b61fred

My old b61 had the 673 non turbo engine 170 hp in it's prime, When I would put the trailer and two old John Deeres on, it would fade pretty fast on the hills. I thought thats just the way things were back then. I took the time check all the valve clearance, check the fuel lines to the the engine serviced the air cleaner and some othe minor tune up stuff and it made a hell of a difference. The fuel line was deteriorated from the fuel tank to the injection pump. The oil bath air cleaner had so much dirt caked in the mesh and the air intake, and the valves were WAY out of adjustment. It started beter and didn't have as much smoke on start up. I did eventually install a 237 in its place and that was by far the best investment in the truck.

Hi, I have been a mechanic most of my profesional carrrer. I really hate it that all techs. have been characterized as a bunch of know-nothing theves. There have been more than one occasion that I have did a job for free because I just felt sorry for the customer. I suppose there is good and bad people in all occupations, some are just plain liars! Most times when a customer would come back totally pissed off we would make it right with them. I have to admit, I have made mistakes diagnosing problems. When that part would not fix the concern, I would reinstall the original part or if not that I would have to "eat" the part. I think all of you have ligit. complaints about your experiences here, but lets not make this a general mechanic bashing post please. Thanks Morgan a.k.a. b61fred P.s. I will get of my soap box now.

Hi, Here's the story, My best freind, his dad and myself were eating dinner one sunday night. His dad says "I am calling the laywer tomorrow to make out my will." We started kinda joking around about how would we would like our funerals to be like ,and what would we want to give away to other people and the like. About 2 months later his dad died of a heart attack and it was in his will that he wanted hauled to the cemetary by the old Mack just as we talked about earlier. We figured we would have a little more time to have the truck restored by then. I worked on that truck for 2 days and nights, If you notice that the cab is painted by spray cans. It looked pretty good for what it looked like 2 days before. Jerry was not a Mack man most of his life but, I think me and John converted him before it was all said and done. He enjoyed IH products, mostly cabovers. His last job he drove for was Gless Bros. tank lines. He had a CH mack and really liked it. Morgan P.S. If anyone would ever need this "service" again.....I would be honored

Name: mack b61 (1963) Date Added: 23 July 2009 - 05:50 PM Owner: b61fred Short Description: None Provided View Vehicle

Rob I am no expert on air brakes, but could you have a leaking double check valve somewhere? I know thats probaly not what it is called but I do know that there's valves in the system that can basicly switch from which ever resivor has the highest pressure, some trucks use this on the trailer brakes. I had this kinda thing happen to me on a truck and the complaint was an air leak. I found that the leak was from the foot valve vent. Knowing that most foot valves are replaced by poor diagnostics, not to mention that replacing foot valves is not my favorite job in the world, I removed service lines from the foot valve and found air was back feeding into the foot valve. Ended up it was bleading through this valve from the parking brake resivor on this particular truck. Just a thought. Morgan

I am glad you liked the brake line plug... It's a family favorite. My pappaw never trusted hydraulic brakes, he was a mechanic in the model 'A' ford days. The check valve in the booster line is so the line only flows one way. For insance... you started up your truck and let it idle, it has 18 in of vacuum in the booster resivor, you start to climb a hill with a heavy load, throtle wide open, manifold vacuum is very low 5 in, with the check valve the vacuum in the booster is still at 18in, instead of flowing backwards. It also helps with backfires and you have maybe on aplication with the engine shut down. Morgan

hi I am fairly sure that all your bearing preloads are adjusted by shims instead of collapseable spacers ( crush sleeves ). That would be good for you because you dont have to worry about getting things too tight when tighting the yokes. I would suggest that you look at your yokes and inspect the place where the seal rides. If there is a grove then you have to move the seal to a different part of the yoke so it can seal. This basicly means to either drive the seal in a little deeper or shallower than the original position. Some new seals have already compensated for this so just compair to the original. The other option is to install a speedi-sleve on the yoke. It is a thin stainless steel sleeve that renews the sealing serface on the yoke without machining. Make sure to add a little greese to the seal lip so it dont burn up after assembly. As for brakes, I would say that the vacuum booster is the problem. The fluid goes in and is sucked into the intake and consumed by the engine. Very common. When you rebuild your wheel cylinders make sure there is no pitting of the bore. It will never seal corectly if it is pitted. The rebuilds might not be expensive if you have to pull a wheel and drum off while on the side of the road. I have made a little tool to use incase of this happening. I use an old brake line union the same size as your brake lines and have soldered the hole in the union closed. If you have a blown wheel cylinder on the road, just loosen the line and install the union. Add some brake fluid and you have three wheel brakes instead of none... I hope this will help you out Morgan

The price sounds very fair to me, That should cruise along ok with that much horsepower. Are you use a direct transmission (no overdrive)? Morgan

Rob..... GOOD DEAL!! I just need something reliable enough to pull it!! Will the dodge now feel unwanted? When are you planing to come down and get the 238 at my place? Morgan

Looks nice...... Hope you get it.. can't wait to borrow it!!HaHa Fred

Rob, I know this may sound strange but, heat the core plug up a little and take a candle and melt around the core plug threads and let it cool. Then you can tighten the core plug up a little more and usually stop the leak. The last time I did this I used one of the wife's sented candles. worked great.. Until she found out about it. Did remove that funky mack smell from the cab for a day or two though. b61fred

check out the sliding rear window.. Any one wanting a 3 stick mack here is another one... Fred

On the 10.00x22 tires......... There is one source that I have heard about that still has U.S. made tires, They are made for the military SRF or something like that. I heard about it on the ATHS board a while back. Fred

The old cummins with the single disc and double disc pumps would run off when starved for fuel. They also had a lengthy proceedure to bleed the air out of the system when ran dry.

Hi Rob, It is always nice to have some "me time" once and awhile. I rarely get any anymore with the two boys requiring dads full attention while in the shop. I wish you could have made it to my place for the chapter truck show and pitch in dinner. I think it will be an annual event now. I am thinking about coming over to your place for a spell and dilivering the detroit to you also. Fred

HI all, We have had some poor weather conditions, The rain hit us hard yesterday but has now cleared off to a wonderful sunny day. We will be here till 4 pm Sunday. I will get some pictures to post in a day or so. Rob came over and got to talk with him for a little while, not nearly as long as I would have liked to. It seems when you are running a truck show you are always busy!! Morgan

Hey Guys, I would like to invite all my Mack buddies to the South Central Indiana Truck Club's truck show in Elnora, Indiana. This is our 5th year working the truck show, and we have been growing a little every year. For those that have attended in the past I hope that you want to return for more truck fun. This is in conjunction with the White River Valley Antique Assn. annual show that has been going on for over 25 years. If you would like any info. please check out www.wrvaa.org for the show's other attractions. There's something for the whole family to do at this show. RV camping is available. The first 50 trucks entered will receive a free commemorative tire chock with plaque. 2010ShowFlier.pdf

I have a b73 with a factory equiped 3 speed aux behind a duplex, I could get some details off of the truck if you need. Fred

IF THEY DONT LIKE IT THEY CAN GO HOME...... B61FRED

Mike, It was a rod bearing and not a main, and you are trying to get by as cheap as possible, I would say your block is OK for now. The rod is more than likely trashed, The thing to look for is why she spun. There's usualy a few things that can take out a bearing, antifreeze contamination, lack of lube, or cavitation. Check the other bearings and see if the brass is shown, could be that the bearing was starved of oil because the oil clearance was to great causing the oil to leak out of the gap between the crank and rod bearing. Cavitation will look like little craters in the rod bearing surface, with the displaced metal imbeded into the lead of rest of the bearing. This is the final stages before the bearing fails. You will see this on the other bearings in the engine. This is caused by excessive oil clearance. Contamination will look like the bearing metal is flaking off. I guess the min. work would be to pull the head, remove the damaged rod/piston assy, replace rod, remove crank and have it machined and check the condition of all the other bearings, check the condition of the oil pump and reassemble. As much as that would cost I think it would be good sence to remove the engine, re ring, and check it all out. You really don't know much about the truck at this point. I would hate to see someone throw good money at a totally worn out engine. b61fred

Mike, Is the engine completely removed and tore down or is the low end removed in chassis? I would have the crank turned down, If you think about it if it is turned down .020 thats only 0.010 on each side, less than the thickness of a finger nail of materal will be removed. Plastgage the crank to make sure all the clearance is correct. If the engine is out I would have it line-honed just for safety. I have been told these engine are a joy to run untill you have to work on it. B61fred

As long as you are non-comercial, have temp. plates and the title in your hand, I don't see any problems. You have to get it home some how, and its not like a truck where they wouldn't get their precious fuel tax money. You should be safe. On the other hand using an antique plated truck to pull a non-antique trailer, that in their opinion could be used to haul commercial goods, may not work out so well. I would suggest getting a good map, you know the kind, the ones that have all the scales on them, posibily under the cloak of darkness. Fred

Back years ago, back when the b-models were new, Mack was own by Signal oil company, the name was changed to the Signal companies later on. Signal wanted to sell Mack to the chysler corp. and a deal was made untill the government steped in. Something like the company would be too large. If interrested I can look it up and get the details. B61fred

Hi, The theory on non-detergent oil vs. detergent is, detergent oil is designed to suspend the dirt and contaminates in the oil to be filtered by the oil filter. Non-detergent is engineered to let the particulate matter settle to the bottom of the case where it will build up, and will need to be serviced eventually. As for your engine, I guess the the placement of the filter is the question, If it is full flow type meaning that the oil goes from the sump to the oil pump and through the oil filter before it makes it's way to the lubrication system, It definitely be a detergent system. If the filter is plumbed to a gallery of the engine and then dumps to the sump, I would say it should have non-detergent oil. If the oil has the dirt suspended and can go to the bearings, I would think it would harm them. I have never had the honor of working on a Mack AC engine, but I have noticed that alot of the old engines in equipment and trucks have a plate to remove on the pan to clean the "sludge" out near the pickup screen on the pan for maintenance. B61fred