Vladislav

Brocky, thank you for the leads up. It just didn't happen to me to hear about that place before. Not too close to NYC area looking at the map but would be interesting to visit according to your description. Bad thing with all those Covid limitations and Russia/US diplomatic wars I'm not sure I will be able to travel overseas once again soon. And from seeing the things as they are at the moment I'm even not sure I will be able ever. Nobody knows but I sure hope for the best.

I may be wrong but I think it was the time when Volvo switched to use MP engines and Volvo chassis. Actually a different truck with Mack cab. So a reason became to change the model index also.

For example here: https://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/42108-different-superliner-hood/?tab=comments#comment-306688

Mack Australia used R-model cab along with R700 chassis to build Superliners. We discussed this subject a few times on here.

Very impressive and clean look.

Interesting piece of history. And I don't remember showing it up anywhere on the net. Freshely restored unit? Also I wonder what's interesting to see in that museum aside of it?

Interesting bit of the Mack history.

What a strange event?... Who would have thunk?... Nice looking Bullnose. I both like its type and the color. Thank you for fullfilling my request

I would admit one more point. While installation a man should find a center point of a steering gear. Any of those go left and right from a position they (a gear) are attached to the front wheels via pitman arm, drag link etc. But if that position is not the middle of the steering gear operation range you may achieve a situation when the wheels go say to left less than to right. Another issue is many gears are made a way they have zero free play only when at the center. So if you install a good condition unit with its central position off you would achieve excessive free play. That taken to account the installation procedure should be: install the gear with pitman arm and steering shaft off. Spin the input shaft (the steering column attaches to) all its way and count the revs. Divide by 2 and find the middle of the travel. Park the gear at that point. There could be a mark on the shaft end and the housing, worth to look for and check. Than... Put the wheels looking directly straight. If it's a truck or another heavy vehicle it's better to park it that way before the begin of repair. Ok, when your steering gear is at its center you set the steering wheel horizontally (or another central position) and attach steering column shaft to the gear. Than put the pitman arm to the gear. This way you have the steering wheel at the center, the gear at the center and the wheels straight. Getting deeper if you're not shure everything was set completelty correct you should check out if the pitman arm mark (if any presents) corellate with the corresponding shaft at the gear. And if it doesn't you should remove the drag link end off the arm and fit the arm onto the gear shaft by the mark. Than still having the wheels straight loose a clamp on the drag link and turn its threaded joint to correct the length for fitting the arm installed by the mark with the steering gear still at its center. And one more deeper stage. In many cases a steering gear has center marks at the ends of the both shafts - for the steering column and for the pitman arm. When one shaft is at the center (and a mark on its end indicates so) the other shaft must be at the mark also. And if you find out it is off its mark it means someone in the past reassembled the gear wrong. And you might be in trouble centering and even installing it on a truck.

Thanks for the overview! Looks like real nice T-shirt weather was treating you in Litiz.

Yup. We all like nice trucking looking pics!

Once again, many thanks! Two allen bolts were seen from the outside but by their look I supposed they would put the heater apart and had no relation to its fit in the block. Acting with an allen tool I was able to move them nearly half a turn by normal loosing direction - counter clockwise. After which they both got a stop but could spin relatively free in the range. It looked too untypical indeed and I pryed the heater body by its edge and got it off without much efforts. Now is the time to look for a correct plug. I could make a new one with a lathe but have no idea on the fit tightness. So seems better to purchase the original part. Bad thing it would take loooong.

Many thanks! Looks like they're there indeed. I'm hell bent for leather direction shop

Prepairing the engine block for sandblasting and paint. Would like to get rid of the heater and put a solid plug instead. Tried to turn it in place by big pliers and then by chiesel with no luck. Any trick to pop it out?

No Paul, as long as I know the hood never showed up in Europe excepting a few trucks imported from the US (probably to Russia only). So my understanding the hood was American thing. Together with the reworked cab. As for the spoke wheels as I figure we say Midliner for CS and MS cabover. The brochure I posted describes CM which didn't seem called Midliner by Mack.

The table is what I used for reference. Just didn't post. As you see CH has 10" rails and I suppose pre-2004 Vision either. CM had 9.27 as printed in the pdf file and the table points out 9.38. So there's a mess already. I may suppose the rail section was the same channel as CL600/RW600 rear portion of the rails had. 9.27 could me missprinted 9.37 or vice versa and 9.38 as just approximated 3.37. Interesting point are the CM rails SAE 1/4" 6.35 mm or metric 6.00? BTW the table shows 0.24" thick steel both for CM and CH. But it shows the same figure for MH/RW. At the same time two of my MH's have 6.35 thick rails and one of them is as late as '91.

Midliner front brackets? Hmm, interesting. Definitely some engeneering was involved. Also I rifled through the net a little and found out CM had 9.27 frame rails. CH rails were 10" tall. I tried to relate that section to any other Mack rail and found no similarity. Could be missprint. But RBM (resistance moment?) was pointed out as 1020000 Lbs in what is the same figure to the rear (straight) portion of a CL600 (RW600) frame rail. That rail is 9.37" tall so again incomplete correspondence or a missprint. Anyway it looks like CM didn't utilize CH rails but its own ones. cm_k364.pdf

Sooo... Any cool pics? I mean trucks. Winfall folks will show up in Picturess of the week I belive.

Thanks for the details, almost new story to me. A bit more of couriosity, and sorry for that - what are the front spring hangers and spring packs? CH I suppose? Or R? To my understanding CH has different spacing between the springs than an R but the axle beam is probably just drilled a bit different like it was done to MH/RW being basically the same casting used on R's, CH's, MH's etc. And how are the air tanks and battery boxes arranged? I don't see what was typical for a Mack chassis of the era on your pictures.

Pretty interesting. Also taking to account a full size truck chassis (CH) and big wheels its babiness seems doubtful. Ok, smaller engine and shorter hood were probably the goal. But I belive the track was wide and overall weight raiting mostly due to the axles and wheels could be quite high. The twin screwer on the photo above looks pretty nice. Definitely uncommon thing. What the on-chassis cab mounts look like? If you made any pics of them while working on the chassis please share a bit on here. Also I can't figure out which truck you fix. Have you the hubs/wheels swapped out to hub pilot? Or is that a different truck, not the one on spokes in the initial pictures?

What is the difference? I see the chassis rails don't look like an R-model stuff. Renault? Or a CH? Also it has real truck wheels. Did Mack use complete axles or only reworked hubs to fit Budds? Saw you mentioned the wiring and the air brake setup in the cab. Anymore major points? Anyway it's an interesting rig. I didn't hear about a CM before. My respect to its rareness, worth to keep in the stable.

Thanks. What put me in doubts was the holes/openings in the front wheel looked too close to the center dish. And still an interesting point those holes look further from the center at the rear wheel (unpolished face on the 3rd pic).

Are they 22.5 stud piloted?? Or 24.5?

R and DM/U cabs couldn't be the same since the latter were offset to the left and had almost different cowl than a R. But if you literally (or physically) cut the front portion of the cab off starting from the door hinges and up to the windscreen bottom I would bet the rear half would be the same for all three. And if the memory serves well CA47 is a centered R-model cab marking. Wonder which figure marks Superliner cab. It's also centered with zero offset but has different cowl sides to suit the boxed hood.

Thanks for sharing these cool pictures. Looks like it was a nice day. Hope Mike is doing Ok and got fun with the event provided.