FIREMAN

Name: Mack B-81SX (1959) Date Added: 28 June 2008 - 03:56 PM Owner: FIREMAN Short Description: Maxine is our third child View Vehicle

Trick my Truck did that fire hydrant deal. They tapped the caps to pipe thread and put the air lines and cord through the caps. When we did mine we took it a step farther (or too far over the top as some here might think) and put the lines and cord inside a real fire hose and attached it to the center big cap.

Hey Rowdy I'm gonna have to take personal offense to the fire hydrant comment. I have one on my Rawhide, unless mine is the one you are talking about? I have put alot of effort into my truck to make it stand out. I think I have succeeded. Showing up to the customer's plant with equipment that is well taken care of lets the customer know that you really care about service. It's also cool that people give your truck a second look as they go by on the highway. Just my two cents worth Fireman

Lately I've been getting a code " 36 " on the lightning bolt. It just seems to do it when I first take off in the morning. Code 36 says in the manual it is "Engine brake output #2" Anby help would be appreciated Larry

Charles Sorry to hear about your situation. I'm only about 50 miles from you, if you need anything please don't hesitate to call, you have my number. My family is praying for yours. Larry

Hey Mike: Thanks for the kind words. You didn't do too bad yourself at the Jamboree. As far as scraping my knuckles on the headliner is concerned, I don't think we are going to get that crazy. I am thinking about taking a piece of fire hose and sliding it over the gear shift lever. That may look pretty cool. I'm working on something for the lights at night competition for next year that may get us some double take looks. We'll see. Hey Wastenafarm: Thanks for the offer of the mufflers but I have six inch stacks. Thanks anyway though.

I wasn't going to spend 4000 bucks on the 8". I was only saying that is what they wanted to charge. I'm just basically thinking out loud here. Calm down Bobo! Hey Bigen, I think they would fit, the heat shield is at least an inch and a half from the stack the as it sits right now. I'm just thinking maybe I need something to stand out amongst the peter#$%^'s and the ken%^&*('s as we show this this truck through the summer months.

As far as 8" is concerned, I'm gonna have to save a bunch of nickels and dimes, but I am planning to put 8" stacks on it. 4 States in Joplin MO told me about 4000 bucks for them to put them on. I have a guy that I think can do me an excellent job. I've already have 6" stacks with a heat sheild that is more than an inch away from the pipe. I'll put a handlehold on it but no heat sheild. I don't think DOT would ever think to check the width. I think that 8" with a mitre cut on the tip would look extremely cool.... let's face it isn't that what this is all about anyway LOL Thanks for trying to help me look cool, plus be functional. Larry

I think you all have convinced me to not go with just plain ol straight pipes. However, I was wondering what the best way to get rid of the baffles in the existing muffler (the inlet and the outlet both are on the same end of the muffler) orrrrrrrr, get the muffler part number from the dealer and then take it to the manufacturer and see if I can get a low restriction muffler that may give a liitle bit roar to her. Thanks again in advance for all of your help Larry

Thanks for all of the feedback. My exhaust is up by the cab and not behind sleeper. I'm strongly thinking about putting 8" stacks on it too. But if I can't gain much power or MPG's I can't see much sense in having to put up with the extra noise, but it may sound pretty cool.

I was wondering, what the effect on the performance of my 460 would be, if I did away with the muffler? I think I can try it without taking the muffler off and if I don't like it or it's way too noisy, I can go back and hook the muffler up again. Will my MPG go up or down, will it performed better? If anybody can help please let me know Thanks Larry

Hey all I probably get 99% of my stuff from Iowa 80. The best time to call is in the afternoon and early evening. You want to talk to Melissa. She will go out of her way to get you what you need. Tell her I told you to call. It's hard to find chrome for Macks sometimes you have to modify other pieces to get them to work. My little chrome bezels for my dash gauges were originally for a peterb#%t. With a little silicone we got it looking like a factory job. My wife calls this "thinking out of the box"

Hey Mike Looks really sharp. You guys bringing it to Walcott? Larry

Hey Bigen As far as the overhead was concerned, they didn't say anything about changing out any parts, but I will go back and look at my paperwork and if it says anything. The first tube was because it had a ceramic insulator broken on one of the probes. The second one was changed because they said they had to put a new one on when they changed the cooler. The third one was changed because they thought the second one could have been bad from the start, but apparently it wasn't.

Hey Bigen I have a 183,000 miles on it now. A couple of months ago I started kicking the RPM's up and it seems to do better on fuel. I went up 12% by keeping it above 1500; from 4.7 pulling the tank to 5.1 or 2 and 5.0 up to 5.6 pulling the flatbed. According to the paperwork I have on it it says the sweet spot on it is 1600 plus or minus 50. It might have also helped that when they did the EGR cooler, I had them run the overhead and that was the first time I believe that was done. As far as I know that is the first replacement cooler but it's the 3rd mass flow tube, one last summer in July, second one when they changed the cooler, and the third one when they had it last week. I think this is the first replacement EGR valve for it.

Well, that wasn't it. It did exactly the same thing, turbo wouldn't spool up and it died at intersections. I ran that load to AR and then went to dealer in St. Louis thursday evening. I took the tech and his laptop for a ride and when the EGR valve was supposed to be closed it was still showing 4 or 5 pounds. So after a talk with the engineer in Allentown they decided to put a new EGR valve on. I ran another load to AR on Friday and it didn't so much as even burp one time. So I guess we are good to go till the next issue comes up. As a side note, I'm hoping that my mileage stays up. The last load to AR when it was screwed up I got 6 MPG. I haven't fueled up since I ran the load with it fixed.

I use that red and tacky grease, I think it's made by Lucas. I grease every 7500 miles, but I'm usually not off road to much. Every other grease job I also change the oil. I use one of those teflon plates on my fifth wheel too.

Well the tech called about 11 last night. He said the new mass flow tube helped it. He couldn't make it do it again on the dyno. But, (and there's always a but), he's not really all that happy with the numbers on the computer. Like he said the mass flow was off 15 or 17 lbs with the old tube and now it is only off by about 2 to 3 lbs. He said there really isn't any sense to go any further with it till it throws some more codes, he said it was like chasing a ghost. I agree, what do you guys think. I mean it ran fine when I took it in there on the 5th, the only reason I took it in was because it was showing the code "45", I think that is what it was, for the EGR cooler being bad. They said they had to put a new mass flow tube on when they did the cooler. When I took it in last Thursday I asked them if it could be a bad tube because what it was doing was very similar to what it was doing last July on our way to Walcott, they put a new tube on it then and it ran great,(or at least I think it seemed to) all the way until this episode. I drove 50 miles back to the shop after the cooler was replaced, and it sat for a week and a half. I hooked it to the flatbed and went 7 more miles and then it started this little fit. So I hope that was it, I'm going to pick it up on Wednesday morning and see how it does. There was a post a couple of weeks ago about good and bad dealerships. I've had extremely good luck with F & C Truck in St. Louis. They've really gone the extra mile (so to speak) to help me get this problem resolved.

Just got off the phone with the tech at the dealer. They came and picked up my truck at the firehouse. He said he couldn't get it to act up on the way back to the shop. He put it on the dyno and finally got it to do it. The diagnostics said it was the mass flow tube, the truck only has 55 miles on the new tube they put on when they replaced the EGR cooler. The tech's computer says to try a known good tube and if it still does it, it could be the ECM. He told me if it was running fine when the cooler went out, and it was, it probably is the mass flow tube. He calibrated the pedal and he said it checked out fine. So now I'm just sitting here waiting for him to call me back and give me an update

Thanks for getting back with me Mackpro. I'll check the turbo number. As a side note, I got the best mileage ever on this trip with the the thing running like crap, 5.89 MPG, and that was running down through the hills of north Arkansas. They just put a new EGR cooler on it the other day and last week was the first trip out with a load on. I don't know if that has anything to do with anti-freeze in the ECM connector. Thanks for your help Larry

My AC 460 the other day started not spooling up and it would not accelerate for about 2 to 3 seconds and then it would take off. Once it gets to working it will work right going down the road. It seems to work better with the cruise on. Pull up to a stop sign or get behind slow traffic it will idle down and sometimes it will try to die unless you can get back on the throttle and pump it a time or two and then it may keep running. If you can keep it on the interstate it seems to work better I had it at the dealer the other day and they repinned the connector to the VGT ? and I couldn't make it mess up so I thought it was fixed but it wasn't When you are coasting along and mash down on the throttle it won't work but if you pump the throttle a couple of times it will then respond. Could it need the pedal calibration deal from Mack the 12B fix ??????? Can somebody help me Mackpro68 where are you?

Just took my '07 into the dealer Tuesday. It was showing a code of 59. The book says that it is EGR Delta pressure or mass flow. The shop foreman said the EGR cooler was probably bad and it was. Haven't got it back yet, won't be able to pick it up till Monday AM. I would be interested in "un EGRing" mine later on. Right now mine is still under emissions warranty till Dec. of 2011 I am still very much interested in your findings with the plate. The company, my part time mechanic works for has an '04 he would like to try that on. Let me know Larry

Thanks Mackpro68 That service bulletin explained everything. I was talking to Bigen this morning about this deal and he said you had posted the bulletin. So I went back and checked before I put any coolant in the new tank. Fired it up and everything was fine and no leaks. Thanks again Fireman

I was getting ready to put my new one piece radiator tank on and I have questions about the holes. The big line on the bottom going to the engine I have figured out. The one next to it is the level sensor....right? the two at the top, one goes to the top of the radiator.....right? Does the the other hole get plugged?