Mack Truck Car Hauler Project

I love those macks

 

As a Fire Fighter I can honestly say I'm glad to see this piece get donated to such a nice project. Like someone else mentioned, after an aparatus is sold from a department its most likely to wind up in a field rusting away. Good progress so far and I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Nice!!!

 

Real nice !

 

That's cool how you turned the firetruck bed into an art deco(?) style bed.

 

As Ralph Cramden used to say..." How Sweet it is!!!!!!!!!! "
Your project is only half done, and it's already a sucess... Now I love firetrucks, and B model Macks, This truck kicks ass, your project is really on the right track!!!!

 

Very cool!!

 

Well done, that's a very interesting way to keep that "B model" alive and working. I've showed these pics to people at work, at our Mack Dealership, and it certainly gets a positive response from them all, especially the older guys, who are very fond of the "B Models". They are very impressed with the high quality build you are doing, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

The visor is pretty simple but it took longer than you might expect to build it and get the brackets right. Nobody makes a metal visor for these trucks and none of the Fulton style visors seem wide enough.
We used a flat piece of aluminum and bent it around a big piece of ABS pipe to get the ends to curve. Then we used some door edge trim to get the rolled edge look.
Stainless would be more durable but it's harder to work with.
We tried to come up with a more peaked, Peterbilt style visor but we just couldn't get it to look right when we mocked it up. The more rounded visor seemed to look the best from any angle.




We had to modify the firewall quite a bit to make room for the heater-air conditioner etc. but we still needed a small doghouse so we welded in a stainless kitchen sink.



Here it is covered with sound deadener.





We weren't sure how we were going to carpet the doghouse so we made a removable fiberglass doghouse cover. We did that by forming a sheet of acoustical lead over the doghouse then building it up with fiberglass and body filler.

Here's the lead sheet.


Here we're fiberglassing it.


Here it's almost ready for paint.






We converted the filler panels under the cab into storage boxes.









There wasn't a lot of room for fuel tanks so we built some in order to get the maximum amount of capacity. They mount up under the front of the box.



We used caps from the fire hoses for fillers.



The plan is to do a wooden floor in the box but if we're running too low on time we may just use steel or aluminum checker plate. We have to have the truck ready by spring in time for the racing season. It's been going pretty good now that we've been getting one or two days a week to work on it.

Here's a picture of the truck beside the race car. The car gets hauled in a 40' enclosed trailer. We're painting the truck to match the car.






I'll continue to post progress pictures as we go along.

 

That thing is BAD ASS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Looks fantastic!

 

its great to see this fire truck saved from probably sitting in a field someday.

 

Nice job on the B-model !!! Just some related truck facts- the tires on the back are called super singles or flotation tires and the only B model with factory power steering was the B-53 series. You should keep a 2-stick tranny in it just to keep the kids out.

 

Amazing, I love it. Always wanted to do something along those lines in the 1-ton category with a Powerstroke or something. I know where there is a late 30's dodge fire truck that would make for a good haul rig like that. I'd put a Cat in it tho. j.k. Looks awesome. Subscribed!

 

Jon, The tires are the new "super singles" that a lot of the highway trucks are using. One tire carries the same load as a set of dual regular tires. I think the size is 445-50R 22.5 They're lighter and ride a little better than duals but we mainly used them because we thought they looked cool.
The trans is a 4 speed Allison automatic and I think we'll go ahead and use it for now but we recently acquired a newer 3,000 series six speed Allison with a lockup converter so that will be going in once we track down the necessary electronics.
As for when this thing will be finished, I keep saying that if it was a car it would have been done by now. We started on it about a year ago. We have a firm deadline in mind. We for sure want to use it to go to the Gasser meet at Thompson Ohio on the first weekend in June.

Tailgater, We couldn't adapt the power steering from the bus because the Mack has a wider frame at the front so we're going to try it with the manual steering. It wasn't too bad to steer even with the heavy fire apparatus and larger Mack engine so I'm hoping it will be OK now that it's quite a bit lighter. It has a huge steering wheel and it must take about eight turns to go from lock to lock so it has plenty of gear reduction.
If it's a problem we can add a hydraulic assist cylinder. We have some experience with them and they can work very well if they're set up properly.
Here's a picture of the big steering wheel and Winston the bulldog checking out his new truck.

 

NICE B MODEL! I used to own four at one time, years ago, would loved to have kept them but I didn't have time enough for my cars. You made a wise choice of the DT 466T with the Allison trans. The engine is relatively small, adequate power for a truck and trailer that size. Very dependable and quiet and economical enough to drive it all you want. I hope to see it in person some day. This truck jumped to the head of the line for my top 10 all time favorite B Models!

 

Damn....

I hate seeing stuff like this.... I have enough projects. Now I've gotta start looking for a Mack truck.

I need one of those in black to pull my dirt car with. I won't sleep for weeks now.

Thanks Alot!

Kevin

 

Love these trucks. My dad had three when I was a kid, still have two. First one was a straight job, then a dump truck, and finnally a tractor when he sold it for parts. Another cab and chassis we have sitting around rusting. The other one has a Millitary Boom and is pretty much a mess of cheap bondo and hydraulic lines that we start every couple of years. Nothing like the sound of the air starter on these things either.

 

great looking truck and perfect mascot! ( winston)

 

Thanks for all the comments.

Someone was asking what year the truck was. It's a 1957 but they made the B models for quite a few years. I think they came out in the early 50's and ran through to about 65 or 66. I used to own one back in the early seventies and always wanted to get another one.

Here's a few pictures of other B models.









Here's one I recently saw in a HAMB thread

 

I love that truck.My dad drove a B61 Mack with a duplex trans in it all over the eastern U.S. back around 1959 and I used to go on alot of trips with him. I think the B61 ran from '53-66.They didn't have all the regulations reguarding riders they do now. Bill

 

Thats the epitome of cool!

And by the way...thanks for the idea on the doghouse cover outta glass....gonna have to steal that as I've been wondering what to do about my modified firewall/doghouse and how to make it look decent covered...

Now where'd ya get the acoustical lead? that stuff will be magic for forms

 

Thats a great picture of your mascot!!!!!! I noticed that the interior of this truck was painted red. I thought they were all painted green. at least all of the firetrucks I've ever seen had green inner paint.

 

Wow,looks fantastic,I have always loved the b model Macks.It's going to look awesome towing the trailer.Keep posting pics as you progress,good luck with making the deadline. Stony

 

That's outstanding. I love every bit of that. Thank you for sharing.


Tim

 

Very nice!!!

 

the power steering on a air brake bus is mounted to the back of the air compresso off the timming cover in the left side
i think you can get a plate and berring and make a mount to put the pump in that mounting hole

absoutly cool truck

 

Yep, the pump's there but the problem is with the steering box itself. It's a different configuration and won't fit.

We got a roll of it years ago for another job we were doing. I'm guessing it's about 22 gage thick, maybe a bit thinner than auto body sheet metal. I remember they called it acoustical lead and it is lead but it might have something else mixed in because it seems a little stiffer that straight lead.
You have to keep in mind that lead is toxic when you're using it.

Yeah, I thought all B model Macks had that green interior but I guess they painted some of the firetrucks red.

Winston the Bulldog used to be at the shop quite a bit but he's got a problem with his back legs now so he's not there as often.

If he's there I try to get him in the picture.



Here he is "helping" on the 55 Chevy.

 

You get my vote for BEST ongoing concept to build project
on the HAMB

FIRST CLASS from design to finish Jim ......




Jim

 

This is going to be a bad ass hauler. Can't wait to see it done.