ThaddeusW

I like how Volvo offers their trucks at a huge discount when compared to Mack. Why undercut your own brand? It always seems like Volvo is trying to cut Mack out of the highway business like LTL, Regional and Long haul. They probably want to push Mack into the Vocational market and leave the highway stuff to their VN's and VT's. I bet you anything they want to cut the Vision and CH from the Mack roster and leave them with the MR, LE Titan and Granite series. Just like how they canned half of the Australian products. Cab warranty until 2010? That's next year. I bet once the Macks become too much to service and they look for new trucks Volvo will be happy to sell them a bunch of VN's on the cheap. If you think about it Volvo does sell allot of VN's and drivers do like them allot. It makes sense to sell what makes the most money and cut out the less profitable models. Lets hope that Volvo tries to push the CH/Vision (The pinnacle name is lame) into fleets. If its a Mack fleet give them a deal on Mack's and keep them happy. No sense in destroying your own brand name and alienating that brands customers at the same time. If I were running a Mack fleet and Volvo tried to push their crap on me I would tell them give me a deal on the Macks or I take my money to Westernstar or Kenworth. Threaten them and it might work.

Volvo has replaced the Mack engine with their own engine, the MP engine series is all Volvo. The last real Mack engine was the ASET. Mack has been wholly owned by Renault since 1982. Renault used Mack engines including the E9 in their trucks. Volvo bought out Mack and Renault so even the new Renault DXi engine is a Volvo engine. Karma? Maybe.

Volvo isn't killing Mack, the stupid F@ing emissions laws are. Mack isn't the only truck furnished with a DPF which needs to regen, everyone must have one. Simple as that. Cummins, CAT, Detroit, International, Isuzu, Hino Etc. all have DPF's. There is no avoiding them. And did everyone forget about the ASET which was a nightmare even without the DPF? The ASET was not a Volvo blunder. You want to curse someone then curse the EPA and all the loud mouth lobbyists who pushed for the tougher regs. Why do you think the E9 went the way of the dinosaur? Because Mack couldn't push it past 500HP without the EPA levying a fine against them for millions. That's also why CAT is bailing out. ACERT is a failure and come 2010 they are pulling the plug on the highway engine business. International has somehow worked out a deal with CAT to provide a C15/16 based MAXXForce engine. It might not even use any CAT systems such as fuel or emissions, International might design their own. If no one buys new Macks because of bitterness toward Volvo then guess what? Mack goes to the chopping block. So buy new Granites, Pinnacles, Titans MR's etc. Spec all Mack components, show Volvo there is still a loyal following. You can piss and moan all you want and buy used Macks. That's cool but it doesn't show Volvo that Mack is still in demand, their quarterly report compiled by the bean counters does. No sales means its time to restructure. Show Volvo there is still demand for a true as can be Mack truck. Ignore the fact that under the hood is a Volvo engine with a Mack logo. Yea it sucks but that's the way it is, there is no going back. Image if demand drops to the point that Volvo just sticks a Mack transmission and axles under a VH with a Mack hood and sells that as a Mack. Autocar all over again. Do we want that to happen? Keep the faith.

Glad to see ABF keeping the faith. Now if NEMF would stop buying Volvo and stick with Mack, I will be happy. I love seeing those NEMF CH's with Dayton wheels pulling outside ribbed van trailers with dayton wheels as well.

That truck is beautiful! That truck is a great find.

WOW. What a beautiful job. I like the bed.

I seen a guy use custom aeroquip hose with aeroquip fittings for his IH Transtar. Well it lookd nice and kept it looking factory but he spent big bucks for those lines. Stick with nylon and cover it with cloth. You get the retro look and the cheap, modern easy to use nylon tubing.

As far as I know copper tubing is still DOT Legal. Last I saw McMaster Carr carried DOT legal copper tubing and fittings but now only appears to sell nylon tubing and fittings. Probably due to demand. You don't see copper because it is expensive and not as easy to run as nylon.

Oil will inevitably work its way past compressor rings. And as the compressor rings wear it becomes more pronounced. An air dryer should get most of it out and the rest will collect in the tanks but it will make it past them and into the rest of the system. As for where it is coming from get some soapy water and spray it around where the air lines meet up with valves and such. You will spot a leak immediately using that method.

Congrats! What was her course of study? I still need to finish my damn degree. 29 and a HS diploma isn't exactly what I would call job material. I actually went back for an electronics class this semester only to be met with disaster as the teacher is brand new and never taught before. My final is this Wednesday so wish me luck I am going to need it! I hate school.

Its an interesting concept but Scania has been using turbo compounding for a few years. Its a bit of a misleading name as there is only one turbo charger to provide boost but there is a second turbine that is geared into the rear gear housing. Voith developed the system with DD and they also developed one for The Iveco Cursor engine.

Ha sorry for the crazy rant but I thought the days of flash sites were over. During and after the .com bubble everyone though flash sites were the bees knees. Now Mack has one ugh. I was just looking for the axle options for the CHU and it took me a few minutes to find it. Where as on the old site you simply click the vocation and then click the model and click specs. Simple.

At least its a good hood. Sad though.

RANT TIME: Okay. Who at Mack corporate thought that pile of diarrhea, www.macktrucks.com was a good idea? Its not only bulky and takes long to load it is also is not very intuitive to use at all. I just want a page with a link to truck info not a f%ing redirect to another website that is pure flash. Screw flash and any self proclaimed genius web developer jeark off who thinks he is the da Vinci of websites. You are a moron if you develop a whole website using flash. I want information not entertainment. Fine you want to include the truck customizer or interactive walk around, awesome. Just put it on a seperate page. FLASH SUCKS! In the beginning the web was lacking in content flexability. Many pages looked like a 5 year old designed them, very simplistic with horrorfying flashing/colored text. Then other languages and systems were developed to enhance the web like CSS, Java & Java Script, PHP, CGI etc. They made the web better but each bought with it incompatibilities and problems. But all was sorted out and the web worked fine. Flash was developed by Macromedia around 1996 and I first saw it in 1998, a simple flash game. It was a welcomed as a simple approach to get interactive content on the web. Instead of a static picture a program you install runs a flash program in your web browser. Many flash animations and games were made but then as flash evolved it included the ability to send http/html requests so it could be used to navigate a website. Then some f@#% head genius decided it would be awesome to make a web page completely out of flash, not a drop of html. It all went down hill from there. May sites began to switch to flash but it created allot of backlash and thankfully the sites stopped the pure flash crapfest websites. But from time to time you still get one. 3P or anyone else here from Mack please tell anyone you can that the new website is awful. Flash intro pages are a very bad design. Giving each truck its own totally flash based website is an even less brilliant idea then the one that guy had of welding a live hand grenade to a metal rod (yes he died). Sorry for the rant but bad web design that confuses and irritates a user can cost a business money. If a visitor has a hard time navigating around a bunch of pointless menus or waiting for a pointless animated intro they might go elsewhere.

Mack had an opportunity to push into the world market and establish a firm presence. What the hell happened?

.Ha, Yea well living in Ozone Park, the home of mob boss John Gotti's "hunting and fishing club" you hear allot of stuff. Not to mention the fact that Ozone Park is next to Howard Beach, a short trip down Crossbay Blvd. Sometimes you see a guy zipping around in a Ferrari and you wonder how he bought it . As for the business its going ok. Very slow for a while but thankfully picking up with the warm weather coming a little early. Me and my mother pretty much manage the whole thing and have only one full time employee. The rest work as we need them for events but they are a damn pain to deal with. Some don't show, some get drunk at events by sneaking booz, some piss off hosts when they sneak food for the guests when they are told not to. But that's life in this business. You just deal with it and keep moving. OUCH

Bob its tough running a business isn't it . We aren't in trucking but we run a casino and carnival entertainment company that my grandfather founded in 1952. As for employees, I wish we could turn people into zombies who work for food to keep them alive and never question you. That's about the only reliable employee I can think of . That or a robot (then again they might try to kill us off once they become smart enough). My whole life has been the family business and not only is it seven days a week but it also used to strain relationships. I had a girlfriend dump me because I had to cancel allot of our weekend plans. And me and my mother used to fight allot. Shame it got like that but it was a tough time. Nowadays things are much better but now the economy is in the toilet so its slooooow. On the bright side though, you are in control and get to call the shots. And at the end of the year you brought home the bacon and get to live a little better than most others. The best employee F@ UP? We sent out a guy with a van loaded with some casino tables for a surprise 50th birthday at some ritzy yacht club. Well the asshole calls his mother for directions instead of us and winds up taking the George Washington Bridge which bridges I95 from the top of Manhattan & The Bronx with New Jersey. He then calls us saying he was lost and was next to Giants Stadium. WHAT! Well needless to say we missed the surprise and the client was so irate that the casino themed party was ruined they sued us. They lost but it cost us allot of money to pay a lawyer over 200 hun an hour to write letters. As for the rest of our expenses, I don't even want to think about them .

A member here, 45LMSWM (John) is very knowledgeable of the heavy haul industry here in the North East. He told me where to Find one of the existing M100's, which turns out to be right near me, only 15 minutes drive. I checked it out but its in a yard with a few vicious dogs and the owner (Pile Foundation Construction) only rents the spot so the fellow there wouldn't let me in to get a closer look. From the fence I could see the front of the massive beast peaking out from behind some other equipment. It was originally owned by Mashburn (defunct) and is still hooked to its original Transport Engineering trailer and both are still painted in Mashburn colors. It just sits there as it is much too big to move from that yard by road, it would have to be moved by barge. It was last used over 5 years ago at JFK Airport to move around massive test weights. Here are pictures of the Mashburn M100 John has a few pictures and I might have a few more at home. I have a few of the technical specifications: Engine: 1000 HP Detroit diesel 16V71 - Not 100% sure of the engine but this is what I last read. Another possibility would be the Cummins VTA series but I believe the M100 were all Detroit. The transmission would have been a Clark power shift or possibly an Allison CLBT but my money is on the Clark. I don't know the exact tire size but 18.00R33 or 21.00R33 would be a safe bet. 100 ton load plus truck tare weight would push the limits of an 18.00R33 but it depends on the speed. The truck could carry 100 tons and pull upward of 1000 tons! The Transport Engineering trailer is rated to something like 600 tons. That one tractor would make short work of any haul.

Herb that is one fine looking truck you have. I like how you mounted the mud flaps with chain. Are those 315/80's on the front? Sorry to butt in Rob.

Ralf, THANK YOU for the information! I enjoyed the F900 pictures from Spain and Norway. Unfortunately I don't know anything about that logger. It does indeed look to be a 6x6 using the FM cab.

This is why Mack should bring the Metroliner here. The Mack might be a bit on the expensive side but a VERY dependable truck. For your first big truck save a bit of money and go with an International. It wont outlive a Mack but it sure will bring you a decade or two of good service. How about an International Durastar 4400 series or Workstar 7400/7500? One perk of the International is you can spec an extended cab that can seat five or a four door crew cab that can seat up to six. Great if your bringing in a crew to work on the site, everyone and everything comes in one vehicle. Just saw a tandem axle 4400 International with 4 coor cab and a large 18 foot custom dump body for roofing work. International makes their own engines for those trucks and they are very dependable. DO NOT buy a Freightliner Business Class M2, they are pure crap. I have been in a few and the interior is probably more noisey than a 30 year old truck due to the cheap plastic interior parts vibrating appart. The international cabs are very quiet by comparison. If your looking at other brands, for an engine Cummins is the best way to go. Also peterbilt/Kenworth has imported the DAF CF. Low profile truck with 19.5 tires that can gorss out at 33,000 powered by a Cummins ISB rebranded as the PACCAR PX6. Bigger than your NPR without being too big. So something like this might work out for you: -International 4400 or 7400/7500 -Maxxforce DT engine or Maxxforce 9/10 engine. 300-340 HP, also spec the diamond logic engine brake. The little maxxforce engine brakes are designed by Jacobs and they are very strong (much stronger then an exhaust brake on a Cummins or CAT) -Allison Automatic makes off road work a cinch. OR Fuller 8LL manual transmission if you want to go that route. -46 Rears on spring walking beam or air walking beam. Dont bother with regular air suspension for off road work. -14,600 front axle or maybe go 16000-20000 with floatational tires. -Trailer air lines plumbed to the rear in case you want to upgrade to a bigger tag trailer. IF you want to go with some extras that I list below it might be best to move to something bigger like a Mack Granite or the Internatioanl Workstar 7600 or Paystar. Go with at least 350HP w/engine brake and maybe a tag/pusher axle to get the gross weight up. If you buy a Mack with tandem axles ONLY SPEC CAMELBACK suspension. Nothing beats Camelback for off road work PERIOD. Only thing is Camel back is limited to Mack axles only. Also here are some other things that can make your truck much more productive: Look into getting a knucke boom crane mounted behind the cab so you can easily load/unload building materials. It can also serve as a traditional crane with a winch. You can pretty much handle any job with that and get material into some hard to reach places. Maybe make some side money as a small crane service. They come in a variety of sizes with a variety of winch, boom and jib options. Brands include: Hyab, PM, Heila and Effer. Very popular in Europe. Instead of buying a dump body, look into getting a hook lift which will allow you to haul dumpsters, flat beds dump bodies or whatever your business needs. Think about it like this, With one truck you can deliver a flatbed full of blocks and unload the whole bed, blocks and all. Then go pickup your dump body and bring in a load of whatever it is you need. You could also haul equipment on a flatbed and unload the whole bed and just drive off. Unloading the bed to ground level makes unloading easy and safe for workers. You can leave bodies or containers at the work site and not tie up the truck. check out www.swaploader.com, they have a full range of hook lifts and help with body mounting. As for all wheel drive, dont bother as it is expensive and adds allot of weight. If you are really worried about getting stuck look into Poclain Hyraulics Addidrive assist system. I dont know if its commercially available yet but it is essentially a hydraulic powered front axle that needs no fancy transfer case or front axle. They just modify a standard Dana front axle with their unique wheel motor hubs and fit a pto pump system to your transmission. Brakes are Bendix drum or disc for easy sourcing of brake parts. It is available on European MAN trucks as an alternative to a front driven axle. Expensive as a front driven axle but adds no height to the truck or unnecessary weight. www.poclain-hydraulics.com And lastly you could also look into specing Meritor planetary hub reduction axles. Built for the weight concious North American market and use standard Meritor brake parts, no import stuff. They are built for on/off road use and mount standard 22.5 or 24.5 tires on Euro mount 335MM wheels (rims) that are readily available. Since most/all the reduction happens at the hub instead of the differential you get much better traction on soft ground and are said to reduce the chance of spinout by two thirds! They are available with ratios from 3.61 to 7.21. Not sure of their availibility as they were recently introduced but you can always ask truck makers via email as dealers are mostly ignorant of many truck options. They would rather sell you something sitting on their lot. Hope this little list of suggestions helps.

A youtube member sent me a link to a video of him unloading sand from his Australian Superliner tipper and quad dog trailer. Apparently That combination is very popular in both Australia and New Zealand. I like how he gets it all done in one shot.

Okay I think there is a terminology problem here. Power divider (aka inter axle differential)- Differential that divides the transmission drive shaft power between the two driving axles. Located on the axle that connects to the transmission and rear most drive axle. It splits the incoming torque between the two drive axles evenly and takes up any slack between the two axles. The automatic power divider locker (peanuts) engauges when a significant difference in speed between the first and second axles occur. A transfer case also has a power divider to split the power between the driven steer axle(s) and rear driving axle(s) (can be locked). A power divider is also found on the second axle of a tridrive axle setup, the front most does a 33/66 split and the second does a 50/50 split. A power divider isn't engaged, rather it is locked. Just like the differential locks. So trucks often have two locking switches: the cross lock switch which locks the power divider and the diff lock switch which locks the differentials. Differential lock (ake diff locks)- locks the differential causing both tires on the same axle to behave as if they were both connected to a single shaft. When engauged, if one tire has no traction and spins its opposite will turn at the same speed. If you are stuck the best bet would be to engage the power divider lock and leave the diffs unlocked. It should get you to move but it still allows one wheel to spin while the other just sits (with an equalizing suspension like camel back that shouldn't be a problem). If that don't work then the diff locks should be locked and very gently in a low gear crawl out of the mess. But from memory I believe Mack axles do not have a diff lock option at all. It has the auto or manual power divider lock but no diff locks. That's why some operators prefer the meritor/spicer axles as they have the both locking options. But like I said with the proper suspension all the wheels should be evenly loaded so if one slips the other 3 still have plenty of weight on them.