ThaddeusW

Barry, Looks good! Could do with a brighter font but otherwise great!

I came up with a formula where you plug in the engine RPM, trans gear ratio and rear ratio along with the tire diameter and it will give you the vehicle speed. I even wrote a simple program to compute it for you but never got around to polishing it up. I cant look now as I am going out but when I find the formula I will post it.

Adam, I think you answered your own question. First check all your cables and connections. Thats the first place to look. Your starter might have also just up and quit, they do that. Try tapping the starter with a hammer as the solenoid becomes stuck and sometimes a few taps frees them up.

Another point I want to bring up is the US diesel makers didn't bother to really update their designs all that much. You look at all the Euro designs and they are all new modern designs. Paccar MX, International MaxxForce, DD15 (DD and MB design), and the Volvo D series are all very modern designs. Cummins is probably the the only engine maker in a good position and Paccar rebadges the ISB and ISL as the PX6 and PX8 respectively. The Cat engines have their roots in the 1693 and Macks E7 wasn't that far from the 237. Back when they were all mechanical they ran great and lasted forever. But trying to teach an old dog new tricks like electronics and EGR didn't exactly work out. CAT thought EGR was a bad move and pursued ACERT which caused them allot of problems. Cummins so far is in good shape but stands to be pushed out of the market by propriety designs. So who ever survives the 2010 emissions will continue to provide us with bigger better and more efficient engines. I read on the Mack website that 2010 is then end of EPA diesel regulations. There will be no 2012 or 20-whatever. Diesels cant get any cleaner!

Thanks for that correction. I was under the impression they were all the same. I suppose they changed them to accommodate the front mounted aftercoolers.

All the same frame. The frame in the Superliner came from the Cruiseliner and was also used on the Ultraliner and CL.

After EPA 2010 that's it, no more diesel emissions regulations! Diesels cant get any cleaner unless they think reducing carbon dioxide is a good idea (very bad idea). So the EGR+SCR system removes all the nitrogen oxides and the DPF system removes all particulate matter, partially burnt fuel and carbon monoxide.

Well its not an all Mack show but the Macungi, PA show is chock full of Mack's and is the biggest show on the east coast. The Gerhart's (mostly) all Mack meet is another. Unfortunately both have passed and your going to have to wait for next year.

The regulator is integrated. Here is a direct link to the 2500JB maintenance manual.

I don't understand the whole strait pipe crowd so much but I admit I like the sound. I would put a short muffler under the cab and rig a bypass pipe around it with a butterfly valve to turn the strait pipes on and off. Just plumb an air switch or use a solenoid valve to open and close the butterfly valve. Then you can make some noise if you want or keep it quiet. I have two ideas one is a muffler with a built in bypass valve and the other is a method of strait piping newer EPA 2007 and 2010 engines without bypassing the emissions systems.

I would imagine they were only really found on oil field and heavy haul trucks. The 1241 is good for 1200 foot pounds (thats what the 12 in front means).

I found this on the cover of an Italian heavy haul magazine. I tried to contact them but their contact page is broken. Here is part of the cover page featuring two Mack F900's with Planidrive axles. The axles have a capacity of 100-110k! Damn I keep finding more and more incredible F models. I Wish I could see them first hand! Real beasts and working hard pulling that vessel. I wonder what they had for power. Anyone know anything about these units? I checked the Mack model production sheets and only 5 variations of the F900 were built. Since very few of these trucks were probably built I can only guess that they are either F995's (5 made), F997's (3 made) or F9976's (4 made). Possibly these are 997's? Could the Mack museum help me find out who purchased these units?

Well it works like this, we will use RS7xxLS as our example: R = R model S = an S after the R indicates it has a steel frame. This was a western Hayward thing i believe. 7 = not 100% sure but it has to do with the chassis rating. 800/900 series were extra and super heavy duty chassis. XX = these two numbers are engine codes. I have never gotten a full list yet. L = Hayward models had this letter to denote the cab used light weight components like aluminum doors. S = six wheel tandem chassis. so essentially it is a 6x4 chassis. Another example RW613: The W stands for Western and together with the R means a superliner or RW. 13 is a Cummins NTC engine. If there is an SX after the number code like R600SX it means you have a heavy duty tandem. X I believe stands for "extra duty". RD was supposedly a dump chassis. RM is an all wheel drive truck, the M stands for municipal and they were usually found as plow trucks. I really wish someone would list all the engine codes and giver a better definition to the 6/7/8/9 numbers before the engine codes. These codes apply to other models too like the F model and W model (Cruiseliner).

Well Mack does not have a small displacement engine and that model is Australian. In Australia they don't like vendor components that much because trucks and parts are very expensive (all parts are imported!). So since the Spicer/Meritor/Fuller stuff is almost universal, parts can easily be had. Hell you used to be able to buy a Volvo FH16 with an ISX, Fuller 18 speed and Meritor axles. Of course the europeans didnt like that so they cut those options and pushed their running gear onto everyone once they got their foot in the door. If the Metroliner does make it to the US they could try and shoe horn an MP7 in there. Or they could just stick with an ISC/ISL, Fuller gear box and mack axles/suspension.

Thanks everyone! I suppose it is offered in both steel and aluminum. I was under the impression it was mainly produced as aluminum so I will have to look around.

Hello all, I need to know if anyone here knows what this style of diamond plate is called. I see it used allot on European trucks for custom decking, fenders etc and I was wondering if it is available here in the USA.

Well a while back we were discussing what truck technology we wanted to see here in North America. Well one of the things I mentioned was a hydrostatic front driven axle offered by M.A.N. (German truck maker) called Hydrodrive. Well It turns out MAN acquired the clever wheel motor technology from a French hydraulics company called Poclain Hydraulics. Now Poclain is working to bring the same system to North America under the name Addidrive. The system is very interesting as it has a few key features that make it attractive for owners looking for more traction but cant afford the downsides of a true AWD system. First since it is hydraulic there is no heavy transfercase, driveshaft or driven front axle to maintain. The motor is designed so that it needs no gearing, its a direct drive setup. It also can be adapted to any steering axle by changing the wheel end hardware, the hub is replaced by one that mounts the motor. This means no raised front end, the truck maintains its normal stance. The hydraulic pump is PTO driven so it mouns to any transmission with a standard PTO opening. The wheel motors are powerful they can output upward of 100HP each depending on the model and operate at speeds up to 20MPH. The wheels the system mounts are Euro mount with a 335mm bolt circle, like those found on buses. I recieved an email from Poclain after I enquired about the system. Here are my questions and Poclains answers: -Will the steering axle be part of the package or will it be adaptable to vendor axles from Meritor, Dana or Mack for field fitting? A: We will be using Dana I-beam as standard. No plans to offer as Meritor or Mack at this time. -How does the pump mount to the transmission? is it a PTO pump or is it dependent of the drive shaft speed? A: Pump mounts to the PTO. -What transmissions will it be compatible with? A: Will work with any type or brand. -Are the brakes wedge drum or S-cam drum? And who is supplying the foundation brake parts? A: S-cam brakes or air disc. Bendix brakes. -Can this system also be used on more then one axle on a truck? For example can an 8x4 be equipped with two hydro axles to become an 8x8? What about a strait non steering axle, can they be hydro powered as well? A: Yes. Can be used on twin steer application, 6 x 6, 8 x 8 or 10 x 10. Only designed for use on front steerable axles. -What axle capacities will be offered? A: Starting at 12K to 20K -Will it be available from OEM's or will it be an after market fitted system? A: Both -how much will such a system cost? A: Competitive with mechanical system. Pricing is dependant on volumes, etc. Very interesting and it will weigh over 800 pounds less than a mechanical AWD system. As you can see the system also allows more then one steer axle to be driven. If you look at the Poclain site they are even working on enabling trailer axles and lift axles to be powered for even more traction. If Mack wanted they could customize the system to adapt to Mack axles but who knows of that will ever happen.

I just found Mack's SCR website. The system looks huge! Forget about right hand fuel tanks with the new SCR system. I just read on Mack's web site that as far as they know 2010 is the last of the EPA emissions. YAY . Apparently 2010 truck exhaust will be so clean they cant make it any cleaner. So all you wind up with is CO2 and water vapor. But lets hope they aren't stupid enough to mandate lower CO2 levels. That would be bad news.

Rene, That is a very clever idea; let some exhaust bypass the catalyst and fool it into thinking it is working. I think you would be in big trouble if you were caught running that setup though, at least with the DEC here in New York.

Yea those New Euro emission engines are about the same as what we have here. You guys are going to get the Euro 4/5 and our EPA 2007 engines. Both are vary clean and emit so smoke at all. Only lame part is you cant strait pipe them anymore because of the DPF or the SCR catalyst. But I have seen a guy in Europe just simply remove the SCR system on his Euro 4 620 Scania and strait piped it from the turbo. Sounded mean and workes just fine but the Euro 5 engine would have thrown a fit and gone into limp home mode. Not sure what happens if you try to remove the DPF but I am sure it would throw a fit as well.

Thanks for that link! They even have wallpaper for wide screen monitors at HD resolution! Going to use one for the media computer I am building that hooks to my HDTV. They also have a screen saver and a fun configurator that changes the color and interior color options. Its also good to see by default the truck is all Mack front to back instead of having Meritor and Roadranger stuff (yea yea MP10 isnt Mack but still). I cant wait to see one setup as a dump. Would be sweet is all yellow or blue. Also want to see one with a sleeper. Yes it is based on the same frame, and cab mounts. Just the hood is different.

So it will be built by International then? On an IH frame? Will it actually come with a CAT engine?

I found these two articles in the New York Daily news. I finally got around to scanning them in. All articles are copyright Daily News and picture copyrights are from their respective source (just thought I would throw that in). This one is about the new 2007 emissions Mack LE sanitation trucks powered by the MP engines. They made a mistake saying the diesels are hotter then the gasoline engines but of course the old LE's were diesel as well. Article from the August 19 2008 paper. This Is a little picture I found a while back, no article just a picture and accompanying text. Most likely a CL pulling that church. Photo was printed in the May 18 2006 paper.