? About Dm800/rd800

[Bullheaded]

After seeing the awesome pics of the big DM800 by 45LMSWM, it has me wondering......the RD800 being the newer of Mack's heavy haulers.....did it have a bigger stronger frame, or is the DM 800 even or better as far as chassis strength?

[Guest 45LMSWM]

After seeing the awesome pics of the big DM800 by 45LMSWM, it has me wondering......the RD800 being the newer of Mack's heavy haulers.....did it have a bigger stronger frame, or is the DM 800 even or better as far as chassis strength?

I'm not too sure why Mack discontinued the DM800. I know a lot of people had said they stopped production of them in '86, but we supposedly(according to the Mack Museum), have the last DM800 to leave the factory, a 1988 DM888SX, one of an order of 6 for Ambrosio & Sons of Jersey City, NJ. The other 5 were DM886SX tandem dump trucks.

Both the DM800 & RD800 were built side by side for a few years, but I am not sure when production of the RD800 started. I have seen pictures of RD822s as early as '82. I think it may have had a lot to do with the drop in sales of the DM800 and other steel butterfly hooded trucks, as the steel hood DM600s were dropped around that time as well, and Mack just continued RD800 production to satisfy those customers who still wanted trucks with steel fenders/butterfly hoods. If you had taken a tour of the Macungie plant during the mid nineties, it appeared as though the RD888 was quite popular. On one tour I took there, probably around 1994, there had to be at least 40 of them on the property.

-John

[macks and brockways]

I think it would be easier to load the front axle on a DM due to the 65" axle to back of cab, and possibly would have a tighter turn radius. As for production stopping in 88, somewhere I have seen a picture of a lot full of DM800's most with single square headlights not the double square RD lights or the traditional state side round DM lights. The caption said something about still in production in or for the Mexican/ south america markets this photo was around 92/94......

[Bullheaded]

Thanks guys. I was just wondering this because I never saw many DM800's around here, but the RD800 was real popular in Canada. Still a few hauling logs just north of me, with the planetary rears. The DM600,and DMM are everywhere, pretty much own the ready mix market here. The only DM800 I ever saw in person was about 20 years ago. A guy that I recently hauled for with my dump truck had a const. business years ago and he had one that used to be a float tractor with a winch on it. When I saw it 20 years ago it was retired and pretty much nothing left (it was scrapped not long after). All I remember of it was it had huge frame rails, big 58 or 65,000 rears on camelback and a V8 Detroit and two sticks. It had to be late 60's or early 70's I think.

I do know the RD800 was introduced in Canada for 1982. I have the 81/82 Bulldog magazines announcing it. They were built in Oakville, Ontario. Say's production scheduled for Feb. 1982. The EM9-400 listed as base engine.

Another thing I noticed, in the vol.82, no.1 issue of Bulldog, they show a project in Sri Lanka where they shipped a bunch of steel hood DM686SX's to, and you can see a couple steel hood's with center mounted cabs like the RD800. One has breathers on both sides and Australian style snorkels.

So basically I was just wondering if they had similar frames.

[David]

"So basically I was just wondering if they had similar frames"

I have a 1984 Mack "Sales Engineering Publication" on frames that shows the DM800 and the RD800 (with 299" or shorter wheelbase) using the same frame (10.62 x 3.25 x .312). It also shows the RD800 (with 300" or longer wheelbase) using the same frame (10.75 x 3.25 x .375) as the RM600 and DMM600. The big difference between the two is the second one has a lower "belly" from the back of the cab to the rear. It changes from 10.75" high to 13.38".

[Bullheaded]

Thanks for the info David.