300+ rebuild

[mowerman]

Well, I’ve made a lot of mistakes of my time if I could go back and do it all over and pick the right routes  I would be signing up for it now I used to hear older fellows when I was a real young guy saying the same thing. I wish we could start over and know what we know now didn’t quite know if they were talking about now that I’m old. I see what they were talking about. sorry Larry it seems to keep going off rail ha ha ha I know you probably don’t care that’s all interesting conversation.

[Geoff Weeks]

Paul, I would agree with that!

What we don't know is how long we have left. My Aunt is 99 and sharp as a tack, and still active. My friends father worked 3rd shift until he was forced to retire at 65 and was dead before 66. Genetics has a place in it, but is not the total picture. 

[tjc transport]

9 hours ago, mowerman said:

Oh, one more thing it usually takes me way longer than I figured to do anything. It doesn’t have to be truck repairs. Also home repairs that’s it ….back to Larry.

i bet watching soap operas has a lot to do with it!!  🤣

[cruiseliner64]

1 hour ago, Geoff Weeks said:

Paul, I would agree with that!

What we don't know is how long we have left. My Aunt is 99 and sharp as a tack, and still active. My friends father worked 3rd shift until he was forced to retire at 65 and was dead before 66. Genetics has a place in it, but is not the total picture. 

True no one knows how long is left.My best friend passed away at just 46 of brain cancer 18 years ago leaving a beautiful wife and 3 great children behind.On his death bed he made me promise Id live life to the full.So if its tomorrow or 20 years time thats what I intend to do......

Paul

[davehummell]

My excuse for slowing down other than my age is in 2022 a pickup pulled out right in front of me when I was riding my spider motorcycle I was doing about 40 mph. after two weeks in intensive care and two weeks in physical therapy I was able to come home in a wheel chair I had a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain, broken nose, broken jaw, knocked out a good share of my teeth, broken shoulder, broke all my ribs on the left side they stuck them back together with a mesh and screws, punctured lung, broken hip, broken a lower bone in my back I was told when the medics got to me I was more dead than alive I can't lay down I have to sleep setting up 

[Joey Mack]

Oh My God !!!

[mrsmackpaul]

Bugger, things go wrong pretty quick sometimes 

 

Paul

[cruiseliner64]

12 hours ago, davehummell said:

My excuse for slowing down other than my age is in 2022 a pickup pulled out right in front of me when I was riding my spider motorcycle I was doing about 40 mph. after two weeks in intensive care and two weeks in physical therapy I was able to come home in a wheel chair I had a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain, broken nose, broken jaw, knocked out a good share of my teeth, broken shoulder, broke all my ribs on the left side they stuck them back together with a mesh and screws, punctured lung, broken hip, broken a lower bone in my back I was told when the medics got to me I was more dead than alive I can't lay down I have to sleep setting up 

Thats nasty.I hope your recovery is still progressing.

Paul

[mowerman]

My god  you said it… that’s absolutely horrible… Bob

[fjh]

13 hours ago, Joey Mack said:

Oh My God !!!

What HE SAID!  I am feeling every trans and drive line and main bolt I have ever torqued  every day! Every joint hurts ! I think it lowers the motivation some what !You Got to just over look iT If you want to get stuff done ! Ignore it and power thru! 4hrs at a real slow pace is about all I can tolerate these days! Count ourselves  lucky were still able to do this stuff! Could be alot worse!

[Freightrain]

Thanks all for the stories.  

Here is some Saturday updates.

Carrier bearing bracket:

1/2" plate welded to fit.  I don't have any fab shop available since buddy retired and business was bought by new company.

Due to slight misinformation the shop put the bolt pattern on centerline of my bracket, instead of a couple inches behind so I had to zig zag a bit.  No worries, it will work.  Just had to cut and paste it a couple times.  Took a few tries to get it tacked in proper orientation before welding solid.  I can't reach truck with welder, so had to use digital protractor and guesstimate, then tack, reinstall and see how each piece fit.  Couple times and it was dead on.

Now to drill for the four holes to attach to existing cross member.  I have driveshaft angles all worked out using online calculator.  I will need to roll pinion down from 5* to about 1*.  This frame was from a short single axle and the driveshaft was short and aimed up.  Now I have to go 120" and it has too much angle to get there.  When I had the third box in, it wasn't an issue because it had a short driveshaft.  There are a couple shims to pull but not sure if that will get me down.  I may have to cut torque arm and shorten a touch.  Time will tell, that is for another day.

I got the cruise control cable all remade and hooked up.  Should function as well as before.  With the Z bar reverser I had to extend the cable to get to the block side and around to pull.

It used to have a bracket on head of compressor and pulled on pump arm.  This pump works back asswards and so has to reconfigure it.  Luckily a std throttle cable fits it.

Exhaust downpipe:

After picking up the correct clamp, a short piece and a SS 90* pipe I was able to fabricobble it into one piece and it aims right down to my existing pipe that runs down under the truck.  I just need to weld a 1/4" npt bung for my pyrometer.  Will do that at work Monday as I need to use SS and TIG it.  I only have mild steel Mig at home.  Don't zoom in on the welds.  They aren't pretty (my buddy would have made it look like jewelry but I wanted to do it myself).  Thus I put some black paint on it.  Ya, polished SS, it was what they had.

Driveshaft sorta hanging in place.

It will get wiped down after carrier bearing hanger is installed and then put some paint on it.  Damn that thing is HEAVY!  Even in two pieces.  I put it up one piece at a time.

 

I purchased steel Friday for the clutch linkage contraption.

New revised sketch.

It won't criss cross now.  I am using the longer arm from the old Mack 5 spd(fits perfectly) and gets me down and away from transmission better to allow linkage clearance.  It is the larger circle, the smaller is the arm I am building for clutch pedal.  The item to lower right is the Z bar and it lays out the motion and travel I need.  It is a plus to be an "engineer". 😆. I am nothing of the sort, but can draw shit.

I will work on cutting pieces out for some machine work this coming week.

Progress.......baby steps all around.

[mowerman]

Excellent… my god that thing fights you all the way …. It must be some how related to my DM … excellent progress  … where did you find the correct exhaust clamp????

[Geoff Weeks]

Heater hoses look like they need to be moved. too close!  I ran into a "heat problem" with a wiring harness I thought was far enough from the turbo/exh. It was, except when pulling a grade in the summer. Heat shield came to my rescue. I had much more space then you have there. I thought it wouldn't be a problem but I was wrong.

[Freightrain]

1 hour ago, Geoff Weeks said:

Heater hoses look like they need to be moved. too close!  I ran into a "heat problem" with a wiring harness I thought was far enough from the turbo/exh. It was, except when pulling a grade in the summer. Heat shield came to my rescue. I had much more space then you have there. I thought it wouldn't be a problem but I was wrong.

Absolutely.  Once I get the pipe installed I will be working on a heat shield and tying the hoses up.  It wasn't an issue with the 237, but this manifold tilted the turbo outward more and creates clearance issues.

Bob, I got the clamp at Mack dealership.  It was in stock?  Strangely enough.

[Freightrain]

Few things

Made my shifter arm, bent it, installed all thread for handle and welded to isolator.  Air lines are hooked up and it works.  Can't play gear jammer until clutch is hooked up so I can get gears aligned.

Welded bung for pyro and have pipe installed.

Just need to get lower pipe adjusted properly and left side exhaust pipe attached to Y pipe.  Only after I get clutch linkage because I need the room over their to crawl around.

I will also work on heat shield for heater hoses once I get them clamped out of the way better.

I will order a few pieces for linkage and post that in a few days.  Rod ends, bushings, etc.

[other dog]

On 5/2/2026 at 8:37 PM, Freightrain said:

Thanks all for the stories.  

 

 

New revised sketch.

It won't criss cross now.  I am using the longer arm from the old Mack 5 spd(fits perfectly) and gets me down and away from transmission better to allow linkage clearance.  It is the larger circle, the smaller is the arm I am building for clutch pedal.  The item to lower right is the Z bar and it lays out the motion and travel I need.  It is a plus to be an "engineer". 😆. I am nothing of the sort, but can draw shit.

I will work on cutting pieces out for some machine work this coming week.

Progress.......baby steps all around.

Nice! I do a bit of drawing myself you know.

Here's some of my work-

[Freightrain]

I can only draw with a computer... 😆. I am not an artist.

My mom was in her late seventies before getting into drawing.  She did colored pencils and got really good.  She was constantly getting asked to do projects.  She was good at objects and animals, peoples faces was something she never got good at(if you can't get the symmetry right, it gets ugly real quick--literally).  At the end she did black and white because her eyesight was too bad to do color.

[mowerman]

My mom used to paint in the early days she was pretty good ,,, I pencil drew a U model when I was around 15 it came out perfect … but that was it one and only 

[Freightrain]

My mom spent most of her career designing business forms so she had an "eye" for things.  But the drawing thing just kinda came out of nowhere.  Don't know why she decided to take some classes and it just took off.  For her to be "commissioned" to draw stuff was just crazy to her.  A lot came from people at church or her apt complex.  She would do things for the annual church auction and people would pay crazy money and then want her to do stuff for them personally.  There are pieces hanging in the church she has done.

[Freightrain]

Saturday workings so far...

I have the Z bar and pivot fabd up and currently has paint drying.

 

I have the lower leg of Z bar completed and rod fitted to clutch arm.  I am waiting on the bushing I made for pedal rod to get a keyway cut.  Should be early next week.  Then I can make the upper arm to the Z bar to connect to pedal arm that I am fabbing.

I made a strap to go around to front of the tank for support because all the forces will be pushing towards the rear.  It is very solid.

I think it is turning out pretty well.

It's getting closer by the day and have all weekend to work on it.  So many little things to complete.

[mowerman]

Excellent,,, thanks for that … bob

[Freightrain]

Making headway.

I have the majority of the linkage made tonight.  I am playing with rod lengths to get things right.  I just need to get a piece of 1/4" key stock to lock the arm to the clutch pedal to set pedal height and check the actual throw.  I have high hopes it works good.

The Z bar.  I just need to tap a side hole for a grease zero, dress up the corners and put some paint on it.  

The new lift pump will be here Wednesday, so I hope to get it started and maybe try the clutch in Thursday.  

🤞🤞🤞

I also started mounting the power steering reservoir on the passenger side.  I made the bracket, just need to finish it up once the new pump is installed.

I realized yesterday that I have my next race on May 24th(not 31st).  Time is running short!!  Real short.

[mowerman]

That’s fantastic… nice going… bob