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Stories of age and old trucks

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Texas Damage

Well, I'm back home for a few days. Going back to Beaumont, Tx. on October 19 for another stint. This trip I stayed in Houston and looked at damaged property in Conroe, Cleveland, Silsbee, Port Arthur and Beaumont, Tx. Not too much damage around Houston and north around Cleveland/Conroe. East and Southeast, however, it's a different story. All around Galveston Bay is pretty much demolished. I don't think any one building escaped damage. And a fair number of buildings need to come down, i
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Out Of Touch

Looks like I'll have to leave for a while in the interest of making money. I'm going to Texas on Sunday and expect to be working there for a month or more. Part of our business is writing estimates for the repair of damaged buildings. Especially larger damages and historical structures. And, after a careful polling of our qualified people, (all three of them) all of whom must be better at winning arguements than I am - guess who gets to go to Texas to look at hurricane damages? It may
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Saving One From The Crusher

Several years ago, when I bought my R Mack and lowboy from a retired excavating contractor, I found a really nice B-61 single axle tractor behind his barn. I asked about it, and was told he wasn't quite ready to part with the old girl. Although he said he had never used the truck, he always wanted to restore it. Just never got to it. After a little homework, I found that the tractor has had only one owner in its' working life, and then into this fellow's hands for an easy retirement. It be
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Good Customer Phone Call

Got a phone call today from the fellow that bought the big power Peterbilt from us last spring. You all might remember that it took him forever to close the deal. After he finally took the truck, he called us for about six weeks asking us if we wanted to buy it back. Meanwhile the bottom was falling out of used truck prices. Especially big, thirsty ones. Anyway - he called me from Buffalo on a trip from his home in Oklahoma to tell me that everything is going great! Apparently he just st
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Fall Turkey Season

We are headed for Fall in Upstate New York. The leaves are beginning to change. Nights are getting a little cooler. The politicians are all dressed up and hurling barbs at each other. So Turkey hunting season can't be far away. I'm no sure why - but one always reminds me of the other.
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Still Moving

Still packing and hauling stuff to the new shop. Spent today sorting and packing up hand tools. Most of the big pieces are all gone, except the steel benches and the steel sheets and pieces for fabricating. The crane's all down and loaded. The trucks are all moved. Time to re-organize and decide what goes where in the new space. I'm really looking forward to it. This should be a more permanent arrangement than we had, so we are planning to really set up a nice, workable shop, rather th
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Comments On Volvo And Others

Some of the people on this forum say "Volvo Sucks". No they don't. Indeed they build really good vehicles. Volvo, like so many other foreign manufacturers, are simply responding to market conditions that allow them to buy our businesses, build and sell their products in our country, and to profit from doing so. And then take our money away. If we simply continue to do the "same old, same old", we will continue to get the exact same results. What's the definition of insanity? Somethi
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3

One Packed Mack On A Trailer

Pictures to follow - I promise. I'm just not too sure how to get from the camera to the web page. Finally got all my parts for the B-67 loaded on a trailer yesterday. Other than two spare engines and transmissions, the entire 53' high flat is completely covered with one B-67. And that's with no wheels or tires! (As soon as I got it loaded - it started to pour! It didn't look good for all of my bare metal pieces. But it only rained for a short time, then hot & dry again, so no real dama
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Packing A Mack

It seems hard to believe that one little single axle B-67 is going to fill a 50' drop deck trailer. This will require pictures for anybody to believe. I tell people all the time that I have the biggest truck in the place because it goes from one end of the building to the other. Now I can prove it! I've got all my parts for just this one truck all strapped on pallets for the big move. (from the front of the building to the back of the building - maybe a 400' drive) And I've got eight pal
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The New Shop

The decision was made, and Jimmy and I are in the process of moving into our new space. In the end we took the adjacent rental space to our current shop for a couple of reasons. Not the least of which is that our crane will fit. And we are out of sight of anybody passing by. And we continue to have use of the onsite sandblasting and painting facilities. We measured the space yesterday; we have 58' x 70' x 24' high. Two overhead doors at one end. (one each 12' high and 14' high x 12' wide).
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Therapy And An Old Truck

Some time ago I think I posted that I was getting some body hammers and dollies to work out some of the dents in my B-67 cab. Well after reading everything I could find on the subject, I started in on beating the s---- out of the poor old cab. Wrong. I have found this metal bumping, as the industry calls it, to be a tremendous therapeutic treatment for stress and anxiety. Started out wailing away on a dent with the new hammers and dollies - but that approach is useless. It's a little like a J
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Packing It All Up

After a few months af indecision, we got word today that we will indeed have to relocate our truck shop. And real soon. The expanding neighbor wants our space by September 01. We have decided to take one of two spaces offered to us by our current landlord. One is almost ideal, except pretty expensive. It's got a 24' ceiling, two large overhead doors, fully insulated and really well lit with four floor drains, water and 3 phase power. The space is about 48' x 72'. Its all painted up nice
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Lick Your Truck

This is for Other Dog - who is known to carefully follow instructions - As I re-read my latest blog entry, I found a couple of typos - the result of typing without reading glasses! Anyway - I will not assume any liability for anyone who licks his truck for security. You do what you want to do. Just don't do what I say and you should be OK. Have a good week-end.
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Back To Reality

I've been out to the Oshkosh, Wisconsin EAA air show this week. Although I try to go each year - it never ceases to amaze me. What a fantastic event. Anything and everything that has to do with aviation at all is represented there. There are fighters, antiques, big jets, small jets, homebuilt airplanes, custom airplanes, fast ones, slow ones and helicopters. Plus all of the parts, supplies and electronics manufacturers. Kept looking for Herb's (HK Trucking) Macks in Appleton, but didn't se
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Canadian Trucking

I've been working on a project in Honey Harbour, Ontario, Cananda (A couple hours north of Toronto), and I have driven back and forth a couple of times. Just some observations: Boy, do they ever use a lot of axles. And axle spreads of all different sizes. I'm guessing that is for the health of the highways. I was pleasantly surprised to see the number of Mack cement mixers and dump trucks. A lot of the mixers have tandem steering axles, again, I'm assuming for the per axle weight. The
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7

R-600 Thoughts

Check out Photo #34. (In the state of New York - we give everything numbers - since our governor took the title of Client #9) Anyway - check out #34 in the ATCA - Macungie photos that Barry posted the link to last week. It's exactly what my R-600 looked like as a new truck. And - it's where I'd like to go with it. After the B-67. I probably would not use the fender mount spot mirrors. Sorry I missed Macungie this year. Looks like a great turn-out. Got my sights set on Barry's show in t
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Belt Tightening

I think everyone, everywhere is starting to be affected by the rising cost of fuel and petro-products. For quite a while I really didn't notice any great difference - now, however, it's a different tune. We are getting letters from our vendors daily, notifying us of building materials price increases. And I believe that the price of a new home in our market now costs the builder about 5% to 7% more money than six months ago. That's huge, when you consider that the average new home in o
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2nd Week Of Summer

OK we're about in the middle of summer, that is if we get the usual three or four weeks of good weather. Finished in Pennsylvania last week. Now back to the Mack shop. And - Tom, I did check out Beach Lake on Google Earth. You can see the farm perfectly. It's impressive - but, kind of scary actually. Checked in on the B-67 today. Looks like I will spend the next couple of weekends removing dents and grinding welds smooth in preparation for painting. After the trouble with getting any w
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12

1st Day Of Summer

OK - 1st day of summer - Everybody look quick!! Actually it's been really nice here since April, if a bit unusual. I should be finishing up in Pennsylvania this week, and back home to continue the B-67 progress next week. There is a man with an early R model Mack single axle dump truck that I have posted about before near Beach Lake, Pa. Goes by every day empty one way and loaded with dirt the other. Great fun listening for the old girl, as the property we are working on is in the midd
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2

Continuing Cab Surgery

Checked on the truck shop this morning. The cab reconstruction on the B-67 is actually progressing nicely, finally. The welder is a really talented guy - just hasn't been too focused. I'm happy with the work, though. And I doubt anyone will be able to tell what was repaired. So, all in all, it might have been worth the wait. Back to Pa. on Monday, and probably done with that project in about two weeks, if all goes well. Had to cancel out of going to Macungie for fear of divorce court,
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No New News

Must be the season - the weather is nice and the yard work and house chores need to be done. So nobody has any real new truck news. And besides, Other Dog is busy baiting the rabbits into the oven! I think my cab welding assistant has found new and more exciting projects. Rumor has it that he bought a parts truck so he could begin the rebuilding of his departed father's pick-up. I don't really mind - but why couldn't he say something to me? Now I'm weeks behind where I thought I would be
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7

New Find

A freshly overhauled Mack 285 hp Maxidyne engine was offered to me this week, and I bought it. The company that owns the motor no longer uses the DM's and R models that the engine was spec'd for. The overhaul was done by Mack, and the engine is on a test stand complete with a radiator and starter. I bought the test stand and everything. Hopefully I'll be able to test my old 673's and 711's, too. Heck it's the closest thing to a running truck I've got! Maybe I'll just bolt on a transmi
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Junk And Projects

We had a rude awakening this week about the high cost of acquiring old truck projects. Jimmy had an early 70's Brockway. High mount cab, long frame tandem axle. An old concrete block truck with no body. We had taken out the auxiliary transmission to keep for another project. Anyway, there wasn't much left of the old girl. It had been parked right next to the railroad tracks, and all the glass was gone, the hood was off for years before it came to us and it didn't run. The opportunity ca

Carlisle, Pa.

I'm leaving in the morning for the Spring Carlisle car show. The opportunity came up to go with a couple of friends, and I haven't been in ten years or so. Mostly looking for colors for the B-67, and just checking on current pricing of different older cars and pick-ups.
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One Piece Cab

Well, the B-67 cab is back in one piece. Or at least as close as it was from the factory. It was called the Million Mile Cab - If you really take apart a B cab - you realize that it is made of a lot of little pieces. A lot of little pieces!! Should have been called the Million Piece Cab. No wonder they are noisy and drafty and rust easily. There are lots of joints, holes, seams, welds and places for moisture and dirt to hide. Most of these tight spots were unprotected from the facto
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