Lmackattack

I did not take a good pic of the gutter where the spot welds are. So far I did the whole drivers side yesterday and did part of the front corners tonight. I drilled the welds out then did some grinding and used vice grips to pull the roof flange out of the gutter. then went back and grinded a little more in the hi spots. Once the welds are drilled out I will start smoothing out the gutter rail and address the metal with rust holes in them. I pulled the windshields tonight and the metal was solid but saw a few places that show it may be starting to spread the seam? wondering if I just drill a small hole above that aera to spray that rust fire or Por15 over the questionable aera? How does the rear gutter stick to the cab? looks as if it has some tabs that weld to the rear skin? any secrets with it? Trent

here is the damage....

Clariben made them for B models and I think LT models. (as well as other MFG) the old Celli Trucking Mack Dealer (near Ohare airport) had a trailer with 10 of them all used. All got junked about 6 years ago when they were claaning up the yard before it was sold and knocked down.... I know of a guy out in CA that has 1 or 2 in misc conditions. Cant recall if he has them on a B or L cab? PM me if intrested and can put you in touch with him....

Roof is off. I death wheeled it off so that I can stand inside the cab and rotobroach thru the gutter welds. No rust in the front corners so thats good news. there was one spot on the passenger side above the vent window that has rust thru to the rain rail. looks like a fairly easy repair tho. the rear part of the gutter rail is shot. Its started to seaparate from the upper cab wall as soon as the roof came off. In this location the 2nd layer of sheet metal behind the roof skin is also shot as it has 3 large holes in it. However I think I can repair all of this when the gutter is off as its looks like it stops where the roof, gutter, and cab wall all meet? I also pulled the rear window and the only sign of rust was at the very bottom of the window around one of the holes that was drilled for the old sleeper boot. so as it sits the cab interior is gutted, passenger seat removed, Im going to pull the stacks off tomorrow, remove both doors and reseal the door channel , pull the windshields to address any seams that need . Address all seals and weld joints before I paint the cab. the only other issues I see right now is with the cab mount stacks....A few of the inner brackets that the stack clamps bolt to have rusted and the nuts are spinning. you cant see them as they are hidden behind the rear door jam. I need cut them the cab and reweld nuts to them. guess what my weekend looks like....

the seam sealer is still like gum so its hard to get it all off. I used a screw driver to get alot of it off the surface but its still stuck on the sides of the gutter and in between the steel. I think these were made by blair? will have to check the package. Bought them from a reputable paint store. Trent

Hi Rob I just got back and have 1/2 the roof off the cab. the roto broaches dont cut as nice as I thought they would. They dig into the glue and then try to take off in a diffrent direction. I may try a diffrent brand as you suggested.. Anyways the whole back half of the roof was held on by paint. rear corners seame ok at the radius. front half of the sides and whole front are solid.... from the out side. I was able to cut into the drivers side and its is almost done so I am almost half way there getting it off. I figure by Sat after noon I will have the roof off and making repairs to the rails. So far I can see that the rear cab wall gutter has some issues as rust is above and below it. I may need to remove the back section to clean behind it and re seal it. Kinda glad I got into this now and not replace the cab in 5 years when it was two far gone.

thanks rob... I just went out and got a 3/8 rotobroach kit with 3 double sided replacement cutters. the auto body shop had some por 15 so I will likely use that to paint the surface that I can see and then find some rust fire spray yo coat the semas that I cant see. all I have to say is Wow... a week ago I was just going to put in sound dead meterial. now the roof is coming off!!! having a guy come out to sand blast the frame, new stainless side box and 1/2 fenders on order as well. Busy few weeks ahead of me here!!!! thanks for all this help Rob!!!

Rob.....I Got the roof skin on order, will be here tomorrow. got one for $399 from a local dealer. What size roto broach should I get? I assume I will need 2 or 3 to do all 150 spot welds? Should I get a new rain gutter as well even if mine looks to be good? how hard is it to replace the gutter with the roof off? Por 15 or rustfire are they the same? I have only heard about Por 15

thats what I was afraid of ...rust in the front. hopefully It will be light and some patches will take care of it. Sounds like I need to get the truck inside for a few weeks and pull the roof off, fix all the little rust issues around the rail and hope it lasts for another 30 years? Figures I just start dressing up the interior and now I need to address the roof!!! When I got the truck I had to put in some brakets to support the newer style headliner with over head console. this was not that hard to do. I guess at that point you pull all the stuff off the cab and just repaint the whole cab and be done with it LOL.. talk about a can of worms!!!! Trent

thanks for the pics Rob. I must have missed that post? On the tan truck...did you cut the roof off first before you went around with the rotobroach and remove the skin welds? I dont think my cab is this bad as there was one small spot above the windshield and the rest is all in the back. Do the skins have all the holes drilled for the horns roof lights etc and have the incerts to retain the bolts to mount them?...?

Rob I should just gut the interior. Drive down to your shop on a friday. Bring a case of beer and some pizza and have you school me as I do the job at your shop LOL. you make it sound so simple LOL

Bringing back a old topic. My roof needs to be replace before it gets out of hand. I went pokeing around the few rust bubbles tonight and its clear that its time. The roof rail is still good and intact but the skin around the rear of the cab just above the window is barely hangin on. I found that there is a section about 6" long that is completly detached. I would like to fix this over the summer time before it gets out of hand. Looks like I need to source a roof skin and start driling off the cab. what is to expect under the skin? is there another interior panel under that skin? will that likely have rust as well? this truck had a roof mount AC unit so im sure that dident help the rust issues? Trent

from the pics I have seen... alot of R models in canada had neway air ride and had large fuel tanks on both sides. alot also have large walk in sleepers installed. items that seam shome what uncommon in the states? I have heard that the old Neway air ride set ups are liked by the heavy haulers due to the articulation and ride control? Never drive on so cant comment. as far as checking them out... the rubber/bushings just need to be checked to make sure everything stays true.

looking for a used superliner cab airide. Single 7" tall bag with 2 shock absorbers on each side. will have a upper and lower Beam/mount. looks like this set up http://www.linkmfg.com/pdfs/cm/MCRS600.pdf thanks for looking Trent

Real nice! Im halfway into the cab on my other truck and those Marengo guys have a sudden sence of ergency to get that air ride cut ready for me. wait what was the intrest rate on my down payment? I figure $100 x 10 years x $.250 a day carry the 1 yada yada yada... oh look in 10 short years you will owe me for your cut off..... Priceless!!!. take your time Brad no rush now LOL! did a little more today. got the foot valve bolted in and trimed up the carpet. But now it will be coming back out so I can have a Mack Logo sowed into the carpet, and some other little ideas I have . I added it all up and the floor has 2 layers of dynamat, 1" of insulation. 1/4 sound dead mat, 1/4 carpet. the fire wall has 2 layers of dynamat and a 1/8 sound dead mat. I will now be making some fire wall panels that can be removed easy for access. took the truck for a quick spin and it did quiet the truck down pretty good. one more trick I may do is to put a 45" x 45" square of 1" insulation and bolt it to the under side of the hood. And then glue some 12" tall sections to the hood sides. the truck has factory insulation on the out side of the firewall but its all ratty. I will likely replace that as well. My goal is to just get the vibrations out so that the truck is more comfortable to drive. Air ride cab will be next as that will also save my back. this truck just rides hard and is not fun without a trailer!

here are the updates on this project new glass installed on the doors. Rubberized paint, dynamat on both sides of door/floor/firewall along with a 1" thick insulation pad on the underside of floor boards. 1/2" Carpet mat on floor and soon to be on firewall. I really hope all this insulation cuts down sound and keeps it cool inside.

a little smoke from a mack...sounds normal to me!

good write up. Barry Can we sticky this ? its a question that gets asked about 100 times a year LOL

LOOK ON EBAY. THERE ARE A FEW PEOPLE MAKING FLAPS CHEEP. THEY MAY LIST THEM AS MACK, PETE, KW ETC.. BUT THEY ALSO MENTION TO SEND IN YOUR ART WORK OR A PIC THEY CAN RESIZE TO MAKE YOU YOUR OWN......

nice looking truck...Fyi...there is a guy down in Galt Ca that has some old mack Parts. if you need a local source for parts PM me and I will give you his info

a little story about hitting your head on the cab. Was in a new dump site just off of Cermack and I-294. the road in of the street was paved and then turned into gravel. they would spray water at the entrance/exit for dust control. the water had pooled in a low spot in the haul road. under this pool of water was a large pot hole at the edge of the entrace side of the roadway. it was right ware the pavement stopped and gravel started. anyways I was on my way out of the dump and a guy in a newer CH was heading in. I slowed and was going to let him over to my side to avoid the pot hole. It must have been his first time in this dump because he drove right into the hole. the right tire fell in. he hit his head on the driver side window and as the tire came bouncing back out of the holeit pretty much thru him the rest of the way out of his seat and onto the gear stick. I Stopped and saw he was ok but a little shook up. I told the scale house and they had it fixed by the time I got back. the look on his face was priceless.

Hi Rob I have been going thru the RS the last few years replacing valves and such, I am not an expert at this and still learning... if the truck does not have spring brakes the hardest part will be plumbing in the dash valves to anti componding valves and makeing sure it works as intended. I still cant figure out where all the hoses end up with all the tee fittings and such coming off the valves. I replaced my foot valve last night and it had about 12 lines coming off of it. looking at the bendix air brake handbook it says i only should have 6? the reason I had so many hoses is that Mack put the 2 stop light switchs on the foot valves,and the anti compounding valve was tied into it. It was way to messy in my opinion. had to remove 3 fittings to get at one and it was just a puzzle trying to put the nev valve in. I would suggest remote mounting any other valves away fromt the foot valve and to a location on the fire wall or in a place that has more space to access all the air lines. just for simplicity reasons when changing out a valve. with the newer air brake parts I noticed Bendix offers dash valve assy that take alot of the air hose mess out of it./ they also have tractor protection valves with built in brake light switches. some of these items will save you from having a mess of extra air lines.. I think the simple way to approach this is to start at the cab and see what you will need there as all air lines enter and leave this aera. you will see real fast that air lines will end up all over the place and you may even need a new air tank for the parking system. Its a nightmare LOL

What is the inlet size on the top of the air filter for the tip turbine motors... I know they use a larger size to help feed the tip turbine and turbo from the same filter. If you ever noticed,,,,the front mount air to air 300s have a smaller filter inlet than a 285 charge cooler filter....

this is a pic I found of the N model owned by my friend in CA. Its got a a Mack diesel but dont recall the transmission. Interior color is simmilar to a early R model. that puke green color.

what info are you looking for I have a friend with a N model Mack. I can give him a call with some questions Trent