Rob

I've never had primary employment driving a truck until that sod delivery job last year. Didn't much care for the owner's drama and backstabbing of the customer base I was exposed to so departed and now deliver farm equipment working as much as I want. It is great as the people are glad to see you on both pickup and delivery. Never any bitching from anyone.

Used to be an avid reader of Tom Mccahill in Popular Mechanic's magazine in the early years. Always accurate and honest and could be brutal on brands. Popular Science was another as was Car and Driver. All a bunch of mostly meaningless advertisement nowadays.

Right you are.

I've not been into a Mack dealership for a lot of years myself. Used to purchase my filter kits and most parts from them but dealership ownership has changed hands several times over the last 15 years and I don't have anything new, I've went aftermarket. Most of the guys I was both familiar, and friendly with have long departed so many contacts gone. Not seen a "Bulldog" magazine in a lot of years myself.

I know how difficult parts are to obtain there from past experience. The last party I sent parts to initiated everything and all the conversions were done by them. Used to be plenty of Mack Trucks in your country but not so many "Western" variants so I can imagine a radiator of the type needed would not be easy to obtain. I don't have a radiator for an RS series to photograph but do try to work with Superdog for the one he has. If you two can work together, I'm not that far to get it picked up and packaged. I'll then enlist another friend whom is a Mack collector to arrange transport to Miami, or whatever port is called for. I really don't do too much on my phone and don't know the application you mention. Really don't know how to call out of the USA with this phone either.

I remember seeing that cover before I went into the Navy at the Mack dealership in St. Louis. I don't remember the magazine being Canadian however.

Thanks. I actually had an MS-300P back in '04, but did not put it on the road. It was in the shop for cleanup/paint when I seen trends collapsing, so never had a bed built and rotated it through.

Happy B'day Brian. I was down in Springfield today and yakked with some old friends from eons ago. Asked one of em about a trailer for you and they'll do some scanning as they still work in truck repair. Rob

Mike; I shipped some 1972 R model parts to Venenzuela once and it really wasn't difficult to do. It did take about 40 days for them to arrive in that country however. I just had to ship the parts to Miami, Fl to be staged for a container load going to the country. I didn't pay for anything so don't know the true cost, but I had no problem with the remittance at all. If Victor will initiate the import procedures and get you paid, I'll grab the radiator when over there and have a friend whom gets to Miami often transport it to the staging point at cost. I'd do that to see another old Mack in operation.

I sold two of mine to a auto body repair outfit in Missouri, and one to a private owner to haul his Packard limousine car. I heard my black one burnt up in a building fire a couple years after being sold. Sure missed that one as most around here knew me by that truck as rollbacks weren't all that popular in those days; but were gaining. I'd be willing to purchase another CS-300P if could be found without rust, which will be hard to do.

Thanks Kevin for posting up the Midliner stuff. Those trucks will always hold a special place in me as they rendered such good service. Not once did any have to be retrieved away from the shop. Only one that was marginal was a water pump loss. It was summer and the driver stopped every 50 miles or so on Rt. 54 through Missouri to refill with water and made it all the way home without overheating. I gave him an extra "Franklin" for looking after my equipment like that.

But isn't the MP series engine a rebadged Volvo design?

Wedge brakes on my 74 RL797 work very well. Never been into them myself so can't answer as to why they work but they will put you into the glass if panic applied and not ready for it. Never have had a wheel end open so can't vouch for anything about them at all. I remember well when they were common, but I've never worked on a set myself.

When I went to get my first old truck antique plated back in 98, I asked my insurance man about it. He actually did the looking into the matter of what I could, and could not do with the registration. Most of the Illinois SOS offices had no clue so he worked with Springfield to find answers. Once that became clear I was able to get the SOS's office to process the title work for the other trucks easily. I keep eight trucks licensed citing they are so inexpensive to keep that way. I've had my A-40 with dirt spilling over three sides being so full and the local cops wave at me as I go by. However, they all know me and I'm not doing anything for hire.

I'll have to look for Polaroid photos of the blue one as it had a drop axle, 28' bed, and stinger to haul three cars. That scan of the black one is from a Polaroid photo originally too. Didn't get a digital camera till 2000.

That black one was a 1989. The white one was a 2000, and the blue one was a 1994, or 1995. All the axles were the same and the engines were 210hp with BDSL-181 six speed transmissions. In my memories of running them they were absolute "Gems" to own being very comfortable and smooth. They were however maintained very well during my tenure.

I hauled insurance salvage vehicles out of Chicago for years with two of the Midliners, a GMC 7500, and and two IH S1900, 4900, and S1700, 4700 series. Exited that business in 2005 when the industry collapsed and haven't looked back. Never had loans on equipment and sold everything clear and clean. The Midliners were full air brake systems and besides the occasional air compressor problem, were trouble free. The rear axle housings were funny looking in those trucks and the cap had the planetary gears with the Sun being mouted to the drive axle shaft. Only ever seen photos and never actually had one broken open myself as didn't have leaks, or broken parts to deal with.

No, not of the axles. Don't believe I ever did photograph anything on those trucks as really never had any problems with them. This was my personal one which I kept pretty much local unless another was in for service:

Yes Victor, radiators have gotten really expensive in this country and the narrow RS style has been getting some age on for quite some time. I'm sure there is probably one around someplace unused but finding a serviceable one used is going to be tough. Do you have upper and lower tanks to recore, or are you missing the complete radiator?

Yup. CS-300P trucks. RVI drive axles.

All three of my Midliners were planetary hubs and I never had any problems with them. Smooth and quiet.

My thoughts exactly.

Bottled water is plentiful around here. Toilet paper shelves remain empty however. Was in to the Wal-Mart this morning and that's what I seen. Picked up a case of bottled was as I do each two weeks routinely. I've seen that truck in the past in person. Think I talked to the owner also but it's been years. I remember the ATHS decal in the lower rt. windscreen as I supported them on the corporate level then.

Not going to disagree with your methods as everybody does what works for them, but if one of my trucks had a flat, that was end of the work cycle until the matter was addressed. Didn't matter if tubes or not. I'm not a tire guy but trucks always carried hose, bottle jack, cribbing, impact wrench and socket set for the task, along with a spare tire. Never had driver's too good to change their own tires, nor would have. Seen a lot of guys running as you suggest with both tube, and tubeless. Pickup a nail in say an outer dual, and worry about it later. At sometime they're sitting at the edge of the road and as you say "losing wages" awaiting a tire service truck to arrive, then paying that tire service guy to install two tires rather than one as the original problem was negated or minimized in priority. Cannot say I really ever had many tire problems as always purchased decent quality up front, ran to about 25% and rotated them through as they had trade value with the tire dealer I used. I would pay "dead time" to my driver's also so there wasn't really any motivation to run equipment till failure which would have ultimately bitten into everyone's profit sharing offered at Christmas time. Never ran a mix of Budd, and Dayton hubs so the spare tire always fit the truck. That's just kinda the way I did things over 10 years and was always profitable. Not suggesting it works for everyone, but maintaining is always cheaper than replacing to/for me.

Nothing really wrong with tube type tires; just need a bit of brains, and common sense to work with them. Many of the younger set lack these specific qualities and therefore the ability to think attempting to make up for the obvious with a poor rendition of snark rhetoric when in effect they make themselves appear as fools.