Jump to content

1980 Mack Midliner Ms200


Recommended Posts

i need information on this truck and cant find nothing! im 18 this is my first truck and i bought it for 500 bucks it has 66k miles and looks it rates fair but i cant find any info. maybe im just not lookin in the right places. i have alot of experience with cummins but never touched a renault. maybe some one can tell me if i made a good deal buying this truck. it also came with a title and trailor from the original owner im only the second owner. HELP!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ok ill get some pics asap! and i just got it runnin today. i have to put some fluid in the clutch mastercylinder and bleed it. what fluid is best for the clutch? it has a nice flat bed wth a sleeper on the bed kinda a garage door for the opening of the sleeper 5th wheel and yes they are giving me the trailor both truck and trailor are single axle. the trailor only needs floor redone and the truck needs all new lines except air. one air tank seems to have a water bleeder on the bottom of it and the thing leaks. all air brakes i got to work. again i will post pics asap!\

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i know a man who bought a fleet of them. the one he sold me was the lemon, he said he foud out at about 40k miles then had the whole truck practically rebuilt w/ new engine tranny rear end steering. he paid 27,900 for it. i have all original paper work and he said he had almost 30k in it after paint bed and such. i think he said all the "lemon work" was warrantied. he used the fleet to haul pipe to his arena here in oklahoma. he said he bought the pipe from all over the us and that truck fot pipe coming from texas (only seen oklahoma and texas) all highway. as u can probubly tell im really excited. my dad just bought an oil field supply shop which also included a mack semi truck shop in the back and he has alot of OEM parts for macks but i have no clue wat applications they are foe. Apparently the renault engine is kinda a rarety from what i have heard. maybe im talkin to the wron people. i would like information on what fluids to use, a blow up sheet on the clutch master and slave cylinders so if i have to rebuild them. a little info on how to turn up that bosch pump maybe also. i have alot of exprience w/p pumps on 2nd generation 12 valves and it looks similar but i dont wanna plow into it and never get it back together. i know that the p pumps are very delicate and i would also like to know a little bit about the pump. sorry i have no numbers but tell me where to look and i can get u what you need.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Roddy and welcome to the club. Is this truck an MS200, or MS250? From your explanation of the brakes it leads me to believe you have air over hydraulic brakes which is indicative of a 250 series. The brakes by all accounts are expensive to work on and maintain. It is not a bad system but it is in a guys best interest to use silicone brake fluid and change it every couple of years. I had a CS-250 series and replaced the truck due to downtime on the damned brakes. I replaced it with a CS-300 with full air brakes which were absolutely trouble free.

By all accounts this will be an expensive truck to run and maintain. The main support base was through Mack dealers and little involving the aftermarket. Unfortunately, these are getting some age on them now. I don't know about parts support any longer as I exited the market where I needed the trucks at the end of 2005. Most of the engines in that series were rated about 190hp and will give good service with proper maintenance. If you go to turning the pump up much the engine life will suffer quickly and parts for those are not inexpensive. I'll bet you would spend over $6000 getting an engine rebuilt.

My advice would be to run the truck for what it is and take care of it. I'm certain you will be happy as I thought they were the best driving and definately the most quiet truck to operate at the time. I ran two of my Mid-Liners over a million miles with no major mechanical work. Never had a truck needed towed back to the shop as they did not break down on the highway(s). I hit three deer myself, and two of my drivers had hit two each in the trucks during the nightly runs. Other than rust which is common around here, I was very pleased with them.

Rob

  • Like 1

Dog.jpg.487f03da076af0150d2376dbd16843ed.jpgPlodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Midliners were kind of the bastard child of Mack and Renault, pretty expensive to work on, but pretty long lived in general. There's a fire department around here that has (I believe) a MS300 with all wheel drive.

The VIN should be stamped into the right hand frame rail somewhere around the shock absorber. There should also be an ID plate in the cab below the driver-side instrument panel.

  • Like 1

"Mebbe I'm too ugly and stupid to give up!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i found the vin but i lost the paper i wrote it down on lol but i was wonderin also what the truck is worth. like i said earlier i paid 500 which at one time i used my 3/4 ton dodge cummins truck to haul hay around here. which i usually made a few grand in the summer with a couple buddies willin to work. i thought i could use this truck and trailor and make my money back but some are sayin i could fix it up make it a little nicer and make ALOT of money off of it. is that true? if so i still would debate doing it seein as eddie gave me such a great buy (ithink) what kind of mpgs should i expect? will the load to mpgs ratio be better with me midliner or dodge? my dodge got 20mpgs and never gave me any probs and would haul 100 square i think and 19 round. i dont have anythin close to alot of money i work my ass off day to day and i was just extremely curious about "did i make a smart buy?" or "is this gonna hurt me financially?" some one please reasure me! hahaha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

btw it is an MS200

It seems the 200 series could be ordered with the air over hydraulic brakes. You will not get 20mpg with the truck empty or loaded. Best I ever did was about 11.5 empty and the net weight was right at 20,000# empty.

You won't make a lot of money selling the truck in my opinion although it is very worth what you paid for it if you can use it. They have earned a reputation and many are scared of them although they can be a very good truck.

Rob

  • Like 1

Dog.jpg.487f03da076af0150d2376dbd16843ed.jpgPlodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why the negative reputation? The gent is young, up front with knowing little, and seeking help with a truck. I've always thought part of the "beauty" of this site was many are willing to share their experience(s) to help. There is a lot of talent that are routine posters here and as far as I know not a single unit of currency has exchanged hands for it.

It really don't get much better than that.

Rob

  • Like 1

Dog.jpg.487f03da076af0150d2376dbd16843ed.jpgPlodding along with no job nor practical application for my existence, but still trying to fix what's broke.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you so much for the information! very very use ful! i dont mean to take advantage of your help but could you send me cooling system and schematics for lighting? Brakes and air system? the est i should be able to figure out on my own! Thank you BMT life-saver! thanks also for the neutral rating achknowledgement its ok some day ill be a big dog;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I'm pretty new to this site and Mack's as well. Posted about my 81 MS200 a few months ago.

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?showtopic=17195&st=0&p=70111&fromsearch=1entry70111

I've been putting it to work. Have hauled a couple old VW Buses with it, so far. It's been a work in progress but I'm enjoying it. Since putting it to work finding some leaks (power steering res, slight radiator leak, one wheel cylinder). Will be fixing all those before much more use. My tach isn't working, any thoughts on that? What does it run off of on a Mack? Is there an sensor aimed at a pulley or something?

Thanks to the guy that posted the clutch and fuel manuals.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...