So I'm sitting here thinking about what I can do to make 2009 a
better that 2008 was.
And I'm thinking of what the government and the new administration
could do, realistically, to make the new year better than the old one.
Can President Barack manage the "national attitude" and create some
optimistic thinking in Americans? If so, then I think we can start to solve
our own problems. We really don't want the government involved in fixing
the problems anyway. When was the last time you saw
I went to Midland City, Alabama Sunday...sorta-kinda. I made it all the way to Cowpens, S.C. before I took a nap. The after Christmas traffic was bumper to bumper so I stopped about 5:30 at Cowpens and got a bite to eat and laid down until about midnight. Then I got a super-size Red Bull and hammered down. Came all the way back to Atlanta and picked up a load going to Scherr, West Virginia Monday- a whopping 6,000 lbs. I unloaded at Scherr Tuesday morning-good little ride from Midland City. Sche
I had some time this week to completely disassemble the front axle of my B-67.
It's actually fun to take this truck apart.
Everything just cracks loose with a wrench, then unscrews by hand!
It looks terrible. All rusted up and nasty looking.
But you just snap it loose and twist off the nut. That simple.
I am really interested in the simplicity of the design and
the quality of the machining and the castings. But what really
has me impressed is the assembly. Everything is fine machine thre
I've got to leave Sunday for Midland City, Al. It's near Dothan. My DOT physical also expires Sunday, so I went to renew it today. Somehow I managed to pass it again, so i'm good for 2 more years. The young girl who took my blood pressure said "now we have to wait 'til we get a room". Meaning an examination room for the doctor of course. So I said ''get a room?!! but we just met, shouldn't we at least go to dinner first?''...yeah, I know-that's the same thing she thought. That's about as funny a
Learning all about kingpins and front axles this week.
Took my B-67 front axle apart to see what I need.
Going to put in new kingpins, bushings, tie rod ends,
bearings and seals. But - the good news is that I don't
need to put on new brake linings. The old ones look new.
They should be - it's obvious that the front brakes haven't
worked in a long time. The shoes are rusted on the pins solid,
and neither brake can was working.
Our W-900A is sold. It's going back to the person we got it
OK, maybe it doesn't take a lot to excite me anymore. I got soaked in Fremont while untarping a while back, then soaked again in Erie Monday rolling my straps up. Already had a cold, and was wishing I had something to keep my head warm. The old baseball cap just wasn't doing it for me. Found just the thing at the local Wal-Mart store today. Covers my ears and if I have trouble hearing I can open the fold-out ears to hear a pin drop miles away (see second photo). It's camouflage colored except fo
When I left Sunday headed to Erie,Pa. I called Ma to tell her I wouldn't be in the Christmas parade this year. She said ''you knew Gary Barr died didn't you?". No, I didn't.Gary was an old friend,been knowing him since high school.Been driving a truck all his life practically-he changed the date on his license to run double to California with me in 1979 because he was too young to run out of state, and he had been driving for several years then,even owned his own truck and leased it on with H.H.
Got some film developed the other day, some pictures so old they were taken this summer. My scanner still won't work so I took a picture of the 35mm pictures I wanted to post with the digital camera. Tried it all at once this time instead of individually, so you'll probably have to biggerize it to see anything. This is an experimental process, thought i'd try it here instead of the test forum...we'll see.
not too bad- the pictures are, top row L to R- the Areva trailer I bobtailed to Florida t
Only got in one trip this week, was supposed to go to Negley, Ohio monday but went to Fremont instead. Had to untarp one pallet at a time in the pouring rain so it wouldn't get any wetter than it already was. Then I went to Brookfield to load and there was 4 trucks ahead of me at door 12. Got there at 3 o'clock and left at 8. Didn't really matter though. I unloaded about noon Wednesday in Roanoke and was done for the week until I went to Moneta today and loaded treated lumber for Erie, Pa. I wou
I realized today that I haven't posted in a while.
Not much to report.
Good progress on my B-67 frame. The rebuilt rear axle is
mounted and lined up, with the new springs and maxi cans.
The front axle is mounted and lined up, but still needs rebuilding,
to include king pins, bearings, tie rod ends and seals.
The clutch linkage is this week's job. New bushings thru the frame
are probably going to have to be made. Mack doesn't have any, and
the original shaft is pretty worn. So I thought I
Looks like i'm behind a little, haven't said anything since before Thanksgiving. I left Sunday and went to Orchard Park,N.Y. I must say that New York does an excellent job on the roads when there's snow, at least in that area (rt.219 from Pa. to Buffalo). Another driver went to Orchard Park last week to deliver Friday, but he broke down somewhere near Bradford, Pa. and had to have the truck towed to Bradford. He said the wrecker was an old Mack, but I don't now if he meant AC old, b-model old, o
Hello,
I hope someone out there can help me! Nobody in my family or group of friends has been able to help me! They all wonder why a girl like myself is so interested in learning about trucks! I really find them all fascinating - sort of adventurous and mysterious...
I'm practically new to the "Mack world", and I'm very interested to learn about it. I've heard that Mack truck users are really hard core fans and love the brand over the rest (more or less like Harley Davidson users??) - so surel
Last week when I left Thursday going to Masury,Ohio (everybody hates Masury ) Todd told me to "run this load, and you'll be done 'til after Thanksgiving". That didn't really happen, as I left Monday and took a load of fingers (well,that's what they called them) to Milan, Ohio. When I left he said "run this load, and you'll have a four day weekend coming up anyway". That didn't happen either. I delivered in Milan Tuesday, which is near Norwalk, and ran in snow all the way from Strasburg to Milan
Just wanted to wish everyone here a Happy Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is one of the "feel good" holidays.
Our economy might be poor, and our concerns growing every day,
but right now we don't have to think about any of it.
Just eat, be thankful and be happy.
And - it is turkey season - so Tom, you better lay low for a couple of days.
Spent today taking apart my wood pallet racking.
Some ideas just don't work out. This was one of them.
Got some used heavy duty steel pallet racking, and plan
to spend tomorrow putting it together and getting it loaded up.
Other than my failed attempt at building the racks,
I am really happy with the way this shop is coming together.
Once all of the pallets are up off of the floor, there will be plenty
of room to work on two or three trucks at once, without getting
in each other's way. A
Just a few pictures I took on the last Florida trip-load of sheets I took down, red & black Mack dump parked in front of N.B. Handy in Boca Raton, N.B.Handy trailer, a nocluejoe unloader machine with rubber tracks, the load of lumber I brought back, and an old GMC dump truck trying to hide a b-model Mack on rt.301 in South Caolina.
I finally left Tuesday and bobtailed to Florida to pick up a trailer at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant and bring it back to Lynchburg. Got there at 3:30 Wednesday evening but couldn't leave until Thursday morning. Had to wait for the paperwork, then they wanted it back in Lynchburg at 8:00 AM Friday The most interesting thing I saw was a crab crossing the highway just before I got there. I've seen lots of things, but that was a first. Now i'm loaded with sheets from N.B.Handy going to Boca
It's been an exciting weekend around here -i've raked leaves, flattened some cans and bagged them-not all Anheuser-Busch products by the way, I think I saw a Pepsi can in there-and cut some grass, piled leaves in the garden and ran the tiller through it, and made a squirrel feeder. The apples, pears, and peaches are gone and I wouldn't want them to go hungry. Besides, if work doesn't pick up I might eat the squirrels.
I went to Fremont last Sunday and after I got unloaded Monday morning I we
Part 2 begins where Part 1 left off: vouching that Mack Trucks are the best and always will be (sorry for pinching part of the Was. Is. Always will be slogan)!
If it wasn't for my chance meeting with the driver of said CHR688RST, I would be a bit boring, still to this day! My choice of the R-600 "Flintstone" was one which was easy to do, trying to find one has been hard..... until now!
I only found out about the tow truck through a friend of my brother's who was working at the same place where
It all started when I saw a 1994 Mack CHR688RST ValueLiner - I knew I'd end up getting my ass bitten by the Mack bug.... did it ever! It more than bit me ass, it latched on and refused to let go!
I got to go for a drive in said CHR688RST after the driver had delivered a bulldozer to my place. I wanted to go down and open the gate to allow old mate in said truck to head back to town after doing so! She was a 1994 CHR688RST ValueLiner with the EA7-375 V-MAC 6 cylinder turbo diesel engine and a 13
I unloaded at Carter Lumber in Fairview, Pa. Monday morning and when I left there headed for Brookfield, Oh. it was snowing pretty hard. First snow i've seen this year. I ran out of it before I got too far though, and loaded coils and went on to Roanoke. Ran into more snow in West Virginia. Unloaded Monday night and came home, where I stayed Tuesday. Got a 55' load of piling Wednesday going to Columbus that had to be there at 6am Thursday morning. So I got there Wednesday night, and they jumped
Those of you who have seen the pictures of my 1966 R-600
know that the rocker panels and the rear cab corners are shot.
Not too unusual with this cab style. The rest of the truck is pretty nice.
I have brand new inner and outer rocker panels from Mack by way
of Kevin All for the truck. But the cab corners have eluded me. And
all of the parts trucks I have looked at have a little ridge in the cab corner that
is not in the early trucks.
So I needed a fix. And - low and behold, two fixes f
