1949 Mack EH tractor value?

[Wayne Elliott IV]

Hello, I just joined the forum and I've been wondering what price I could sell a 1949 Mack tractor for. This truck is running and partially restored and somehow passes inspections, though its starting and lights can be unreliable. Its engine and transmission are supposed to be a factory rebuild that occurred shortly before the cotten gin closed down so it is a good truck that won't be needing a clutch anytime soon.

[Superdog]

lets see some pics

[j_martell]

lets see some pics

X2

[Wayne Elliott IV]

I'm sorry I'm down at school and I'll have to dig through my laptop or head home in a few weeks and take a few. I'm wondering why I didn't mention its an EH tractor but that is about all I know for sure right now.

[Vladislav]

Costs may be too different. Starting from a scrap price and up to big $$$ for top restored ones.

Usually people like to buy resto projects for not expensive or ready stuff.

Something with big investments but unfinished is difficult to get money back.

Vlad

[mike69mackman]

Welcome to the nuthouse we call Bmt! We love pics. But just like vlad said it could be worth a little or a lot. Again welcome aboard.

[1977vega]

Looks good to me

[j hancock]

Nice truck.

http://www.daytonaparts.com/

may be able to help with Zenith carb parts.

EH's were usually 5 speeds, Mono shift 10 speeds or a Duplex 10 speed.

[Bigdogtrucker]

That is nice! I'd preserve it as is for now and enjoy it...

[Wayne Elliott IV]

Thanks guys, we are interested in the Zenith carb parts.  I've partially rebuilt a car and one thing I'd like to know is if there is any glass, leather or sensitive parts in the zenith carbs? I got a truck to run much better just by taking the carb apart, soaking it in acetone and gas, blowing the passages out with compressed air, and replacing any gaskets I broke or that were shot.  And rebuilding an accelerator pump now that I think about it.  This carb had a leather gasket on a glass fuel level window so I'm hoping the mack could be easier.  I think dad saw a complete carb on ebay or something but it was pretty high.

Having a look at the daytona parts link, thanks j hancock.

I may make a post about the ignition troubles in the troubleshooting section later but as I understand it we probably have a points/coil or magneto (throwing out words that sound right...) setup that is about worn out.  Does anyone know of replacement parts or rebuild methods that would work, short of finding original parts or sending it off to someplace that deals with this stuff?

[j hancock]

You should be able to soak the carb if needed.

That truck should have a Delco distributor on it.  Post the number off the distributor tag and I will see if I have some part numbers for cap, rotor, condenser and points.  If the shaft has excessive wobble because of worn bushings, a replacement may have to be sourced.

[Maddog13407]

usually Napa has any of those points, condenser and cap for those 6 cylinder continental/Mack flatheads. pretty common 12 volt parts.

[fxfymn]

Two places that are good on older carbs are Treadwells in NY and Carolina Carb. in Wilmington NC http://www.mycarburetordoctor.com/

I'm a bit confused (yeah I know Randy what else is new) is it an ex- fire truck? if so it should have dual ignitions with one magneto and one distributor. it is pretty rare for both to quit at the same time.

As for the clutch the thing that jumps out at me is that the pressure plate or flywheel is warped, or you have a broken spring on the pressure plate. Best thing to do is to pull it and have it re-built.

[Wayne Elliott IV]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, unfortunately finals are taking most of my time and thought until about mid-may.  I was pretty off talking about 15 speeds...after more reading around I think this truck just has the original mono-shift transmission converted to a manual hi-low stick, and this is apparently designed for splitting first gear mainly?  We drive it bobtail and generally have shifted through the low range and then shifted the hi-low going down on ramps to reach highway speed which is like 60 at best.  So perhaps in the end we need to study downshifting much more and just don't know what we're doing.

I think Dad has put at least an aftermarket distributor on the truck and probably the points, not sure about the magneto.  His claim was that the aftermarket parts seemed to lead to a worse or different skipping problem, maybe they weren't quite the right tolerances in appearance.  On a recent trip in the truck he wasn't sure he was going to make it back in the yard since the truck tried to die slowing down on the off ramp or something.  That makes the shaft wobble something to look into I think but bad parts aren't out of the question either. If I can get a chance I'll try to come back with part numbers next time.

I am pretty certain this isn't an ex-fire truck but I was pretty confusing and long winded up above.  I think my grandad bought this truck new or slightly used for cotton gin work and his employees drove it for years and it always had a 5th wheel on the back until we removed it a few years ago.

Truck also needs to get on the E model registry I think, that's been quiet over a year.

[Wayne Elliott IV]

How does one identify an EHT? Does it just mean EH Tractor, or thought I read something about a heavy front axle on the registry pages.

Was the original air? powered mono-shift designed for splitting each gear?  In that case I need to put an extension on that far hi low lever, can't imagine someone wanting to lean over that far and down to split every gear but who knows the cab is pretty narrow.  Splitting gears as it is almost requires two people or sitting pretty much in the middle of the cab so I'm thinking it's made to just be driven in high range as a 5 or 6 speed, can't remember if it has a 6th gear right now.  Alternatively if it's supposed to be some sort of duplex? setup then i guess the question is once the low range has been gone through does it matter which stick we shift first for the transition into the high range?  From the videos I've watched it seems like the procedure is generally reversed for downshifts.

Also, should there be a way to change my screen name and profile stuff on here?  Not happy with the junk facebook left me and glad I deleted it in favor of forums like this.

[Wayne Elliott IV]

To reiterate, don't think it has dual ignitions but I'll be able to answer for certain come May if not sooner.

[j hancock]

When you get a chance, pictures can go a long way in helping to identify what you have. The engine and trans will be stamped with info.

EHT is indeed an EH Tractor, this info will be on the tag attached to the seat bolster and stamped into the frame rail.  Your tag should say something like EHT1D6365 which is the VIN for the truck.  The engine number will be stamped on a pad on the left side of the block at the front just below where the head bolts on.  It will start with EN.  More than likely EN354.  Hard to say where the trans is stamped because we don't know what it is.

[Wayne Elliott IV]

Thanks again for your help, I guess for now we're in limbo until I can get some numbers.  If the main stick matches the transmission in the truck (why mismatch a stick?) then it is probably a mono-shift since it has the splitter under the knob which doesn't function any more.  I'm assuming the other short *aftermarket stick on the far right does the hi-low that splitter did originally but I'll be glad to know for certain in a few weeks.  Best guess for now.

Also, Dad has mentioned problems with water in the carburetor back when the worst of the starting problems were happening and apparently he drained a good bit out of the gas tanks and the truck did better.  What happened for a while was that the truck would start up okay and run well enough, but if it was turned off (or choked off) then it was a royal pain to get it running again.  At one point we towed it around the neighborhood with an f150, which may have looked a little silly.  I hope if this water sat very long it was just in the gas tanks but we're not sure if condensation would be enough to develop this amount of water.  If the tanks were mostly empty, maybe this is possible. The truck sits for months between drives and does have drains at the bottom of the tanks, but most gas tanks do without commonly being used to drain water. The hood could also use a tarp as some of the ignition/starting trouble is probably water and dampness related.  Has anyone else heard of this happening with saddle tanks?

For parts it sounds like in the future we might be looking for a distributor shaft, and also one of the fuel caps managed to bounce and rattle it's way off the truck (or it got left sitting on the tank).  Dad found a pvc cap that had the same threads and painted it green; surely DOT would be thrilled.  A original metal cap would make a nice stocking stuffer but we'll probably stumble across something from another different truck that fits eventually.

[41chevy]

If you are running gas with any percentage of Ethanol , that's where the water in coming from. Ethanol  absorbs moisture. Use the Blue Marine Sta-ble and you should pretty much end the fuel problems. 

Point ignition "problems"  are something we used to live with. The rub block wears down from lack of lube and closes up the point gap. A weak contact spring will cause point bounce, Dirty of eroded contacts cause hard starting and running problems (used to have a point file to fix that) a weak condenser causes starting problems and last a poor contact from the rotor to the coil twer on the cap causes problems. Take a close look at the igition coil, they weaken over time. Check it with an ohm meter and check the spark for a good blue color. I would get a NAPA set of points, condenser,  cap and rotor and go from there or read up on the Pertronix Electronic Ignition conversion that fits under the cap and nobody knows it is there.      Paul

[fxfymn]

Quote

it is probably a mono-shift since it has the splitter under the knob which doesn't function any more

Are you sure this isn't a switch for a 2 speed axle? Others on here will know more about this than I do, but I don't think they used "splitter" switches for transmissions back then.

[Brocky]

Wayne

In reference to Paul's comment on ethanol gas. Besides the water seperation problem, that s**t will eat up all the rubber components / gaskets in the lines, fuel pump, and carbs...

Here is a link to a listing of stations which sell NON ethanol gas. I use it exclusively in ALL my pre 2000 year vehicles and even new small engines.

http://www.pure-gas.org/