Red Horse

Petty cash-compared to the fact they are getting all of our commuter rail car business.

The number of direct report stats speaks volumes about why some of this is being done. Ford apparently still has to catch on to the fact that flatter org charts are cost effective-assuming of course you have the right people

Well after a lot of work Rich and his Rat Rod made their first show! Looking good!

Kind of late for me to be asking this question but what is best gear lube for a Duplex (TRD 720) and a CRD-62 Rear

Just got back from driving through an Altech installation facility here in Lancaster MA. Small facility with I think like no more than six installation bays. They must have around 75 new F-550 (mostly Power Strokes and all white) in the yard and ONE 5500 Ram. thought by now the new GM/Navistars in 4500/5500 range would be showing up but not the case. As for class 7 and 8's Mostly F'liners with a large number of Internationals. Even a few KW's and Western stars. Interesting that there were always F-750's there in the old days when you could get a Cummins or a Cat in them with an Allison. No doubt the utility industry does NOT think a lot of the new 750 Power Stroke/ Torque shift combo in the higher weight classes. Class 5? Ford continues to rule-at least by what you see in this Altech yard

Dave Mauro's B-8(7?) also has the hydraulic set up.

Love it-except for that rounded off snout. Brink back the DK look. But one thing that is great from a safety perspective-as many of us have posted, these light groupings where the turn signal is in the same housing as the headlights leave a lot to be desired. the visibility of that turn signal is lost. Bring back the "lollypop"! then the idiot that is trying to get by you on the right as you make a wide swing for a right hand turn has one more blinking light in his face. Granted- that lollypop will cost you .00045 mpg because of wind resistance.😎

It was my understanding that when Ford did the Daimler deal, along with the 10 year no compete, all the tooling went to Daimler. Now Roadway, check the box....From your earlier post.....Not to change the subject, but to this day Ford's abrupt exit of the heavy truck market after designing a whole new series of vehicles for it has to be the most bizarre thing I have ever seen a major manufacturer ever do. Did someone not get the memo? Wonder if there wasn't more to the story. Now you are posting that it was the right thing or words to that effect. So which is it? Again I allude to the fact that this was NOT a blind decision to spend a fortune on HN-80. Are you saying Ford had no financial analysts that did not beat the shit out of this subject before senior management signed off? Do you really think that they were clueless as to how much they could make on say 200,000 HD PICK UPS a year vs 50,000 class 7 and 8 trucks? I don't think so. But I believe when HN-80 was committed the guys at the top were comfortable with the return on heavy trucks and felt it was an integral part of Ford. And I'm sure when that decision was made, there were plenty of "car guys" who had no use for big trucks. All of a sudden Jac the Knife is on the scene and guess who had his ear? Those car guys I would bet. And from all the dumb ass moves he made, my guess is he could very easily paint a picture as to why this was such a good move. I think it goes back to the theory of profitability along product lines. Are there some product lines in ANY company that do better than others? For sure. Do some companies bail out on less profitable products to concentrate on their "core business"? For sure. But not all managements subscribe to that theory. If that were the case perhaps John Deere would only need yellow or green paint!😎 At least that is how I see it-an opinion of course. Final opinion-if Ford made a mistake, they should have truly concentrated on the vocational market-and I include the fleet linehaul market to the ABF's ConWays, etc of the era in that vocational mix. The true "owner operator "large car" market? They should have let that be because Paccar could build the biggest pile of shit and those guys would stand around and say.."isn't it beautiful". And I'm not saying they are crap -I'm just saying you will never get the majority of those guys out of a Pete or KW.

Thx Hayseed-no clue these guys existed.

I think classic case of corporate infighting. You are right-bizarre is the word. Think of it. How many millions did they spend on the design and as someone previously noted, he saw mules running around as early as 94. Think of the study that went into this BEFORE the huge expenditure was approved. The lesser profitability of heavy trucks was I'm sure a known factor when that decision was made-and understood-not all facets of the business produce the same rate of return. By 98 Jac Nassar was in control and doing all sorts of stupid stuff-like buying junkyards so.."we can study parts failures"- etc etc. And for sure there was a faction by then that looked at only one thing-the profitability of every vehicle. Not a bad thing-but it is a lot more complicated than that I'm sure. And recognized and accepted when HN-80 was authorized. Had Jac not have been on the throne at that point, my bet is Ford would still be cranking out big trucks in Louisville.

Wow- he should make them for the US. How many Sterlings still running around here. If the economics can work with the Aussie Sterling population, this should be a home run in the US

KSC I would hope that these guys have recruited someone like you who clearly understands how the old Autocar and OLD Mack as well did so well when it came to the heavy vocational business. It is one thing to have good engineers who understand for example the meaning of RBM when it comes to frames etc etc. It is another to market the engineers work. I see so much evidence today that most of the truck manufacturers are clueless when it comes to marketing.

Kevin - good history review-can never keep all the players straight! Thx

Does anyone offer rails that are over 120,000 PSI? And I'm not talking about some one of a kind Paccar. I'm talking about a true "stock production line option". Nothing like a heavy single channel frame when the in service years accumulate in snow country!

Kevin, What is the rating of that tandem- either I'm blind or the spec does not give it. And when you say proprietary, they actually designed it and build it or it is someone eles they produce under license?

Thx Kevin-did not know Bendix was in the cab business- this is a 2008 article and I thought the Autocar Expediter used the old White LCF cab. They still using that cab?

Likewise-if its vocational no need for aero-and besides, all that plastic fairing shit gets ripped off when you back into the job site that is half cleared of brush -trees😎

I see more International HX in that cab. How about it KSC- are the International cabs done by an outside builder? as for the grill IMO I think too much 40's A-car. Square that up a little and its looking like a true A-car! And let's face it-this thing is going to be a true vocational truck I would imagine so aero is the least of the attributes they would have to be pushing. Nuts and Bolts A-car toughness is what will sell. As well as simplicity.

I think the power train was getting a bit tired. But I hear you-when you listen to the horror stories today with new stuff, I always say, if you have old solid iron, put the money in that and you will be ahead of the game. In particular old Macks with true Mack power trains.

Joe-So this is start of a vinyl liner pool and you pour all around exterior perimeter to lock it in in addition to helicals with turn buckles?

LTS with spokes to boot! -and like 46 rears?

????either wrong caption or wrong picture. Looks like a Value Liner to me.

Well I went to my B model "Operation and Maintenance Manual" . No publication date but it covers, B, G, H and N models so my guess is late fifties. Two Mack Branches in CA- one in LA at 2001 S. Alameda St. and one in SF at 1745 Folsom. Again these were Branches so there could have been Mack dealers in the state

Got it. Speaking of that I was talking to the commercial/municpal mgr this AM at a local Ford store. He has done very well with DPWs using 550's and there is a lot of interest in the new F-600 for wing applications. Apparently while they liked the 550, the thought process is same truck as 550 but with heavier axles.

How can you say it is NOT the current product? They are not in class 8, their class 7 has no options to speak of, and no tandem. Class 5 and down they do okay, but even there, with the new GM/Navistar JV trucks, the competition just got a lot tougher. No doubt the competition is good- but let's face it, Ford is a "no show" today . Daimler bought a lot of market share for 300 mil when they bought Ford's heavy truck business.