Thread repair

[reomack]

Today my wife (she is a total sweetheart) and I took the hood assembly off the mutt I own (49 W/late 51 engine) and I drilled out two head bolt holes and put in thread repairs. Head is back on and torqued. I cleaned up a bit and quit. Tomorrow the hood goes back on and I will put everything back together. Then a general maintenance effort with greasing the fittings and changing the oil and filter and cleaning the air filter and new plugs and fresh gasoline. Reinstall the battery and give it a try. It hasn't run in four years and sat on my hunting property mainly because I was disgusted that it had overheated (head gasket remember). I wanted to get it home where I could do the job right but couldn't get anyone to go with me to help load it up on the trailer. Son finally found the time to help. good thing too cause the property is in need of a lot of maintenance that can only be done with the tractor. My 77 year old back is aching, but I'm still a happy man.

 

[Jim L WA]

Reomack; I'm just 3 years younger then you. I feel your pain. But I'll bet you feel pretty good tomorrow when he fires up and runs again. BTW is your handle a combination of Reo and Mack trucks?

 

[reomack]

It is!! You are the first person ever to ask about that. At one point I was the maintenance manager for a ready mix concrete company that had both REOs and Macks in their fleet of trucks, thus the handle. Brings back memories. And yes I will feel REALLY good when it fires up.

 

[Dollar Bill]

Best of luck with your impending test fire!

I used to drive a Mack DM 6X6 with an 11 yard mixer. Tough ol truck but it took me forever to learn how to shift that 5-speed - I had always drove OTR and loved to float gears.

 

[showcrop]

Stay away from the new Volvo Macks if you want to remember Macks with fondness.
I drove a an old R model with a duplex a for few days years ago. I learned to not only float the shifts but also the starts and stops. We used the clutch only for engaging the PTO.

 

[Dollar Bill]

SC, interesting the ready-mix company I drove for replaced their older Macks with four axle Granite models in 2005. They had some reliability troubles and drank fuel like crazy but it was one of the most comfortable Macks I've ever driven. Even had automatic transmission!

After driving the DM for 12-14 hours a day, I could still feel the vibration and hear the engine running for 45 minutes after I shut it down. Never really missed the DM after driving the Granite.