I have been trying for the past two Fridays to replace the front brakes on my 81 Mack. I have found out that I have some weird brake set up according to the Mack dealer. The shoes are Wagner pin type and the drums are not cast, but steel-suppose to be a light weight option. Anyway I got new drums which cost me a small fortune and the shoes I got had the same casting number but were too thick to fit on the anchor pins, the hardware kit that was listed for the shoes was wrong, the anchor pins in the kits were too long. I did not get the parts from the dealer I am buying aftermarket, but called the dealer to verify that the truck was built like this and that someone had not replaced the front axle in the past. Have any of you Mack guys run into this before? I mean this is got past the point of being funny! I have never had so many problems trying to get parts and I have worked on a lot of different trucks. What makes it worse is I pull the truck in the driveway, tear it down, load up parts drive 30 miles, sit for three hours, come home reassemble truck and pull it out of the driveway to get it out of the way. I am afraid that I am going to wear out the wheel studs . Sorry for the rant, just hate something so simple being so complicated, but usually happens on my personal stuff
Can you switch the whole system to something more available?
Dang, and I though finding wedge parts was a pain.
Red Bank, I'll help you rant. You know the old saying "if it works...don't mess with it". Then some *%#@*?& pencil headed design engineer comes along and messes with a ^&$#@*>?? brake system that I can't get the @!_*^$# correct parts for!!! :Banghead I know this doesn't help your situation, but it's the best I could do to help you out.
Is this a tractor or a straight truck?
I think I would get a used axel with the standard brakes on it and change it out.
ATCO - thanks, I knew you would understand, Steve- I am checking on that, but I can't get any one that can tell me what all would need to be changed, I know the backing plates, but no one knows if I need to change spindles, drums, etc. I found a new complete axle -hub to hub, drums, slack adjusters, shoes, assembled for $400.00, the problem with this is it has takes hub-piloted wheels. I currently have two sets of aluminum Budds for the front axle. I would have to buy new wheels. 25c - it is the dump truck in my avatar. Muffler Bearing , yes I have a truck at work that will need wedge brakes soon, but if it is for the company, I don't mind as much, because I can tell the Boss-you bought it, I didn't. I can't do that with this truck because it is mine, or technically my wife's- maybe I will go tell her that:cool2
Yeah, let us know how that works out for ya'! And be sure to let us know when the fight started! :lmao
Put the Mack back together and sell it quick. Then buy a truck you can get parts for. One of the reasons I've hated Mack's for years was a lack of readily available parts and very little dealer support unless you lived east of the big muddy or in LA.
Well, that's an option Joe. But around the hills of these parts of Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina (Red Bank country)...we're kinda' fond of our Macks. Nothing else comes close.
Yeah, I know, I know..... When I was helping get coal out in Kentuck, all the coal haulers were using poor ole Macks, excepting one International and one KW. They were all R models and underpowered as all get out and they had those huge coal beds on them. Hated to be behind them going uphill and hard to stay out in front going down. They weren't much faster on the highways as they hauled back and forth to our tipple. All of them smoked to beat the devil. West Virginia was about the same. Some of the more progressive fellas were using Petes, Internationals, and KW's though. The outfit down at the bottom of the mountain from the mine was all Mack. They did all of our heavy equipment hauling. We didn't ship any coal there by truck, it all went out on train.
Point taken, Joe. I've been there too. Behind a DM dragging a mountain in KY or WV. Coal country is a different world. But we are stubborn old rednecks here back east. The Bulldog may not be the fastest thing on the asphalt. But when you put 40 ton on those "huge coal beds" on camel back suspension in the switch back curves of the coal mountains day after day, there ain't nothin' tuffer! The "old man" does the day shift, comes home, the son checks the oil, fill's her up with fuel, and the old dog goes another 12 hour shift haulin' coal. Yeah, those were the days...
Trust me Surfer-Joe that has crossed my mind, I have done that in the past, because it seems I always buy the obsolete, mid year conversion, one time only equipment. On the other hand, I am really impressed with the power my Mack has, compared to the company's 99 Freightliner and 06 Mack, mine will walk off and leave them both, loaded, drives the Boss crazy. I got to run the truck with the company last month for one day(double-dipping was nice ) and the old "Orange Blossom Special" put the other trucks to shame:cool2. On the other hand, I replaced the rear brakes last year and I don't remember having to much trouble getting shoes, drums, wheel seals,etc for the rear. One thing to consider is I don't run this truck everyday, who knows how long the front brakes will last after I change them? But I am going this afternoon to look at a Mack axle that a guy has that is complete, going to see what I can get it for, it is suppose to have new brakes, drums,etc, and suppose to be new style brakes. ATCO, told the wife it was her fault, because it was her truck-she said "You're the mechanic, fix it and quit complaining":notworthy. End of argument:drinkup:drinkup
Ahhh yes, "she who must be obeyed"!
i would switch out the front axle...i had wedge fronts on my 71 r model and i switched mine it really wasnt that bad of a job
I bought an axle for it yesterday and will try to put it in Saturday, wish me luck, I need it after this ordeal.
I'll bring the beer and come over and give you encouragement to..."fix it and quit complaining!" :lmao :falldownlaugh
my best advice is to buy u bolts and cut the old ones off or you'll waste a ton of time on em..and itll def help to have a helper
Thanks guys! Atco- you show up and I will buy the beer, thaw out the steaks and get the wife to put sheets on the spare bed! Because I know you are too good of a mechanic to just sit there and watch Wolcott- the guy I bought the axle from threw in u-bolts on the deal. I hope they will work.
You darn skippy I would! I couldn't stand it if someone was gettin' their hands greasy and I wasn't!
ATCO- I needed you big time! It was a nightmare! I started Saturday around 12:00pm, got the old axle right out, had trouble with the new axle, mainly because I was working in the driveway and with living on a hill, not exactly level, but the most level spot on 45 acres. Anyway, my Dad came up with the idea to use a motorcycle jack to put the new axle in, worked like a champ! Got it bolted up and was doing good, then tragedy struck! This axle was sold as ready to run, I decided to check the grease in the hubcaps, did not look good, so I pulled the hubcaps and found rust on outer bearing on one side and pulled the left side outer bearing and it was pitted very bad. I pulled the drum off of the right and one of the brake shoe linings was broke. I pulled the hubs off, the seals were shot and the inner bearings looked worse then the outer bearings. I pulled my original hubs off, the outer bearings were the same as the new ones, so I installed these hubs on the new axle, I had already installed new seals in these 2 weeks ago, and had not drove the truck since. I did measure the hubs and that appeared to be the same, and the fit up real good so that worked! Got my wife to call my brother-in-law and talk him into opening up the parts store Saturday night so I could get some brake shoes for the right side. Hey-its her truck! Besides he came out on top, got free babysitting and free supper out of the deal and drank Atco's beer! Back on track, got the brake shoes on, used the new axle's drums, installed the wheels and went to adjust the brakes-slack adjuster not working too good on left side. AT 10:30pm called it a day. Sunday morning I pulled a slack adjuster off of the old axle and installed it, got the brakes adjusted, greased the front end and the rest of the truck, adjusted the clutch, repaired air leak under the cab, repaired the cab air ride and called it a day. Today, I took it to get the front end aligned, had to replace one tie rod end, caster had to adjusted and steering wheel needed to be centered. After all was said and done what did I learn? Nothing is ready to run unless you unwrap it or unbox it from the parts store, and had I known this, which is my fault for not checking beforehand ( I should not trust people!) all of this could have been easier had I just pulled the backing plates off of the new axle and installed them on my old axle and would not have had to get the front end aligned and could have spent Saturday evening fishing! What embarasses me the most is I should have known better, I work on trucks everyday, but when it comes to my own it is always a struggle, never get a break. But anyway I have recovered and if the rock quarry is open Friday I will get to hauling again, but my wife just explanined this Friday is Good Friday, so I doubt they will be open, anyway......
Damn...I wish I had'a been there! I missed out on all this fun...and my own beer!
ya might wanna try the bigmacktrucks.com forums in the future..theres alot of good advice on there..sounds like a hell of an adventure tho
And I'd love to have been right smack in the middle of it!
Don't worry, I was cussing...., I mean, thinking of you the whole time:cool2
One of these days...(and I seriously hope so)...I'm going to show up in your driveway! I love your part of North Carolina on the other side of Black Mountain. Besides, I wouldn't mind helpin' you out and gettin' into a cuss fest with ya'. :tong
Amen, Brother, Amen, come on over, and if I ever top Black Mountain again and make it down the western slope I will look you up.:drinkup:drinkup:drinkup
Excellent, dude! I'll have the beer in the cooler and we'll fire up the grill! :beerchug