ThaddeusW

The Titan is a great model but I don't see how they thought it was a great fit for the lineup. They have the pinnacle, Terrapro and Granite; all medium power trucks. Then jump right to a massive vocational beast, the Titan but it has no sleeper. There is a huge gap in my opinion. Where is the in-betweener? The Vison.... oops Pinnacle axle forward is a great truck, what is stopping them from adding a few inches to the hood and dropping an MP10 into it? Volvo's VN has a D16 option and its only a few inches longer than the Vision (PAF...whatever). Why are the Pinnacles cubby-holed into highway duty? 14.6k front max and 46k rear max. Bullshit if you ask me, you used to be able to spec a CH with heavy axles. And how are the CH sales doing (PAB)? Why not take the CH and turn it into the Superliner. The CH replaced the Superliner much to everyones disappointment. Its a nice looking truck but it to me, Mack dropped the ball. Why would you take such an iconic truck and turn it into a plastic cookie cutter fleet truck? Plenty of superliners were shipped with E6's and some wanted the big power and ran E9's, CAT's and Cummins along with heavy spec options. That was a perfect truck, not too much and not too little. It was just right and had sleeper options. The Mack lineup has a hole in it, there is no big power for over the road and no heavy spec options for over the road either. Go to Kenworth, Peterbilt and Westernstar, hell even Freightliner and you can get a heavy spec with a sleeper. Pathetic.

I was wondering if anyone here knows who owns a brown/green B model and pulls a tandem drop frame van trailer. I almost missed it but there it was in the opposite lane on the LIE. It was a bit of inspiration to get cracking on mine.

I have to say the Titan makes one hell of a pretty wrecker! Is there a reason for that? Seems awfully wasteful.

Parkour is actually a sport. More popular in Europe but is here in the US too. Its very disciplined as the athletes must be in tip top shape and think quickly to overcome the obstacle. I believe there are competitions where the athletes win prize money. Another similar sport is free running which uses parkour but adds more fancy stunts and moves. Its pretty wild to watch.

So it rains a bunch today and I needed to move the truck around. Get in the cab only to see two small puddles of water. Look up and see its coming from a large-ish rust hole. I knew about the rust , the question is how do I repair it properly? I don't like the idea of using a band-aid like bondo, I like the idea of cutting out the bad and welding in a replacement. Something that is permanent. I have a few other holes rotted through but they are pretty minor. I don't have a MIG or TIG welder nor the experience but if I must, I will buy one and learn. Anyone got any helpful hints and tips for repairing rust holes? I dont want to dive in head first and ruin an irreplaceable cab. Rust hole inside cab. I dug around in the hole and have a big pile of rust chips on the floor. I don't know where it all came from and that has me worried. Outside shot, this is where the water entered the cab.

That is one nice truck. Now all I need is a bigger piece of property and a low boy.

Rob, I have never seen plastic on the drive axles. Not even on my B which had about half of its lines updated to plastic, rubber to all the axles.

I second this, the pressure in the air bags is probably too low to keep the tires firmly on the ground. With too little force there isn't enough friction and the tires begin to lock up. Check the pressure adjustment for the lift axle. Drive around and keep bumping up the pressure until the wheel stops skidding.

Hmm interesting, In Farmingdale you can still get E-85. I am sorry we missed each other at the show. It was a busy day and I only stayed a few hours. Next year I will be there with my B.

Rob, That I did not know. I doubt I will be going anywhere in the winter but starting it up once a week is something that I should do. Cant do that with jello in the tanks. I know there are anti gel additives but the real question is do they actually work.

Has anyone here ran bio diesel in their older diesel engines? I see that some stations are offering B20 and a regional cooking oil recycler has a bio diesel club here in the city that offers B99 or pure bio diesel. The pure stuff is made to what they advertise as ASTM standards. I don't know if there is a big price difference, the pure stuff may be higher in price. I would imagine any bio diesel sold as a motor fuel would have to be compatible with just about all diesel engines. Seeing how much my engine smokes, I thought it would be funny if the coal roll smelled like french fries (supposedly the smell produced by bio diesel).

That is awesome! Congrats on the award.

Now I know its pretty much normal behavior for an old diesel to smoke some but mine always smokes even when idle and temp comes up. My thinking is that its been sitting and needs to be ran a bit and that might gets things settled and maybe lessen some of the smoke. My concern is the smoke police might pull me over because bumping the throttle gives you a nice grey black cloud of smoke. Anyone here have a run in with the smoke police while running an antique?

Do you plan to work the truck or is it a toy for show? It sounds like you want to work it, in that case if it does have an Allison (which it should) I would not worry about it much. Check the fluid for any burnt smell or particles like you would any auto trans. Allison automatics are in everything from buses to tanks and getting parts for them isn't a big deal but it will cost more than a manual to fix. As long as you check your fluid levels and don't abusively shift the trans while moving, they are almost indestructible.

R400's are not very common. Any idea what engine it has? They were offered with a small Scania Diesel, Chrysler V8 gasoline engine, Caterpillar 3208 (V8) and a few others. The transmission is probably an Allison automatic when are very tough.

Name: Mack B61T (1961) Date Added: 13 July 2011 - 10:25 PM Owner: ThaddeusW Short Description: None Provided View Vehicle

Here are two more pictures: This is the part of the air bag support that is cracked clean off. Its also bent up pretty bad. Plus they welded it to the frame, something that should not be done, especially on the flange. The suspension does have these chain mounts. I figure I could remove the wheels if there is a problem. I am sure the ride quality will be affected if I inflate the air bags. If I don't inflate them the tag axle brakes will lock the wheels and it will drag along the road. Still on the fence here on what to do.

So the air lift tag axle on my B has a bad lifting bag. I checked out the lift mechanism and I think its partially homemade as this setup cant be what comes from a respected suspension manufacturer (Neway) Here you see one end of the lifting lever. there is no pivot point or attachment. When the lift bag inflates, the arms simply rest on top of the cross member. This does not look right to me. If you look the plate the air bag is mounted to is bent and cracked on one side where it meets the rail. It simply isn't strong enough to deal with the forces necessary for lifting the axle. You still cant see any pivot point. the only thing preventing the arms from falling off is the air bag. From each arm, a chain runs down to an attachment point on the suspension so I believe it is a lift axle suspension that some bought incomplete and fabricated this mess. That or the original mechanism went bad and this was its replacement. This is a problem because I cant lift the axle unless I remove this contraption and chain the axle in the up position. That or I simply leave the axle in the lowered position but I would prefer to get the setup working. I also noticed that next to the drivers seat is a an air valve looking thing that has a pressure gauge on it which has the Neway logo on the gauge. Three holes are next to the valve where hoses probably ran through them to the valve thing. Next to that valve are two air toggle switches that don't appear to do anything. The lift axle is now controlled by this control box to the left in the picture: Here is that valve thing: Any ideas on how I can fix this? Can I find a left mechanism or should I look at buying a used lift axle?

So after fiddling with just about every lever, switch and knob in the cab I found my wiper knob. I gave it a twist and I see the wipers move outward but they do not return and I hear air hissing from behind the dash (when the engine is shut off). Is there a good procedure or trick to get the wiper motor running without removing it from behind the dash? I want to keep the air wipers even though they can be a huge pain. Also is there a way to use more modern wiper blades on the arms?

GOOD. We have plenty of natural resources and we know how to turn gas into liquid fuels such as gasoline, kerosene and diesel. We can even derive the fuels from gasses obtained from coal which we have plenty of. The Germans invented the process during WW2, they have more coal then they know what to do with but no oil.

My goal is at least Gerharts, if I make better progress, the Watts show (If I can afford it lol). I sunk allot of cash into buying it so I have to be careful on how I spend in the coming weeks.

Ouch! IS that sheared right off? All you need is one little crack.

I dont think underwear was designed to take that kind of punishment.

Good question Rob. I think the lift axle may be grease although I am not sure. The lift axle has a plug in the center and what appears to be a drain plug off to the side. I have not yet looked over the front hubs, they are covered with the chrome Mack hub caps. Either Thursday or Friday I will pull them and see whats under there. I assume the drive axle is is lubed with 80wt gear oil. Should I change it as well? The truck has sat for 3 to 5 years. I will check for that as well.