mechohaulic

one piece crossmember : different set up , disregard my thought . some units had three-piece , basically two angle-irons on frame with flat cross-member in between . engine mount #14 in picture bolted to it. we won't discuss how I know it could be put on wrong ! LOL so that puts things back to rear section.

electric to chain. 800 looking good. mid '70's I had three DM 800's models on display at mack dealer in ct. since being on this site seeing interest in models I pulled couple of 800s out of storage. trip from ct to tenn took it's toll. DM800 cut/stretched made into wrecker. hopefully will repair and figure how to post pictures.

besides tires and rims, you'll be changing hubs: includes wheel seals, cleaning checking bearings & races, brake job while it's apart unless brakes and drums are good shape. drums should bolt to new hubs. $$$ if it's worth it depends on your plans for the truck.

if I recall correctly, the front cross-member that #14 engine mount bolts to is a flat three-piece cross member. by slim chance was that taken off the two frame end pieces and put back on back wards; meaning on front of end pieces instead of behind. that would be 5/8=3/4 difference. was same model trans put back in? after almost 50 yrs of pushing wrenches ( and a lot of cans of brake clean later; LOL) the memory is taxed often. mack mounts had slight off-set. backward mounting would make installation of the bolts challenging. being 685 had to be maxi , roadranger would have had different mounts . are both rubbers being chewed up like in the picture??? with new rubbers ,hood open so you can watch , what happens if you mash fuel pedal quick shot? engine,trans moving like something broke you can't see ? I doubt it. if there was the stick should be moving around every shift.

I still remember the day while working at Mack Truck in Waterbury Ct ('69 -'75 ) this beautiful brand new burgundy /white FL700 was delivered. one of a handfull sent through out the US to dealers for testing. it had the experimental (at the time) 866 engine. as a young kid; I got to work with mack engineers on tear downs of the engine etc. unfortunately the truck later on was totaled in a major accident. there weren't that many people running F-models. Bozzuto's had a fleet of light blue F's. remember when the F's changed style and went from flat back to "bubble back" for more sleeper room. only major user was UPS non-sleeper .did you know Mack donated the bulldog on front of UPS trucks. each dog cost X hundreds of trucks; brass cut cost. one reason you never saw the name mack on front of UPS cabovers, cost (each letter M-A-C-K $$ was figured out) plus they didn't want to advertise mack. I remember going into Hartford Mack for what ever reason. good days gone forever.

back in the day, a lot of guys painted their steel dump bodies silver to look like alum. hope was to make trucks appear lighter to truck squad boys. seems to me ; going with the squat look on a dump will look like an over weight after it is loaded . might find yourself on the scales more often. just a thought. O&G in Torrington , CT did some. if they did ; had to be a reason.

I would be going over the driveshaft (s) with a "fine tooth comb" , looking for a balance weight that fell off. had a brand new truck yrs back drove us nuts for a long time . just happened to see unpainted spot on front shaft. old truck , look for welds on tube where a weight might have been

you will find life a lot easier when you go to put the tumble back in door if the key is installed in tumbler. working the tumbler shaft and placing the lock in at the same time is a challenge. pair of needle nose or flat nose pliers work best for pushing flat locking clip. leave door handle and window crank on assembly door handle works great for leverage handle. assembly drops down in door to clear window , use inside door handle to push assembly up in place catch top two screws .

did you start with simple process of elimination when fluid was changed ; meaning pull hyd lines off blow air through lines , make sure opposite end is in a pail or gallon jug ; see if inner lining has folded over and blocking line? or maybe some one crossed lines. have even seen dry grease/ dirt packed between spindle and axle make a difference. pressure wash … pull filter cover; remove filter: COVER with clean rag and start unit. should see oil flow fountain into canister. DON"T race engine at first oil will be all over . does it have single or dual steeringboxes ? how does it drive going down the road ???? tires wearing smooth ?? front end out of toe will make a difference. remember i'm not use to these "new" trucks LOL . throwing out ideas based on past experience

how many people know the story behind O&G switching from Mack. the same year O&G bought the triaxles , Hi-Ho Daddario bought some. the mack calendar for coming yr had picture of Hi-Ho fleet in their pit. O&G "brass" saw the calendar and were highly upset. "can't put our trucks in there , we won't buy Macks anymore". I had that and many more mack calendars. when west haven mack bought Waterbury the stuff thrown out was unbelievable. I saved some of the brochures for the macks( gave them to Matt P.). Waterbury Mack had many high lights: first dealer to install B-C-R kits; pull b cabs off ; install R cabs, J C Pagono had a couple done. early '70's new haven truck rental : NHTR was changing over the fleet from B's, G's,H's to R- F - U models. over 200 trucks from 72-73. I had new truck prep division. Waterbury was given one of the first 866 experimental engines. came in a FL700 was given to scovill mfg to test. Waterbury was the dealership to "prove " factory wrong .. a MB firetruck was being delivered to town of Roxbury. all went well till someone said " where's the jake brake switch" . phone call later factory says: you cant put jake on that model. fire dept says we don't want truck.. junk the computers and do hands on. little modifications later truck drove out with jake . glider kits were big back then, Sorensen trucking in Bethany did one. as with Mr Moffo; Mr. Lou Lombard and his brother Nick (Lombard Bros, trucking ) were good friends. any one interested in the first R model sold R607T serial # 1001. sits in garage southbury ct. excellent condition. has had one frame off restoration. don't think it's for sale.factory tried to buy it back' Blakeslee prestress had some nice trucks from NHTR . 11/24 rubber ; 4-6 in spacers under HD fifth wheels , DM611sx & DM611 s tractors with quadbox. if we only knew then to take pictures or to save everything.

just found this forum can almost be brought to tears. at 68 years of age , looking at the pictures and reading the notes endless memories came back. I worked at Mack truck in Waterbury.CT from march 1969 t0 june 1975. I am honored to know Mr Dom Moffo:: worked on his truck, Gasperri, O&G , and many others. talked with Dom jr this past summer. Dom sr is doing as well as could be expected at 90 +. even the pool water business is gone. I delivered many of O&G "s new triaxles. I brought in the first DMM quad chassis from Albany mack to CT as a demo. those are days gone . my grandson drives a fancy KW triaxle ; I tell him he has no idea of the fun behind the wheel of a B-81 or DM 800 with a quadbox. i'm glad to see so many people keeping this part of history alive. Thanks for the memories