ken1946@rcn.com

The life cycle of every industry is the same. They start with a bunch of little guys doing some creative innovative work, the good ones get bigger and acquire the smaller ones who haven't failed and as the industry matures the fewer get even fewer and they get larger and larger until they get so large and unresponsive that innovators can come in and displace them.

Andrew Carnegie consolidated a bunch of steel companies in the late 1800's and then sold the whole shootin' match to J. P. Morgan in 1900 for $100,000,000. Bethlehem and US Steel got so big that they have now disappeared. The same went for oil companies(name a small one),electric companies, auto manufacturers, heavy equipment, airplane guys and even shipbuilders. There is no reason to believe that HD Trucks would be immune.

These companies are all in business to make money, hopefully for their owners(the shareholders) but if not at least the managers who become multi millionaires when the are terminated. They are only secondarily in the business of building trucks under a brand. Studebaker became Worthington Pump Co. and Baldwin Steam Locomotive works evolved into BLH, Baldwi-Lima-Hamilton and became a big conglomerate.

Man alive, is my head filled with worthless trivia or what? Just my $.02

I think that the real reason for the demise of the COE configuration is ththat there are too many OO guys who are too lazy to haul their bulk straight up to climb up into one. A friend had a '91White/GMC non-sleeper with a 330 Cummins and a nine speed with only 180K on her and out of 20 calls he got, 19 gave him that story. I did not need another toy but at $2,500 I couldn't pass it up. I can almost get that for the diamond plate headache rack and tool boxes. That will only leave me with the drivetrain and double wet line setup.

Just my $.02

Here are some pictures of a 1949 LJWS twin steer oilfield rig up truck recently at auction in Grayville Il.

Do you know if it sold and what it ws bid to? That would probably push my wife right over the edge!

Ken Irvine, Jr.

Bethlehem, Pa

LMACK...If you have a clamp type ammeter..see what the current draw is. If it is high the starter is working hard at turning the engine over...If low engine is OK but look for bad connections in the starter wiring

Around 3 weeks ago i bought a 1967 Mack R611T 6 wheeler tractor with a 673T, Quadbox, 29k lb rear and a wet system. When i was a kid i used to drive by the companies yard on I-95 and see all the trucks lined up. The company had probably 20 trucks, mainly Macks with probably half of them being B models. The opportunity came to purchase this truck and i jumped at it, one of the reasons being their is no rot on the truck and almost no rust.

So far i've changed the fuel filters and steamcleaned the frame and rearend. This weekend i'm going to be putting maxi/spring brakes on the truck.

Here is a photo of the truck as it sits. I'll update this thread with progress photos.

Some information if you please. As I understand it, maxis are the spring loaded pressure off parking brake actuators. What type of parking brakes are on this unit as built?

Thanks