Terry T

"So the "Elite" pkg.,I'd assume,was a truck with "all the bells & whistles"?" Speed Well kinda Speed.... The Elite package was the most plush package, but you still had to spec power windows, power locks, Alpine or Panasonic stereo etc. The Elite trim was either gray or maroon cloth with overhead speakers in the cab for both driver and passenger, wood grain dash inserts, etc. Both of the attached CH613's had the "Elite" package, no power windows, R side power lock, no moto mirrors, one had a Panasonic stereo system, the other I switched in a complete Pioneer systems with disc changer. CL643, sounds like that one of one is fairly accurate. Most were CL6XX's were613's with E9 500's or E7's of various HP ratings. Unfortunately, putting a value on it is difficult as the only people who understand the true value of a rare commercial truck such as this appears to be, are typically us dirt poor truck drivers! It is worth what ever it is worth to you and not much more. I am not a Detroit fan, but because this truck is unusual, if I had the money and time, I would buy it. T.

Scott, I am not sure who you are or who you think you are, but you have just bashed the members of the most important organization in the United States and the world dedicated to perserving the history of trucks and trucking. Their are more than 23,000 members of ATHS and you have based your opinion on us by making one post and one reply to that post. We are a fun loving group on our discussion board and many of us (not just Mack guys either) visit here. Scott, if this is the way you feel about ATHS then you are not an old truck fanatic. Barry, if you feel that Scott is right then you can kiss my ....... I have been to your shop and bought a B model cab from one of your co-workers. I cannot believe you posted what you did. If this is truly the way you feel about ATHS, I have no use for you and this board. I will find the B parts I need else were. I cannot believe that you would jump on the band wagon of some fellow who doesn't know sh*t form shine-ola. An apology would be appreciated from both of you. Other wise kiss mine! Terry Tombaugh

When I was still towing, a customer sent me to do a tractor swap. I dropped and hooked and the driver told me the truck made a big "bang" and quit running. Then I seen a hole in the hood from the inside out, so curiosity got the best of me and I tipped the hood and was able to look thru the block from right side to left at #1. Don't know what caused it, but the #1 pistion in that Cummins exploded and blew a fist size hole in each side of the block and a smaller hole below the large one on the right side. There was a total of 4 holes in the hood where shrapnel from the engine blew thru it. Glad it wasn't #6 or some of it might have gone thru the drivers leg (truck was an IHC S series). I bought my motorhome because the engine locked up on the owner and he had called me to tow him. He said he had just rebuilt the 400 (Chevy) and this was the 1st trip. He decided he didn't want to take it home so I bought it for 500.00 (and gave him is tow bill back). When my friend, Shawn, and I pulled the engine, the freeze plug next to #8 was missing, we pulled the pan and found #8 rod in #7 hole with #7. Shawn grabbed his 3/8 drive impact and could not break the rod bolts loose, it took a 1/2 drive impact to break the entire inside of the engine loose. Perhaps they used a faulty torque wrench????? We built a 383 stroker for the camper with about 380hp and around 425 lbs/ft torque and it still gets about 9mpg at 65mph with the TH400. I have a 4speed for it, but I am still considering a 2 speed overdrive for it instead. That would give me 6 gears if I need them and maybe get mpg up around 13 or so.

Not fair Barry!!!!! I really enjoy the B's of the 50's & 60's, but I grew up with the Macks of the 70's & 80's!

I had been to this place before (Central Indiana Hardware on 52nd??? St), but this time when I swung into the alley and seen the dumpster I just thought "OHHH SH*T!!!!!" I pulled up sized it up. Slid the tandems clear to the back (yes to the back) so that I wouldn't have over swing of the rear of the trailer, pulled clear down to the end of the alley then started backing up angeling towards the dumpster, just barely squeezing by, after I got the trailer a little more than 4 foot past the dumpster I stopped, swung the doors and completed the trip into the dock. And yes Trent it was in one shot, I had already decided that I wasn't gonna waste the whole day trying to get in there, so I would only give it one shot. I carried a pallet jack and could have moved the doors to the rear. Decided I had to try it, thought I could do it, and if I didn't try, I would have always wondered. The funny part was when the kid came out on the forklift to the alley. He looked at me and said "I thought we would have to unload out here, the Roadway guy was here this morning with his little truck and said the dock was useless with that box settin' there!"!!!!! I almost dislocated my shoulder patting myself on the back! Obviously I am proud of that day. Still gloat about it 12 years later!!! T.

Well the CH has never had the greatest turning radius, but you can parallel park one with a 48' when you have to! This was in an alley in Indianapolis back in '95.

Watch ebay, I know around here more and more of the vol FD's are doing away with their sirens. Many of the FD siren's are surplus air raid siren's from the 30's and 40's. People in the suburb's don't want to be awaken in the middle of the night by people trying to save life and property. T.

If your looking for something like the DT powered IHC's or FL Freightliners, Mack doesn't offer one. When I worked for the local Mack dealer, one of our customers was a drainage tile company (plastic drain pipe, no weight-lots of bulk) who needed a medium duty truck. The one owner did all the spec work for them, spec'd super light weight R690's with EM-7's and 7 speeds, had a special order code for a super low profile, light GVW suspension/platform. Needed to lower the truck, in order to get as tall a rack as possible on the unit to put as much tile on as possible. It would have been easier for the customer to order a Lopro IHC 4900, but they like their Macks. Recently seen some low-pro Granites with their name on the door. There is always a used Midliner or Freedom, but then your not getting a Mack. T.

Don't remember for sure. I think all of our R's at the time had am radios. I seem to remember seeing somewhere however an R with an am/fm/8 track in the dash. T.

Watch ebay as they show up on there every once in a while. Very hard to come by. T.

I don't remember the year on this truck, the pic was taken in 1979. Truck is a V8/5spd.

The E9 was a 998 c.i.d. engine. I recall seeing 440 E9's, possibly 400's, but Mike H. would probably know best though. T.

When I was selling Mack's in the late '90's we were having trouble getting build slots for pedigreed trucks. Mack could only build so many transmissions and rears per week. Our customers were forced to make the choice wait on Mack or go with an Eaton/Spicer/Rockwell or what ever their names were at the time. The other thing about offering vendor components is to get new customers by offering them a Mack with components that they already have in their current fleet. This way they don't have to keep more parts in inventory. Other than the engine, they had all the components that they were use to and kept inventory for. T.

In regards to why Mack stopped production of the RD/RB. 1st off, don't get me wrong. I have never been happy with Volvo aquiring Mack, nor was I happy when Renault owned them. I believe that the real reason that the RD/RB was replaced with the CV was the result of about 4 different things. a) Although it worked very well, the design had run its course. Almost 40 years and 4 decades. Gov't intervention to protect us from ourselves with required safety up-grades that probably could not be put into the platform, new requirements for engine emissions that result in redesigned engine compartments, and the such. c) Future drivers. Humans are getting larger with each suceeding generation. There was only so much room in the R cab. And humans are getting lazy. There is a need for a platform that can adapt to future drivers who grew up playing with Playstation and X box, as opposed to us who grew up playing outside, with our friends, getting exercise and developing stamina to actually work. d) The biggest thing that killed the R platform........ Typically a "truck guy" no longer buys the trucks. A "bean counter" does. He doesn't care about longevity of the units that he buys, only the bottom dollar. just my .02 worth. T.

Thad, The V8 Macks of the era often had 5 speeds behind them. My F originally had an 865/5speed, The 1st Cruiseliner that Parrish Leasing bought had a V8/5 speed combo and the only R700 They bought also originally had the V8/5 speed combo. T.

Must be something about crossing the centerline to strike "honey dippers"! I had to leave the ATHS show in Auburn, IN in June of '05 to help with this one. The Dodge dulley crossed the centerline, and struck the Paystar. The Paystar rolled over onto its right side, then onto its top and came to rest on its left side, all the while doing a 180 degree turn facing the direction it was coming from up against a tree.

Back in the late '80's/early '90's Cummins put out a service bulletin suggesting that drivers no longer idle their engines do to fuel washing down the cylinders. Their suggestion was to set the engine RPM's at 1,000 when parked. When the company I worked for at the time began taking delivery of the E7 powered CH612's and 613's in late 1990 they set all the trucks with a 3 min idle shutdown, or bump the switch once and it would take it to 1,000 RPM and run forever. I have done this ever since, bumping up between 800 and 1,000. Especially in winter it allows the engine to maintain it's temp. It also makes it easier to use the steering wheel as a desk (not as much vibration!). I don't know if washdown is still a problem or not, but it is a pratice that I have chosen to continue. T.

Slopoke: Very nice looking CX. One of the septic pumpers up this way claims "No. 1 in the No. 2 business" Mackboy: If you see the images dark, I would bet your monitor is failing, We went through that on our old computer. It made viewing most pics very difficult, unless they were taken in a very bright room or in very bright sunlight. T.

Actually the low air indicator is a small circle with 3 arrows pointing at it. The "O" with an "X" is the shut down indicator hence the button with the same symbol which reads "shut down override".

I am assuming this is "Edgar Davor". Since you are at ATHS and here asking this question you are probably on several other boards asking the same question. The answer is............. There is no answer! Everyone will have an opinion, but no one can give you an answer, especially since you question many of the replies that you get. It appears to me that you are trying to write a paper, possibly for a class project. There are many people on all these sites that would like to help you out, myself included as I did make a rather indept reply at ATHS, but it appears that you are looking for a very specific answer and as I said before you can get opinions, but I don't think you can get an answer. T.

Your in the right place, When you say bad shape, do you mean body is shot, engine seized? I didn't look down thru the various forums, but there is one for just about anything you need here. If you need help with the Holmes bed, make a post over at aths.org . I think Spanky is the Holmes expert over there or possibly Shifty, but one or the other has a lot of knowledge of Holmes beds. Can you post some pics of your B? T.

I haven't looked closely at the new Volvo's that UPS Freight is running so I am not sure if they are doing the same thing with division. In the past two days I have taken a closer look at the UPS Freight Volvo's and the do not say "Volvo" in the center of the grille. T.

As for the UPS trucks not having MACK on them. Look closer at any UPS truck. For as long as I can remember, back to the Diamond REO's, Astro's and F Model Macks UPS has not had the manufactures name on them. The F models did not even have a Bulldog if I remember correctly and the first CH612's and CH613's had a handle in place of the Bulldog to tilt the hood. I was once told the reasoning for UPS to dis-allow a brand name on a truck they purchased was because they were not being paid to advertise the type of truck. Think back to the GMC Astro's, Diamond's, F models, IHC's, Fords and now Sterlings, IHC's and Macks. I haven't looked closely at the new Volvo's that UPS Freight is running so I am not sure if they are doing the same thing with division. T.

Fred, I have never been able to get it to download either, Had Tom(?) email it to me once, a couple years ago, asked him to do so again earlier this year and no reply at all. T.

Barry, Sorry, but this is the only pic I have of it, I thought I had few more at different angles. T. Note:Could not get pic to download. sorry Barry.