RowdyRebel

For the longest time, my trucks been seriously lacking power. That and there's been a knock. And the jakes haven't been working. Anyway, last weekend I bought one of them fancy schmancy infrared thermometer thingamabobbers and while I was unloading last Monday I took the temperature of the exhaust manifold at the different cylinders. #'s 1-3 were in the 295-310 degree range...#'s 4-6 were in the 695-720 degree range. Anyway, I also noticed my waterpump was pi$$ing coolant out of the weep hole, and with the rain we've been getting decided just to pay Mack to put the waterpump on for me instead of me getting soaked to the bone doing it here. I also had 'em check a few other things that could cause the temperature differential and what they found ended up taking 'em most of the week to get fixed... ...but fixed they most certainly got it! Even my jake brake is working like it should again. I can't stop grinning from ear to ear driving this thing. Loaded to 79,500# I never had to drop a gear heading East on 24 all of the way into Nashville. Pulled Monteagle in 14th gear and never dropped below 35 mph. A week ago, I would have been in the low range trying to get up the stupid hill. Anyway, the Mack dealer in Cape got me fixed up. The knock is gone. Oil pressure is up 10 psi. Jakes work. Most of all, I got git-up-n-GO again! Trucks is SO much more fun to drive when they work the way they's s'posed to....been grinnin' ear to ear all day.

I was just having that conversation down at the Mack dealer the other day...about people who spec vendor transmissions and rears in their "Mack" truck. If I wanted an Eaton transmission or Meritor rears, I'd buy a Cornbinder. I bought my Mack to get a Mack truck...and the only way to TRULY do that is to have a Mack engine, Mack transmission, and Mack rears. If'n it ain't got that gold bulldog on the hood, I'm not interested. ...and as for the exhaust, I like my stacks short and the baffles knocked out of the mufflers.

This is what I've been driving back and forth to the Mack dealer checking on the progress of the work being done on my rig.... ...minus the air compressor, of course. I like my old trucks....buy 'em cheap, run 'em hard

The only Macks at Beelman are O/O rigs.

Unfortunately it is a 240V motor on it...and the only place I got that is in the garage. I'd have to repower it some other way to leave it in the Ranger...and a horizontal tank would work much better in that application...less top-heavy.

It's about as noisy as the old one...not too bad. It's on the opposite side of the garage as the house, so it really doesn't bother me inside if it happens to kick on.

Not sure whereabouts in eastern MO you are, but I'm just barely across the river and I see an awful lot of Mack trucks running around. I have a Mack dealer an hour southeast of me, another one 20 minutes southwest, and a third one 40 minutes northeast. Any other truck make MIGHT have one location within an hour....and if I wasn't running in that direction when I had problems, I'd be up a creek. I'd say Mack has a pretty good presence in the region.

This was my OLD compressor...and OLD is an understatement. Probably 40+ years old and only a 20 gallon tank. Took forever to air up, and only pumped up to 125 psi. Airing up truck tires was a chore and don't even get me started on the hassle changing tires trying to bust lug nuts loose with my 3/4" gun. Not to mention, it was pushing a LOT of oil into the tank...it was on it's last leg. I had a line running through the garage wall to a hose reel out where the truck parks...which was nice, since I didn't have to open the garage or drag out air hoses if I needed to air up a tire during my pre-trip. Anyway, after the last safety meeting, I went up the road to Rural King to wander around a bit...forget what I even went in there for now...but I saw they were having a "tax-free" sale. Basically, they'd discount the price of the items you purchase so that after the tax is calculated, the total will be the marked sticker price. Anyway, I got to looking at air compressors and ended up taking one home with me. It's even got a built-in regulator...which I keep set for the pressure I run my truck tires at. Airing up a tire during my pre-trip now is as easy as locking the chuck onto the tire valve and walking away. I removed the 2" plug in the side of the tank and installed a 2" street elbow...then reduced it to 1/2" and put a 1/2" quick-connect to power my 3/4" impact for tire duty. I also changed the two 1/4" quick-connects out for 3/8" quick-connects since that's what I use on all my tools here at the house. There was a third plug in the regulated line that I removed to run the 1/4" line out to the hose reel. So far, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm actually looking forward to changing some tires around later this week (if the wind, rain, hail, lightning, tornadoes, etc. ever lets up).

Problem is, when you gear your rear ends to be faster...to cruise highway speeds in lower transmission gears....you are also making your low gears faster, which isn't a good thing when you get into soft/slick/uneven ground. I'm not convinced that running 3.11 rear gears and driving in 16th is going to gain enough fuel mileage to make up for the deficiencies created by losing your low gears...not to mention the cost of doing the swap in the first place. I just don't see the point in gearing your truck to have 2 top-end gears you can never use without getting a high dollar driving award. Not to mention, when you gear your rears that fast, you are going to have to downshift more often on smaller grades than you currently do because you've geared out a bunch of your torque and power.

I dunno 'bout that. The CH has the same old boxy look as dern near every "hood" on the road...just a shorter snout. If I had the time/money/opportunity, I'd slap a B model cab onto my chassis and stand out from the crowd a little. If nothing else, I bet it'd be more aerodynamic...

99.9% of the time, I drive mine like an 13. The ability to split the low range is nice when climbing up out of a quarry or getting started on a hill...can work your way up through the gears a little easier...but I'm not sure it would be worth the time/effort/money to convert....unless it was a cheap, fast, & easy thing to do.

speaking of legs outside of vehicles..... I got a funny look from a cop once when I was driving my '86 Ford Ranger. It doesn't have much of a floor on the driver's side, so I liked to hang my left foot through the floor and people could see it dangling under the truck....Cop was sitting at a light when I made a left off the side street. I didn't think a human neck could turn that far around on a person's shoulders

Yup...those "faster" ratios always seemed like it'd be a LOT of stress on that drive shaft & u-joints trying to spin those large tires under heavy loads. I don't care what they say about "gear fast run slow"...I've driven trucks with 475 cats, 10 speeds, and 3.36 rears that got 5.75 mpg running down the highway...and I've driven trucks with 435 mercedes, 10 speeds, and 3.55 rears and they'd get 5.75 mpg running down the highway. Neither one of those could pull a load up a friggin hill. I've driven trucks with 435 mercedes, 10 speeds, and 3.90 rears and they'd get 5.75 mpg running local/regional that would hold it's own on a hill...but STILL no comparison to the 460 Mack, 13 speed, 4.35 rears that I used to play around in the friggin woods, run WAY over gross, and would pull a hill like it was nothing and STILL got 5.75 mpg. Which is why I bought a Mack with the 460, 18 speed transmission, and 4.17 rears. If I could afford to change the gearing, the only way I'd go would be to a 4.35 or MAYBE a 4.42 since I run 11R24.5's. Then again, I spend more time on the 2-lane roads than I do on the big road...if I had a sleeper truck and ran across several states per day without getting off the paved road too often, I'd leave it alone or maybe go to a 3.94. Gotta spec the truck for what you want to do with it.

http://macktrucks.com/default.aspx?pageid=2269 I figgered that meant you weren't being bullshitted...but I couldn't find anything to back that up. On a side note, what happened to the spec sheets like rhasler posted that USED to be on the Mack website?

My CH613 has 38K rears behind a 2180B transmission and an E7-460...but I've only got 4.17 gears in 'em and run 11R24.5's. The 2180 is the 18 speed transmission with the super low geared low and reverse gears (similar to the T318LR). The 2180B is the 18 speed with the faster geared low and reverse gears (similar to the T318).

I was still blowing their doors off....just took me a little while to git'r wound up. Company trucks is cut back to around 63ish. I was still able to run 70-75...if I had the room to get up to speed and there weren't any hills to go up. I don't think they were TOTALLY dead...just not nearly as productive as they SHOULD have been. It'll be nice having 'em all at 100% again.

3 dead cylinders. Probably be Thursday before I get it back, but if things go absolutely perfectly, I MIGHT be able to pick it up at (or shortly after) close tomorrow. Most likely Thursday. What was wrong? Something to do with the camshaft and a lifter for an injector pump or something like that...hopefully it'll fix most of the engine-related issues I've been having...low power, jakes, low boost pressure, etc... Time to brace for tonight's storms.

Not like that at all. It's just that I'd have a long list of things to get done....but I'd check my e-mail and a few message boards before getting started....and before I knew it, the sun was going down and I hadn't got ANYTHING done....so it'd be a mad rush to get the truck greased & hooked back up Sunday night so I'd be ready to run...then I'd have to come inside, get cleaned up, and get my paperwork ready to turn in. By the time I'd be laying down to go to bed, the alarm was going off. Anyway, Mack's in the shop today. Water pump. Sure, I COULD have done it myself...outside...standing ankle deep in water (with more falling from the sky) watching the pretty flashes of light overhead...but sometimes it's worth paying someone else to do the work. I might spend a little more, but I won't be cold, wet, & miserable. They are also checking on a few other issues...still got low power. I bought an infrared thermometer and measured the temp of the exhaust manifold at each cylinder while I was unloading. Started at #1 with 294 degrees. #2 & 3 were about the same at 310 and 315. Then I hit #4 and it jumped to 695. #5 was 712, and #6 was 725 degrees. Possible dead cylinder(s)? Anyway, they are checking fuel pressure and compression, and making sure I don't have a bad injector. Injectors would still be under warranty, since I just had them replaced not too long ago. HOPEFULLY they'll find the problem and it'll be something quick/easy/inexpensive to fix so my truck will once again out-pull the company trucks in the hills. Hell, sun's shining...I prolly COULD have done the job myself today...but with my luck, the severe stuff they are calling for tonight would have been an all-day event had I decided to do the job myself. So far we've been lucky...only damage from the storms so far has been a carport from the produce stand blew onto the railroad tracks and had the gates down for a couple hours until it quit raining enough for me to go out there and drag it off the tracks with the F250 and a chain. I did find another use for a cowboy hat...it started hailing, and I wanted to move the F250 around to the carport just in case the hail got big enough to start denting the hood & roof or breaking windows. Cowboy hat did a dern good job protecting my head while I was outside moving the truck. Lost a few shingles off the rotted shed out back that I use to store trash 'til I run it out to the dump, so I ain't too concerned about it. Most of the SEVERE weather has been splitting up to go around me...either north to Carbondale or South to Cairo. Just a lot of rain 'round here. We've had well over 12" in the last week, and they are calling for a few more inches before it's all said and done. Luckily, I'm on high enough ground that I'm not doing anything more than wading through it when I'm out in the yard or in the driveway. As soon as it lets up for a few hours, the water goes down again to make room for the next round....all that rain has to pass through an 8" culvert that's been mashed on one end. I've seen it higher on 2 occasions here at the house, so I'm not too concerned. It's only weather. But anyway, I got everything caught back up on here...stuff entered into the proper spreadsheets to keep track of loads & fuel & expenses & stuff...computer quit booting up 2 weeks ago, so it got a new motherboard & I got behind on those sorts of things. Time to turn this thing off again and get going. Gotta run to town to see if my settlement report is in the PO Box, then on down to Cape. Want to check in to see if the Ford dealer has come to their senses on an '87 Ranger they have on their lot...177cid V6, 5 speed, 4wd w/ manual lock hubs & manual shift t-case, extended cab, short bed. From a DISTANCE the truck looks great. Up close? It's another story. Top of the bed rails are thrashed...but they put some real nice angled aluminum on there to TRY to hide the damage. The tailgate didn't open....my '92 had that same problem, so I replaced it with a net. Above the rear wheels it had the common rust patches...but not NEARLY as bad as I would have expected on a truck even half it's age. On the back of the cab, there was a fist-sized dent on the upper right hand corner...paint missing, and surface rust. Around to the front, the front right had obviously been in some sort of impact, the fender straightened, and touch up paint applied. From a distance, it looked good...but up close, it was clear the hood didn't quite line up with the fender, which made me look closer, which is when I saw the damage. I hadn't looked underneath to inspect the driveline or exhaust yet when I asked 'em what they were wanting for it. I dern near fell over when they said "$3900". I told 'em they were NUTS to ask that much for a 24 year old ECONOMY pickup truck that probably sold BRAND NEW for $8000. My dad bought the '86 Ranger in my garage off the dealer lot brand new in '86...out the door, tax tag, title included...for $6500 (but it was a 4-banger 5-speed, 2wd, regular cab, long bed). I bought my '92 Ranger 4-1/2 years ago for $1000 (it's got the same engine as the '87 and 5-speed trans...but it's only 2wd, regular cab, long bed). Hell, when I bought my '96 F250 (460cid V8, 5-speed, 4wd w/ manual lock hubs & manual shift t-case, regular cab, long bed) in 2004, I only paid $5000 for it...and it was an 8 year old a full size, 3/4 ton pickup truck. These guys are asking damn near JUST as much for a compact economy pickup nearly 3 times as old. $1000 or less and I would have driven it home right then & there. $2000 and I would have negotiated to get 'em down to $1200-$1500. $3900? Wasn't even worth my time making a counter offer since it was already twice what I was EXPECTING their opening offer to be. Salesman tried to tell me "That's how it works...we start high, you make a low-ball counter offer, and we agree on a price somewhere in the middle." I told him even if I opened up at $0.01 and we met in the middle, it was STILL more than I was willing to pay, so it's not worth my time trying. Also got some tires to pick up at the tire shop to put on later in the week (if it quits raining)...that new compressor I bought is gonna make the job REAL nice. 80 gallon tank, 14 cfm @ 90 psi, 155 psi max pressure in the tank. Built-in regulator. Picked it up at Rural King for $799...and that was out the door. They were having a "sale" where they would discount the sticker price the amount of the sales tax, so that after tax was included you'd pay the amount that the item was marked. I have a 1/2" line coming out the side of the tank unregulated, and a pair of 3/8" lines through the regulator. There's also the 1/4" line that runs through the garage wall out to where the truck parks that is also on the regulator. The regulator is set to the pressure I run the tires at, so airing up a tire during my pretrip is as simple as locking the chuck onto the valve and walking away. 'course I had to clean out the garage to make room for it. One project ALWAYS leads to another. Hell, the infrared thermometer was bought with the money saved because the garage door openers I bought were on sale....and the garage door openers were bought because I finally broke the other one when I opened the garage door during the storm to get a chain to drag the carport roof off the railroad tracks....

Nope. I gave up the interweb for Lent. I'd been wasting too danged much time on it...

Our side dumps have the reversing valve on the trailer....that's the easiest way to set 'em up. All you need is a wet kit capable of running an end dump. (tank, suction line, pump, pressure line to coupler for the trailer connection). Then, all that is necessary to adapt the wet kit from that point is to add a line from the tank up to a coupler for a second trailer connection to work as a return line. Then, you'll need a 3-position (on-off-on) electric switch mounted in the cab to control the reversing valve. It should be one that is normally open....in other words, it should return to the "off" position whenever it is released. Run the 2 wires from it back to the trailer...ours plugs in using regular 6-round plugs available just about anywhere. That's it. Now if the trailer does not have a reversing valve, you'll have to get one for the tractor. It's not like an end dump where gravity lowers the bed...it's all done with hydraulic pressure. If this is the case, your pressure line would run to the reversing valve instead of to a coupler to connect to the trailer. The return line would also go back to the tank from this valve. When you engage the pump, it will be circulating oil through the valve straight back to the tank. It will have 2 more lines coming out of it which is where you will connect the trailer. When you want to raise the bed, the valve diverts the oil into one of the lines, it runs to the trailer and extends the cylinder, and oil returns to the valve through the other line to be returned to the tank. When you want to lower the bed, the lines take on the opposite role to retract the cylinders. If it is a truck-mounted reversing valve, it will probably use an air switch.

Kinda like "Coke" vs. "Pop" vs. "Soda".... ....or "buggy" vs. "cart".... Different regions have different names for different things.

Hell, I'd just like to have a friggin SHOP to be able to do the work I need to do inside & out of the weather.

That activity bus driver was quite the wheel man...

Seriously, it wasn't all that difficult a job....just referencing an old thread http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/index.php?showtopic=15561&st=0&p=62852&fromsearch=1entry62852