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It is an E model, not a "Jr." as advertised. Fair market value in that condition is $3-5K if everything is there.

Hope you have a quick recovery. I cannot believe how fast you are moving along on the truck. Good job.

An acquaintance put a 6.9 in an E model. It came out very nice, but needless to say it was a lot of work. He retained the original rear as well as the other running gear and used a Gear Vendor overdrive. The brakes were a bit of an issue since the diesel does not have a vacuum pump and the Chrysler hydraulics did not move enough fluid for the Mack brakes. I believe he used a GM set up to overcome it. His first show was the ATHS show in Winchester, VA this past Sept. and I expect he will have the truck at Macungie this year.

You will probably have better luck posting this in the antique Mack forum.

Break out the smoke wrench! Best of luck. There has been a completely rebuilt flat head 6 (331??) on EBay off and on for awhile now. Might be worth a look.

"Were hand-cranked vehicles equipped with a compression release?" Not that I have ever seen.

My son's SO was flabbergasted that the 25 AB had a hand crank to serve as the back up starter. She had no concept of what a hand crank starter was. I was dumb enough to show it off to her with the truck in gear; I'm sure the pain will go away eventually. When I was a youngster my Grandfather had an Allis-Chalmers B model that did not have a starter motor. He always told me when I could crank it he would teach me to drive it. I finally got enough ass to crank it when I was 8 years old. Some of my best memories are driving my buddies to the lake with them hanging off of the tow bar. So glad I was able to have the "feral child" experience so many kids don't get today.

Albert, Have you raised this issue with the SPAMFAA chapter? This could effect all of us and I'd like to hear what SPAAMFAA's position is? As for the "you will need a CDL to drive fire apparatus to anything but a fire" I'm pretty sure you would have heard about this before. The NVFC and the IAFC would be raising hell about this and I have not heard a peep. PA Firemen does a pretty good job of keeping up with PA legislative issues and unless I missed it I have not seen anything about this in their legislative column.

Have you gone through all of the wiring harness connections to clean and grease them with electrolytic grease? Intermittent issues like this that show codes can come from a wire that is breaking connection. (I had this happen on a 2011 Chevy HD with less than 40k on it) Are all of the grounds solid? Has the dealer checked for service bulletins? My Chevy had one, but the first dealer never looked. The curse of a modern vehicle is everything depends on an electrical connection. The days of looking for a broken piece of linkage are gone.

Keep it unless you need the cash to capitalize the new shop. As you said you do not have time to run it, so you will probably never find time to do another one. Does your business plan have you doing modern stuff or are you going to concentrate on older rigs? If it is older rigs then I would put a low boy behind it and start hitting the shows with whatever rig you are doing at the time. How do plan on advertising the business? Nothing attracts truckers like an old truck. If you must sell it I'd do my best to make it to the truck auction in Ohio this coming week end to see what a restored B is going for. I know of a couple that have gone in the over $50K range in the past few years. And before all the "It'll never go for that much and I'd never pay more than $10k for any truck." naysayers come out you need to remember to a high end collector $50K is half of what it would cost to pay someone else to do it. The one thing that will hurt the value is that it is not a rare model, but it is still desirable. Good luck with whatever you do. I'm glad it's you and not me as I'd be heartbroken to let loose of something that nice.

Don't give up on it if you really want it. Many an E-bay sale falls through, so I would contact the seller to let him know you are interested.

An acquaintance in MD just finished putting a Cummins 6.9 in an E model which is the same cab as the A models. Very nice job; he even added a Gear Vendors overdrive unit. He was at the Winchester ATHS show with it last September.

And here is an even nicer CF ladder up for auction: http://www.govdeals.com/index.cfm?fa=Main.Item&itemid=123&acctid=4286 On the next page of the auction site there is an R model pumper up for sale as well.

Memorial service date and time to be announced later.

The replies are spot on, but the one thing no one mentioned is where are you going to keep the truck? If you don't have indoor storage any work you do to it will quickly deteriorate. You also need to ensure that local zoning/homeowner's bylaws laws don't prevent you from keeping a truck on your property. This hobby is akin to owning a boat. If you like the truck buy it, enjoy it, and have fun, but don't expect to break even financially. As my DW tells me if you played golf it would cost money to play each month and that money would be gone forever, at least the trucks have some value. Enjoy the truck and the father/son bonding. Great idea.

The FDNY wrecker reminds me of the short wheel base MB's that Overnight ran as city delivery rigs.

Holmes Trucking in MA had a bunch of straight trucks they used for city delivery. I used to see them sitting at their Framingham yard that was located on Rte. 30 near the Mass Turnpike entrance. Both the company and the building are long since gone.

Before you go try a dry run in the driveway at home or at one of the wonderful state parks you have in PA. As long as the RV battery is in good shape I think you will find that you already have everything you need to enjoy yourself at the show. I assume you have it winterized already, but there will be plenty of time to try it out next spring before the show.

Basically the only reason to run a generator for an RV is to have air conditioning. Other than that one 12v battery in proper operating condition will run the water pump and lights for at least two to three days if you are prudent with their use. If and when the battery discharges hook up the tow vehicle and re-charge it. If you want A/C you will need two 2K Hondas that can be hooked together to produce 4K so it will handle the starting load. If you use a larger unit the noise will be intrusive unless you go to a dedicated RV generator mounted in a properly insulated box. My experience has been that the Hondas work great, are extremely quiet, but the cost of fuel to run them overnight exceeds most campground fees.

Day late! Happy Birthday

Once upon a time there were places in New England that would coat the undercarriage with used motor oil and than run it through a gravel pit to "dry" it and coat it with dust. Red neck Ziebart.

Greg, I sent you a PM. Carl

Any idea on how you plan to get around? Just like Australia this is a big place and unless you have several months you will need to decide on a general area to see or plan on flying a lot to get around. If you want to concentrate on history and the cities see the east coast; if natural sites are more of an interest plan on doing the western states. We met an Aussie couple last year who have purchased a motor coach that they intend to use here for six months at a time over the next five years. They think it will take that much time to see it all if that gives you an idea of how much there is to do and see here. I am about 40 miles south of Washington, DC. Be more than happy to help out if you want to come to DC. And don't miss Macungie.

Ten minutes to pass on all you know about the FWD? What did you do with the extra nine minutes?

If you have the wheel cylinders the best route is to send them out to be sleeved. It will cost you around $50.00 each and they are guaranteed for life. Try White Post Restoration in VA if you don't have a source. If the wheel cylinders are missing give me a shout; I may have what you need.