convoyduel

I'm getting EM codes 3-2 and 3-4 (blinks of the light) on a 2000 E7-300. The EM light only comes on at high RPM's, then goes back out at lower RPM's. There is a slightly noticeable surge when the light goes on or off. Any ideas?

Trucking can be a race to the bottom. Superdog has it 100% right....longer and heavier trucks are a shippers dream and a trucker's worst nightmare. Just like the move from 48' and 96" wide trailers to 53' and 102", if you show up with something less than a 53/102 nowadays, you probably will get turned away even it the shipment would fit on a pup. If this ridiculous thing goes through, you're going to see triple axle trailers everywhere and most of them hauling loads that would have fit on a 48' tandem. Rates won't change one single bit and everyone will be bidding today's truckload rate on the heavier capacity. That means anything paying by the weight hauled at 80,000 gross will pay about 75% of what it does today (figuring 44k payload today versus 60k payload if this passes). Also, your existing equipment (tractors with tandems under 40k and tandem axle trailers) will be as worthless as a 44'x96" reefer was after the move to 48's and 53's. Personally, I'd rather see trucking go back to 73,280 and 44' trailers. Why any trucker would be in favor of this is beyond me.

I feel for ya' and hope you find it. I had a pup trailer stolen in September. Found out this past week it was a fellow dump trucker and contractor from the area that was caught stealing all kinds of trailers and equipment. Worst part for me is, 20 minutes after i noticed it stolen, I drove about 3 miles over to his yard to ask if he'd seen it around, figuring he knows a lot of people in the area. Some people are just SOB's.

In Missouri, we have laws for St. Louis, KC and Springfield that mimic Michigan laws.....no gross and a per-axle weight of 22,400lb. Trick is, its in the metro areas and some interstates are not part of the "zone". Without 44k or 46k axles, your sunk because you're carrying whatever's in your bed on your steer and tandems with the extra axles lifted in the quarries and on-site. 38's and 40's won't handle the abuse for long. You can get an RD or Granite down that low. There's a ton of single 3/8" frame mixer chassis running around with 18's or 20's on the steer and 44's on the rear. For your application, unless the law specifies otherwise, go with a lower 8 or 10k lift axle to get your 62 gross. Davigou's right, a Bibeau bed is the strongest, lightest steel box I've ever seen and I can't tell you the abuse ours took without a ding. You can drop rip rap on those from a 993 Cat and it wont even ding. I'd look for a Mack RD mixer chassis, get a Bibeau bed and a smaller lift axle. I'd bet you're close to 24k with that combo, especially if you can make a 15' bed work. My '02 RD with a double frame, mack 18, 18/20/44 with a 16' Bibeau boarded up and a full pup plate set-up was 27,000 wet.

The other flag is the 10 speed, not a very common dump truck transmission. I've seen CX and CXU's factory built as straight trucks for a dump now and then, but they were bridge law trucks purpose built for longer hauls with 3/8" frames, 3 or 4 lift axles and a 20'+ bed where the operator was hauling ornamental or specialized river gravel for long hauls and bridging 73k gross. In those cases, the fact that it is a dump truck is more of a non-issue because its not taking the off-road abuse typical of a dump truck application. The RD and Granite chassis were purpose built for the severe abuse the chassis and cab receives off-road, but typically the CH and CX are not unless the severe service option is ordered along with beefier chassis components. "Dump truck" can refer to an extremely wide range of applications from 20K+ per axle loads down to a 5 or 10 ton dirt dobber or rural gravel hauler. The CX might do okay on the lighter end, but I'd stay away from it on the heavier end. The 44K axles are a good start, but the transmission and engine seem like tractor material. What is you intended application?

As Trent said, the low gearing likely isn't there. We got by with our set-up by using the 18 speed. On deep pulls, especially uphill from a dead stop, we used the splitter on the low side frequently. God I miss that dumb truck.

I'll take anything they're offerin'.

3P, Back in '02, I was able to come to Macungie to walk down the line with my truck. Does Mack still let customers do that?

I had a new custom 2002 RD with a 355/380, Mack 18 and 4.11 Mack 44 rears (maybe 4.10). Should have been a gold dog but for whatever reason, Mack wasn't doing that on the RD in April '01. The truck was a tri axle dump truck 20/20/44 and sometimes pulled a pup grossing 120k. It's a decent set-up and I never had a problem with power, but the 427's and 460's of that vintage pulled slightly better. It was no comparison to the way a 475 Cat 6NZ walked up the hills, but I'll take the Mack any day overall. I would be hesitant with a 10 speed 355/380 combo pulling that weight.

No, I believe there's a picture of the pumper behind a Superliner in 2004 at a convention but the tractor was not there and reported in bad shape. I believe the tender is the truck in the hands of a collector down in Texas. The Napier Deltic wasn't running, though.

Jay, I take it you gave up on the swap?

There was a truck on eBay recently with a modified Superliner hood on an older R600. In my opinion, it looked bad, but to each their own.

GHG, I've been meaning to ask you...in my humble opinion, those Postal trucks (both MR's and CH's) have to be the most intelligently laid out trucks I've ever driven for local/regional work. Auto's, LED lighting, grab handles everywhere, gladhand handles, excellent step arrangement, key actuated air start (electric solenoid over air), turn on a dime, air ride, air dump valves, auto greasers, etc. I think you worked for USPS for quite a while. What is your take on the trucks? Did you see any shortcomings with them (other than no A/C)?

They were replaced by schedule. The local St. Louis dealer confirmed that they have done similar work in the past for the USPS, including 26 sets of rod and main bearings a few years back, one truck after another. They ran them thru a single mechanic who was getting them done at a rate of 2 per day. According to my records on the trucks, both were replaced when the odometers reached 400k.

The '97 MR I bought was likely a spare hold-over but the CH612s from the '99-'00 order are just coming off of front-line service at many locations. The 1999-2000 order was the last of the CH orders for USPS. The Vision CX has been the conventional model for subsequent orders. I forgot to mention that the '97 MR has an EM7 with a 4 speed Allison and the '00 CH has the E7 with a 5 Speed Allison. Both run out at 70 mph, but we had to have the VMAC reprogrammed on the CH to remove the electronic 60 mph speed limiter. The two trucks I bought are in better shape than any Freightliner I have seen or driven with 300k miles on them. As one example, my friend has a fleet with a '99 IH 9300, '00 Freightliner FL112 and a '04 Columbia among other trucks. Each of those trucks has around 300k on the odometer and the trucks are just absolutely junk. Not a lack of maintenance, just loose sloppy everywhere, interiors wearing and falling apart, cheap plastic breaking everywhere, etc.

Forgot to say that the MR Postal trucks are probably the easiest driving, most thoughtfully laid out city tractors I have ever seen. I was never a big fan, but they really are extremely well thought out and turn tighter than most cars.

Yes, i bought them on eBay out of Sacramento, CA. Completely rust free. Trucks both had right at 600k on the clock and both had ReMack engines installed in 2005. Both had new steer tires, 3/4 tanks full of fuel. Also have automatic greasing systems. Trucks came with full service records. They were serviced at regular intervals, even if they only had 200 miles since the previous service. There's also an amazing amount of preventive component replacement. The vehicles weren't polish prepped (interiors were dusty/dirty but not trashed). Trucks don't have A/C or radios which isn't a bid deal from me but could be for some people. I understand that some US Postal Maintenance Facilities don't take as good of care of their vehicles, but these were well taken care of. The eBay auction description is only as reliable as the USPS Maintenance Facility's information provided to the person that lists the items. The prices they sold for on eBay were insanely low. They would have made more money scrapping the trucks. It's no wonder the USPS is broke, they're getting a few thousand for perfectly running trucks and replacing them with $100k+ trucks. I bought the first 2 that came up to the end of auction, should have bought the other 6. Units out of San Diego were a bit rougher, had 700k on the clock and went for about $1000 more per unit. i paid just about as much to ship them to St. Louis as i did for the trucks themselves.

I have a 2000 CH612 and a 1997 MR688P both with E7 300's and Allison Autos. Both are former US Postal trucks. Can't say enough good about them, but we use them for drayage around town. The only thing different about using the Autos is the speed with which you burn thru brakes. The horizontal pedal is the only means of holding or reducing speed.

Watched it four times here already with my kids. It was a good episode and seemed to represent Mack well. I personally like the mention about the difference between a chrome and gold bulldog.

S means dual drive. T means tractor, but it can be applied to a straight truck with a tractor protection valve package. There will be obvious remnants for a tractor application, including the bolt holes for the 5th wheel mount, possibly a TPV behind the cab at the lower rear cab wall, a tapered end of frame and an electrical plug somewhere near the rear of the cab. A cab and chassis shipped from the factory will also have an "incomplete vehicle" sticker in the door jamb near the other federal stickers. May be gone over the years, but it would have been there if shipped without a 5th wheel.

Rob, Where did you get the Red Dot from and what neighborhood is the price in? PM me if you like.

They are still in the original building from the early 1900's when the factory owned it. The EE is safe and sound inside the shop. B Model books may be gone. They still have the R, F and WS crash books.

It doesn't look bad, but i agree that converted tractors rarely make good dump trucks. There are so many reasonably priced used dump trucks that I wouldn't pay good money for a road tractor conversion, even if it is a Mack. When you order one from scratch, it becomes apparent in just how different a properly spec'd dump truck is from a road tractor.

I'm at F&C all of the time. They really are great to deal with. Parts guys all groan when I come in and they automatically pull out the R model crash books. They're family owned now and do really good with old to new. Call Nick in parts. Charlie and Brad in parts are great as well.

It went thry Ritchie Brothers Auction in December 2009. It had an E9, and like 140,000 original miles. Truck has a wet kit, 36" Able body sleeper, aluminum half fenders, same exterior paint scheme, immaculate blue interior. i posted pictures of it on here back then. It was the truck I was bidding on, had my hand up to call the next bid and the RB kid didn't acknowledge me. The people around me were up in arms over it with me as I was being VERY obvious about my bid but couldn't talk as I had just had a tonsillectomy the day before. I think I told the story about it on here. The truck sold for $8500 I believe. I just saw it a week or so ago still sitting over off of Old Gravios Rd. in High Ridge.