Terry T

Several years ago, Century re-badged there 5030 (25,000 boom/30,000 under reach) to 5130 for single drive application and 5230 for tandem drive application. The dealers pushed the 5130 as they would sell them for a s/a application, thereby avoiding the additon FET (Federal Excise Tax) then when they were ready to install on the truck, the dealer cut out the area ahead of the axle cut out for the 2nd drive axle. With only one drive axle you are suppose to get better fuel mileage and purchasing a used single axle is typically cheaper than a used tandem. For simple traveling and for a lot of the towing that is done, you can be legal with a single axle, but if you find yourself in need of a tandem you have one with the lift axle. One thing I always believed, and a few tow operators are now trying is a tag axle (behind the drives). The thought here is that adding air to the tag can push more weight to the steer axle which typically lightens up when towing refuse trucks, dump trucks, and other vocational trucks. The above might have gotten a little involved, I guess I could have just said that many times a s/a is sufficent, but sometimes the weight of the casualty requires a tandem. With the lift axle you should see better fuel mileage, less maintainance, less tire & brake wear, and your wrecker is a bit lighter as well. I posted the pic of my Ford, struggling with the concrete pumper chassis, the steer axle was actually bouncing off the ground on rougher streets. My Mack had no trouble with that broke down Peterbilt.

Made me think of this Midliner that was loaded 80% when I towed it out of the burning building.

In the time you waste looking for a driveshaft that fits, then the money spent getting it, then you get it and find the spline is shot anyway. You will be time and money ahead to just have one built for you. All the shops around me have a one to two day turn around. 65% of the Dump trucks, straight trucks, etc on the road today have a custom cut or built drive shaft in them. Anything built for vocational use and set on a lot as a stock truck is typically built too long so everything is cut down to fit the customers requirements. Don't waste your time looking for a driveshaft that does not exist. Just get your measurements and call a reputable driveline, clutch shop, etc in your area and have them build what you need.

The compaines that I grew up with and work for until 1992 were IHC/Mack with a few GMC's tossed in for good measure. We had 21 MH's during their run and most everyone loved them. They rode very well, & the layout inside was nice. I enjoyed driving them. I must admit though, when we began getting the CH's I was in "dog" heaven! I do remember a ground issue with one I drove once and that was with the dimmer switch. The run I made in this truck was two rounds from Ft Wayne to Lafayette IN starting at midnight. Half way to Lafayette I hit the brights all was ok, dimmed them and went to just one left head light, no dash lights everything was screwed up. Was ok when I went back to brights, just glad it was spring and the sun was up by 6:30am.

Steve is (was) a member here. http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/northberge....xml&coll=3 COPS: TOWING CO. IN CRASH & BURN SCAM Boss, four drivers arrested; probe 'looking at lots of illegal activity' Saturday, December 06, 2008 By MICHAELANGELO CONTE JOURNAL STAFF WRITER NORTH BERGEN - The owner of a towing service with a township contract and four of his drivers stole trucks and tried to launch them from a cliff in a scheme to get the recovery fees, police said yesterday. "I don't know how big this will become," said North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, implying at a press conference yesterday that the charges related to HighPoint Towing may be the tip of the iceberg. "All other agencies are now actively working on this." HighPoint owner Steven Avella, 53, was arrested on charges of arson for hire, conspiracy to commit theft and two counts of insurance fraud, police said. Police said he paid his workers up to $600 to take the two trucks. Driver Vincent Garrison, 28, of Union City, was charged with arson for hire, theft, conspiracy to commit theft and possession of burglary tools, police said. Driver Brian Sheppard, 29, of Secaucus, was charged with aggravated assault by auto and witness tampering, police said. Driver Rafael Morales, 40, of Union City, was charged with theft, possession of burglary tools and conspiracy to commit theft, police said. Former driver Christopher Baulch, 30, of Lyndhurst, was charged with theft and conspiracy to commit theft, police said. "Without giving away too much about our investigation, there is a lot of illegal activity we are looking at," said Lt. Frank Cannella, adding that there was no evidence the owners of the vehicles had any involvement. Police say the drivers were paid by Avella, 53, of Union City, to steal two trucks that the drivers then attempted to launch from a cliff behind a Paterson Plank Road car wash, police said. The trucks got caught up on trees at the top of the cliff to Tonnelle Avenue. A truck carrying a dumpster was stolen, driven off the cliff and salvaged by HighPoint on Oct. 5, police said. On Oct. 17, they did the same thing with the cab of a tractor trailer, but the township uses two towing services and HighPoint's shift was almost over. Cannella said the drivers feared the other company would get the $18,000 towing fee, so they lit the truck on fire to get immediate action. That incident also triggered the investigation, Cannella said, adding that the truck was totaled and the insurance company paid the owner $118,000, police said. The towing company has locations on Tonnelle Avenue and 54th Street in North Bergen and 22nd Street off Bergenline Avenue in Union City, police said. HighPoint has towing contracts at the state and federal levels as well. Workers at the North Bergen garage chose not to comment on the arrests yesterday afternoon. Avella is being held at Hudson County jail in Kearny on a bail of $75,000 cash only. The four drivers posted bail. Additional local, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies were involved in the probe.

I have owned two '78 T/A's. A black one with an automatic and a gold one with a 4 speed. I haven't owned a U Model yet. I would go with the U. T.

When I started driving the '95 CH613 Wrecker I was suprised when I could not idle up while the low air buzzer was on. This truck belonged to the Mack/Volvo dealership so I asked the senior mechanic about it. He stated that as long as the brake lights are on, the cruise will not set, and until it is aired up the brake lights are on so he wired in an on/off switch for the brake lights between the low air indicator and the brake light switch. Flip the switch and problem fixed. This switch also had no effect on the brake lights from the pedal, so if I forgot to flip the switch back, I did still have brake lights. I am not a mechanic so I really cannot tell you anymore than that. T.

That trailer has singles, like Rob said, no problem, I ran along at 55-75mph all the way across Indiana and Illinois without an issue. If I ever buy a goosneck of my own, I will have duels under it, but that is just my preference. T.

Not sure of the weight, but I attempted to move my B61 s/a without body on it, just the chassis & running gear with an IHC 4700 Rollback and it was way too much for the truck. This is what I used to move a S/A B Wrecker from NE Indiana to eastern Iowa. T.

I would like to see pictures of that. Would also like to own it! Use to be you could get an X-fire truck dirt cheap and they almost always had low miles and somewhat low hours on them, but time has caught up with that and the great deals on fire trucks are gone. A department that I was on in the late 1980's had a 1967 IHC Loadstar tanker that was 2nd due on fires. When it was sold in the early 1990's it had less than 5,000 miles on it, gas engine so no hour meter, but it had a remote engine pump so the engine had no pump hours on it. Sold for something like $1,500.00! If only I knew then what I know now..........

This is mine, there is a gallery of it in the Members Gallery, Terry F Model.

Barry, I know this is off of the truck/trucking topic, but there are FF's who frequent this board who might be interested in knowing. Do you have any updates on the 4 FF's injured while responding to the fatal crash on Rt22 over the weekend? This must have hit kinda close to home for you. It looks like the crash was about 5 or so miles from your dealership. T.

For every one O/O who does park his truck, there will probably be 10 who will keep on truckin'. Most of these guys are upside-down or close to it and cannot afford to let the truck sit. It's a "catch 22" can't afford to run it, can't afford to park it. The truckers strike of the mid-'70's worked somewhat, but the only reason it worked at all was because there were a hellavu lot less trucks on the road then and no carriers the size of Schneider National (back then it was Schneider Transport), JB Hunt, Swift, etc who are just waiting on the opportunity to pounce on any freight left setting by an O/O strike. And everyone knows that if they loose freight, it is very hard to get it back without cutting the rate, and cutting a rate that barely makes you money is not a smart business move. Just an opinion of a 42 year old with 29 years in the industry and the 3rd generation in the industry as well. T.

One thing to remember, when buying used, the salesman will explain to you that the best thing for you is the truck that is on his lot! If he has to go find you something else where then he is not moving his inventory. Or there is a good chance that he has a line on a trade in fleet of a certain spec, say a fleet of EM7 300hp or E7 350hp trucks with 9 & 10 speeds that he can buy really right, mark up $9,000.00 and still make you a good deal. This salesman might be looking out for you, but when I was selling trucks, I perferred selling used, because the profit margin is much higher for the dealer and saleman. This coming from a former Mack salesman. T.

In the early '90's CL600's and CL700's were available. Not sure which year, '97 or '98 maybe, Mack dropped the CL600's. The Franklin Mint 1/32 scale model that was very popular was a CL613 with an E9 500. I believe Mack dropped the CL600 when they dropped the E9. The CL as a road tractor really wasn't all that popular, although I sure would have liked to have a CL613 E9 500/2180 with the 60" standup bunk. The pic is of the 3 CL613's I currently own, the only ones I will ever be able to afford to own! T.

It doesn't matter how big you build it, it won't be big enough! That being said, I have in my "fleet" a '64 B Model, a '70 F Model, a '79 class C motorhome, a Kawasaki Mule, a Kubota lawn tractor, a pickup truck, a Crown Vic, and a Cougar. My intention is to put up a 35' or so by 70' or so with two bays, office, rec area, bathrooms, and parts/tool storage running parallel to the two bays. Only the two Macks and motorhome will be regularly housed in the building, the pickup and Cougar go in the attached garage and I would like to build a 2nd 4 bay garage, possibly with a guest quarters above, for remaining vehicles, and the rest of my misc lawn & yard equipment. My thought on tools is to start by finding an older mechanic who is ready to retire and purchase his tool box. I say older ready to retire, because mechanic's almost never get rid of a tool, just move it down a drawer and to the back as they use it less. A large air compressor, tire irons, porta-power, press, the list just goes on and on.... large floor jacks and jack stands......... Don't build or buy over your budget, but don't go so small that you are falling over yourself, I just had the Crown Vic at my buddys house last night working on it and 12 or so years ago when he & his wife bought their place it was perfect, 2 car garage room for his '66 LeMans project & Dawn's car, and he could still work on the LeMans. Well the LeMans has been sitting in one of my barns for 7 years now and except when being repaired none of the 4 vehicles that Dawn has had in 12 years has spent a night in the garage. A few race cars have spent weeks in there, a few others have been in there for engine swaps, etc. Try your best to plan ahead, although no one I know can see into the future...... T.

Here are a couple pics of 2 of the 5 U Models that we had back when... One is still around, and if I had any money I would buy it. 237/5 speeds if I remember right. T.

Be advised, unless something has changed in the past few years, if this is a life long Canada truck, the FET (Federal Excise Tax) will have to be paid on it when it enters the U.S. I believe that the tax is based on new purchase price not current value. Barry might be able to talk to one of his salesman to confirm or dispell this. Back in the late '90's, when I was selling Macks, there was a lot of concern about the purchase of trucks in Canada then imported to the U.S. because of the weak Canadian dollar vs the U.S. dollar.

Pretty good Hippie, Your the hottest thing going and your not even a truck driver, at least you stayed at a Holiday Inn last night!!!!! lol! T.

I am about 99.9% positive that these are all conversions and I don't think that they are a kit. I think individuals do this themselves, or with the help of a bodyshop/bodyman. When I was younger I remember seeing R's with the square duals once in a while, but I rarely see them anymore, except each year on my trip to Bristol, TN. I think everyone in Kentucky who owns an R has converted it to square duals. I seen 4 of them this past August on my way down. T.

Here goes: Dan Bruno's R700 Rubber Duck Cruiseliner My F Model and a U Model just for sh*ts and giggles! Superliner Ultraliner/MH

see the below thread at ATHS.org . Maybe these two could be put together for someone at least as far as Indiana? http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/at...post?id=2243159

That is a DM.

Barry, When I towed for Vomac I had to go up on the Indiana toll road and get a stack, RB driver with two MR's all slated for concrete pumpers so you can imagine the lenght of the frames. With my wrecker I was well over 100 ft long, my tail light bar was more then 10 feet from the end of the frame of the 3rd truck. It would have looked dang impressive if it were daylight! T.

Wow! That is the hardest question to answer in the world of old trucks. About once a month someone posts that question about a truck. The answer is: What is it worth to you. either as a seller or buyer. The old truck/classic truck market is not like the classic car market (and I hope it never is!). Do you really want the truck? Do you have 5,000.00 or 6,000.00 to spend on the truck? I gave 300.00 for my near basket case 1964 B61, which was probably a steal considering the history I personally had with the truck, I had driven it as a kid, my dad drove it and my father-in-law drove it. I got my Mack F Model free with a just broke-in and very strong running ENDT711. Now I am looking at a 1974 R795LST that has been rolled. He wants 2500.00 for it. Is it worth 2500.00? My wife says NO! I think it is, if it is still available when I have the extra 2500.00 I will probably buy it. You need more info on the truck, be nice to see the VIN, close ups of the frame, engine, tires & such. Better pics of the body, to see the body work. This might be a 1,000.00 truck with a 5,000.00 paint job. It is easier if you know someone who know OLD trucks, not just trucks. I know this is a long reply without a real answer. I have learned through the years to walk away from something I really want, sleep on it, then go back. If it still looks real good, go for it! T.