Quote:
Originally Posted by Mackmechanic
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splitshifter
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mackmechanic
Quote:
Originally Posted by Splitshifter
I should also state that my previous post is referring to American trucks.
We all know that Volvo produces their own drivelines, but that's not an American truck, and I have yet to see a Volvo in Municipal service.
Mack in years past produced their own engine, transmission, rears, suspension, front axle, frame etc., but since Volvo took over Mack about 6 years ago, Mack has become just another generic truck also.
Mack still produces their own trannys, rear ends, and suspensions :wink:
At least for now.
How long do you think Volvo will allow that to continue?
:?:
Quite a while because in a lot of appllications, nobody will go with anything other than a mack transmission and a camelback suspension
Well, I have been a lifelong Mack fanatic, driving and owning exclusively Mack trucks for the past 33 years, until I closed my own business last winter and went to work for a company with exclusively International trucks.
Now that we've got that little bit of background info out of the way, it disgusts me to see what Volvo is doing to the once great Mack Trucks Inc.
Many of the OTR tractors are nothing more than a Volvo chassis with a Mack cab installed on it.
The much hyped new "Mack" MP7 & MP8 engines are nothing more than camouflaged Volvo engines.
Think back about what happened when Volvo bought other truck brands such as White GMC and Autocar.
Over a period of time Volvo "assimilated" Volvo parts & engines into those brands until they basically became Volvos with a different badge.
Then those brands were eliminated completely.
Do you see a pattern developing here with what's happening at Mack?
I sincerely hope that Mack Truck does not suffer a similar fate, but it doesn't look good.
In my previous posts in this thread we were discussing the fact that Mack Trucks in the past produced their own powertrain including engine, transmission, and rear axles, along with their own suspensions, front axles etc.
Volvo so far has eliminated the Mack engines from that equation.
What's next? Transmissions? Rear ends?
I do know that a lot of the new Mack dump truck chassis around here are coming through with Eaton Fuller transmissions and Meritor rears on Hendrickson spring or air ride suspension. Why? I don't know. It doesn't make sense, since the Mack double reduction rears and camelback suspension are an indestructible setup for dump truck use.
Since Volvo took over, it seems they have also put the kibosh to parts availability for older (10 years plus) Mack trucks. Apparently the head Vikings over in Gotborg don't realize that Mack trucks from 20, 30, and 40 years ago are still working everyday across North America and need parts availability to continue doing so.
Now I realize that there are a lot of people on this forum that are Volvo truck fans, and let me state right here that I have no problem with anyone's preference for Volvo trucks, I'm just pissed off about what Volvo is doing to Mack.