Maxidyne

🍿

Sounds like you've got some good ideas, especially the use of stronger steel in critical areas and the tipover alarm. The tipover alarm could be the first step toward a "smart dump" that could control flow rate to allow uniform spreading, etc..

Not a member of the circle and not sure of the timing, but we came into this COVID-19 pandemic overdue for a recession and the U.S. and some other nations are still bogged down in the pandemic and their economies won't completely recover until they conquer COVID-19.

That's been the experience of Ploger Transportation, they run a fleet of late model Volvos and Macks. They've found that to keep costs down they have to service the emissions stuff like the DPF more frequently than Mack/Volvo recommend.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/wisconsin-coronavirus-cases.html

While we're still dealing with COVID-19 because we refuse to take it seriously, the Chinese are passing us.

David, you're the one that's complaining...

David, nice of you to preserve those old warbirds. Hopefully young folks will learn something useful from them, not the glorification of war but it's terrible cost, to be avoided if possible but we still need to be ready to defend our nation if peaceful solutions evade us. I didn't have an airline pilot dad, mine was a WW2 vet who worked at the VA while working on a pharmacy degree. He had to drop out in his 4th year and never got to become a pharmacist, made a better living for a while at least as a "detail man". I paid my own way through college while driving truck, tried to enlist but couldn't pass the physical due to congenital disability. I can point to statutes I wrote in the law books and helped start the first dislocated worker program back in the 80s. And while I love restoring old vehicles and have some completed and in the works projects in my shop, restoring warbirds is pretty much a boys club and while I probably learned enough to pass ground school before I could get a driver's license, I could never afford flight school. So no point in my switching from ground to air in my 70s even though I could now afford it.

David, am I supposed to be impressed or something?

Take a look at the 2006/7 USPS Macks- Per-2007 emissions, Mack engine, and Allison automatic.

You almost had a persuasive argument there until you sunk to name calling.

Hopefully that's the case, but it's from the rust belt and if the frame is jacked from rust, the cab may not have that many years of use in it yet. There's also the issue of parts availability- Volvo doesn't seem to willing to supply parts to keep Mack engines running.

At least not new Macks...

I've only been playing with trucks for about a half century, so thanks for enlightening me with your boundless expertise. And you're correct. I have no experience as an owner, because I'm good enough at math to do the numbers and see that I was better off as a company driver...

One could argue that with the steel bumper and other rugged features USPS wants for city operation the HV was a closer match for their specs. But Mack had no problem supplying a steel bumper on CX conventionals, so no reason International couldn't have supplied the RH built to USPS specs. The high mount cab of the RH would certainly give better visibility, and if USPS asked me to give up a Mack for this thing I'd retire... But I already did that.