a Mack R608F pumper, SN 1006. It was an old St. Louis City pumper and is still here locally. It's been outside for at least the past 10 years, maybe longer. After the FD, it wound up with the City Parks Department as a flush truck. The interior is in very good condition, but the exterior needs a full restoration. No structural corrosion on the cab, some cracks in the hood and some rot taking hold in the body cabinets. All of the other goodies are there. Chrome items are starting to rust pretty good, although the bed top rails are still in great shape. Tires are rotten. Everything looks pretty decent under the hood. Wiring is okay, even still has the little light on the firewall by the steering shaft. Does anyone have any info on these? My Mack Fire Trucks book shows only 61 of the 608's made. Judging from the SN and the relative quantity of them in St. Louis, I assume St. Louis was the first department order. I'm going by FD HQ tomorrow to meet a guy who knows a bit about these specific units and where they were stationed. I remember these as reserve units here when I was growing up. I never realized they were 608's with the 707, I always assumed they were diesels. I'm looking for just about anything on these, even any issues with the 707. The owner wants 3 for it, I was thinking it is a bit high, given its condition. Now if it was an FDNY R model sedan cab, that's a different story.

I ordered my 2002 RD heavy spec tri-axle dump with one special. Loved that 355/380. Great torque, great power, great fuel mileage. It saved about $2200 over a 427 e7 at the time and around $4000 over a 460. Only down side was the special order put the truck behind 6-8 weeks for an "engineering review". No big deal. Caused the RD to come out as an RD690 instead of an RD688. Dealer changed the setting to always give 380.

That silver truck in bigen's avatar is definitely a CHN Rawhide edition. I'm not sure what the post means either.

Is anyone else at a total loss here (obviously besides bigen)??? The pictures on that Truck Paper link show a truck in very good condition. Were those pictures current? I'd raise holy hell if I drove that far on a sham. Bigen, sorry to hear about your troubles. I hope you at least took a load up that way.

Sounds like they're giving you about $23K to $25K for your CX. I don't know what you paid, but are you really willing to take that for your truck? You might be better trying to see what you can get for yours outright. By the way, Baxmeyer Construction over in Waterloo, IL has a fleet of 5 to 10 CX's, most of which are MP's, but maybe some ASET's. I drove by their yard today and saw the CX's but also a whole fleet of new Peterbilts. They have run Macks for years. May not hurt to call them up and ask for their experience.

bigen, I think you're looking at stepping into a real big pile potentially. You're wanting to get rid of your CX because of all of the repairs and you're looking at getting basically the same truck. It would seem to me that the biggest risk of owning one (ASET Mack) with a single truck fleet is that your always covering the repair costs out of a single source of revenue. These trucks obviously have a history of frequent repairs and upgrades. You're looking at getting into one of these at the end of the warranty, while it appears that the owners are getting out of them right as they would have to foot the bills on their own. Going with a new or recent Mack with an MP might be better in some respects like fuel, but then you're so buried in one for what you've paid that you can't get out of it without taking a total bath. Waiting several years is the likely option and that seems like what the owners did with these trucks you're looking at. I hate to say it, but running a Pedigreed truck west is a bit different than running Brand X. Trucks that are All Mack have no warranty unless you're at a Mack dealer (don't know about finding a Swedish Sweatshop, they may honor Mack warranty since they own them). Non-warranty work on the road can be done anywhere, but if it involves things that are only found in Macks, you're better off to not let anyone else touch it. I would look very hard for a pre-ASET Mack with decent miles and an excellent service history. Not only will you get into if for less, you're not dealing with a truck that is legendary for problems. If you do stay with Mack, I'd look very hard at trying to find one locally so that you can work with the dealer if you have problems after the fact.

One of our '04 CH613's had it, the other didn't. I prefered the one without it. All the computer in the dash did was give you a bunch of high end functions, various temperatures, digital readouts of things you already had gauges for, etc. It let you be able to change selections on certain programmable items, but nothing big that I can remember. One "advantage" is that it would tell you what code was showing when lightning struck. Other than that, I just looked at it as something very expensive to go wrong. Don't recall anything about system failures if the computer display went bad.

3.90's on 22.5 tires with a 13 speed sounds a bit too slow of a gear for west cost/48 state operations. If you run 70mph, that would put you around 17-18RPM. I would think for an over the road truck, you'd want something at least in the 3.70 range. What gears do you have now? If I remember correctly, one of the issues with the Mack approach to 10/02 emissions and up was that it was fairly important to put the engine between 1550 and 1650 at your expected cruising speed. Not only did that maximize fuel economy, it is also the design operating RPM of the engine with respect to cooling and/or heat transfer for highway speed operations.

Bigen, That black '08 was a Holthaus truck. They used to run CL613's with sleepers, then switched to the CHN/CHU's. I looked at that truck as well (just for fun). I happened to catch a Holthaus driver at F&C last week and asked him about their new trucks. Didn't sound like they had the best of luck with them. I sort of suspected that the truck came back with problems, but I don't know that for sure. Good luck with your search.