BC Mack

I assume you mean US built models ?? Worldwide, Volvo trucks are being saved and restored and still fetch premium prices for rusted hulks... so, somebody likes them... BC Mack

fellow Canuck... can't answer your question, just asking which gallon you are using?... I assume USgal, using Imp gal would throw off the number... of course, litres per 100km would confuse this audience...!!! LOL and as said, one trip is not going to give you good stats as there are so many variables... gearing, tire size, rpm for instance... and your driving style. did you just buy the truck or did something change recently?? BC Mack

http://www.pacifictruckclub.org/history.php mining company in Soda Springs Idaho according to the club website... technically the company still exists, Coast Powertrain bought all the intellectual property http://www.coastpowertrain.com/pacific_truck/index.htm and support the remaining units. I'm sure BMT'er Bob Dingsdale could give you the full story... BC Mack

I live about a mile from that building... the original plant was knocked down and replaced with small industrial offices and warehouses... used to take a look around the old plant in the 80's when I worked on the next block, amazing what they produced. Vancouver was once a large truck manufacturing area, Pacific, Hayes, Kenworth and Freightliner plants all closed now... in fact, I now work in the old KW factory converted into a transit overhaul and garage. BC Mack

years ago on my first WHMIS (HMIS) course I read the MSDS for it... wow it was literally banned when I was in aviation in the 80's... story given to us by our safety rep was flash point was lower than ambient air temp, evidently great for washing down fuselage skin prior to paint, one Florida company had to paint inside a DC8 freighter and they filled up many 3gal pails with MEK, the fumes inside the plane ignited and the flame went right through the length of the plane injuring many workers... we could get it in 1gal safety cans but it had to be used outside... all gone now from what I hear, replaced by a 'green' product that's pretty useless... just like solvents tanks have all gone from our workshops.!!! BC Mack

Don't forget us MH owners, we're glued together..!!! Another vote for that high cab F model.... If none of you Americans buy it, I'll just have to export it... to Canada.!!!!!! BC Mack

Still has a diesel engine...!!!! and what happens when the roof is covered in thick ice and snow?... we've discounted this overhead charging system as too expensive on infrastructure, waiting to see how the Scania all-battery bus with under-road inductive charging works out... in winter road conditions..!! Just can't beat the old 600vDC trolley bus for $/km cost BC Mack

some of the RV guys have figured this out too... just factor in the size of some 5th wheel trailers and how small the brakes are on a pick-up compared to a semi... and the sleepers on some models can be dot approved for rear seats... some are "shorting" the axles by taking out the first driver and relocating the second there to get the wheelbase they desire, chopping the frame down to suit.. quite an industry developing to support this trend.. BC Mack

Kelowna plant closed some time ago, quite a blow for the local economy at the time.... and they never built their cabover there... BC Mack

Mack engine in a KW... a recent "upgrade"..!!! BC Mack

totally British.... had to get some help as my brain cells, so dug into an old Atkinson manual and found some photos on-line, let's see if this make sense.. Red (Emergency) fills the trailer air tank and releases the brakes, it is a permanent feed to the trailer and why the brakes come on when the line is released. Yellow (Service) it feeds the trailer brakes when the Service (foot) brake is pressed (why you have two lines going into the brake chambers, one Service, the other Emergency). The Blue (Auxiliary) provided a Secondary brake by the use of a hand operated lever or Dead Man as it was more commonly known, this braked the drive and trailer brakes and not the steering axle there were a couple of twists between spring brake trailers and regular actuators for getting them home when failed, also, pulling a european trailer involved a bit of re-plumbing of the blue line.... but too many years have passed and too many pints of beer consumed to remember all the details. BC Mack

ah, no... new to me, not in the trucking industry but see what you mean... that would be a lot of bob-tail.... BC Mack

three braking systems probably referred to the three airline connections to the trailer, yellow/blue/red... service/auxiliary/emergency... same as two line, sort of, just valved differently within the dual circuit as before... if it was 6 speed, probably David Brown BC Mack

those Gardners we wonderful, never needed to much maintenance and kept all the new apprentices off them as you needed Whitworth spanners, and I wasn't sharing my tools...LOL Damn EEC, lost my New Zealand lamb and butter.... had to make do with French stuff after that... Brexit will be good.... even the French are considering it and they started the whole game with Germany.. so, will that be "Frexit" or "Fresortie"..????? BC Mack

Perkins was not installed in vehicles above 16ton, they later bought Rolls Royce Diesel to get into the power range.... Gardner were the choice of many operators since the early 30's, low production volume and premium price, very fuel efficient but smoked all day long, once turbo's became essential to get the power needed for 1990's they couldn't keep up and closed down. Good marine engine though. BC Mack

I assumed Cummins as I saw a flash of the bottom of the grill.. below the R in ERF, union jack with something yellow below it. Pretty sure they only offered Cummins 220 or Gardner 150 in 1965 (that's what the last letter on the licence plate means) if it was 6 speed, then my money is on David Brown, ERF and others were very loyal to DB, I hated them. BC Mack

I want one...now.. and I'm not even a truck driver..!!! LOL... but she might want to get that driver's door lock attended to. I'm sure if VW/MAN/Scania wanted to enter the US market then they would be very aware of the needs of the customer and design something that works legally and profitably... but the market here is marginal, bare bones and cheap seems to be the spec of the big boys... however, it may suit the o/o or small firm that has the desire to own one... just got to get past all the old wives tales of cabovers and 6x2 drivelines. I wonder if the heavy haul guys would be interested... hmmm Carlotpilot... yes, getting used to driving one bobtail takes a little practice... but, without a trailer you're not earning money so why do it..!!! :-) BC Mack

In a nutshell, as it could get to be a novel, and all of the top of my head so a few dates may be off.... articulated trucks from 30's to early 50's were governed by a myriad of obscure highway regulations, up to then I think it allowed 20ton gross on a rigid with 4 axles, twin steer, Scammell made a coupling that allowed the use of interchangeable trailers to become a cost effective method but the public were against increased weights. There were no airbrakes available at that time, all other trucks were still hydraulic or upgrading to vacuum brakes so this coupling allowed rods to control the trailer brakes without fouling the coupling. Another method to run heavier weight was to have a three axle rigid with a two axle drawbar trailer. If you wanted to operate at the high end of the weights, or heavy haul, the second man was mandated so as to have a 'control' to assist the driver with braking and act as a back-up should a failure occur, another device was a ratchet controlled cable link called a Neates Brake. It was deemed that a driver would be too busy holding onto a steering wheel and the brake man or 'mate' could assist to slow the vehicle down. As technology moved on and air brakes became common the law still required the brakeman, so a hand operated air valve was positioned on the passenger side but it all changed when a massive revision of the 'construction and uses' regulations came in about the early sixties and the government sold off all the nationalised companies. The unions in the big companies pushed the safety aspect to keep employment up so the brakeman then became the relief driver for long distance work and the reason you see the two chaps in the video with suitcases in hand looking for a hotel, unions banned sleeper cabs for many years. All changed about the era of this video when the european influence and trucks from Scania and Volvo appeared and Britain joined the 'Common Market' or EEC. Same with the railroads, no more cabooses... progress???? BC Mack

KS... I have no doubt you are correct... I've seen other pics of radial engined Chinese TU-4's and I think there are still 2 or 3 in museums... my brain seemed to recollect that they were retrofitted using Russian parts and knowledge but the work done in China... I think they did the same when they licence built AN-12's as the Shanxxi Y-8 Chinese aviation was always a copy of another manufacturers product, by licence or reverse engineering or simply stealing technology... they bought a fleet of Hawker Siddeley Tridents from Britain in the late 60's but never copied them, they were nicknamed "the gripper" for sticking to runways... maybe that's why..!!! LOL BC Mack

and then China took it up a notch.... added turboprops and AEW/AWACS BC Mack

That certainly takes me back... just as I was getting into my apprenticeship. ERF A series, probably 220 Cummins, 32 tons gvw, non sleeper doing "a Continental"... second driver is probably a holdover from when you needed a "brakeman" for the trailer, they shared the driving once the brake lever was removed... that load was probably worth a lot of money in those days as pheasant was a rich-man's delicacy. TJC... 16 tons was probably close to the mark... with a fibreglass cab and a sheeted flat trailer you could squeeze 20 tons of load on a 32ton gvw 4 axle articulated unit... that trailer was built mostly of steel framing and wood rather than the lightweight materials of today. TIR still exists but the constant customs stops have gone in the EU BC Mack

saw this info posted on another video site... BC Mack North Salt Lake, UT - North Salt Lake police have released dashboard camera video showing the moment a Utah Transit Authority FrontRunner train crashed into a FedEx truck Saturday morning.According to UTA, a preliminary investigation shows the crossing gates were up and the flashing lights and bells that normally indicate atrain is approaching were not active. "In the event of a power outage or lack of signal, crossing gates are programmed to default to the “down and active” position as a safety precaution. Preliminary information indicates the gates were affected by the severe ice and snow conditions at the time and were in the default “down and active” position, as they are programmed. After an employee responded to the location, the gates moved to the up position. UTA is investigating why and how it happened to ensure it doesn’t occur again.

I found this review of the Scania S580.... walk around and test drive certainly a step up from the Scania 141's I played with in the 70's... like driving a car with all the mod cons todays drivers expect... but the exhaust note sounds just the same.... BC Mack

I may be getting ahead of the problem here.... and I'm taking a guess that Aus built MH's share similar electrical systems to US built trucks... I have attached two references from the MH electrical manual which may be of use if this is the problem. if you are sure of the coolant level and need to see the oil pressure rise, you could take a risk and disconnect the wiring or linkage from the solenoid, that will allow the engine to run (idle) while you build air and watch the oil pressure, just be ready to shut it off.... BC Mack

you possibly have a "Kysor engine protection system" in your MH.... the control relay is in the dash, your passenger side, near the relays and c/breakers... sort of an oblong shape about 4x3" with "Kysor" stamped on it... it monitors engine oil pressure and coolant level and gives a warning alarm if out of spec, in your case it also activates a shutdown solenoid... I have it in an E9 but no auto shutdown. check coolant level and watch oil pressure on start-up, it will wait a short while for oil pressure to build before it takes action. do you hear the alarm before it shuts down? and can you see an "over-ride" switch on the dash? if this really is your problem, and I'm guessing a lot here, then check coolant level and oil pressure, after that you may need to diagnose the system... to do that you will need the "Mack MH electrical system" manual, got one?... if not, I may be able to scan a page and post.... but check the above and all electrical connections.. sounds like the protection system is doing its job..!!! get back to us BC Mack