BigMackTruck

I was also wondering how he gets away with it, I bet he has that prepass device in the truck and they give him the green light on weigh station bypass. I bet he only drives at night too, the video was taken at night. Once he drives past a weigh station or a dot inspector stops through where he is parked while sleeping/on break he is gonna be sent to Guantanamo for the state of that truck. I think I heard him say he drives at 70 mph, I never take a risk with steer tires, and he states that he is always under there pre tripping and inspecting the truck, I would hate to see what neglect looks like by him. I need more videos from this guy. I need to get an update. I would like an entire series just him sneaking past weigh stations, in the dark of night. Voice-over by the guy who narrates deadliest catch. "American Outlaw Truckers".

I would say, they are both very old trucks. Make sure they have maintenance logs to come along with that 27,000 asking price, that is really high especially for today's trucks, 450k is alot of miles, if it has been neglected. At the same time 10,000 can turn into 27,000 really quickly, whichever one is going to be more reliable would be my advice. If there is no service history for the e tech and the 10,000 dollar truck looks like a real turd keep searching, the truck market is on fire right now, tons of trucks to go around, make a good decision because profitability is difficult right now.

Fellas it is a long loooong video, I personally haven't finished it. This Mack has seen better days, but the video is good. He had me entertained, and there are some tidbits of information here and there.

Those have a very classy look to them. 10/10, thank you for posting the rims, I wish I could be around to admire that truck in person, what a truck. I would freak out if I saw that rig parked at a shipper.

Behold, the ultimate form of the ultraliner. This is exactly what the guys had in mind at the mack headquarters when they cooked this baby up.

I did some digging around, and I believe you. I am going to go check one out and I will post up some photos. I have to satiate the ultraline bug i have.

They have delusions of grandeur. You're absolutely right about that! Now I have a question. Regarding the frame of that 653 with cat opposed to the 613 or 633 with cummins, we're they all the same dimensions or did the frame get wider with the nunber variations? And is the v8 MH still a 613? Or did it have a different code?

I was wondering what these rims are made of, they look like unpolished aluminum, but I know that can't be right, has anyone seen em up close?

Thats nice, I like that, thank you. Do you by chance have also the EM7 chart in that book? I was trying to draw up comparison of what these engines offer as far as torque values and when it throws it on/how long it lasts for.

I would like to see the graph for 1992 EM7/E7, please. I have been digging around, hunting stuff down, would be really nice if you could help me. Here is something i found for a bit newer engine, for the hell of it.

Does anyone have the Mack EM7 dynamometers for the VMAC years? I have been turning over some stones to find this information, all I can find is this, and in the past I have found some really flat torque graphs that were displaying less of a drop off, where as in both of these EM7 and EM6 have very similar characteristics with the torque falling off towards the higher end of the RPMs em6300.pdf

Thats really cool, you went to some pretty extraordinary lengths to get that economy. I have never heard of two speeds on the rears, was this something you would try 4.10 then 5.63 in order to determine which was better on fuel, or one ratio per axle say forward 4.10 rear 5.63? I run cats eyes pressure monitors on my rears, takes the guess work out of thumping the tires and saves me a little time to hit em with a pressure gauge, that gave me piece of mind when i was doing my pre-trips. I never permitted airleaks myself, but I couldnt say for sure what the air compressor sounds like when it is going down the road. I admire how you try to minimize any parasitic loss that is easily tenable, I bet theres a lot of money lost in trucking just from that alone overall in trucking. I have been looking into a solution to idling, I didn't idle unless the temperature got below freezing, or I was at risk of heat stroke because I didn't want to foul up my emissions system, but now that I am getting back into it, I want to get an APU, I feel like it would recoup the value with quality of life improvement, cost of maintenance and the value of fuel savings. I ran a harbor freight predator gas generator for a little while. I study the effects of rolling resistance and take preventative measures to save my pocketbook but sometimes it just doesn't pay off. I lost my ass on some drive tires, they were supposed to be good RR tires made in USA 500 a piece and I lost an MPG overall when I had em put on. They were slightly aggressive tread pattern because I do some occasional offroad but damn, going from 7.5 to 6.8 mpg was a lot to absorb with 4 dollar fuel, on top of the 5000 dollars I paid for the tires.

Hardly anything left of the truck, entire thing has been eaten away by rust and time, no instrument cluster, nothing in the interior, but the engine runs... They got their priorities in order. Throw a milk crate on the floor and you can drive it home today. It would look really with some minor touch ups and a wooden flatbed.

What kind of throttle discipline do you have, what speed are you driving to achieve this 6.5mpg? regardless, 6.5 mpg with 80k is impressive, i had an isx15 and I was getting that MPG out west on I40 Memphis to Los Angeles, I drove like I had an egg under my foot, the truck would not give me good MPG, I think it was the 10 speed and 2.64 rears, I could squeeze out some serious MPGs if I was loaded light, hit 9mpg a couple times and I was super happy about it. Regardless, I am hearing you out with this mechanical idea. It seems crazy, but it also sounds extremely reasonable considering everything is getting old that has pre 2004 electronics. I would need some advice if I were to go that route, what kind of setup would you recommend? I am thinking big cam was king as far as cost of ownership goes, repairs fuel efficiency and reliability. If I could do 6mpg on average, I would be alright. That would certainly make up for the yearly 20,000 repair bill on the emissions system with the tow and loss of profits from downtime.

Facebook For the sake of staying true to the MH613 namesake of the post, I present, a running Ultraliner for sale $3000. I guess I was overpaying possibly. Can't believe how cheap these go for, it blows my mind. You can't even buy a 2001 nissan altima/honda civic for that price!

Geoff, I know you're saying its a bad idea and all about the old trucks, but come one maaaan, they still run the N14, ISX and 60 series in the glider trucks until just recently when they became officially outlawed. I have a really good ability of sourcing parts and getting the solution to issues with internet research as well, Lets say I did go with it regardless, or if you were gonna do it, how would you go about it in todays era of trucks?

That had me cracking up laughing, it has to be the second most expensive MH i have ever laid eyes on, they have delusions of grandeur, everything has been rattlecanned red and they expect big money for it like it is in museum piece condition. I wouldn't dream of running a 3406B, it is bad ass, and i heard they get 5mpg no matter what youre doing.

Hey fellas, I tried replying yesterday but the internet went down! The group really shot this idea down to hell, you're right, the only MH left are in farmers fields. I got no idea who made that engine swap, according to the seller it was his uncle Javier in the family shop, 20 years ago did the swap... it was just too far out to follow into the abyss. That being said, I won't stop til I have a cabover, MH just happened to be the last Mack cabover made, so I was running down this rabbit hole seeing if I could make it happen. I am going to scrap the Ultraliner idea and try a different approach. Needed this educational advice and support. My passion for the Mack is getting in the way of my money. I wanted to keep the Ultraliners alive. Anyone having success with the emissions trucks of today? I got eaten alive by my 2016, downtime and repair bills, and parts scarcity was pretty much enough to put me off of the idea of running another one, so I jumped into this idea of the older trucks with more reliable engines and not any emissions related gremlins that could hamstring my profits. I have done a serious amount of deliberation on it and my mind is 90% set on pre egr 1995-2003, I feel like that was a sweet spot in engine reliability.

I had the hardest time getting pieces and parts for my Mack, the Mack dealership was very unhelpful, I dont think they make parts for the 1998-2003 Mack Vision, it was a unexpected thing, because that body style was in production for damn near 20 years, but in 2004 they made it wider and so nothing fits, the chrome bumper in the photo was from a 2011 and I made my own brackets by cutting up scrap steel I had laying around, I spent hours calling around and I was getting the last of their inventory at times, it made me feel like, if I am gonna go with an obsolete trucking platform, why not go with something bad ass, Ultraliner is the coolest truck for me, I love it. and the Acert engines had a scary reputation, so I didnt go into that territory, 10/10 would drive another 80" sleeper Mack truck if i could source parts with ease.

Alright, the writing is on the wall, I had a strong feeling before I posted this, and now you guys helped me confirm my suspicions. Thanks for not selling me no fairy tales at least, this was concise and to the point. The dream is over. That specific driveline wont work. I am not trying to get rich trucking, but I don't need to be taking losses just to look cool, and let's be real here, no one looks cool going 35 mph up a hill. At least not no more they don't, so moving onto the next best thing. On a sidenote, I made this thread about MH Ultraliners! Let's talk about THIS specific truck, Marketplace - 1983 Mack Mack | Facebook our Mexican neighbors, south of our border take old trucks and they can do damn near anything, its like Lego over there! These are real masters of crafting and grafting. I even seen em cut the aero 2nd bunk portion off of a 90s freightliner and graft it onto the roof of a 70s cabover. If you can't see the link, this rig has a 13 speed and with an M11 powering the truck. I would like to play around with this idea, has anyone done something similar? And thanks for the advice.

I know you were expecting to see a cabover, I promise there is one, but I wanted to explain how I got here in the first place. I started an LLC, bought this Mack for $5000 sight unseen, it was a catastrophe, it had 2 million miles on the odometer, I proceeded to put another $5000 into it in parts and do in all home repairs and jury rigging, I live in a small town, and I got permission from the local police to bomb down a specific back road and learn how to chug through the 13 speed. Then I went and got my CDL, then got the authority and insurance and full sent it with $5000 in my checking account, hopes and dreams, and 0 trucking experience with my Garmin and DAT load board. By some miracle, I survived and made money, great money even. Every single time I drove through a weigh station, I felt like I was trying to sneak passed a den of hyenas with steaks strapped to my body, knew it could be my last time as a CDL driver, the truck had a massive oil leak and more things wrong with it than I can remember, every single time I drove through a weigh station, I felt like I was trying to sneak passed a den of hyenas with steaks strapped to my body, knew it could be my last time as a CDL Independent trucker, but the brakes worked and so did all of the lights so I managed to slip through the cracks long enough to save up for a downpayment. I sold the Mack and bought an emissions truck, it was a huge mistake, I wish I had just poured money into Big Blue, but you live and you learn. I started a post earlier this week asking for help identifying an engine, in this cabover, and I got the help I needed. Now I haven't stopped posting in there and I want to post it more in a proper setting, because this is going to go all over the place. I want it to be broader in scope and easier for the next guy to find information if they're looking for it. I called the seller today, to inquire about the suspension on the MH I am looking at purchasing, just couldn't help myself, I wanted to know what I was working with. The Ultraliner, has a camelback suspension, and I was pretty excited to hear that, and I immediately jumped online to stuff my brain with knowledge and information about it. I typed "Camelback" into truckersreport.com. Everything I have read so far is discouraging. Every post called it the "infamous" "Worst ride of any truck i've ever driven" Spine snatcher, man killer, Rough Ride, Brick for a suspension, beat down of a lifetime. Discouraging all who dare to consider it to steer clear of these ambitions in favor of any other truck. From what I have discovered so far, I don't feel like the truck is a good fit for me. The 5.02 rears, the 5 speed transmission, the camelback suspension, these are all factors that are vastly uncharted territory, and in conventional OTR trucking, it looks like a bad setup. I know I wont be going 70+ anymore, and I think that I can get used to that. How fast is this 5.02 with a 5 speed? Where is the sweet spot for mpg? What I do like, is that it is mated with an E7, but I can't find anything supporting the E7/T2050 combo being a good match, I can't find any early E7 information anywhere, (I did find the next closest thing, E Tech 350 engine spec graph) I need to know how did this combination work? Someone please tell me to hang it up or give me some encouraging words of affirmation that this thing is not going to beat me to death with the camelback and be an amalgamation of all Mack pride and joy. There were 16000 of these sold, where the heck have all gone too? I read a mack magazine ad, speaking about the air ride on the cab, have any of you driven this Ultraliner camelback combo? You guys have been very helpful, and I want to thank you for your sharing all of your insight thus far. I want the cabover because I fantasize about the maneuverability of a cabover, combined with the legendary reliability of Mack powertrain, if this is a good combo, I have a very reliable rig, I know the E7 is good on fuel, what it lacks versus emissions MPG it makes up for with simplicity and reliability and no def related expenses. That Mack with 2 million miles is a testament to the durability of Mack, it has really stuck with me.

Thankfully, there are still some end-of-life MH trucks on the web that can be picked up fairly cheap. I am thinking the perfect donor truck is right around the next month for me. It will pop up, I am sure of it, and when it does, its cannibalizing time. I recently found one online with the red interior, I was curious if there's actually any credibility to the red is better mantra, might go and snatch up some pieces off of it.

Yea, i know youre right, I gotta pump the brakes. Dump the thousand into maintenance until I get the show on the road.

Yep, found bumpers online last night, just under a thousand for 18" chrome bumper.

I wanted to ask some more questions about the restoration process, I will start a new thread once I pick it up. I have made some little mistakes before and bent my bumper up, i took a ratchet strap and wrapped it around the bumper then pulled on it a little with a tree and it was almost good as new, I never dealt with this crushed coke can where it split like that, there doesnt appear to be any torn metal, I would say hammer on the edges where its bent and ratchet strap tug again. Any professional recommendations? Also, anyone know how much would a new bumper cost?