Bullheaded

My friend recently bought a new Western Star glider kit that he put a 3406B mechanical in, because he was so displeased with the performance of his 2006 Star/Cat. I also see Kenworth/Peterbilt are selling lots of gliders. My question is...can you get a new glider kit from Mack to put a pre emissions E7 460 in? Or are there too much electronics in the new Macks to sort everything out (all the accessories and dash/maintenance displays)? I like the new Granites but hate DPF's.

Our local dealer has two in, had them about a month now. They have one out as a demo. They are both 605 h.p. float tractors. Salesman said they need to talk to Mack reps about price as they are pretty high here. These tractors are plain, nothing but a fifth wheel on the frame and they are $160,000.00! They are Rawhides, but no headache racks or lift axles, just wet lines.

Well I tried to upload pics of my Challenger brochure (they show the big glorious E9 V8 under the hood) but this awful, useless dial up won't let me. After 45 minutes it still said "uploading file." Funny I can email pics, but can't seem to be able to upload them to this site. I'll try a smaller pic, hope this works.

Before you disconnect make sure the puff limiter hasn't just been re-shimmed. It's been a few years since I worked on one of these so I can't remember if turning it in or out makes the throttle response. One of the experts here can tell you. I had to take one of the ones I drove for the mandatory emmisions test we have here and the dealer shimmed it to make it pass. When I went to leave it had very slow response and would barely accelerate itself up to speed. I had to re-shim it when I got home. Also, instead of just plugging the air lines, I ran mine through an air switch. (same one as for a power divider or the one used for the deep reduction on the 12 speed.) That way you could make it smokeless if the dot is around, and get the power when you need it.

Thanks again fjh! Must have been cool working on those. The Challenger name is going again. You are correct, the Australians bought it and they have (had?) a web site. They still look the same but the last time I saw the web site it didn't list any specs or what they are using for power now. I'll have to search for the site again this weekend. That guy from BC that started Challenger was really nice. I first seen them in an issue of Highway Star Magazine and was blown away, so I contacted them. I told them I was in no way able to buy a rig like that, but was impressed and would like to learn more. The next thing I know, I receive a package in the mail with a brochure and a bunch of pics he took of some of the trucks he built and that were in service. If I get a chance this weekend I'll post some. There were the loggers and a really nice ore hauler. It's too bad to see him have to sell, but like you said the Canadian market really dried up. I hope he made out good on the sale because he was first class in my books.

Ya there was a couple Superliners with V8 Detroits in my erea when I was a kid. They were the original Superliners with the round headlights and they had the big walk in bunks on them. They were really good looking trucks. The loggers used to run them until they switched to E9's. I know where one is sitting right now in a scap yard but it is stripped and pretty rough. The old 2 strokes used to be real popular in this area.

I did some more digging. Mack's web site says the CL350ST was designed in Canada and built at the Oakville, Ontario Canada plant. They show production from 1976 to 1979 with 27 made in those years. I have a Canadian Bulldog Magazine (vol.82 #1) I believe from 1980 that has a pic of a brand new CL350ST painted yellow with a green stripe. The quote says "Heinz and Mike Portmann of Campbell River have taken delivery of the first or two CL350ST units for logging operation in Loughborough Inlet." Pretty impressive looking unit. I imagine they had Detroit power like most other fat trucks of the time did? I have a Mack product line brochure from 1978 that shows the M Series and Mack-Pack. There is only one pic (single axle dump truck) and details are limited other than saying they available with 800 h.p. 2 or 4 cycle engines and Mack Planidrive axles. Also interesting to note Mack was the only haul truck manufacturer in that class with all wheel disc brakes. Macks website has production of M series-1960 to 1979, M100-1967 to 68 at 3 units, MP404X-1976 to 1978 at 20 units. That's all the info I can find on the Big Macks. Other than I have that hardcover book "Mack Driven for a Century" and it has some pics. They show a restored M100 tandem dump truck, brown in colour. Very nice. I wonder how many are still around in the hands of collectors? If anyone has any other info or pics please post. Thanks for the other info fjh. I remember when I was young, I have an uncle that lived by the Oakville plant and he told me he saw a giant dump truck there one day. I do remember driving by it when it just before it went out of operation, but all I remember is R models as far as the eye could see. Does anyone have any pics from the Oakville plant? A couple other interesting facts I came up with are the DMM (EX) twin steer front drive trucks were designed in Canada in 1972 and also the RD800 in 1980.

I used to love those. I have some Bulldog magazines from the early 80's that have pics of one of those CL 350 ST's painted yellow. Was that something that came out of the Hayes relationship? Or did Mack make them themselves? Same with the M Series mining trucks and the articulated Mack-Pack. You never really heard or seen much of them. Did someone make those for Mack? I'd like to see a pic of that Mack-Pack all wheel drive articulated bottom dump. Have you guys ever heard of Challenger Trucks from British Columbia, Canada. They used to rebuild Hayes, Pacific, Mack, KW, etc. I-beam tractors for the logging and mining industry, then designed their own truck with a lot of new updates over those previous designs. I have a brochure and pics from them and the Mack E-9 was their standard spec engine. They offered all the big Cat, Cummins and V12 Detroits but praised the Mack E9 as having the best power to weight to fuel economy ratio of all the engines. They also praised the reliability of them. Sweet looking B Model mixer there Other Dog!

Wow this is a tough one! I love all Mack's but I have to go with the 70's and 80's. Maybe it's because that is what I grew up around and drove. But you have to look at the broad product range you had to choose from. So many awesome models in this era. Everything from F, Cruiseliner, Ultraliner, MR cabovers to the R Model (with it's RD and RM offshoots), Superliners, DM's, and the M series Mack-Pack off road haul truck lineup and CL350ST heavy I-beam trucks! Then you have the motors. The unmatched E-6 and E-9's. Like rockinrandolph said, I also had E-6 350's that would outpull C15 475 Cat's and get way better fuel mileage. Too bad Mack didn't sell glider kits like Western Star is doing now. Imagine a new Titan with an E-9 500!!

Hello everyone. I posted a bunch of pics in my gallery of the Truck World show I just attended in Toronto, Ontario. Keep checking in later in the week and I'll try to get more pics up. I can only get this crappy dial up internet in my area and it took me 6 hours to get 20 pics posted. So I'll try to do a little at a time when I can. They had that red Titan there along with the Rawhide sleeper cab that is in all the brochures and adds. They also had a nice yellow Pinnacle with all the new technology such as that no idle system, and a Simard twin steer Granite dump truck. I'll try to get pics up of the MP8 and MP10 cut-away motors they had on display. I have to say, that new Rawhide interior package is awesome. I love the oxblood red and white two-tone. I think it's the nicest interior Mack has offered so far. Especially the paw print floor with the chrome diamond plate floor mats. Nice little touches. The guys from Simard said they can't wait to offer the Titan with their twin steer front and tri-drive on the rear. That's going to be one impressive looking monster. That twin-steer Granite dump had lots of nice features too, like the heated windshield. The Mack and International booths pretty much stole the show. Another truck of interest was a 1971 International Super Transtar. One of only 67? made. It was restored 100% original and had a big red V12 Detroit under the cab. Brought back some old memories when I heard that 2-stroke Detroit running. The pic of the Harley is a bike Mack gave away. It was all decked out in Mack emblems. The Titan was pretty nice. I can't wait to see the future versions with sleepers and a heavy dump application. I liked the new air cleaner set up under the cab, and there was lots of room under the hood. I'm looking forward to the one my local dealer is bringing in to demo. They are getting one with a wetline system, so I'll have to try it out.