JoeH

On my phone I change the aspect ratio to 3:4 or something like that in editing mode and it cuts the file size down to about 1.2 MB. Wouldn't let me post here til I figured that out.

What were the daily problems and the major breakdown with your 93 and 94? As long as the double frames are solid and not splitting apart from rust you could rebuild the engines in the frame. Go through the driveshaft and replace all the u joints if they're suspect. We just did insulators in our Camelback rears, they take a day to do, cost us about $700 in parts. Brakes are easy to do at the same time. Synflex air tubing is relatively cheap and easy to replace while you're at it. Our fleet consists of a 1979 R686ST, a 1995 RD688S, and a recently acquired 1988 RD690S to replace a 1980 DM686SX. Old is just fine, though your driver's will grumble. We test drove a 2004? Granite when we were looking to replace our 1980, and man it was nice. I'd never driven a Mack newer than our 95 RD, but the granite fit like a glove. Was used to the truck before I even pulled out of the dealer lot on the test drive. But the double frame was cracked right behind the cab and it was air ride(terrible off-road) and had roughly 1,250,000 miles. If I had your money I'd be after a couple early model year granites, but my dad and I are the only ones that drive our trucks so we stick with Reliable instead of New(ish). Our 1979 never misses a day of work, with the exception of routine maintenance and planned repairs, like last year's engine brake delete.

Because he is rammy, always full throttle til the last second when he has to stop before hitting someone? Put a cab cam in.

Same Mack's have it on the flywheel, the older ones I'm familiar with have it on the damper.

Sounds like a relay gone bad. Relay clicking in the dash is not transmitting power through. Probably needs to be replaced. (Solenoid/relay same thing. It'll probably technically be called a solenoid at the parts counter)

Nothing wrong with minority ownership, but if you're going to own trucks you have to keep them safe! If you can't afford to take trucking seriously then get out of the business before you kill someone! (The rhetorical "you", not you!)

Wow. We replace our drums when they get 1/8" lip inside. We don't run a nice new fleet, but we maintain our trucks to be safe.

If it's still running in 2019 it probably has a good camshaft. You can pull engine codes and post them here, I just wrote up the instructions in another thread, I'll post a link.

Of course it is, it's a Mack! The things we've made our fleet do over the years always leave an impression on customers. I was backing up my R686ST along the street one time, customer was walking next to me with a wheelbarrow and asked if I wanted to race. So I started shifting gears backing up, you would think he crapped his pants he was so surprised. Nothing like the 2 sticks!

It would be for a volumetric concrete mixer. Gotta be able to hop curbs, get into and out of people's back yards, etc without any drama. An MR could utilize a shorter wheelbase to keep maneuverability. Cab sits a little higher off the ground than an LE, helping it hop curbs and transition to hills in people's yards without plowing the cab into the ground. Good to know they exist, but I'll bet they're few and far between, which will make finding a used one the right length difficult.

Describe the hard starting. If it has a bad head gasket and coolant leaked into the cylinder you can break a crankshaft trying to start it. Water doesn't compress. My dad broke one that way on our Case wheel loader years ago. If a piston is waterlogged it'll struggle to get passed compression stroke on that one cylinder, even if batteries are good.

Not sure, but don't run it with antifreeze in the oil! Youll destroy the bearings in the engine. Not sure what the V8s used for an oil cooler, I'd suspect that or a head gasket. Do a compression check and see if you have a cylinder with low compression.

Can you get one with a manual transmission? I know shifting linkage would be crazy with a tilt forward cab, but it could be an interesting setup for future needs. Truck would get off road on occasion, thus the desire for a manual trans. Need to be able to power through soft grass without bogging down.

Those look really nice. I might be convinced to get a couple sets, one in that dark grey and another in tan to match my 79 R if it lasts long enough to restore. The tan one I might like a whole interior for, would be best to do it all in one shot so everything matches. I don't see holes for the window crank and door handles. Are those mark and drill yourself? I know a local guy that does interiors for classic cars, if he were interested I might be able to get him to make and sell interiors for R cabs. The price would have to be right and there would need to be a demand. He would need samples to work from.

How are you making out with the truck? Get any sensors sorted out yet?

H&K put the new rails in, not us! Rails are probably 5 years old! They traded 60 old trucks in as part of a deal with Coopersburg Kenworth for new trucks. This is one of the better trucks they traded in.

Interesting, never noticed. I think they did modify the cab a little here and there, I think the roof on my 95 RD is a little different from my 1979, but I don't recall for sure.

We just retired the 1980 DM686sx, the rear of the frame is cracked horizontally about 8 feet from rust. Refurbishing the mixer to go on a 1988 RD690S with new frame rails; used to be an H&K truck.

It's a great engine hoist, but we only run older Mack's, soooo... We never use it for that. 😎

One of our yard trucks, not the original frame, this frame came out of a garbage truck that caught fire. 237 horse, 5 speed maxitorque. Steel dash. Never goes on the road. Head gaskets been blown for years, but it fires right up and helps out around the yard a few times a year. No rust holes on the roof! Second picture replacing roof, first picture picking parts off a concrete mixer.

For those of us who have never heard of them, what's a plus 3 cab?

Still in Huntingdon valley?

Another local boy! We deliver to holicong on occasion! Bucks county is a nice area. Rob, I like the old style R hood on tandem axle trucks but prefer the new style hood on triaxles. Most of all, I love how the old maxidynes pull. The endt676 in that '79 is very well suited to that truck at a max 52,000 lbs. We just picked up a 1988 em6-300l, won't know for a few months how it compares to the endt676 because we're renovating a mixer to go on it.