vanscottbuilders

Two of the axle seals that I got a couple of weeks ago at Mack are wrong. By a lot! That's what I get for cheating everybody out of their Christmas presents so I could buy truck parts. So I took one of the originals to FleetPride to match them up. In about five minutes I had the right parts. Good lesson learned. It's a 60 mile round trip at $3.30/gal. for the gas. Now I open all the boxes before I go home to be sure the parts at least look right. This old stuff is a little tricky - with different assemblies available when they were new, and new parts numbers replacing the old numbers, and parts guys who weren't even born when the trucks were new! Anyway, I got started on the front axle this week, and am continuing on the rear axle. Next step is to get the frame back on wheels! Looks like the trickiest part of the whole deal will be reassembling the darn clutch linkage. I have removed the entire pedal assembly and linkage from the frame - and do you think I can remember how it goes back together? Not a clue.

Quitting the smoking is the hardest thing I have ever done. Been about 16 years for me. Good Luck. Paul VS

That looks like a pretty nice old truck. I paid $2,000.00 for a single axle in similar body condition and non-running. Also had the original 673 diesel and transmission. My guess is that the tandem is not worth a lot more to a restorer. Unless someone is really going to use it, it just adds weight, brakes and tires to the project. And it eats into what limited power is available. If you don't want the truck, would you mind sharing the location and contact info with everyone here? Hate to see a nice one like this go to waste, or worse, go for scrap and get sent to China. Thanks, Paul Van Scott

One more exit east from 390 on 90 puts you within five minutes of our shop. Real easy to get in and out of and adjacent to the toll road. The hill at Steam Valley, north of Williamsport, used to be able to keep me wide awake, at times, this time of year. We never had engine brakes or ABS in the Meat Dispatch trucks. It was still a pretty narrow two lanes up and two lanes down. And I always seemed to be there, at the top looking down, in the middle of the night in a snowstorm! Probably wasn't really that bad - but the memories tend to grow more dramatic with time. PVS

Boy I haven't been up and down Rte.219 in a long time. Probably 20 years or more. I have travelled that road a lot in my past. Used to have a good friend and racing partner in Mahaffey, which is a little south of Dubois & Punx'y. If you get to Orchard Park with some time on your hands, you are welcome to visit our shop, which is a short hour east of Orchard Park on I-90, or I can meet you somewhere for dinner. On another subject - I am curious - what is a typical mileage rate today for a flat trailer and tractor? I haven't kept up with current charges, except for the heavy hauls that my uncle's company does. And that work is all done by the hour.

Poor Kid. I don't think I would handle it very well, if I were in your shoes, either. Hope things are getting better, and that you and your family can enjoy a very happy and safe New Year. Paul Van Scott

Got a big scare this week - Food related. I take that very seriously. After buying my wife a new septic system for Christmas (when you need one, it's a very romantic gift), apparently the plumber needed to move my freezer in the basement in order to connect the new waste line. Anyway, the freezer did not survive the move. So, after discovering water running out the bottom of it, I needed to find some borrowed freezer room fast for an entire year's supply of beef, venison and a couple of turkeys. At least it was cold enough outside to box up some of it to store overnight. Glad the yard is fenced to slow down the meat eating varmints. Fortunately I didn't lose anyuthing. Spent some time this week working on a cedar strip canoe that I started building about nine years ago for my wife. She no longer believes me when I say that the best things in life are worth waiting for. So I better get it done. Besides I could use the shop space. I think I will build a temporary spray booth in that shop section to paint the B-67 cab and sheet metal. We have used booths like this for years at work to finish large cabinets both in the shop and on jobsites. Nothing very revolutionary about this technology. We simply build four wall frames and a ceiling frame from 2x2 lumber and cover them with clear poly. Usually the room size is about 10 x 10 x 8' high. But it can be any size you need. In this case, I will probably make it 10' high and reuse it for the H-63 (Cherry Picker) cab. A plastic covered door frame goes in one wall for entry. A 16" x 24" air inlet is framed in one wall with a standard furnace filter cleaning the inbound air, and an exhaust fan drawing the fumes out of the opposite wall. Finally, we duct the fumes out a shop window, if we can. Taped together cardboard boxes can make a pretty good fume duct. We use an explosion proof shop fan unit, but I'm told that almost anything will work, if you filter the outbound air, too. I just don't like the prospect of a loud boom with me in the middle of it! Already lost enough hair, no need to burn off what's left. The wall panels are held together with old interior door hinges and hinge pins for easy assembly and disassembly, and we set the booth up around whatever is to be painted. The ceiling framing is strong enough to hang fenders and doors from, which makes painting them a lot easier. Usually a piece of poly serves as the floor, too. The booth cuts down on any dust, flies and bugs in the paint, and allows work to continue elsewhere in the shop while the painting is in progress. And the booth provides an ideal drying room, because it is sealed up pretty well. Just close the door and walk away. When the painting project is done, just take the panels apart and find a place to store them until needed again. (We usually hang ours flat from a tall shop ceiling, so they are out of the way) If you spend $20.00 on the booth, you spent too much. Just don't skimp on the fan. That's my contribution this week to "How To Restore Your Old Truck on a Shoestring" .

Tom, If you get to Orchard Park again, and have a little time on your hands, give me a call. It's less than an hour from me. Paul VS

I know it's not how it should be,but it works great! I won't tell. Paul VS

Tom, What's the switch on your aux shifter? Paul VS

You're becoming a genuine high tech wizard!! Paul VS

Tom, I don't think that restarting the computer will screw anything up. Cancel and close the defragmenter, shut down and wait to restart for about five minutes. If you have a high speed internet connection, shut it down at the same time. I find with my Road Runner connection that it needs to reboot once in a while. No clue as to why. But it reboots byitself when you restore the power. If all else fails, you might want to have someone "clean" the hard drive for viruses and bad stuff that comes from the internet. We have all of our office computers and home computer cleaned every three months. Makes a big difference. The first clue is when stuff starts slowing down and not working properly. Just like what you described. Other than that - Merry Christmas! Paul VS

Hi Joe, Happy First Christmas as a family! Paul VS

I didn't try - Does the video have sound? I use Freightrain's triplex shifting video to counter Kathy's choice of music! Works real good. Paul VS

Not to sound greedy or anything - but I picked up all of my seals and bushings, and my brake shoes with new linings on Friday. Before I did any Christmas shopping for anyone else. My own Christmas gift to myself. Pretty nice. If Kathy knew.... Oh boy I don't even want to think about that. Hopefully the rear axle will be ready to install by the end of the week. I do have to take two brake shoes back in for relining - they had several small cracks in the new linings. It shouldn't be any real issue. I just hope the mice haven't corroded the two shoes so badly that they can't be relined. Now I'm glad I didn't do them myself. Dennis, my friend and partner in the H-63 has been cleaning and rubbing the old cabover - it looks 100% better. He painted the front bumper, too. The thinking was too see what the old girl looked like under all of the mold and dirt. We're real happy. It will be a while before we bring that truck into the restoration shop - so we have it in Dennis' barn. While we are waiting for my B-67 to roll out, we can get a good idea of what parts we might need for the H-63, and work on finding them. The cab parts are what concern me. Not too many old H cabs to get parts from. Fortunately, this one is very complete. My New Year's goal is to get my B-67 done, and the H-63 rolling so it can go on a trailer and get them both to Watts Mack's event in September. Might even bring the old R-600, too. Actually I have been thinking seriously about putting the R model to work with a short drop deck flat trailer, and perhaps a 28' pup trailer. It runs like a sewing machine with only 196,000 original miles. With paint and some body work, it would look real nice. There appears to be a ready market for a cheap, small, local carrier in our area. Everyone seems to have forgotten single axle equipment. One less set of four tires, one less set of brakes, plus the efficiency of the old Mack diesel. Not to mention the maneuverability. And I have two more unfair advantages: #1) Retired truck drivers. We have numerous friends who drove for a living, and now want to work for fun. These guys are careful, professional and personable. And Cheap! And their wives want them out from under their feet. It should work well. #2) No truck payments. It's hard to beat no payment book! The business is probably in moving ATM machines for the banks, moving equipment for machine shops (lathes and milling machines etc.), perhaps moving tractors and small equipment for the dealers and rental companies, and moving cabinets and lumber for our own building business. There are numerous manufacturers and machine shops in our area, as well as shops that recondition milling equipment. I think it's worth a try. Even if the old girl could make enough to cover her costs, so that I had a free haul truck for my own stuff, it would be worth it to me. Anyway, enough rambling for one night. Merry Christmas everyone! Paul VS

Looks Cool - and you are way ahead of me by being able to make the video and transmit it via computer! Paul VS

It has been a great year for me - Mack wise! Thanks to everyone here for all of their help and comments. Mery Christmas to all of you. Paul Van Scott

Tom, Keep your eye on those 5" stacks. I might need two - one each for the B-67 and H-63. Apparently 4" systems are quite difficult to find, although I think that Watts Mck has a 4" muffler, and I could probably have the 4" pipe fabricated locally, if originality is a real question. Thanks, Paul VS

yeah,long as your bones don't start sounding like a hog eating hickory nuts when you walk-then you'd better go to the doctor. James, I had both of my dogs with me on leashes. I must have hit the ground so hard, it scared them both because they didn't come near me for a minute or two! And I did remember my "fall training" - about one second after I hit. Hope you feel better. Paul VS

Tom, Thanks for checking on those parts for me. I feel pretty good about getting all of the parts from Mack, although I'm sure NAPA or Fleetpride would be fine too - it's just that they do not recognize most of the old Mack part numbers, so you have to take the old part in and match it up to something. Fleetpride is relining the brake shoes. Good to know about "Bebo". There is no question that I will need some parts for one of these trucks. Been snowing here pretty steady for a couple of days - probably 14 or 15 inches on the ground. That helps with the falls - cushions the shock! Paul VS

Several weeks we got our first substantial snow of the season. Those piles of leaves that I had left in the driveway and in the parking lot went thru the snowblower just fine. I'm going to remember that for next year! Paul VS

Bob, I have had great luck with the Mack Museum. For the B and H models, at least, they have been very accommodating. You might try them with a phone call, or a letter with your request and a donation. Good Luck - that sounds like a nice trio of trucks. Paul Van Scott

Well, I feel old this week. I fell down on the ice two weeks ago - a real classic, total surprise, feet straight in front of me, airborne crash. For a couple of days, I felt fine. Then all of a sudden, I became a cripple for about a week. Had to cancel my trip to Lake Placid this week (work) because a six hour car ride was definitely out of the question. It's getting better - but real slowly it seems. Anyway - because of the new found time in my schedule, I went searching for all of the seals and bushings for my B-67 rear axle and brakes. All of these parts are obsolete from Mack. What an education. And - surprise - total success! Found an excellent local Mack parts guy at the dealer, after a disappointing first meeting. And got some stuff from Barry at Watts. And FleetPride is in the mix too, for relining the brake shoes. Whatever parts the local dealer (Beam Mack) could not get, they supplied me with a list of dealers nationwide who showed that particular part in inventory. List was complete with contact names and phone numbers. Nice! So, by Monday we should be back in action with the rear end assembly. And, maybe I'll be able to move by then, too.

I appreciate that, Thanks. But I meant what I said about my old knowledge - you guys who know about the newer trucks have a leg up on me. And you're right - this is a great forum for the exchange of info, and don't ever be afraid to correct anybody here. Thanks again, Paul Van Scott

This is a real good idea! I'm buying two for friends - Thanks Paul Van Scott