Bullheaded

I posted pics of a brand new DMM tandem steer mixer when they first came out. Well that same local cement company had one of these Construcktors as their block truck for many years. I never did get a picture of it.

Wow, nice job on that dash panel! I like that.

I once read somewhere (I think it was on the ATHS site) someone said the White was more of an assembly line mass produced truck whereas the Autocar was hand built. I didn't know if that was true or not? I'd gladly take either one now! LOL.

Well, I just got another new Star, so they got about 5 years to get it all sorted out, LOL. I am still very interested to see more.

Don't know why my reply never showed from right after you posted this? But anyway, I love these. Was there a big difference between these and their Autocar brother?

Well I don't know how they compare build wise, but Western Star will still build you anything you want. I had a TON of build quality issues with my 2013, but my new 2020 is way better. And I've also talked to KW owners here that had bad ones also. But that's one thing about Star. You want a 6900 with a sheet metal hood, twin steer, all wheel drive with a big high rise sleeper? Sure. Want a Detroit? Yep. Want a Cummins? Yep Want planetary axles? Sure. I've just never been a big Peterbilt fan. Probably just because every owner op with a show truck had one and they all do the same look to them. There's only so many 300 inch wheelbase Pete's with bumpers dragging the ground, huge drop visors and wood stove chimneys for exhaust that I can stand looking at, LOL. I like the small cab KW's....but not the current dash.

Ya, at least the wood grain they used in the old trucks, even up to my 2005 International's was good quality. But the stuff Freightliner and Western Star has been using since 2005......you can't even look at it without it scratching. I use the special soft dust clothes, and a feather duster and my new 2020 dash already has fine scratches you can see when the sun is on it. Pretty sad for what you pay for these things.

Dirtymilkman....I don't have any interior pics of the CL's I drove. Does yours have that kind of console on the roof with the stereo speakers and lights in it? can you post a pic of that some time? I loved that red Elite interior. Especially the nice touches like the bulldogs embroidered in the seats.

I also think it is abuse mostly. Because every used truck and even new company trucks I see have trashed interiors. Every truck I've ever had and got rid of looked like brand new inside. My point is, some people take care of their stuff, like Dirtymilkman, and most just don't care. I've ran a few CL's with that exact interior and I never had anything coming apart in them like that. And I work on and off road.

Not sure if I understand what you mean....but they didn't get back into graders. They bought Champion, kept the name for a bit then changed everything to Volvo, Then 2 or 3 years ago? they sold all grader rights to SDLH (or some letter combination like that....I don't follow that junk) and they didn't even use any of the modern design. The grader that I did see that they came our with looked like something from the 70's. Big square engine hood and crappy visibility. Everyone around here switched to a mix of Cat and Deere graders. But most seem to prefer Deere because Cat is having issues with moldboard flex.

Yep. The truck was awesome. Still one of the quietest, best riding, best steering trucks I ever drove.

Yes, ERB has been a long time International customer and does much of the development work for Navistar in Canada. They were very instrumental in the development of the Prostar.

Volvo sure does some odd moves. Besides ending Mack's heavy haul models and big bore engines, the one I really can't figure out is when they bought Champion Motor Grader. Then they plastered all over their web sit for years that THEY invented everything Champion pioneered. Then one day they just decided, lets get out of the motor grader business and sell it off to a Chinese company. Then keep saying they want to be in the heavy construction equipment business. Meanwhile every municipality and township and highways department around here had multiple Champion/Volvo graders that get updated every couple years. Every logging road you go down has a Champion/Volvo sitting on it. And yet they say there were no sales, so they got out??? So now every construction company has moved to Deere or Cat where they can get a full line of equipment.

I liked the updated version of this dash that came later. It had chrome ringed gauges and they were flush with the wood grain. See how mine are inset? And this truck was bought off the lot so I didn't get the Co-Pilot display which would have been nice. I did add an air filter restriction gauge though by the parking brake valves. I was hauling wood chips at the time.

I liked and drove both style dash. The nice thing about the early original CH/CL dash was it was real wood grain. Not the fake plastic every other truck now is. That original CL Elite red velour interior was one of my favorites. This was what my 2000 CH had.

Yes. That lightning bolt on the dash caused me and the dealer fits. Could never get it resolved. Come to find out only a couple years ago that it was just a bad mass ground. And the casting sand issue. I went through 5 air compressors and air dryers before they got that all cleaned out. But when it ran, it ran awesome.

I agree. Mine never got to that point. I was very careful about cleaning them. And I only had it until 2002 when all the engine issues turned it into a brand new 9900i, LOL. (which had horrible headlight power, but went 1.5 million KM problem free.) Sad part is, I loved these Mack's and now all those ongoing E7 engine problems and electronic malfunctions are now all easy fixes.

One thing about it, my 2000 CH and the CL's I drove with the aero style headlights....those were the best lighting of any truck I have ever driven.

I really liked driving the CL Elites. They were a nice truck. I would kill for one now.

Pics I took from the Sudbury, ON branch of my local dealer. New CL logger tractors with ISX 565 power. It was right up to this point most loggers around here were still spec'ing the Hendrickson RT walking beams on leaf springs. No one wanted air ride. All the old school guys were still into walking beams.

Here's the truck I was going to buy for the 2005 season. Was a real beauty. But unfortunately as I was doing the deal I started hearing all the horror stories of the ASET 460 and the low power issues. And back then no one around here had all the fixes we now know of. So in the end I ended up buying a Paystar 5600i with Cat power.

Just found these.

Bummer. I scanned all my brochures to send to someone, but I erased the files. Except I still had these on my computer.

Just a while ago I dug out all my old Mack CH brochures and the magazine articles covering the announcement of it. It really brought back good memories of my 2000 CH midrise E7-460. I remember up to that point I used to get really excited about new truck introductions. Now I see new model changes and it's....look at that piece of crap. LOL. I really hate change now.

Dirty dirty minds, LOL Anyway, back to this quote.....as far as pulling, I know the MP8 505 motors would walk all over the DD15 505. Another thing I noticed.....the ONLY hard part issue I ever had with the DD15 (beside on-going emissions problems) was the fan belt tensioners always failed. They have three flat faced pulleys on them and were $850 Canadian. We replaced two in 350,000 KM. Problem was the face would wear uneven and the belt would then walk off. Well, they now have ribbed pulleys on them. Talked to a guy today that has a Granite dump truck I once posted pics of on this site. Has an MP8 505 and M-Drive. He said he has had ZERO emission issues. Even my friend that has that twin steer Star in the pics above. He previously had a Titan MP10 605 and he had very few issues with it.