Finally did it. I now own a Mack.

[farmer52]

NIce, doesn't look like the suspension moved any.

[j hancock]

You guys have one hell of a sandbox.

[Wobblin-Goblin]

I don't own the plant where all of this is taking place. The people that own it are family friends and they are my concrete supplier (I own a concrete form/floor business). They've been very generous in their support on this project by allowing me to work on the truck in their garages and keep it there.

[1957B61Vt]

Nice to have friends!

I find that usually you can count true

Friends on one hand. I

Like to watch your videos

And see your progress

[57 bcr]

Nice truck there,Gobblin! Your work on the truck looks great. Al

[Vladislav]

Nice to see that truck came into the good hands.

Hope you'll have time and opportunity to continue making up it's appireance and show us.

Thank you for posting

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Now that it's getting much colder, there is less (no) room inside to work on the truck, so we are readying it to move to our farm. Hopefully we will have the body off tomorrow and by the end of the day it will be in our garage.

Next on the list:

1. Prep the hood. Paint under it, prime the top.

2. Prep and paint the firewall.

3. Prep and prime the doors.

4. Prep and prime the cab.

5. Install new lights on the back of the truck and re-wire from the cab back.

6. Install new directional lights on the fenders and re-wire as needed.

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Today's progress:

1. We took the body off the truck. It took a little bit of effort, mostly because the pins connecting the link arms to the body were WELDED to the body. Talk about a head-scratcher.

2. We moved the truck to its new home on our farm. We've got a big enough garage for it, so now we'll be continuing our refurbishment here.

Of course, some pics for your enjoyment:

[thomastractorsvc]

Keep this up and it will be back on the road with new clothes in a couple weeks!

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Yesterday and today's progress:

1. Removed tail lights, license plate plywood bracket, and pintle hitch. Cleaned all the caked on asphalt, dirt, and grime off the rear end. Had to use a chisel to get rid of the asphalt. Directionals wouldn't come off with penetrating oil, so will have to resort to heat tomorrow.

2. Took the home-made snorkel (raised air intake) off. Folded close the parts of the canister they cut open under it. Will have to weld the seams and holes shut. Took out the flat stock steel plate they had covering the exterior air intake screen under the air cleaner canister. Dumped out the oil from the bottom of the air cleaner and rinsed it out. After having just cleaned it two months ago, I was surprised how much dirt and gunk was back in it.

3. Took the hood off and straightened it. Removed any hood lacing clips that were still on the radiator cover and firewall.

4. Temporarily installed the front directionals on the fenders. They look good. Can't wait to permanently install and wire them.

5. Tested the remaining lights. Headlights, tail lights (before I took them off) and all but the center roof light work. The high-beam switch and indicator work as well. Running lights (under headlights) and no directionals front or back work.

6. Sprayed down all the nuts associated with the side mirrors a few times in preparation for their removal tomorrow.

7. Re-tightened a hose clamp that loosened and came off the intake manifold.

8. Installed a bunch of new rubber bumpers and screws for the flat fender tops.

[mrsmackpaul]

my god I am a lazy ass you are making me look slack top job

Paul

[Maddog13407]

looking good. was gonna ask what was going on with that funky air cleaner snorkel. some people shouldn't be allowed around a sawsall or a welder..

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Yeah, I never liked it either. I suppose it worked like it was supposed to, but doggonit it looked ugly.

Hopefully I'll have the hood sanded, prepped, primed, and the underside painted by the end of the day tomorrow, among other things.

[gearhead204]

cant say for sure on a B model but mack was famous for the cab lights using 2 switches one clearance lights the other running lights. might want to look for another sw. Looks great nice progress.

[Wobblin-Goblin]

You are correct about the two switches operating the cab roof lights. I didn't realize this until yesterday. Kind of weird, if you ask me.

[Joe Ditchkus]

I would think one of the reasons Mack used 2 switches so you could flash trailer lights without loosing headlights.Like the switch on top of dash on R,F and U-Models to flash headlights or trailer lights. Great idea. Joe D.

[Joe Ditchkus]

I forgot to add nice work. Joe D.

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Well, I didn't quite get done what I wanted to today, but still made progress nonetheless. I used a wire wheel on my grinder to strip the hood down to bare steel. The right side is in rough shape with really bad pitting. The left side is decent. I also had to use a torch on the nuts holding the rear directionals on. No amount of penetrating oil worked. Hopefully I can put some time into it tomorrow.

[Wobblin-Goblin]

Today I used a wire brush attachment with my power drill and cleaned/stripped the underside of the hoods, then painted the undersides. The tops of the hoods were stripped to bare metal yesterday. The paint job underneath isn't the greatest, but I wasn't worried about fully stripping, prepping, and priming under them. I just wanted to get the rust and loose stuff off and then make sure the surface was clean before painting. It looks better than it did before and now the color will match the finished product on top of the hood and the cab.

ETA: I was scratching my head, wondering why the fresh paint was crinkling in a few spots right after I applied it. The only guess I could come up with was the steel was too cold, which is weird because I put the hoods by the stove for a while and when I started painting, they were warm to the touch. Perhaps they cooled quickly when I moved them away from the stove for painting. Oh well. I'll live with it.

We will be prepping the tops of the hoods on Monday (one side will need body work and filler), then priming them. At least we have a bare metal surface to work with, though. After that, we start on the doors. I'm hoping we have the doors completely prepped and primed by sometime next week. Then it's on to the cab.

[thomastractorsvc]

may have been old paint incompatible with the new especially since it was not stripped down to bare metal.

How did the wire wheel on the grinder work for stripping paint? I have used them with a drill but never on a grinder, when I stripped/sanded my B I used a da, paint stripper, small spot sand blasting and wire brush on my drill. I saw the heavy duty wire wheels but never tried it. I thought it may damage the sheet metal.

[85snowdog]

Wobblin, I think thomastractorsvc has you pointed in the right direction. The paints may not be compatible.

You also have to make sure there is no trace of oils or wax. The paint will react to that also.

Before you paint ,wipe the surface with rubbing alcohol and a clean cloth.

You've done such a good job so far it would be a shame to not have the green turn out good also.

[1957B61Vt]

We had similar issue and paint guy at Napa said it was the old

Mack lacquer paint reacting with newer single stage urethane .

Recommended completely strip it we used aircraft stripper because it was easy

And panels were in good shape. Good luck with it.

I look forward to reading the thread everyday thanks for posting!

[Wobblin-Goblin]

You guys might be right. I thought it may have been the temperature of the steel, but since I didn't strip under the hoods down to bare metal, it might have been the reaction. The weird thing is most of the new paint stuck and looks pretty good. As it is, I'm not that concerned since it's not going to be seen much, and the fact that the tops are stripped to bare metal, so we will be starting fresh where it counts.

The wire attachment I used on my power drill was straight wire. It wore off grease, dirt, and loose paint pretty well, but it doesn't strip solid paint at all. For that duty, I use my hand-held grinder and a woven wire attachment. It'll strip the glitter off a stripper.

BTW, NAPA priced out the green I'm looking for at over $200 per gallon. Ouch.

[gearhead204]

that's why all my stuff is done in tractor colors 50 bucks for a gallon of enamel is more in my price range and it's not to finicky to work with. and I don't have clear coat pealing off after 3 years. .....But I might have to buff and wax it to make it look good.

[carlotpilot]

that's why all my stuff is done in tractor colors 50 bucks for a gallon of enamel is more in my price range and it's not to finicky to work with. and I don't have clear coat pealing off after 3 years. .....But I might have to buff and wax it to make it look good.

go to sherwin williams check out their industrial enamel they will make any color you want and not charge you both arms and half a leg and it will hold up better than that 200+ a gal .stuff and look as good or better STUCK THIS IN WRONG SLOT OH WELL HE`LL SEE IT