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Also keep in mind that the large steering wheels used on these trucks will really accentuate any play in the box. We are used to a small steering wheel and power steering on everything these days, so even a relatively minor amount of play feels huge now.

That is a 12 volt system already. The original system used a series/parallel switch to supply 24 volts to the starter, while all of the accessories used 12 volts. It is a positive ground.

One of my early rides was a 1961 CJ5 with the F Head 4 cylinder, a Fisher plow, and the factory option fiberglass roof, steel side cab. The doors were about 2 inches thick and hung outside of the cab. If you happened to touch the outside of the roof with a bare hand you were guaranteed to get a fiberglass splinter in it. I made a lot of money with that little bugger plowing snow. The cab kept you dry, but it was as cold as the outside and I had to scrape the inside of the windshield to see.

I understand Wal-Mart is looking at this for all of the old ladies to use in their stores. They are going to replace the mower with a floor cleaner so the shoppers can clean up as they move along.

Nice find. Is there any information available from REO on these trucks?

Amen to both thoughts.

A few don't. I worked at the company that was first due at the Springfield interchange for close to ten years over the course of my career. That station ran interstate calls all day every day. Our company logo is "First due where the world goes through" inscribed over a pile of spaghetti that is a diagram of the 95, 495, 395 interchange. The combination of out of state drivers, heavy local traffic, a large non-indigenous driving population and a mega-confusing road layout leads to a lot of incidents. In the 70's we used to run a fair number of Florida fruit flies in the early morning hours. I always figured the Bennys ran out about the time they made it that far North and they would hit the intersection a little too hot to make it around without turning over.

Lost wrecks on the interstates are not that uncommon. I responded to a car wreck within a 1/2 mile of the infamous 495/95/395 interchange in Springfield, VA, one of the busiest on the east coast, that had gone over an embankment into the center median two days before we found it. The driver survived. We also responded to an incident where the driver drove into a paver parked beside the interstate that was not found until the crew reported to work the following day. The driver was killed in that one. I have also responded to incidents on the interstate where we diligently searched for the wreck and could not find it, only to be dispatched to the same incident again when some one else located it. You feel like crap for missing it, but you have to remember that we also ran a fair number of false calls out there as well as incidents where the callers had no idea where they were. Anybody who says they never missed an incident on an interstate is either lying or they just never ran that many calls out there.

South Korea has some interesting driving going on. When I taught there I was not allowed to rent a car, so the base provided a cab and driver for me. The first day we leave the hotel and travel on a four lane boulevard at a pretty high speed in the left lane. When we enter a major intersection the driver turns right from the left lane onto another main road like he does that every day. He drives like a bat out of hell, I hear his GPS start beeping and then beep urgently, whereupon he slams on his brakes to lower the speed to about 30. We pass a speed camera and he accelerates to Mach 1 again until the GPS beeps, etc. He did that seven or eight times on each trip. If traffic backed up he would start darting through an industrial area to beat it out. (I got to see some interesting road side maintenance being done on Class 8 trucks there, like entire engine replacements, but that's another story.) We did that for the three weeks I was there. Believe me, even a NY cab ride is sedate compared to these guys.

I always thought there would be a good book that could be written about the many regional companies that produced fire apparatus. In New England we had Farrar, Middlesex, Providence, and Continental for example, and I'm sure many more I don't know. Farrar was built in Woodville, MA, a village in Hopkinton which is adjacent to where I grew up. My Dad knew most of the folks at Farrar as well as Continental which was started by a former Farrar employee. Farrar built a lot of apparatus, but never seemed to sell much anywhere but New England. My bet is they sold more front mount pumps than any of the well known builders like Maxim, as that seemed to be their niche. Their apparatus was simple and cost effective, especially in an era when jump seats and enclosed riding areas were not the norm.

Here is a link to the Kellog rig:

Welcome aboard. What model truck are we talking about? I used the first link in Jim's message to rebuild the pump on my ENF510A and I'm very happy with the work.

If you can wait the best bet is to send the chassis number to the Mack museum, along with a suitable donation, to get the complete specs you need along with a wealth of information about the truck. I am no expert on these trucks, but I believe the standard gas engine of the time was the 707A. The 510 was used in the E and A models and I am not certain it was used in the L models.

Nice research. The folks on this site never cease to amaze me. The delivery picture would make sense. Mack took pictures of only one rig out of a group of identical apparatus that were delivered together.

One of Clarence Farrar's specials? We had one in my home town of Ashland, MA that I cut my teeth on. A 68 Loadstar, 345 V8 and 5 speed tranny with the usual Farrar front mount pump, 500 gallon tank. The guy who taught me to drive it told me "Anybody can drive this, the transmission is synchronized." A comment that was no doubt driven by the 46 Mack LS85 which many folks had a really hard time driving due to the usual non-synchronous tranny. They also had a 57 F-750, and at one time a 46 Ford. Farrar sold a lot of fire trucks in New England, especially to those communities that were "cost conscious".

I believe the University of Wisconsin ended up with the IH archives. They might be able to help you out. Check behind the glove box to see if there is a line ticket there. I found the ticket for my 72 there.

I am not sure, but I don't think so. Cal Little did a complete restoration of an early B model which ended up in the Netherlands. If you do some research on this site it should turn up. It was originally from Kellog, ID.

Another good source of information is Harvey Eckart's book on Mack fire apparatus. https://www.amazon.com/Mack-Fire-Trucks-1911-2005-Illustrated/dp/1583881573/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1488805968&sr=8-1&keywords=harvey+eckart I see you are in Europe. Is, or was, the rig lettered "Kellog FD"?

The mantra of the RV industry seems to be "build them as cheaply as we can, doll up the interiors to make the sale, and then walk away". My 32' fifth wheel came with 15" tires on 7K axles. After the usual tire issues I upgraded to 16" 8 ply LT tires along with electric over hydraulic disc brakes and a lot of peace of mind. If you want to make some changes Eastern Marine is having a two day sale. Their prices and service are usually excellent. And don't bet against the farm lobby either. The big boys play off of the family farm image and pretty much get their way. In VA no building permits or inspections are required if it is on a farm. What we ended up with are horse arenas seating a 1000 people that do not come close to complying with the means of egress requirements.

As an RV'er who tows a pretty small, by fifth wheel standards, trailer with a one ton truck I'm often dumb struck by what I see other RV'ers doing. Towing a 10,000 pound fiver with a half ton truck is one of my pet peeves. At many RV dealerships the salesman will tell you it's OK to pull a 40' fifth wheel with a Toyota if that's what it takes to make the sale. The trailer industry must have some powerful lobbyists. Cars and trucks are required to have tire pressure monitoring systems, trailers do not. Cars have to pass safety tests for braking and handling, trailers do not. Builders can slap brakes designed for a 5K axle on an 8K axle and no one cares. I know I bought one and the brakes were shot after about 2K miles of mostly highway driving. The other thing that makes many of these rigs unsafe is the continued use of magnet activated shoe brakes on the trailers. These are notoriously unreliable and quickly fade and go out of adjustment, yet the builders keep using them. They should be outlawed and builders should be required to use electric over hydraulic disc brakes. Poor brakes along with suspension system designs that haven't been used on cars or trucks in 50 years combined with inadequate tires is a recipe for trouble that almost every RV out there has.

After looking at the picture more closely I'd agree. The top of the windshield just doesn't look right for an A model and in fact could have been a closed cab that they converted since Mack usually used just a chrome frame around the windshields on both the semi and open cab trucks. Either way it is a neat rig and I'm glad you are able to share it with us.

I foresee companies hiring "ride-along" operators at minimum wage to keep an eye on the load and provide security for special loads and/or flat bed loads that need tie downs. I'm wondering how much more down time a truck will experience when there is no operator to diagnose an issue that the ECU is showing so the truck goes to the side of the road until a mechanic can be summoned. It's an absolute that as complexity goes up, reliability goes down. Plus maintenance costs have to go up since it will take a highly skilled and trained technician to diagnose and repair what will be a pretty sophisticated hardware and software set up.

Most likely a Type 45A or 405A because it does not have the shield below the radiator that the ENF510A powered A models had. It also looks like a 500 GPM pump based on the two 2 1/2" discharges. As Jim said most likely built between 1950 and 1954, although Mack special built 5 more A models in 1956 for customers in LI, NY.

That type of set up is not uncommon in our area for the trucks hauling stone out of the local quarries. I have never had the chance to ask one of the owners about the trucks, but apparently the extra weight they can carry makes up for the added expense and weight of the set up. One local operator is running three new KW's with that set up. VA is very strict about weight laws, so you see some strange configurations used to comply like bodies set way behind the cab.