Another One Bites The Dust!

[vision386]

I have a friend up in jersey thats a driver for a mid-size Haz-mat carrier (S*J transportation) he tells me they are "phazing out" all the Macks in the fleet!(to be replaced by Peterbilts) S*J was a longtime user of macks of various models F,R,RD,MH,CH,CX etc. they were even granted their own service/parts franchise by Mack. He said the reason he was told, was poor dealer/warranty support,problematic un-reliable trucks! Hard for me to see anything but a Mack pulling one of their trailers,as i grew up right down the road from their terminal. I for one, wish i knew what goes on at Macks corp.headquarters! seems to me Mack is not as interested in retaining long time customers as it once was,even in the specialty/vocational fields! i'm sure the swedes have something to do with it,but seems support for the "little guy" is almost non-existant anymore!.............Mark

[Mackpro]

I have a friend up in jersey thats a driver for a mid-size Haz-mat carrier (S*J transportation) he tells me they are "phazing out" all the Macks in the fleet!(to be replaced by Peterbilts) S*J was a longtime user of macks of various models F,R,RD,MH,CH,CX etc. they were even granted their own service/parts franchise by Mack. He said the reason he was told, was poor dealer/warranty support,problematic un-reliable trucks! Hard for me to see anything but a Mack pulling one of their trailers,as i grew up right down the road from their terminal. I for one, wish i knew what goes on at Macks corp.headquarters! seems to me Mack is not as interested in retaining long time customers as it once was,even in the specialty/vocational fields! i'm sure the swedes have something to do with it,but seems support for the "little guy" is almost non-existant anymore!.............Mark

Called one of our customers today to ask how a couple of his CHU MP8's was doing afer having several breakdowns here latley, he responded that the CHU were doing ok but he did go out and buy a new KW! We have lost alot of new truck sales to KW in the last few years but they will be back after they see its not as green on the other side of the fence like they think.

[vision386]

A local dumptruck outfit around here recently switched back to Macks after KW left a bad taste in their mouth! they were just too lightweight(T-800's),not heavy speced. they had numerous frame/crossmember failures. The driver i know said they put 2 sets or rears in his truck before "unloading" it on some other poor un-suspecting bastard! fleet is i'd say, 90% Granites now..........Mark

[SOUTHBOUND01]

A local dumptruck outfit around here recently switched back to Macks after KW left a bad taste in their mouth! they were just too lightweight(T-800's),not heavy speced. they had numerous frame/crossmember failures. The driver i know said they put 2 sets or rears in his truck before "unloading" it on some other poor un-suspecting bastard! fleet is i'd say, 90% Granites now..........Mark

I know what you mean Mark, I have a buddy who still drives for Waste Management. Once the largest buyer of Macks in North America now like you said a Bastard Fleet, Volvo, Petercar, Freightliner, Sterling. But I think oneday they too will realize nothing holds up like a Mack especially off-road like landfills!! Got a couple F models to look at but still getting CRAP from the Ol' lady!!!!!!

[rhasler]

A local dumptruck outfit around here recently switched back to Macks after KW left a bad taste in their mouth! they were just too lightweight(T-800's),not heavy speced. they had numerous frame/crossmember failures. The driver i know said they put 2 sets or rears in his truck before "unloading" it on some other poor un-suspecting bastard! fleet is i'd say, 90% Granites now..........Mark

A company here had a Kenworth with twin steer axles and planetary rear axles, I think they were made by a manufacturer in Korea. When the planetary rear end(s) crapped out the truck sat for months before it was hauled away due to high cost of replacement parts/reman units for the differentials.

[vision386]

I know what you mean Mark, I have a buddy who still drives for Waste Management. Once the largest buyer of Macks in North America now like you said a Bastard Fleet, Volvo, Petercar, Freightliner, Sterling. But I think oneday they too will realize nothing holds up like a Mack especially off-road like landfills!! Got a couple F models to look at but still getting CRAP from the Ol' lady!!!!!!

Bob,on the F-models,maybe try the "sympathy card" on the ol lady! pinch yourself (hard) so a tear comes in your eye,then say "babe, i used to drive one just like this when i was younger,just cant stand to see it go to thr junkyard"! works for me anyway! LOL!................Mark

[ThaddeusW]

A company here had a Kenworth with twin steer axles and planetary rear axles, I think they were made by a manufacturer in Korea. When the planetary rear end(s) crapped out the truck sat for months before it was hauled away due to high cost of replacement parts/reman units for the differentials.

Korean Planetary axles? On a Kenworth? You sure they weren't SISU axles(Finland)? What a waste. They should have just swapped out the axles for a domestic set.

[rhasler]

Korean Planetary axles? On a Kenworth? You sure they weren't SISU axles(Finland)? What a waste. They should have just swapped out the axles for a domestic set.

I'm not really sure of their origin, or even what happened to the truck afterward. I may be imagining things, but I think the SISU planetaries are built in Korea, or maybe vice versa. When I said "hauled away" I meant hauled away to their yard, not to scrap. They may have taken it home and reworked it themselves, it was a fairly new truck. I think it was still under warranty and Kenworth was playing some kind of screwball game with the warranty coverage on the axles.

[spud]

I'm not really sure of their origin, or even what happened to the truck afterward. I may be imagining things, but I think the SISU planetaries are built in Korea, or maybe vice versa. When I said "hauled away" I meant hauled away to their yard, not to scrap. They may have taken it home and reworked it themselves, it was a fairly new truck. I think it was still under warranty and Kenworth was playing some kind of screwball game with the warranty coverage on the axles.

sisu are not built in korea and are a far supirior diff too them half breed mack/volvo pieces of junk.it seems you american guys get a lot of diferent specs in your mack too us aussies,most fleets in austrailia on heavy haul are switching too western star up too 163 ton,and kenworth up too 250 ton, i dunno what that is in pounds. as the new malvo's are pieces of shit.bad customer service, no back up ,overpriced and inferior parts as i have stated before they aint built a real mack since 90 , what i cant understand is how some operators blow up huge diffs over there when we run heavier (up too 169 ton legal on road) and faster 100 kph on the same diffs .we have normal failures but it seems that as a general rule a lot of american operators blow em too bits easily. and the austrailian conditions are harsher 45 plus celsius where most of this big gear runs.we own two 2004 titans both cat powered (urgh) 18 speed maxitorqe boxes running 200 series mack diffs with a 5.02 ratio and these are not hub reduction or planetary, on neway tri drives grossing 160 ton.....and we have only ever had one diff failure. long live the superliner!

[Mackmann]

SJ still is buying new macks. Just not like they used to. I was there about 6months ago talking to Dave about it. They are great people at SJ. I almost leased on to them with my dump truck. But the rates were not that great. They are still a MACK authorized service center. He told me for every 10 petes they buy they buy 3 macks.

[rhasler]

...what i cant understand is how some operators blow up huge diffs over there when we run heavier (up too 169 ton legal on road) and faster 100 kph on the same diffs...!

I think they blow up here from a combination of stupid + wheel spin.

we own two 2004 titans both cat powered (urgh) 18 speed maxitorqe boxes running 200 series mack diffs with a 5.02 ratio and these are not hub reduction or planetary, on neway tri drives grossing 160 ton.....and we have only ever had one diff failure. long live the superliner

Until the new 150 series carriers came out all of the Macks sold in our area for the last several years had the 200 series rear ends, usually 5.02 ratios with T318LR21 transmissions, and we have had no failures that I can remember under warranty. After the warranty period was up the only failures I can remember have been from worn splines in the side gears, and those were long after the warranty had expired.

[rhasler]

SJ still is buying new macks. Just not like they used to. I was there about 6months ago talking to Dave about it. They are great people at SJ. I almost leased on to them with my dump truck. But the rates were not that great. They are still a MACK authorized service center. He told me for every 10 petes they buy they buy 3 macks.

Nice to see you back around here.

[vision386]

SJ still is buying new macks. Just not like they used to. I was there about 6months ago talking to Dave about it. They are great people at SJ. I almost leased on to them with my dump truck. But the rates were not that great. They are still a MACK authorized service center. He told me for every 10 petes they buy they buy 3 macks.

I always heard S*J was a good outfit to work for,my buddy's been there almost 20 years,started with one of the other south jersey "big 3" all those guys started in the trucking business about the same time, S*J (Sam jones) KMT (Mike williams) M*J Catalano farms (Mike catalano) they all used nothing but Macks at one time.They usually worked their way down from Sam,and ended up at M*J farms. Been trying to get Mike Catalano to join here,he owns the first truck i ever drove,1963 B-61T, been trying to get him to sell it back to me for many,MANY years! he also has a B-75, R-401, F-797,and several other classic Macks....Mark

[james j neiweem]

I always heard S*J was a good outfit to work for,my buddy's been there almost 20 years,started with one of the other south jersey "big 3" all those guys started in the trucking business about the same time, S*J (Sam jones) KMT (Mike williams) M*J Catalano farms (Mike catalano) they all used nothing but Macks at one time.They usually worked their way down from Sam,and ended up at M*J farms. Been trying to get Mike Catalano to join here,he owns the first truck i ever drove,1963 B-61T, been trying to get him to sell it back to me for many,MANY years! he also has a B-75, R-401, F-797,and several other classic Macks....Mark

Just saw a S&J Mack vision or pinnacle yesterday on I95 in connecticut.