Spec'ing a NEW MACK!! (Volmac)

[Rolling18]

Good day Gurus!,

Brand new to the M-Universe. all I know about these are what the salesman has said and a week of internet "research"

I had a couple of test drives and I really do love the cab noise level, the trannie, looks, power seems good, turning radius, small things I didn't care for:

only 12 gauges, interior materials fit and finish, No LED head or tail lights (old school), one-way fitting keys

Sooo, I wanted to get your thoughts on a future dump truck before I place the down payment $$$$$

options I "must get" or avoid?, warranties?, 

Quick version:

2019 Granite: 

MP8 505Hp, M-drive 14sp, M-ride, 4 or 5 axle, All disk brakes, "upgraded" interior, lockers, maybe nav.

*also considering 2019 Kenworth T880, Cummins X15 (performance) 525 hp, 4 axle, Allison 6sp., all disk brakes (considerably more  $$$$$)

Coming from a Kenworth 2007 W900s, Cat C-13 380 hp 538k, Allison RDS+4500, 5 axle, 18 gauges!!, offering only $70k in trade:(

 

this will be my only truck! so uptime is critical to making a living and truck payments.

thanks!!

 

[Dirtymilkman]

Every new Mack truck will have led headlights. If this granite doesn't have them, you'll be able to get them. Your dealership shouldn't make that a deal breaker. He should be able to get them installed on that truck. 

Never get the M-ride. Piss poor setup. Go with Camelback or air ride. The M ride is the old Volvo T ride. They're pushing it at some dealerships and in our area it was tried and the dealer said, never again. 

I know what you mean by the gauges comment. I like the dash layout in my Titan way better. 

[kscarbel2]

If it's a dump truck application, give an Allison transmission serious thought.

In this day of high fuel prices, I'd strongly consider the 350-500 horsepower X12 (great engine) and pair it with the Allison.

Your comfort level with the folks at the local dealer, their ability to support you, is half the equation. In this age of mega-dealers, there are more and more problem locations.

[Mackpro]

In the last GU's we ordered with Allisons, you can't get the 505 HP due to no big enough radiator to cool both the engine and trans. However you can get the 505 with any other trans. 

[1965]

You need to read the thread:

2018 mp7 turbo problems

I can’t help myself from saying; I wouldn’t buy a new Mack if they gave me a lifetime warranty.

[Dirtymilkman]

1 hour ago, 1965 said:

You need to read the thread:

2018 mp7 turbo problems

I can’t help myself from saying; I wouldn’t buy a new Mack if they gave me a lifetime warranty.

This situation applies to every truck manufacturer. I know guys that had situations like that or worse with Kenworth's, Pete's, frieghtshakers and binders. A friend of mine had his peterbilt burn to the ground. It started in the dash. Ins company wouldn't cover it because it was a new truck and said was defective. Peterbilt said insurance should cover it. International trucks with maxforce engines couldn't make it from the factory to the dealer even. Every company makes their trucks now with the intention of the components lasting til warranty is over. There are no longer "heirloom" trucks. 

[1965]

2 hours ago, 1965 said:

You need to read the thread:

2018 mp7 turbo problems

I can’t help myself from saying; I wouldn’t buy a new Mack if they gave me a lifetime warranty.

This was just 1 example;

You need to read the threads on the fuel systems on the MP engines. (Injectors, injector cups, & the all new so called common rail). 

Need to read up on the rear axles that (used to be unbreakable). That Mack redesigned & lots of guys on here swapped to Eaton.

Need to read up on how Volvo supports Mack.

[carlotpilot]

1 hour ago, Dirtymilkman said:

This situation applies to every truck manufacturer. I know guys that had situations like that or worse with Kenworth's, Pete's, frieghtshakers and binders. A friend of mine had his peterbilt burn to the ground. It started in the dash. Ins company wouldn't cover it because it was a new truck and said was defective. Peterbilt said insurance should cover it. International trucks with maxforce engines couldn't make it from the factory to the dealer even. Every company makes their trucks now with the intention of the components lasting til warranty is over. There are no longer "heirloom" trucks. 

from the horror storys i`ve been reading and being told about most of the new stuff won`t even make it through the warranty period. so its a crap shoot which one you buy

[1965]

52 minutes ago, carlotpilot said:

from the horror storys i`ve been reading and being told about most of the new stuff won`t even make it through the warranty period. so its a crap shoot which one you buy

I agree with both of you; but the deal with the fuel systems on the Mack/Volvo engines are ridiculous. They’re just trying to patch something & not fix it.

[david wild]

You should always buy new trucks with lotsa gauges and dual pipes, makes girls go AW with all them gauges to look  at, and you really feel special with more gauges, like a pilot or ship captain, and the dual pipes make your truck go faster, and make them point to the rear so they can help push the truck down the road, if you use a single on one side your truck will lean, if you need anymore stupid comments I have plenty, I learned them all from my help.    

[carlotpilot]

1 hour ago, david wild said:

You should always buy new trucks with lotsa gauges and dual pipes, makes girls go AW with all them gauges to look  at, and you really feel special with more gauges, like a pilot or ship captain, and the dual pipes make your truck go faster, and make them point to the rear so they can help push the truck down the road, if you use a single on one side your truck will lean, if you need anymore stupid comments I have plenty, I learned them all from my help.    

i`ll add one more, you should always buy new  unused food

[Hayseed]

23 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

In this day age age of high fuel prices, I'd strongly consider the 350-425hp X12 rated at 425hp (great engine) and pair it with the Allison.

What Trucks in North America are the X12 available In??? 

We're yet to have them Available OEM...!!

[kscarbel2]

I'm seeing a lot of Kenworth product, including many tippers. And in the US market, 12 liters is all most people need "if" they're going for max fuel economy.

.

 

[kscarbel2]

6 hours ago, Hayseed said:

What Trucks in North America are the X12 available In??? 

We're yet to have them Available OEM...!!

https://cummins.com.au/sites/au/files/products/X12-Series-Brochure.pdf

 

[Outbehindthebarn]

Ever since DPF became standard issue on new engines, I've heard nothing good about fuel economy, although I must admit, I meet relatively few new truck owners ... what are new New NEW trucks getting for fuel economy?

[Maxidyne]

I suspect the X12 isn't being offered as an option by International, Paccar, and Volvo(Mack) because it competes too well with their own 11 to 13 liter engines.

[kscarbel2]

15 minutes ago, Maxidyne said:

I suspect the X12 isn't being offered as an option by International, Paccar, and Volvo(Mack) because it competes too well with their own 11 to 13 liter engines.

Kenworth's T880 vocational chassis is available with the Cummins X12 in 350 to 425 horsepower ratings (the engine is rated up to 500hp).

Peterbilt has offered the X12 (originally called ISX11.9) since 2010. Since then, the Model 520 refuse chassis is now available with the X12 as well.

Paccar's DAF engines are good, but the truckmaker wisely provides customers with a choice, in the tradition of the North American market.

[Maxidyne]

I suspect that's the old 12 liter variant of the 15 liter "big block" Cummins, a good engine but kinda heavy. The X12 I'm talking about is just now being introduced to the NA market and is considerably lighter than the 12 liter "big block" engine.

[kscarbel2]

2 hours ago, Maxidyne said:

I suspect that's the old 12 liter variant of the 15 liter "big block" Cummins, a good engine but kinda heavy. The X12 I'm talking about is just now being introduced to the NA market and is considerably lighter than the 12 liter "big block" engine.

No. The X12 (aka. ISG, ISX11.9) is an all new engine, introduced first in China at Foton-Cummins, in 10.5 and 11.8 litre versions.

You're thinking of the Cummins' "Dakota", a decent 13 litre engine which, now upgraded, lives on at Dongfeng.

[Maxidyne]

No, think they're different engines. Cummins lists the X12 for 2018, this is a much lighter engine than the old big block. I think the option that Paccar and others have offered for the past few years was the ISX12 variant of the big block. Hope I'm wrong though, would be good to see more makers offer the option of the excellent new X12 engine!

[storkmack]

I'm still giggling.   and all that fancy stuff doesnt make them come in on time, or for that mattter every work day!

On 8/12/2018 at 2:43 PM, david wild said:

You should always buy new trucks with lotsa gauges and dual pipes, makes girls go AW with all them gauges to look  at, and you really feel special with more gauges, like a pilot or ship captain, and the dual pipes make your truck go faster, and make them point to the rear so they can help push the truck down the road, if you use a single on one side your truck will lean, if you need anymore stupid comments I have plenty, I learned them all from my help.    

 

[storkmack]

6 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

No. The X12 (aka. ISG, ISX11.9) is an all new engine, introduced first in China at Foton-Cummins, in 10.5 and 11.8 litre versions.

You're thinking of the Cummins' "Dakota", a decent 13 litre engine which, now upgraded, lives on at Dongfeng.

We were going to spec this engine in our Pete.  The reason we did not, was that we didnt want the first year in the market for it.   We went X15 with the Endurant and the weight savings was not  anything to get excitied about.  

[Maddog13407]

i wouldn't spec disk brakes on any new truck especially an off road one. we have a bunch of fuel delivery trucks comin in our area new, mostly KW's with disk. they sand and mud and crap eats the pads right up cause of the piss poor design with the caliper on top and the shit lays in it. we just did a one axle brake job on a 2017 KW propane truck with 39,000 miles on it, cost the company over 5 grand!. the pads were good during one service and 4000 miles later they were ate up and enough to get the calipers hot. calipers were Bendix and $1800 a piece our cost..... add that to the problem where you cant just visually inspect the pads without pulling the tires and most of them come with 20/20 or 20/18brake cans on them and guess what, you call the dealer and they don't have one, no one does, they were 2 days out....

[HeavyGunner]

If the calipers were on the bottom I’d think you’d have some real problems with frozen brakes in the winter with no way (in my case hauling flammables) to thaw or hammer them loose. 

[bbigrig]

Most up here are ordering Granites with 445hp and Allison Autos.

With dumps that haul small dump trailers behind you will see 18speed Fullers. No one up here orders standard Mack transmissions any more.

Most go with heavy Neway air and 46 Meritor rears with 4 way locks. Some order Hendickson HMX all the cement guys order Chalmers.

No more Camel back springs or Mack axles here either.

Only seen a handful of the M drive 14speeds. Not enough to give a good read on. Allison seems to be doing fine.

Most here in Ontario are now running the Simard twin steer front axle.