stev

A single axle superliner. With what appears to be a short sleeper no less. Appears to be set up as a mobile home toter truck. http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/ctd/1873680691.html What more (less?) could you want?

The smoke is black, not blue, and is a lot more noticeable under acceleration. It does not appear to be using oil, nor does it appear that the fuel consumption has gone up. Is it possible that it is dirty injectors? Is there something you folks recommend that i can put into the fuel to clean them out? If I needed a new air filter, would that show up with loss of power under acceleration (starving the engine of air)? I am not seeing anything that would indicate the engine is losing power when am starting from ma stop. How would I check the adjustment on the power and puff limiter, as farmer52 suggested it might be? I also noticed that the fuel i am getting now almost looks like beer, it has a yellow tinge to it. The station says that it is just "summer blend". Might this be contributing to the issue?

It has been pointed out to me that my 1988 R688T smokes a bit more than is considered proper. I rally don't even know where to begin, to be honest. This is not the first diesel i have owned, but i have never run into an issue like this before, so I am at a loss as to how to proceed. This is not smoking like a stack at a coal plant, but it is visible coming out of the pipe. The engine starts right up, has plenty of power, and doesn't hesitate. Thanx.

Knowing that there are people here that prefer one over the other, i was wondering what the advantages were of one format over the other. In the US, heavy tractors are almost exclusively conventional trucks, which implies that there must be downsides to cabovers that override their benefits. If you have driven cabovers, but prefer conventionals, what don't you like about the cabovers? I am not interested in starting an argument, just wondering what informed opinion was. Thanx.

Well, after further digging it appears to be parked at the manheim auctions facility in newburgh, ny. Their web site offers no access unless you are a dealer, so i can't find when they sold it, or how much it went for. At this point, with a day left, it is at 5000$.

Is it still listed?

so, i was meaning to ask, what are the issues with ride and visibility? i would have thought that visibility would have been better, since there was no nose in front to block your vision. of course, i have mirrors one the front fenders, which i would not have with the cabover. is the ride difference just a function of wheelbase length?

Why do you think that? The ad mirrors his other ads in format, a lot of large format walk around pictures of the vehicles. I notice that he also lists vehicles at more than one location, and google maps shows the location of his business as being in a house. None of this is a big deal, the pictures appear to be of the truck in a yard primarily full of RVs, i know of people around here who play this vehicle flipping game, which I am sure is why it is for sale "where is, as is". I was actually looking at some of the other auctions to see if the same bidders were showing up in several of them, driving the prices up. I sent him email last Friday, but haven't heard back yet. I am tied uo all Monday, might call him tuesday to see what he considers a "reasonable" offer to be. Or, i might just let the auction play out, and see if it ever gets above his reserve. For the right money, i would be really tempted. It is not what i have been looking for at all, but there are aspects of it that I really like.

Nice. Thanx.

I saw a MH listed on ebay today: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1986-MACK-MH613-TANDEM-AXLE-TRACTOR-9-SPEED-SLEEPER-/380253158957?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Commercial_Trucks&hash=item5888dabe2d#ht_24716wt_1026 And really liked the look of it. For it's age, it seems like it was reasonably well taken care of. The seller is a dealer, and from the looks of his other listings, i don't expect him to really understand how to answer some of the questions I have. I noticed that some of you seem to be able to take a VIN number and find out how the truck was originally configured. Since i was interested in what motor was in it, i was hoping one of you fine individuals could look it up for me. The VIN is listed in the ad as: VIN: 1M2AR07Y8GM007802 Any other information that this produces would also be appreciated. Carfax only lists 4 records for the unit, but at this stage I don't want to pay only to find out that they are all just title transfers over the last month. Unlike Europe, there dont seem to be a lot of cabover tractors floating around here, so i was wondering what specific issues might crop up with a cabover that I might not have considered in a conventional truck. As an example, does it tend to run hotter, since there is a large insulated cab sitting over it? Or is that balanced out by the fact that air can pass clear though the engine compartment and out the back? Will it be appreciably noisier than my R688T in the cab? I understand that working on the engine will require me to not leave stuff lying around in the cab, but how big an issue is this really? I assume that the hump between the seats is where the motor sticks up, are there storage compartments inside the cab (unlike the R, which seems to only have a pouch on the back wall)? I notice access doors on the outside under where the sleeper floor seems to be, are these for storage, or are they for access to other items? And, while i understand that the worth of something is directly related to what someone is willing to pay for it (especially on eBay), what is something like this worth? In general, are the cabovers worth more or less than similar macks (axle sizes and motor power) of the same vintage? I suppose that is enough with the questions. Thanx for any help.

if they dont want to maintain it anymore, at least they could release the copyright and allow others to put the information up for anyone to use. dont know who you approach there, though . . . . . but i bet google would be willing to put it all online for free . . . .

Since tp allows you to select the currency, i am surprised that European entries, well, non-US entries, cant choose kilometerage rather than milage. Just thought i would point that out.

So, maybe it is just me, but after looking through the images, i wonder why there is no option to just install a new roof over the old one. . . . . .

I looked at a 1989 r688st tractor yesterday with a neway air suspension. I was surprised to find air under it, although the two 130 gallon aluminum tanks were from Canada, and it seems t me that I have heard that those big tanks were features mostly found on Canadian trucks in those model years. So, they appeared to be in reasonable condition, a bit of surface rust on the lower arms, but otherwise looking good. Is these anything to be aware of concerning one of these setups? Other than that, the truck looked pretty good for a truck of that age. There was no metal builders plate inside the drivers door, only. A faded sticker i could not read. Did I miss it somewhere?

The black one looks better. Personally, i would prefer adding the pickup bed to a single screw mack, so that everything still looked "right", because those small tires still look a bit off to me. But it is a huge step in the right direction.

I don't know about additional chopping helping it. Ofcourse, I never understood people making a pickup into a lowrider, either. For those who are interested, it has just shown up on eBay, with a lot more images: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-CUSTOM-MACK-TRUCK-Ride-Show-CHOPPED-LOWERED-/110545492995?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Commercial_Trucks&hash=item19bd065c03#ht_500wt_948

http://boston.craigslist.org/sob/cto/1784706638.html if he had been able to keep the hood the same width, maybe, but it just looks too wrong, like the bastard child of a KW and a Mack or something . . . . .

Dump or tractor?

Ok, i am searching for a mid to late 1980's vintage R model tandem tractor. I found one reasonably local, and am planning on going out later in the week to take a look. What issues should i look out for in a truck of this vintage? How do i check things like king ping wear? Thanx.

i already asked about air ride, so now i ask about the two kinds of spring suspension i seem to be finding. originally, i thought they were all camelback, but i have decided that "spring" suspensions are really "tapered leaf" suspensions, and are a different beast from camelback. leaving behind "walking beam", what are the benefits of one over the other?

How long is the wheelbase on that tractor? Did this start life as a rolloff truck or something like that?

So, I have been looking at some used tractors lately. The vast majority of the ones available seem to be air ride, which leaves me with some questions. How long is the life time of the bags? When looking at a 15 year old truck, i wonder how many years are left before i will need to get them replaced. Is there special maintenance needed for them to make sure that they hold up well? How much do the replacement bags cost? Thanx.

Recently, while looking at trailers online, I found a listing that mentioned that a trailer with aluminum wheels on the outside, and steel wheels on the inside on each end of the axle. I have not run into this before, but my initial thought was that this was not a good idea for some reason. Is there a reason not to do this? I understand it is cheaper that buying the extra 4 aluminum wheels, but . . . . . Thanx.