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Ford CL-9000 - Ford's surprise in 1977


kscarbel

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I remember Ford recalling them because the air bags for the cab suspension,were too small(and would fail) and you would see them leaning to one side or another!

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IF YOU BOUGHT IT, A TRUCK BROUGHT IT..AND WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH IT, A TRUCK WILL HAUL IT AWAY!!! Big John Trimble,WRVA

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I remember Ford recalling them because the air bags for the cab suspension,were too small(and would fail) and you would see them leaning to one side or another!

Al

I heard that they were real tough to get used to driving because of the 4 point air ride.

When you went into sharp turns like off and on ramps they made you feel that they were going flip over!

Doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me!

Ron

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Someone told me quite awhile ago that the Mack MH cab was a cousin to the the CL-9000 Ford.

I don't know for sure whether this is true or not, but if you look at the two of them there sure are a lot of similarities!

I liked to know for sure who made the MH cab for Mack, never could get a straight answer.

Was told of two different suppliers B.F. Goodrich and Gentech, any body know the true story?

Ron

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Ron, you're right...I hated looking in the mirror on curves because you leaned way over and the stack didn't. They had a crazy dual A/C system...I was told that they were nearly unrepairable.

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Ford surprised twice, first with the CL-9000 and later with the HN80 AeroMax/Louisville range. After the lackluster W-series, who would have thought Ford had it in them to design an impressive next-generation high cabover in 1977 with a 4-point cab air suspension and other comforts never before seen.

You definitely have a very eclectic and broad range of knowledge for the different truck manufacturers as well as the most informative literature on this site.

Keep 'em coming.....

It's refreshing to look forward to your next informative post.

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Someone told me quite awhile ago that the Mack MH cab was a cousin to the the CL-9000 Ford.

I don't know for sure whether this is true or not, but if you look at the two of them there sure are a lot of similarities!

I liked to know for sure who made the MH cab for Mack, never could get a straight answer.

Was told of two different suppliers B.F. Goodrich and Gentech, any body know the true story?

Ron

The initial problems with the cab air springs were resolved.

The CL-9000 has no relationship whatsoever with the Mack MH Ultra-Liner. The cab construction is entirely different.

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In the same era, Ford UK turned out the "Transcontinental", assembled in Holland for most of the production, which featured a cab from Berliet. Similar to the CL-9000 in basic shape but on US Louisville L type chassis rails, it shared the 'fully suspended' coil sprung wobbly cab and had creature comfort features ahead of most UK competitors. Built too heavy to be profitable at the UK, 32-ton GVW, it never sold well, Maybe it gave the driver sea sickness......

http://www.fordtranscontinental.nl/

BC Mack

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The initial problems with the cab air springs were resolved.

The CL-9000 has no relationship whatsoever with the Mack MH Ultra-Liner. The cab construction is entirely different.

I know the cab construction was different, the Ford was aluminum and the Mack was mostly fiberglass with some steel or aluminum framework.

The Mack co. called it Maxiglass.

There are however, in my, opinion a lot of "cosmetic" similarities between the two.

Do you have any information on who built the cab?

Ron

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On 3/8/2013 at 9:21 PM, kmeitz said:

Maislin Transport out of Montreal Canada ran their share of Fords in the late 70's. My father ran central dispatch out of Phila for them, and latter went on to run their special commodities division.

Sacrebleu!

I was on my way from Belmont Park to Saratoga one time and was waiting to pay the toll at the Suffern toll plaza on the N.Y.Thruway.

To my left was one these CL-9000's of Maislin's, they had run the overboard breather on this one under the truck and made it exit out to the R.H. side under the fuel tank.

Looked like it had auxiliary motor in it, it was puffin' so hard---wonder how much longer they ran it that way?

Ron

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Al

I heard that they were real tough to get used to driving because of the 4 point air ride.

When you went into sharp turns like off and on ramps they made you feel that they were going flip over!

Doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun to me!

Ron

Ron,

No kiddin'! We had a guy around this area that ran one with an 8V-92T in it.As soon as the Driptroit puked,he repowered it with a early 350 (tip-turbine) Mack! One of the strangest sounding FORDs around,but he said he really liked that cab.His father had all MACKs,so he was well versed in the advantages of BULLDOG POWER! :bulldog3: Al

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IF YOU BOUGHT IT, A TRUCK BROUGHT IT..AND WHEN YOU'RE DONE WITH IT, A TRUCK WILL HAUL IT AWAY!!! Big John Trimble,WRVA

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Ron,

No kiddin'! We had a guy around this area that ran one with an 8V-92T in it.As soon as the Driptroit puked,he repowered it with a early 350 (tip-turbine) Mack! One of the strangest sounding FORDs around,but he said he really liked that cab.His father had all MACKs,so he was well versed in the advantages of BULLDOG POWER! :bulldog3: Al

Al,

He finally made a decent truck out of it!

That's the way we felt about our three "Huskidynes", the three Brockways we put 237's in!

Ron

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Someone told me quite awhile ago that the Mack MH cab was a cousin to the the CL-9000 Ford.

I don't know for sure whether this is true or not, but if you look at the two of them there sure are a lot of similarities!

I liked to know for sure who made the MH cab for Mack, never could get a straight answer.

Was told of two different suppliers B.F. Goodrich and Gentech, any body know the true story?

Ron

Ron,

I agree, there is a resemblence to the MH. There was also a resemblence in the prototype CH model and the Louisville.

Ken

PRR Country and Charter member of the "Mack Pack"

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I thought they called all of them two story falcons---as long as they were tall C.O.E. Fords.

H, W, or Cl-9000

Ron

I think the reason that the two story Falcon nickname got stuck on them was because the H was introduced about the same time as the Ford Falcon Automobile or so I was told back in the 60's.

The only Ford that I ever heard called a two story Falcon was the H-series.

I have heard the CL9000 called a few things, the problem is it ain't got nothing to do with a Falcon, plus I don't think Barry allows that kind of language on this site and definitely not in mixed company.

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On 3/9/2013 at 0:44 AM, 57 bcr said:

Ron,

No kiddin'! We had a guy around this area that ran one with an 8V-92T in it.As soon as the Driptroit puked,he repowered it with a early 350 (tip-turbine) Mack! One of the strangest sounding FORDs around,but he said he really liked that cab.His father had all MACKs,so he was well versed in the advantages of BULLDOG POWER! :bulldog3: Al

I got roped into owning one with a silver 8V92 (475HP). The bank that I dealt with repo'ed it with a bad engine and being upside down in the truck decided that the way out was to put a new 18K engine in it. After about a year of trying to retail it, they literally begged me to take it at an enormous loss (to them) yet it still almost bankrupted me to keep it on the road though the drivers did seem to like it.

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I drove a CL 9000 in 1979 when they were new, it ran pretty good and don't remember too much down time, then the owner went out and bought a brand new 1980 IH Transstar II with a 350 cummins and fuller 13 speed roadranger. I got the newest truck and it had AC!

Driving in California with doubles,we ran LA to Phoenix and would drive to desert center swap trailers and drive back. The other guys were always pissed that the youngest guy got the newest truck! I do remember that we didn't have many Macks in California, mostly just concrete trucks with a modified U cab. We did have a L model firetruck across from school and I always wanted to buy it, but the guy wouldn't sell. Maybe that's how I ended up restoring the B model firetruck, always wanted a Mack!

Firemack

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