Biggu

The plumbing on the engine makes it look really busy which is something I struggle with sometimes. It will look good under a splash of paint for sure

I'm NO Mack expert by any means, but it looks ok toe me and that's the way I would put it in.... looks correct to me..... its your model, put it in anyway you want.... also kit parts, especially old AMT kits , were never 100% accurate with their parts anyway.... at least in my experience... I always have to adjust something... keep going, she's lookin good from my seat....

This is pretty cool , I wonder , on the real one , how much they had to “beef” up the drive line , u-joints, drive shaft, transmission, rear ends etc because if the torque on this monster? Maybe none ? It sure would be a pulling brute for back in the day, it would be a fun drive. i’m really enjoying catching up and keeping up with the up dates. Thanks for bringing this back to the bench

Yes, they are long. On the driver’s side , from the front bumper to the plow corner bit is 9 feet and almost 3 feet in some cases for the sander chute and spinner. Believe me when I say they can be a challenge to turn around on a narrow road. Outstanding as usual , Brian.

Not really. They are posable and actually supposed to be ‘workable’ to which they are but because I may want to pose them and maybe change the pose, I make them workable but I don’t ‘swage’ the pins with a ‘hot screw driver’🙄as suggested. I pinch out discs and use them instead. That way the little pis are useable. If I ‘heat swaged’ I would probably have a glob of plastic on my bench. 🤭😉

You did. A few slight mods but nothing crazy. So the plan is to work back from the transmission to the rear ends for suspension placement ….. as we slowly progress

Just a small ‘mock up’ of the engine change. Looks like it will work quite well. I’m fairly happy with this

I will watch this build with great interest. This is VERY cool.

I got my latest order from 3d Concepts yesterday….. and wow, real nice stuff….. I ordered Two suspension packages, some grab hooks as well as some strap tie down plates. Most of which will be used for more builds, but for now, I plan on changing out the box stock air bag suspension for the 3d Concepts Hendrickson HN heavy duty suspension .. it comes in 5 pieces , the frame bracket, the walking beam and 3 ‘rubber’ blocks. I think this set will really change the look of my truck. I had to make rear end hanger brackets and I ‘roughed’ them out on some .020 sheet. My plan is to fasten the brackets to the suspension then fit it all to the truck frame then adjust hangers and add the drivers then clean up the hangers and file off what I don’t need. I ‘think’ I will go with this suspension but looking at the other one I bought from 3d , the Hendrickson HR/RS may be a contender as well … if you guys are interested I can show that one to you as well as the grab hooks and strap hangers…here are a few pics of this really nice set

You guys have WONDERFUL ideas but like most of you, room is at a premium for displays…. Display of this is still quite some time away as there are a million and a half things that need to be worked on. I love all the ideas and input. Thanks guys and thanks for following along, as it goes

That is sort of what I was thinking. I have seen some massive off road boxes being hauled on heavy haul low beds on the highway. I’ve seen some that were so big they were trucked in two pieces split down the center front to back …… that would make a display ………🤣

Well yeah , but I was also considering display space. Never ‘really’ considered leaving the box up, …… as that is not a natural thing on my truck world …. It’s that safety stuff ……🤔🤔I have a long way to go before that is an issue anyway, but it is always good to think ahead……

Of course …… that would work perfectly.

I ‘don’t think so ‘ but I might to make it look more ‘realistic’ and I am also contemplating leaving the box off …… the consideration of that is .. … IF I can pull off the plumbing that is any way half convincing, it won’t show if the box is on covering it all up….. so the jury is still out on that issue ……. Your thoughts on that?

Thanks , pal..... although not sure about 'expertise', more like, it looked crummy and needed fixing, but thank you for your kind words

So just a little detail but one that took some time and I thought it needed to be addressed. First off is the side plates on the rear frame plate/crossmember didn’t fit smooth, as shown in some of my research pics, so a lot of ‘adzing’ and sanding was required to make it all flush, but it came out fairly well. The other thing that is small but again I think will make a small difference is filling the void on the box hinges. Just a small thing, and may not be readily seen but if placed side by side with one that hasn’t had it done, it will be noticeable. The real ones are ‘filled’ which is a plate welded within the hinge support that would give the actual hinge box a lot of strength where nearly 100% of the load would be during the initial dumping process. So they need to be robust and strong….

Same here. No pic

I hated the carbide one way cutting edges. Longevity for sure but could not cut compact at all. I always opted for the old school cutting edges. We used to put carbides on the underbodys and they lasted well, but again could not cut compact. A couple of us decided that double ice blades ( serrated ) on the underbody was the way to go… so if the one way had a carbide it would be generating compact, the operator could drop the underbody and help cut the compact. A number of years ago the down pressure of the underbodys was lightened up from 1400 psi to 720. A management decision and not an operators idea …..

Actually 15-19 inches is all in the acceptable range. The bolts on the push frame that attaches the plow is also as you mention an adjustment to the correct cutting angle. There should be two of them as you show so accurately …. Outstandingly accurate , Brian !

The main plow adjustment of 47 degrees was usually set by the shop and was rarely ever readjusted unless the blade had to have some major work done and had to be taken apart. That was usually after an accident or hitting a bridge abutment, protruding man hole cover, horsing into the no post guard rail and bending the blade and or walking over the blade , anything that needed major repairs. The usual driver adjustments were obviously when mounting the blade to the truck with the chains. The other adjustments usually done by the operator are the plow shoes and foot legs. That happens when changing cutting edges, and shoes. Cannot change one without the other. Cutting edge and shoes have to ride on the road surface together. If the shoes are not adjusted with the cutting edge, the plow can effectively dig in on soft ground causing catastrophic damage.

The tube brace on the back side of the plow is usually the adjustment and the lower bolts on the push frame are usually part of the trip mechanism ….. also the lift chains have to be adjusted so that the toe of the blade ( the front corner bit ) has to lift first, then the heel of the blade ( discharge chute end ) lifts last. The chains should be as tight as possible , so as when plowing and coming to an obstruction you can lift the blade immediately and not wait for the lift ram to take the slack out of the lift chain thus hitting the obstruction causing damage to the plow and or truck ….. also the optimum mounting height on the truck is 15 inches from ground level to mounting pins. There actually is some science to this.

Adjust the cutting edge to 47 degrees for optimal cutting of compact and cleaning down to the black top............. we actually had a metal gauge back in the day

Call me anything you want just not ‘late for dinner’ 🤣🤣

That’s a huge milestone Brian. You’re getting close to the finish line !!

The rubber flap looks great. They worked well for keeping snow and slush from coming over top of the plow at speed and covering the windshield or all over the hood and into the grille and plugging air intakes mostly on the single axles. Although if one exceeded plow speeds it didn’t matter. The flap would flip back and the truck got covered …… an old tried and true Highways design.