Wobblin-Goblin

Today's progress: 1. Stripped about 95% of the cab. Took the exhaust stack off for better access. 2. Cleaned the area afterward. Lots and lots of paint chips and dust. Did I mention there was lots of dust? Looking ahead: We'll be working on the doors soon, fixing the internals, replacing the old glass with new, and priming and painting them. We'll also be installing the new windshields after we fix the little bit of rot around the windshield opening. After that...we'll be painting the cab.

Today's progress: 1. Used the home-made tool to pop out the big dent on the cab corner behind the driver's seat. It actually looks pretty good now. You can see the tool in one of the pics. It worked well. 2. Stripped more of the paint off the cab. 3. Removed and disassembled the horn. One of the set screws holding a trumpet broke while still tight, so I used my drill press to drill it out and then unscrew the trumpet. Both trumpets had a bunch of junk (mud, insect debris, etc.). They are both clean now. 4. Tested some of the circuit breakers to try and figure out some of the wiring. Also inspected under the dash to see what needed attention there. The windshield wiper linkage needs work and the hose that supplies hot air to the defroster is missing. Things are going slower now, obviously, because of the massive amounts of snow we've gotten here. I still look forward to working on the Mack every time, however.

Can't wait to see more pics. Good work.

I've nothing but complaints about Maxxforce engines.

Today's progress: 1. Took the doors off. 2. Took air cleaner off. Stripped it down to bare metal. Primed it. 3. Stripped the right side of the cab (exterior) to get it ready for additional prep and priming. 4. Made a tool to reach up under rear cab corner and pop out a big dent.

CT has more or less outlawed 10 wheel dump trucks by only allowing them to be registered for a maximum of 53,800lbs. Pretty disgusting if you ask me.

It's actually quite dry during winter here. If you're not careful, you can get nosebleeds and cracked skin (I've had both already this year).

Sorry about the delay, we got wacked pretty hard last week with snow, and it took a few days just to clear our way out to the garage (1,500' driveway). Today we installed the painted hood. I also vacuumed out the engine bay and interior because the last few times I worked on it, I generated a lot of dust, dirt, and paint chips.

I called about it a few months ago and left a message. Nobody ever got back to me.

Guys, why is CT so freaking backwards when it comes to registering 10 wheelers vs. tri-axles? I've been doing a little research on it, and it looks like you can't register a 10 wheeler commercially and still haul anything in the body except feathers, leaves, and empty water bottles. In order to carry anything of substance, CT forces you to go with a tri-axle. It just doesn't make sense.

Sorry about the lack of pictures, folks. I might have run into a snag with the paint. I matched it as best as I could with a color chart (the rattle can stuff I've been using vs. the stuff I sprayed on the hood), but it doesn't appear to be a good match once applied. I haven't seen the hoods since they were sprayed on Friday, so I'm holding out hope that they have darkened a little since then. The rattle can green I've used darkened some as it dried and hardened, so if this new paint does the same, it might be OK. If it doesn't darken, I'm not sure I want to continue using it due to it being lighter than I wanted.

Hoods are now painted.

Today's progress: 1. Finished sanding and priming the second hood piece. Now both are ready for paint, and we plan on painting them tomorrow. 2. Removed the windshield glass and the rubber. 85% of the body work around the windshield is in fine condition. About 10% is a little wonky and 5% is in rough shape. That's pretty darn good, if you ask me. We might actually get to fix what needs to be fixed tomorrow and then put the new rubber in. BTW, I found more evidence of mud wasps when I pulled the defroster pieces from inside the windshield. They had built a mud nest in one of the ducts. Sorry, no pics today, but I should have some tomorrow.

Today's progress: 1. Pulled the radiator cover off (eight easy bolts) and installed the bulldog. Sanded the vertical steel on each side of the shutters and painted them the same green as everything else. Put radiator cover back on. 2. Installed the hood lacing on the radiator cover and on firewall. That stuff is rugged material that doesn't want to bend easily. Be forewarned if you've never done it before. 3. Spent a fair amount of time taking the dents, pucks, and bends out of the hood pieces. Tap here, tap there, hit here, hit there, whack here, whack there, set on floor and step here then step there...voila! It's not perfect, but it's not bad at all now for being true. 4. Applied body filler on the areas where pitting was bad. Sanded. Primed one hood. 5. Prepped, primed, and painted the chrome strip between the hood pieces. I painted it the same silver color as the radiator cover and wheels. 6. Took side mirrors off.

I'm following your project, bud. It's neat that we both have pretty much the same truck. One thing my uncle (who does projects like this all the time) told me: "Don't take parts off the truck that don't need to. If you can refurbish it in place, leave it on. You'll spend an awful lot of time doing unnecessary work when you could be gaining ground instead."

Do you have any pics of the interior?

Impressive.

Today's progress: 1. Stripped, prepped, primed, and painted the firewall. 2. Stripped, prepped, and primed the oil pan of the air cleaner. It is now ready for paint (we will paint it with the hood and the cab). Tomorrow we will be putting the hood lacing on the firewall and removing the mirrors from the doors. We will also be straightening, prepping, and priming the tops of the hoods.

You guys might be right. I thought it may have been the temperature of the steel, but since I didn't strip under the hoods down to bare metal, it might have been the reaction. The weird thing is most of the new paint stuck and looks pretty good. As it is, I'm not that concerned since it's not going to be seen much, and the fact that the tops are stripped to bare metal, so we will be starting fresh where it counts. The wire attachment I used on my power drill was straight wire. It wore off grease, dirt, and loose paint pretty well, but it doesn't strip solid paint at all. For that duty, I use my hand-held grinder and a woven wire attachment. It'll strip the glitter off a stripper. BTW, NAPA priced out the green I'm looking for at over $200 per gallon. Ouch.

For $307, I think I can paint my old one with chrome and live with it.

Today I used a wire brush attachment with my power drill and cleaned/stripped the underside of the hoods, then painted the undersides. The tops of the hoods were stripped to bare metal yesterday. The paint job underneath isn't the greatest, but I wasn't worried about fully stripping, prepping, and priming under them. I just wanted to get the rust and loose stuff off and then make sure the surface was clean before painting. It looks better than it did before and now the color will match the finished product on top of the hood and the cab. ETA: I was scratching my head, wondering why the fresh paint was crinkling in a few spots right after I applied it. The only guess I could come up with was the steel was too cold, which is weird because I put the hoods by the stove for a while and when I started painting, they were warm to the touch. Perhaps they cooled quickly when I moved them away from the stove for painting. Oh well. I'll live with it. We will be prepping the tops of the hoods on Monday (one side will need body work and filler), then priming them. At least we have a bare metal surface to work with, though. After that, we start on the doors. I'm hoping we have the doors completely prepped and primed by sometime next week. Then it's on to the cab.

Looking for a center chrome strip on top of a B61 hood.

Well, I didn't quite get done what I wanted to today, but still made progress nonetheless. I used a wire wheel on my grinder to strip the hood down to bare steel. The right side is in rough shape with really bad pitting. The left side is decent. I also had to use a torch on the nuts holding the rear directionals on. No amount of penetrating oil worked. Hopefully I can put some time into it tomorrow.

Love seeing the older models still working. Thanks for the pics.

You are correct about the two switches operating the cab roof lights. I didn't realize this until yesterday. Kind of weird, if you ask me.