67RModel

Well the red roof “miracle house” from Maui is 100% real. There are a litany of news stories on it and interviews with the owners. They were not even in Hawaii when the fires happened. It is their vacation home. I think they concluded it was stucco and had a metal roof and almost zero shrubbery or vegetation around it is what saved it.

The ticket is a red roof. It’s camouflage to make the embers and fire think the house is already on fire and to just keep moving on elsewhere. How do you think the “miracle house” from the Lahaina Maui fires in 2023 survived?

So are you saying if you had functioning city water, a 6,700 gallon pool full of water, an engine driven trash pump full of fuel and all you could find was a functioning 3/4” garden hose you would throw your hands up and walk away? I have personally put out camp bonfires in my back yard that had flames 5’ tall and had been burning for hours in mere seconds with a garden hose. I don’t think this man was trying to extinguish a fully involved structure fire or go into a burning building and knock down a raging fire. He was simply going around putting out embers. In fact he says as much in the video. He said all he did was kept small embers drifting through the air from starting actual fires. I don’t think he had any specialized equipment and from what I can gather saved 3 homes with what he had on hand, which were most likely garden hoses fed by a poorly functioning public water supply. I don’t know. Is he a fool? Is he a hero? Is he lucky? I personally don’t think he was any of those. I think he was a resourceful man with logic and critical thinking skills that had everything to loose. I get the impression he knew nobody was coming to save his house. I can’t answer that since I don’t live in that area. That is a question for everyone that abandoned their home. It probably has a lot to do with evacuation orders and people not disobeying. It is noted in that video the man defied evacuation orders. It could also be that many people did stay behind and the city water supply was completely depleted. In that case it makes no difference what hose you have. Again I don’t know the particulars. However, there are many documented accounts of people saving their homes. I saw one where the gentleman ran out of water and was using potting soil from all his inside plants to snuff out hot spots. What I do know is if you were to literally do absolutely nothing and evacuate then I think there is a good chance your house and all your belongings would have burned down to ashes. If you stayed and used a garden hose to keep embers from turning into fires you may be able to save your home. I think based on the many accounts it’s possible. Worst case if your house catches fire, get in your car or on your bicycle and leave. At least you don’t have to lay down at the end of the day for the rest of your life knowing you did nothing….

I don't know. Maybe. I know nothing of firefighting. Perhaps if your trying to extinguish a fully involved structure fire. Based on what the man said there were small embers floating through the air that landed and started very small fires. He claimed it took very little water to put them out. It looked to me like he was using a garden hose. And from what we are told the municipal water system was at questionable performance and/or failed. Heck he saved three homes, presumably with a garden hose.

That video shows the man having a pool in his backyard. I don’t know it looked like maybe 2 or 3,000 gallons possibly. I would think a ton of those homes that burned up have similar or larger pools. It’s easy to say this in hindsight but I would think it would be handy to have a small engine driven trash pump rigged up to accept a garden hose as a fire contingency plan. Much like people in cold climates have a wood stove or generator for backup power.

Looks like 3 years of no heat

Yea it seems the NYC procurement people had a really nice spec for all these units. They all were generally set up the same. single axle R models and DMs all with about the same wheelbase and the wrecker body is always a Weldbuilt. I have seen them with a variety of different under reaches installed. I don't think Weldbuilt made an underreach and/or whoever bought them at the surplus auctions could have installed them after buying the trucks. Allison automatics and big, heavy, counter weighted push bumpers. I have seen them sold as surplus from NYC sanitation, tunnel authority, NYPD, and FDNY. There could be others too. All built like brick $hithouses. Here is a few for sale on FB Marketplace: 2003 Mack rd688p - Commercial Vehicles - Prompton, Pennsylvania | Facebook Marketplace | Facebook 2001 Mack rd wrecker tow truck 30 ton boom - Commercial Vehicles - New York, New York | Facebook Marketplace | Facebook

To me all three wreckers look like Weld Built units originally manufactured for any one of the litany of municipal users in the NYC boroughs. They all have that same look and come up sale quite often. Whats interesting to me is the "accident scene" isn't "secured" and there are not 1,000 blue and red strobe lights flashing for no reason. Just 3 guys winching out a truck and that's it. And 40 or 50 people were content to just stand there and watch a mere 10 ft away from all those cables under tension and nobody cared or told them they had to leave. If you tried that in this country and didn't comply I'm fairly certain you would be arrested for "interfering with official business" or some other law....

If I'm not mistaken they were just rebadged Diamond Ts. At least the first ones. Maybe later on Mack manufactured them on their own. Just looking at the two photos. The red and green Jrs are completely different. The red one's cab resembles a Mack LT cab and the green one looks nothing like it. The green one has completely different fenders and running boards etc..

I know it’s not a Mack but it’s a pretty neat old White that doesn’t look like it would be too bad of a restoration for someone. I think the cabs are aluminum. Not mine just passing along. I have a soft spot for the old Whites lol…. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/948515697190981/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post

Have you tried Watt's Mack?

I’d love to have it. I would like to have a 700 series long hood R model with a Cummins or cat to put one of my rest rite bunks on. This one would be perfect but ain’t in the cards right now. Too many projects and I just purchased a farm I need to dump some money into

Its name checks out: "Jackery"

How many people do you talk to that are considering buy such a device? lol. Where do you find these people?

I’m trying to remember an old thread on these. I think these have hydraulic clutches and the guy was trying to find a master cylinder for his clutch and they weren’t available anywhere

Flipping a main breaker is free... I personally think impossible to forget how and/or improperly execute the sequence of back feeding your main panel without a transfer switch or interlock contraption. This Isn't Quantum Physics. So long as the "suicide cord" is sized for the max amps the generator can provide or better yet sized for 15% more amps than the 240V double pole breaker your backfeeding through there is nothing to worry about IMO.

One really needs to consider how often their power actually goes out before dropping $10,000+ on a whole house automatic stand by generator. Seems like a ludicrous amount of money to spend for an extended outage once every two years or so. Besides unless you are on utility supplied natural gas ("street gas"), your longevity is only as good as your fuel storage. What amount of propane or gasoline storage would you need for 17 days of continuous running at your typical electrical usage? Unless you have a life critical medical appliance that needs continuous power I think the whole house generators are kind of silly to own and maintain. I think the most practical solution would be to have a 3.5 or 5kW portable generator with 240V output and a 240V extension cord made up with two male ends. Backfeed your panel through a dedicated 240V outlet near the panel. This would be sufficient to run your furnace blower, refrigerator/freezer, or laundry a few times a day or whenever needed. Not considering the cost of the generator itself, the modifications needed to your main panel in order to do this are probably somewhere around $200 depending on your specific setup.

The proverbial once a quarter midliner parts thread......Forget the midliner and get something that has service support and parts availability. Honestly a midliner could be free and I probably wouldn't take it simply because they are next to impossible to get basic wear items for and they will cost you 10x over what you would otherwise pay for a competitive truck in downtime alone. They may technically be a good robust truck but at this point they are essentially worthless.. With that said, I always wondered if parts are available through a Renault dealer in France. I mean if you could speak the language and find a dealer / parts supplier in France could you get the parts that way?

Not mine. Saw it browsing FB. Seems like a pretty decent 700 series R model with Cummins. Price seems very fair for what it is. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1335548544389446/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post

Saw in Facebook. No affiliation. Just passing along. Not sure is LVX is a scare model but sure looks complete. and being an off road truck it probably has next to zero rust on it. Hopefully the engine isn't locked from having no muffler on it.... Mack LVX Rock Trucks - Commercial Trucks - Wolcott, Connecticut | Facebook Marketplace | Facebook

Was a 3412 ever available as a factory option from any manufacturer for an on-road truck? I doubt it but don't really know for sure.

Looks like air assist power steering....

OK that is insanity lol. Last I saw around here was a Mack reman was around $7500 give or take and an Eaton was $5000 give or take. I have been out of that game for a while though. I would never of thought a reman Mack would be $17,000 but maybe they have just gotten that obsolete over the last few years. I guess if they are 17k up there then you basically have no choice but to do the swap. Based on what you have said it will be way cheaper and in the end you will have a superior transmission.

I just wonder if whoever bought it is going to rerail it or just weld it up and call it good. Or maybe neither? The box truck had a lot of funky stuff going on with the frame too. It might have been a single axle tractor orginally. Looks like someone added a steel frame, tandem axle, torsion bar cut off to the original aluminum frame. Then they extended the cut off to accommodate the van body. Probably meaningless for a hobby truck but interesting to speculate....