fxfymn

When we had a major traffic incident one of the first things I would do when I hit the road was to call our dispatch center on the cell just to keep the line open since the cell towers near the incident would quickly become overloaded and you could not make a call. Newer radio technology provided many more channels to us, so that became unnecessary.

The ironic thing is that all of the major builders have followed the Mack model by becoming vertically integrated with their own proprietary power trains. The fact that Mack had their own power train manufacturing is probably the thing that saved the brand from passing on to posterity. Volvo needed and wanted that to do what every other builder has since done.

This is my take on it. Mack like many other old line manufacturing firms started having financial difficulties in the 1970's because of factors that were largely out of their control. The oil crisis stopped a lot of capital investment so truck sales slowed while at the same time massive inflation took hold along with very high interest rates. These factors made it tough for companies like Mack that used a business model of letting customers pay a relatively small down payment while the company carried the cost of building the truck. The old model worked fine when the cost of borrowing money was stable and manufacturing costs could be reasonably forecast. When interest rates approached 20% and inflation ran to 10% companies could not raise prices fast enough to compensate, nor afford to borrow money to ride out the storm. My guess is that Paccar had enough money in the bank to ride it out while almost every other builder went out of business or was bought out by a competitor. That may be true, but the arrival of Mr. Hanson appeared to fix that. My personal belief is he just didn't have enough time to completely right the ship before outside factors took over. I think if he had the time to amass some cash they could have come out of the era as an owner of other firms, not a part of Signal Co.

Trust me on this one; the last place you want someone to use a cell phone or other electronic devices while driving is in an emergency vehicle. Most FD's and PD's use a computer type screen for dispatch and to pass on information to the responders. Just for fun put your laptop next to you while driving and try to read it while scrolling through the screens. After a couple of very close calls I finally gave up on using cell phones or the computer while responding. It just wasn't safe for the other drivers on the road. It really pisses me off watching a cop talking on the cell phone while driving. Talk about being hypocritical.

As this thread indicates the windshield for a CF and the F are the same. Try checking on the above truck or look for a CF that is being parted out.

I seem to remember that NFPA 10 requires them to be readily identifiable. I wonder how they become rated?

They're just playing. If they had nut crackers and a pick in their claws you'd know it was serious.

I was set to buy a new F-350 in September of 2016, but I could not find the truck I wanted and then the 3500HD fell into my lap so I went with that. Ford has a very nice product, but their pricing is through the roof. A well set up F-350 is $70K and an F-450 is over $80K. The equivalent 3500HD runs in the low 60's.

I normally do not comment on any political discussion here since this site is supposed to be about trucks and those of us who value them. But I will not tolerate anyone questioning my patriotism no matter my political point of view. I care about this country and what is happening to it as much as anyone else, even though I cannot abide the direction it is heading in now. But as I said I am not here to argue your viewpoint, just the outright slander of those who disagree with you. Stop it.

I'm not sure over expansion is the right term, but they had a model of supplying whatever the customer wanted, no matter the production run. That's great if the customers are willing to pay for that in sufficient numbers to make it profitable. Apparently they were not. I really believe that the undoing of Mack, and many other old line manufacturers, was the high inflation of the 1970's and the accompanying very high interest rates which made borrowing capital so expensive. In an orderly economy with a basically fixed cost of capital companies could afford to carry the cost of custom manufacturing. When it started to cost them upwards of 20% to get money they just could not keep building products that took a long time such as custom trucks because of the carrying costs. Plus the price of components rose so fast that builders just could not pass the costs on fast enough to stay viable. I know I'm the odd ball here for believing that Volvo is on the right track to keep Mack a viable company. They are building what the mainstream customer wants and they are selling product. We may wish Mack was what it once was, but I don't think the economics are there to support that business model today. If the economics were there builders like Hendrickson and Marmon would still be here producing low run custom trucks.

If they are like most propane suppliers they are running the unit on propane so a gas engine option is a must for them. I always liked the F-750. Good design and certainly widely used. In my book Ford has owned the medium duty and whatever you would call the F-450, F-550 class, especially since they fixed their transmission and front brake issues. I own GM, but if I needed a 450 or 550 class vehicle Ford is the only logical choice.

Probably not, but I bet there were drivers who were just as bad back then. We just don't have the video to prove it. That is why there are lawyers and courts. If the truck's insurer lets the car's insurer get away with it then they are ahead. My bet is they sued to recover full damages and the car's insurer paid them and the court costs as well.

What product line does Volvo offer that Mack does not?

I won't go into the high amount the Feds put into the industry through the interstate highway system, but suffice to say that unlike freight rail, they are very well taxpayer funded. As for "letting Mack die" why should Volvo do that? Mack is making money and has been selling about the same market share as the Volvo brand. Just because they don't make what a lot of folks here fantasize about for products doesn't make them an inferior company. Volvo has chosen to become a supplier of OTR trucks with a much smaller emphasis on vocational lines that Mack was once known for. They supply the capital and they have the right to choose how they want to generate the return on that capital.

Some things never change. My Dad loved to tell me about having to back the tractor trailers into a shop he worked at in the Boston area because the OTR guys couldn't do it. The year? 1949.

Good question, but my guess is it has to do with reliability and cost. We used air ride suspensions in all of our 40 plus EMS units, but not on the heavy stuff. Ride quality and the ability to lower the unit to make it easier to load a cot were why we used them for ambulances. Neither benefit was needed on the heavy stuff like pumpers and ladders.

Welcome to the site. If you put the specific model on here someone will tell you where it is. One thing to be especially careful with on a fire truck is to ensure that the engine cooling line running from the radiator to the pump is drained. This line contains raw water, not anti-freeze, and is notorious for freezing. If it freezes in the internal heat exchanger it can ruin the radiator. When you open the pump drains do not assume the pump is dry just because water does not flow out of the drains. If it does not the chances are that the drain is plugged with dirt and needs to be cleaned out. Do not open the "master" drain under pressure or you will blow the "O" ring out of it and it will leak.

Confucius say "Girl who ride bike pedal ass all over town".

Its always ultimately rooted in greed isn't it? VW did it with emissions cheating and now Cat has been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

The DCFD did it with E-32's Hahn when they failed to stop at a dead end and ended up launching into a street at the bottom of an embankment.

Apparently a money guy, not a manufacturing guy. Probably good for the long term survival of the company and not so good for those who long for a more diversified product line and a stronger emphasis on the vocational lines.

I saw a small news blurb somewhere this week that Toyota is going to create a hydrogen charging station at the Port of Los Angeles by using cow manure as a fuel source. Supposedly this is to fuel a class 8 hydrogen fuel cell powered truck they have developed and will be importing.

An engine running at constant speed riving an electrical generator is more efficient than the same engine driving a gear drive that is constantly changing speeds to match the vehicle speed. Thus a smaller HP engine can provide the power to move the load. The question will be, as others here have said, will they be able to make up for the added weight of the drive motors and batteries, and the energy loss of controllers and wiring to make it more efficient overall.

If you visit Steamtown in Scranton PA you can watch them restoring the engines. https://www.nps.gov/stea/index.htm

They are trying electric motors at each wheel like a diesel electric locomotive. Guess I was wrong about no one trying it.