bbigrig

Aside from all the Titan issues I hear drummed up for the Pelletier Macks, there were a couple of other issues that seemed to happen around the same time as the Titans were purchased.

Keep in mind that Western Star was already starting to get heavily involved with The Pelletier's in Western Star's Marketing. Western Star's brochures have Pelletier driver "Bone Crusher" posing with his Western Star for promotional shots for Western's logging brochures long before he happily accepted his Titan to drive.(He still drives a Titan for another company and loves the truck!) Being that Maine's 7 brothers with timber in their blood were already having promo photo's using their Star units and having a long standing relations with Star.....I am thinking the ball was rolling from there. Fast forward to the Bangor Maine dealer taking back 2 Star's with problematic CAT engines.....How often do you see dealers doing that so easily?? Correct me if I am wrong but weren't the Macks delivered around this time??? A huge Screw you to Western Star???

After getting the Titan's It was obvious the new Star's the Pelletier's received with DD16 engines were not their specs....Kind of a we love you, come back...(unwanted tool box on drivers side that was later removed to slide the fuel tank up etc..) I figured these trucks were almost gifted to them??? (I hear the latest Star's they took were Cummins powered?)

The thing that clinched it for me was suddenly the Pelletier brothers were on the truck show circuit all expenses paid by Western Star before the Mack's even had a chance to break in. I do agree the drivers beat the snot out of those Titans. Maybe the Macks could have performed better, but these days Money speaks the loudest. Mack blew it on the marketing side of the Pelletiers from what I have been told. Western Star came through with the Dough. I took part in a focus group last week for an unnamed truck manufacturer in Toronto. It turned out it was for the new Highway truck Western is about to unveil. Daimer Benz is dropping some serious coin into Star's marketing these days. The Pelletiers cashed their cheque long ago.

Does this Pelletier sellout theory sound right?

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.....had the same dilemma and decided that we buy used for regional work and new for long work as the long work trucks are putting over 200,000kms per year.

On new trucks the cost per mile should be lower, more fuel efficient and have a warranty. Plus you get that new truck smell.....woohoo!

You can also get burned on the new truck side like waiting almost 2 weeks for injectors because Mack and Volvo don't have enough supply for the demand!

2 weeks of no income on a new truck is a huge hit in the pocket. That and you need a pretty good down payment on a new one to make it affordable per month. New engines can fail too. No one pays for your downtime on your new truck.

I would go used and rebuild the friggen thing before it hits the road. You may have more small repair issues every weekend to tend with then with a new truck but small price to pay for rolling down the road in a better built Mack of the pre-90's. Finance the rebuild, go nuts! You will still come out saving coin from buying a used gem. If you buy new you will have more of a value in the asset once you finish paying for it. Your new one will always be worth more then your old one by the time you finish paying for both if the loans are for the same term.

Most important, buy something you will take pride in driving while being able to afford paying for it.

I know there is a lot more that can be said here......It can be a pretty deep and argumentative subject new versus used.

Get what you have always wanted.

Ya think you'll be sittin in a Titan 25 to 30 years from now? We'll prob be haulin em to the scrap yard with our Superliners and R's an B's

BULLHUSK

There is no comparison when comparing the legendary Quality of Macks from the 80's and back to the thrown together product of today. (keep in mind I own Old and new)

I couldn't agree with you more as I'm sure this plastic won't last as long.

It's still fun to give the new Tech a ride when you get a chance.

I can say I have driven a Titan as well. Its a friggen beast. I've driven Super dogs and MH"s with E9's and the Titan is more power and more truck. That MP10/D16 is a monster with a plastic valve cover. I Love E9s, but until you drive a Titan (sitting way up there!!!) you really cant say you've experienced it. I was impressed, and do still have a love for Old Mack Tech powertrains like the E9/E7/E6

The issue that arises with a Midrise 70" with a double bunk is there is a huge lack of storage space in the sleeper even for 1 guy . We have Midrise and Highrise Pinnacles. If you run a team operation and really need the second bed. The Mid rise has no where to put anything. We order Mid's with a fridge and shelving on the upper side walls and the single drivers still say its lacking for storage considering under the bed is gear, a heat/ac unit and a bunk heater. The Highrise double bunks we have have WAY more storage space for staying out for a week at a time. I could use a midrise double bunk for single operations.....that upper bed would make a great shelf.

It happens.... Natural build up like algae and other debris can become dislodged. especially after its been sitting a while and you start using the truck. Or when you switch from regular diesel to Bio. Bio tends to clean your tank out of old build up.

Just make sure if you are going from normal diesel to Bio that you change your fuel filters twice as much as you did before. The Bio is a natural solvent and breaks down the natural algae and film build up in your fuel tank and shoves it through your fuel system. Seen it here in the bus fleet I work on. Switched to Bio, had some issues and due to fuel pricing switched back to reg.

In Australia they run the Renault magnum as a mack branded truck. For a little while I was told Renault wanted to bring the magnum here to Canada And the USA as the new mh with the v8 engine. I guess there was no interest here in North America. But continued and brought the Renault magnum to ausitralia and sell it there as the mack magnum.

They brought 1 up to Canada badged as a Mack (not a Renault) It had an E-tech for power not a V8. Pretty sure it was autoshift trans equipped... I think it was badged as a "prestige". It was also a left hand drive. Painted white.

It was in 99 or 2000 at Toronto Mack. Saw it once, no camera. Wish I knew what happened to it???

The dash problems are on the older Mack interiors, not the new ones. The new ones are experiencing some fit and finish issues but small stuff in comparison to other manufacturers. Freightliners have there issues as well. Lots of Rad cracking issues on the Cascadia's because they are mounted to the engine and not on isolators to the frame like most trucks. They all have there issues. Pick one you have a good relationship with for when the service and warranty issues pop up. Its the way things are these days if you own a new truck of any make and model.

Welcome....

I've heard horror stories on these axle mounted boxes. Does the amount of free play get a lot less when the truck is running? When the truck is running is the wheel free play seem within spec?

I've only seen cabs like that in brochure pictures. Nice!

Your brake lights on the end of your trailer should only be turned on by the red wire of your 7-wire plug (#4 on your picture above)

Your signals should only be operated by either green or yellow wires (#3 and #4 in your picture)

The way your signals and brake lights are split up at the rear of your trailer is probably done at a junction box somewhere in the light boxes or rear of your trailer frame.

Keep in mind your signals and brake lights should be separately wired from the nose to the tail of your trailer to keep there operation separate. You may have brake light wiring and tail light wiring running separately to a junction for one set of lights. Your other lights that have signals, tail and brake or no brake should all run back to a central location and be wired into (stop, turn, tail) separately as required.

Best to run new wiring back to a junction box and wire them in as you desire.

A lamp that is stop and tail only should need 2 wires and a ground.

A lamp that is turn and tail only needs 2 wires and a ground. What differs is where you hook the (usually red) wire that comes from the tail lamp you are installing.

That is why most trailers have 2 tail lamps on each side. One for tail/signal, the other for tail/brake. Both brake and signal use the same bulb element. Hope that helps.

A little JB Weld and that last one would be good as new. The first pic looks like the European version from a scania cab over the exhaust outlet and trans aren't of the US, oh and there's a twin steer Volvo behind em.

The first one is probably out of a Renault Magnum which was available with the European version of the Mack E9500. I recognized the pale plastic power steering reservoir near the back upper end of the motor that the Midliners used.

It is a Volvo cab.

Well then....That makes more sense. Thanks.

Where is that KScarbel???? I've got a question for him......

Back in the early 90's at the Canadian truck show, Mack displayed a Renault Magnum Cabover for the heck of it....

I remember seeing a different Renault Magnum cabover with E-tech for power here at Mack Canada in the 99 or 2000.

It was branded as a Mack with a CL emblem in the center of the grill. I'm trying to remember if it was badged as a "Prestige"

I wished I got a picture of it then. Does Kscarbel know anything about its short existence? Was it a test truck or for show???

I think that Renault is starting to look like a Volvo FH cabover. Does this Renault have a flat floor like the Magnum inside?

I have had a couple of trucks that need the entire dash cluster as well. Bad circuit boards in both. One had the seat belt light come on which I didn't realize it had a seat belt light till it got stuck on due to a circuit board short. Cost about $500 Canadian for the cluster. One truck was a2005 CXN the other a CHN 2005 and 2006. Both of our brand new 2013 CXU's have had door adjustment and door seal issues constantly.

Have a good look at the Exhaust after treatment setup on the MRU's. The SCR system is huge and takes up about 3 feet of height as wide as the cab and almost 2 feet deep. I can imagine mounting that system or retro fitting a Pinnacle or Granite SCR set up frame mounted will be expensive. You may want to try to grab an early MRU (MP powered before SCR) that only has the a DPF exhaust filter.(those early ones had a lot of emission program problems I hear??) Would be a lot cheaper and easier to retrofit the DPF only ones. Don't mean to be a killjoy pointing out the after treatment B.S. Sounds like a neat project.

ya ill get it checked for codes. the only problem is that the truck is sitting down and is not registered to the state. i have to try to get a mechanic out to check it. also dose anyone know the heating source of diesel in this truck. glowplug or intake heater or none. thanks

Ok.....I made a Boo Boo. The starting aides were no longer installed with introduction of the Midliner RVI "ACE" engines.

The ACE series engines we had at the fleet I worked at had no starting aides. RVI engines in Midliners never had in cylinder or precombustion chamber glow plugs. The 1992 and up to 1996 Midliners used that glow plug in the intake setup.

Get the codes checked first, go from there.

Great work Vin!

You need to go north next weekend up to Notre Dame Du Nord Quebec. that's where I'll be at the Truck Rodeo.

Keep an eye out for Tyson Brandt..The fellow Canuk with the famous "Super Dog" Would love to see him in the loaded B-train races and that snortin E9 of his. Have fun!

Don't screw around.....replace the entire clutch assembly with an Eaton rebuild (had very good luck with them approx. $500 plus core up here) and get the fly wheel resurfaced with a new pilot bearing.. Nothing worse then having to go in there twice. I have had 1 RB I put a clutch in have a balance issue at 1200rpm. Turned out to be a flywheel machining issue. I have heard of stories where other techs have had to unbolt the pressure plate and rotate the housing to the next set of bolt holes in the flywheel. If you are that worried about the balance issue mark the flywheel to where the pressure plate is bolted in and make sure the discs and intermediate plate are in phase. Best way to test after the new clutch is in, is when the trans is out and the engine flywheel housing is strongly supported (either blocks of wood or a jack stand), start the motor. Don't rev it up, just slowly increase the idle to check for an imbalance. You shouldn't have to do this, but if it helps you sleep at night I've given you some options. Good luck and make sure you have a good heavy trans jack and an alignment tool for the clutch assembly.

You may want to have Your midliner scaned for codes. If your check engine light is on, it was very common to have your timing event sensor fail. The sensor is located on the injection pump drive gear in the top of the timing cover infront of the driverside mounted injection pump if I remember correctly. Check out your codes first and work backwards from there. I believe that engine worked on V-Mac I or II supported pro-link readers. That series of motor is ACE which has a computer for certain sensors.

thanks for the reply. i will check that next time i flip the cab. what does the starting aid look like?

Follow the intake manifold on the driver side of the motor all the way to the front of the manifold (where the Manifold meets the hose that comes from the charge air cooler) The starting aid will have a clear plastic fuel line attached to what looks like an injector. right beside it will be a glow plug looking unit with an electrical connection on an eyelet connector. if your issue is only start up related as I do recall that series smoking bad on start up due to this starting aid. Its a fuel injector that injects fuel into the intake at the front of the manifold and its heated in the manifold by the glow plug (stuuuupid system) With that many miles you could have more wrong.

Good luck.

Door adjustment and seal issues have appeared on both of my new Pinnacles upon delivery and my salesman says many others....

If your trucks tare weight is an issue keep an eye on the weight of going single frame VS double. I have seen where a double frame on a CH in 2001 was lighter then the heavy single frame. The RBM frame rail ratings between the single heavy and double were very close.

I'm pretty sure the double was an 8" rail with a smaller insert and the single was 9.5" and thicker then the 8" rail.