BC Mack

As I remember the early days of the EEC (European Economic Community) and all the "discussions" banded around in the press at that time, the few member countries had joined together for the purposes of "trade".. the borders, customs and tariffs stymied any fruitful trade around Europe ( "the Continent" ) where trucks waited for days queuing to get through borders with drivers going from window to window getting stamps on sheaves of paper while having their TIR carnet seals inspected.. the concept of freeing the borders to create more commerce made the rich richer for sure, but normal working people could now get fresh Italian fruit and Scottish beef anywhere in the region at a reasonable price... then they moved it up a notch... common currency... then a bureaucracy in Brussels dictating laws and regulations that your own Parliament had no say over... they even outlawed British Bangers (sausages) as non-compliant and called it ethnic food... anyone notice a proliferation in orange vests over there, same rulemakers... the dodgy deals to bring countries in, the massively inflated currency values to convert to the Euro, the hiding of forecasted debt (Greece), the one way street of money moving to Brussels and the inbound flood of unemployed benefit seekers etc etc is why the plan is collapsing... Britain's have spoken, maybe it will cost them in the short run but I think the EU disaster needed a "reset" and this has woken other member states up... my "twopence" worth of opinion... others may see it differently but I think Americans need to understand how these trade pacts move toward a total control of government to enhance the corporate viewpoint. BC Mack

the Brits bought a lot of their ball bearings from Sweden during WW2... flown out inside a stripped down Mosquito.. sounds like they were selling to both sides..!!! BC Mack

anyone here tried Sikaflex 252..?? used to glue bus body panels to the framework...!!! I think it is used on truck bodies too BC Mack

Air assist hydraulic clutch systems were pretty much the norm of EU heavy trucks, Volvo Scania Merc etc... you used a single plate clutch and in theory it never needed to be looked at... however, I found that the pushrod bottomed out in the slave as the disc wore and slowly a slip occurred, so by a small adjustment at mid life we got a lot more mileage out of them... At the same time on our Brit tucks (lorries!) we had moved on to the Lipe-Rollway double disc and found the pedal effort quite high, so I thought I could transplant the Volvo F88 air assist concept on to our Seddon Atkinson 400's.. after a bit of fab work and a visit to our parts palace the end result was a much lighter pedal but still had the feel.... BC Mack

and you wonder why Britain is about to vote whether to withdraw from the EU... amazing Brussels hasn't kicked in and fined France for creating a law without their consent... LOL BC Mack

KSC... Meanwhile... over at Camp Volvo... same time frame as the Scania 1x0 series was the F88/89... however, some markets such as Australia needed an axle forward version and the "G88/89" became a good seller in Oz... spec... http://www.oldaussievolvos.com/pdfs/volvo - G88 spec sheets (Aus & Sweden).pdf pics etc... http://www.oldaussievolvos.com/component/content/category/9-system-8 one old tale was that the Oz production line was able to build a right hand drive "89" which was unobtainable back in Sweden or the UK due to the turbo in the way of the gear linkage.. Ozzie ingenuity..!!! and before you Mack die-hards start throwing your rattles out of the pram, this was when Volvo made decent trucks and was well respected by the customer... which included me. ok KSC... back to regular Scania stuff... I've got my pills ready, LOL BC Mack

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/cto/5627331811.html http://www.kijiji.ca/v-heavy-trucks/penticton/mack-flatdeck-with-crane/1171555699?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true remember to multiply by 78% to get yankee bucks not mine BC Mack

Saw these on my local Craigslist and I'm just curious as to what they are and their rarity, anyone care to educate me on this model...? not going to be easy to move, they look w-i-d-e BC Mack http://abbotsford.craigslist.ca/hvo/5609822043.html

The Transit company I work for looked at this and passed.... they are waiting for "inductive charging" stations before moving to all electric buses... engineering looked at many factors and found this direct contact system expensive to maintain, power cost savings didn't cover new facility cost.. I think they even worked out life costs based on a 20 year life for a bus, numbering the total "contacts" by a single bus in the millions... multiplied by over 1000 buses and that's a high cost of infrastructure. BC Mack

It's not much different in the EU, yes, there are more company drivers paid an hourly wage but the giants like Stobart have taken advantage of east europeans and the "new immigrants" who can work anywhere in the EU at their home place wages and trucks. Can you imagine a truck and driver from Peru operating in the US?. And don't forget how competitive the EU railways are in moving freight. Distances are shorter, speed set at 58mph (IIRC) so high hp engines keep the load moving at a constant speed and time of arrival is scheduled with narrow windows for drops. as you guys do their older drivers also speak of 'the good old days' and if asked if they would do it all over again if they were 21... not a chance!!... and in the old days these guys used to sleep in a daycab on a wooden board across the engine hump. You can luck out and get a great job, paid by the hour, home every night, paid vacations etc.. but those firms are slowly vanishing as the corporations figure out that contracting out leads to better shareholder return and less capital outlay... a direct comparison of income by simply converting currency is not a great guideline, cost of living and direct taxation is higher... I would say the happiest drivers are Scandinavians, they have a better understanding of life/work balance, and they drive Scanias..!!!LOL it's really not that much different to what goes on over here... the grass is always greener elsewhere!!!... there are many driver forums in uk and eu, if you read them you can get a better understanding. BC Mack

Vlad, if you want to see more Macks you need to go on another motorbike ride but go further east... to Iran. here is a pic of a modern truck repair shop in the area, maybe they know where all the Macks are!!!! send us photos as you see them just in case they decide to keep you there, as always it was nice knowing you... BC Mack

doesn't take too long to strip the cab clean, doors, steering column, fenders, headlight panels etc... the dash is always worth saving for the gauge circuit boards... and the wiring harnesses too. the shell is only useful if you buckle and crack your cab, not easy to "un-glue" the panels... but can make a great new home for the chickens.. might be a better approach and just put it all in boxes.???? then you've got to find somewhere for the boxes... hmm.. ok, store them in the empty shell..!!! LOL and let us not forget one of our brethren Farmer52... he still needs stuff too.... BC Mack

You want to see American coal? we got mountains of it in Vancouver Canada.... BNSF train it up here and we load it in ships going to Asia, seems your ports won't handle it... politics?, trade?, nafta???? the dust is a big issue here. BC Mack

KSC the only time I've heard it was an advantage to have a right hand drive truck was travelling in Switzerland or Italy, up in the Alps, so you could lean out the window and see how close you were to falling off the mountain... very few guard rails and very narrow roads in the old days.. Fiat actually produced some for their local market for this reason !!! In Turkey it was an advantage if you had a head on with a Tonka, more chance of survival. I've driven rhd buses here in Vancouver, you need to keep your wits about you.. other than that... it's just a mirror image of what every American drives. BC Mack

I was driving a 16 speed full syncro boxes in a Volvo F88 in the mid 70's... slick as can be, even had air assist to the hydraulic slave in some applications.... I came over to N. America and had to remember how I used to drive the 1930's AEC's and Leyland crash boxes all over again.... crunch crunch slam bang..!!! :-) I figured it was a big step backwards.... now all I drive are Allison and ZF auto boxes in Transits... no third pedal, just a bootrest..!!! each to their own favourite... BC Mack

Fort Mac... It's an interesting place for sure... highest household income in Canada... third highest house prices in Canada, after Vancouver and Toronto... a room in a house rents for $1100-1500 per month and that's if you are a 7-7 shift. Then, you head to the stores and food and clothing is the same as the rest of Canada, and gas is far cheaper than in Vancouver.. last timeI went there the "Tims" coffee drive through had 50+ pick-ups in the line-up, I parked up, walked in and got my coffee in two minutes..!!!LOL so far, insurance claim "estimates" for rebuilding is 9 Billion... linesmen already heading into town to fix the damaged electrical infrastructure, water undrinkable, hospital closed but not damaged. with workers leaving, some oil giants are closing for up to three weeks, the Canadian GDP could drop 1.5%.. however, Albertans are strong people, will help anyone.... saw a 5 year old kid on TV who is giving glasses of lemonade for a $5 red cross relief donations is getting $100 bills dropped on the table... so far, no reports of deaths.... that's the most important part..!!! BC Mack

All that empty land up there... and it hits the biggest town, go figure.... over 75,000 left town already and not looking good for the community, already 1600 homes gone and it's heading for the airport... luckily they were well prepared for this evacuation and good public information. Northern BC also burning, Fort St John area and no spare resources to send to Alberta going to be a bad fire season and water restrictions start in two weeks in Vancouver.... maybe I'll move to California as they've got plenty of water now...!!!! can't remember the handle for our member either... I think he just put an E9 into his Superliner. BC Mack

he's after the plastic? plug, they clip into the back plate behind the dash and the wires are anchored in them so it becomes a socket to push the on-off rocker switch into... bit of a pain as everything seems to float as you install the info panel... got to be a design fault to allow this much current through a switch, or just bad contact after many removals over the years... seen better. if you look at the left side of the photo here you can see how it all mounts. BC Mack

Hi Jimtruck may I suggest a few helpers for you... air brakes are different from your car, you need to know how they work and more importantly when they are not working... these trucks are heavy and need them to work correctly... you've obviously grasped this and have done a good thing by asking here on BMT. your local DMV will probably have publications that help a truck driver get their CDL, part of the training and examination will be knowledge of air braking system and components and how to pre-trip the truck of which the air brakes are a large portion. These publications will illustrate the components and plumbing as well as the theories of how compound brakes work. where I live it is mandatory to have an air brake endorsement regardless of how you use the vehicle, in most states this is not needed for private trucks or RVs. I hesitate to offer youtube as it is not always reliable info but some of the brake manufacturers such as Bendix offer very good info and diagnostics on the site. I've uploaded a Bendix Handbook Adobe file I have, is this what you are looking for or too deep? BC Mack Bendix Air Brake Handbook[1].pdf

nothing clever or magical, the other six were open shoulder so I just went that way just for looks... if I had to buy all eight tires I would have gone with the more common closed shoulder. BC Mack

I will have a look at my parts box but I'm pretty sure I've used it already.. I had to replace 2 or 3 of those as they had melted on a few terminals... will pm you next week when I get back to my truck. BC Mack

It's that time again... getting near the end of the bulk of the project, punch list has shrunk and I'm getting ready for a road test in a week or two, that depends on weather and my spare time. This truck has not been on the road since October 2004 other than two tow truck rides, so I am looking forward to the drive but also hesitant as to what surprises are in store... all you can do is your best work and let fate decide the outcome... that report will follow. for now, some catch up photos... enjoy!! one reason for buying a parts truck was that it had a high back air ride passenger seat, not that it makes me any more comfortable but I scored an armrest for myself as well... the covers were in better shape too. the very last years of the MH had different entry step material, more like a grating and it needed a good cleaning.. on the toe-kick I replaced the 3M tape and fixed a wonky hinge for the oil dipstick door. for some reason lo-pro 24.5 open shoulder tires are hard to find used around here and I had palpitations when offered new for $600cdn.... so, at a trade show I spoke to the import wholesaler of 'Roadlux' tires and with some research figured they would work for me as this is just my play truck, yet it took a year for him to get a small quantity into his container from China... outcome was the price for new was $229cdn, much better than a cap and my old carcasses were 1996 date code. took it out for a wash and brush-up and a quick drive around the industrial park... now.. I've decided to carry a spare, lots of pros and cons, each of us can argue this to death... but until I design and build my side of frame mechanism I'm going to carry it on the drom deck... but, once I change a tire how the heck to I get the off unit back on the deck when I'm all alone... so, plank of wood and a come-a-long seemed to do the trick. of course, the dog needed a good polish.... took it to our local chrome guy, well, he did it in 24 carat gold for a nice price... It looks like a pimpmobile !!!! BC Mack

I just got one of these..... http://makitatools.com/en-us/Modules/Tools/ToolDetails.aspx?Name=XWT08Z in Canada it is a different number http://www.makita.ca/index2.php?event=tool&id=3053&catid=2 BL™ Motor delivers 740 ft.lbs. of fastening torque and 1,180 ft.lbs of breakaway torque comes in 3/4 drive too, three adjustments for settings. tried it out on my hub pilot nuts, 500 ft/lbs and they came off easy read a lot of on-line reports before I bought it, seems to have been launched in uk and oz before n.america tool only is much cheaper if you have the batts, I do... anyone else have one? will it work in a scrapyard on rusty nuts??? I've got some budds on a bus for twenty years, may use that for a test this summer. I was ready to load my truck with airlines, rattle air gun, breaker bars etc... but I think this may serve as a puncture kit... no idea how it would last in a busy shop but Milwaukee have one, been out a year and my supplier said he had only one returned... for being TOO powerful..!! BC Mack

"Well, what shall we do this week ?..." "I dunno, how about we restore two Scania 141's and vintage trailers and drive them to Iran and back over the routes they took in the early seventies..!!" these guys run the www.toprun.ch website... so why not film the whole trip and sell it... in those early days, the Tahir pass was the main highway through eastern Turkey, today it looks like a goat trail. One day I will get to see the complete movie, looks like some very interesting old trucks still running in Iran. BC Mack

DD well, that was easy...!!! I'm used to the other style of stud. as said before, ask your parts supplier for the torques BC Mack