Mack Trucks (Rawhide Model)

I have been in a couple of them at dealerships, while killing time having something fixed, or picking up parts, and they aren;t bad. They are based on the older style CH-600 model, but have the more recent CX Vision interiors. The CX interior is quite an improvement over the earlier model, and is much more comfortable, and much better in providing amenities for the driver. In fact, I would never own a Mack with the older CH interior, and that;s coming from someone who drove one for about 3 years.

Mack doesn't have a big presence in the owner operator market, preferring to stick to regional and vocational trucks, so this is their attempt to get a foothold in that portion of the market. I see a few on the road, but not very many.

Bottom line, would I buy one if I were buying a truck? Probably not for two reasons. One, I really dont care for the look of the CH with the big western style bumper, and I have no real need for twin stacks, seeing them as just excess weight. I'm not into chrome and bright finish just for their own sake, and I think thyey overdid the exterior appearnce a bit in that department. Secondly, for my work, they are heavier than I can tolerate, and simply aren't suitable for my work. I would personally lean towards a Vision with it being correctly specced for the work that I do instead of the Rawhide. It's a nice enough truck, just not my personal cup of tea.

 

They have a proven unit available in Australia - just bring the Mack "Titan" over or build them here as well.

 

I see alot of Macks used here locally. Really good for a heavy haul. I'm not fond of driving them but they are good trucks and they are work horses for sure. The best one I ever saw was a big old yellow C cab with a 63 inch unibuilt sleeper on the back. It was rolling the opposite direction as me on the big road, but if I ever see it at a truck stop I'll gladly pay the guy to let me crawl up in there just to see how he gets IN the sleeper. Quite the sight thats for sure... the offset cab didn't look good at all with the big sleeper. But hey, I bet it was paid for 200x over and he was making a fat nickle with it! I drove a C cab once... and it sucked.

 

I have to agree. 110%. The one I drove... man.. the A/C worked.. if you were rolling over 45mph. The drivers door would alllmost shut.. but come open when you were driving.. which was really freaky on a right hand curve. Oh yeah, the seat belts were cut. Old 9 speed I think.. but the range selector didn't work so it was stuck in high range. Quite the experiance my friend.

 

Long hood, yea! Hood wider than the surface of the moon, NO! Volvo has a model out that has the same hood as the rawhide and like Mack E-6 say's. Uglier than sin. Look's like the #### thing's were drove down the side of the ugly mountain and didn't miss a single tree or branch.

 

don't know it first hand......but, everynight, I run with a bunch of drivers from a BIG company that runs brown Mack daycabs.

THey are often in rentals and they say it's because if you need ANYTHING parts-wise from Mack, or anything requiring MAck to do service or warranty work themselves, it had better be MOnday-Friday between 9 and 5.

BUster Brown can't even get proprietary Mack parts after hours and on the weekends here. Sure enough, when I drive by there at 10:00 every night, they look locked up and not a soul stirring.

I would check that out before going out and buying one. I wouldn't want a truck that has their engine, their tranny, their driveline, and all of it sitting under their cab and not be able to get parts for it after 5 and on the weekends.

DOn't know if this is true, but I'd check into the availability of parts and service around the country before I took off in one, ESPECIALLY if it's new enough to have one of those awful DPF's on it.

The guy who parks next to me has had TONS of warranty work done after hours on his '09 truck with a DPF and EGR on it. A couple of those times included a tow to the shop for them to sort it all out in the middle of the night.

MY old Freightshaker is ugly and worn out and I really don't like it, but the one thing that IS good is that I can get parts 24/7 almost anywhere I happen to be.

I do kinda like the Macks, though, just for the nostalgia. They are tough, too.