The big Mack Truck Tools thread

[Private Lugnutz]

POST 1 of 4

I picked up these fancy Mack script 6” combination slip-joint pliers at an antique store recently.

The checkerdot grip pattern...

...helps identify the maker as Crescent.

Given the bulky jaws and the screwdriver tip handle, I suspect they are 1930’s.

They constitute the third kind of Mack script tool I own, after a near-complete set of DOE “S” wrenches and a 1-1/2 lb ball-pein hammer, a collection that is looking more and more like a toolkit...

...so I thought would start a thread.

The backstory here is that I found the hammer at a flea market several years ago, then one of the wrenches. The other wrenches came from Catfishdan and Twertsy.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

POST 2 of 4

Finding information on Mack Trucks on-board in-cab toolkits on-line is a little scant and sketchy – basically Mack Trucks truck resto guys sharing photos of tools, tidbits, and theories on forums with little info about which tools went on which letter series trucks, and not much documentation back-up. One photo of a toolkit for “AC” series trucks attributed to Don (the curator) at the Mack Truck Historical Museum in Allentown is no longer available. Apparently early OEMs were Niagara Forge, Leslie Tool, and Peerless. I am not familiar with the first two. Peerless made a magnificent (and perhaps the first ever) roto-ratchet. They are all very early makers. Teens and early 20’s. According to one member Mack drop forged their own tools between 1933 and 1941.

Then I discovered that a friend and colleague in Australia who owns a 1943 1/2-Ton 4 x 4 Dodge Emergency Repair Truck (and its Bonney Master Wrench Set!) (G-61) also owns a 1944 Mack NR9 series 10-ton 6x 4 truck (G-528) (sans toolkit). The Mack NR series were used mainly by the Allies, including Belgium and the Netherlands.

Here's a beauty from Wiki, credit Wiki.

The Mack NR series trucks were key in re-supplying the Russians through the Persian Corridor via Iran, but most of them were ordered by France, then diverted to England and shipped by the British to Australia after France fell to the Nazis. (Tangentially, that was a bit of fortuitous poetic justice, not falling into German hands, since Mack Trucks adopted the bulldog as its mascot and symbol after earning the nickname given to the AC model by British troops back in 1917, due to its pugnacious, blunt-nosed hood and tenacious durability.)

Anyway, he sent me a Quartermaster Corps NR series manual, which gave me a figure, a list with actual part numbers, and a more substantive goal...

...although lately I am thinking of it more or less as a loose guideline to the types of tools typically found in any on-board toolkit.

If I run into a script logo 11-inch auto wrench and a 6” adjustable crescent type wrench in the wild, I will consider it fairly complete. Script logo cross-recess (okay, Phillips) and “perfect handle” (ink-stamped, from what I have seen...) type screwdrivers would be gravy. The tire tool, lug wrench (I suspect Budd), and other accessories would have me crowing. The little leather tools pouch (where the smaller tools are stowed…) would have me on the road to the Mack Truck Historical Museum.

I have never been, by the way, but it looks incredible. On-line presence linked here.

I plan to give the curator a call next week and I will share any information I can gather here.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

POST 3 of 4

That missing fourth and last DOE “S” wrench I need is a bit of mystery, by the way.

According to the WWII QMC NR series manual, it has 15/16” x 1-1/16” openings. That combination is so rare only one Mfgr (Billings) made it, the other suppliers (Williams, Bonney) didn’t, and it doesn’t even have an ISN, which all the other Mack script wrenches I have or have seen have.

I have seen a Mack script 83A on eBay, made by Williams, with 15/16” x 1” openings, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if that was the correct wrench and the QMC simply made a mistake. Those kinds of documentation errors were quite common.

So, while I look for the elusive 15/16” x 1-1/16” Billings (Billings part number 2038X) in the wild, I will settle for an 83A made by Williams, Bonney, Billings, or any OEM.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

POST 4 of 4

I don’t know if the phrase, “Built like a Mack truck,” was as common in other parts of the country as it was in Palmerton, PA, in Carbon County, just north of Lehigh County and Allentown, when I was a boy in the 60's, but Mack, Bonney, Horlacher (defunct brewery) and A-Treat (still in business – used to be delivered weekly to the front porch in massive wooden cases when I was a kid! Best sasparilla ever!) are terms of endearment and reverence for me, so I have some extra special connection to these tools.

Whatever your connection, or not, if you like Mack trucks or you just like the logo or the name and the history, or you just happen to have found the tools, PLEASE SHARE THEM if you have them.

Together, and hopefully with some help from the museum, maybe we can collectively get some kind of useful record and reference going here.

 

[MR.X]

I posted a pic of my P&C Mack motor hold down nut wrench on the P&C thread. Not sure how long it would take me to find it again. Here's a Plomb catalog page from 29 offering a set of Mack motor block wrenches. The p&c was similar to the K30 but used a crossbar instead of the 90 degree bend in the handle.

 

[MR.X]

well that attachment didn't work.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks for that contribution, Mr. X.

 

[MR.X]

OK, so here's a pic with the P&C MACK motor block obstruction wrench. 4th tool from the left. It's a 7/8th so I'm assuming that's for the AB truck.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

that is interesting rj. I will do a little Google fu on that. Great info!

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Found this pic of one. Cool truck!

 

[snapmom]

Blue Point Mack wrenches, from about 1930

 

[Oldtuleguy]

That is an interesting wp wrench.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

A little known fact, if I could mention it without being cited for being off-topic, is that Mack made a half ton pickup truck for three years, 1939-1941.

You're about half-right. Just under 5,000 "Mack Juniors" were made for three years, but it was 1936-1938, and they were actually built by the Reo Motor Car Company in Lansing, Michigan. Mack was not tooled to make them. They designed them, specified them, and subcontracted to Reo, took delivery, and sold them.

Found this pic of one. Cool truck!

They sell for six figures restored.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Blue Point Mack wrenches, from about 1930

Thanks, snapmom. When I conceived the thread, I was thinking rather selfishly only about the on-board driver-level maintenance toolkits they would provision their trucks with, in the same fashion as many early automobile makers. I wasn't thinking about special tools made by OEM's for special service functions in shops, but I am glad you and also MR. X with his Plomb/P&C entries have expanded the definition to its fullest extent. Very cool!

That is an interesting wp wrench.

It is. But did you see the water pump packing nut? It's splined, not hex.

I doubt that is a water pump wrench.

Did you see the Snap-on catalog page snapmom included? It identifies it as a water pump wrench and includes an illustration of it mated to a splined packing nut.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

I was lovingly eyeing the restomod potential of this tempting beast last year very time I passed it on my way to umpire a baseball game at a field I seemed to be assigned an inordinate amount of times just to tease my Mack fixation!

 

[Jazz1]

Very nice, never seen any but will keep a eye out. My avatar is interior of my ‘61 B42 Mack.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

My avatar is interior of my ‘61 B42 Mack.

Shhhweeeeet!

 

[Ricky Joe]

Mack had Reo build trucks from 1936 until 1938. Subsequently, Mack went on to build their own trucks, producing them from 1939-1941. Less than 3,000 were produced. They had Continental engines.

I can’t read fuzz. I’ll accept your superior ability to see what I couldn’t. The wrench looked like a Chrysler hand brake adjuster.

 

[DD T/A]

Found this pic of one. Cool truck!

Whoa, a half ton truck with Daytons? Crazy heavy duty light-duty truck lol

 

[3baygarage]

Bump. Nice collection there Lugz.

Finally cleaned up these two flea market finds.

-Williams open end
-unknown maker cast iron valve spring lifter.

Evaporust removed any patina. The wrench was very rusty, and the valve spring lifter quite ugly.

Just a little red marker on the logos to help them stand out. When purchased, the DOE’s Mack logo had red paint. I knew it would come off during the soak. Hope it wasn’t original.

Edit: These photos look darker than I thought, sorry.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Very nice, 3bay.

 

[pelletman]

Lugz sent me, figured I would shared this big Bonney/Mack wrench that I picked up in a lot

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice find. What is the number to the right of the Mack logo on the shank?

 

[LesserSon]

A week ago, I picked up a second late 1950s - early 1960s Bonney 3/8dr spinner, not sure whether I had one already. Turns outI did, but also turns out the “new” one is etched with the Mack logo on the end of the pommel.

As has been noted on the Bonney thread, it is a double etch.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Twice the pleasure!

 

[lilredex]

A couple of other Mack related items that might be of interest...

(Skip ahead to 6:37)

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Thanks, lilredex. The second link (Mack Truck bulldog hood ornament re-mounting) is cool. I don't understand the first link. Appears to be a vintage Snap-on V-21-A valve adjuster. I had to avert my eyes and stopped watching when he stripped all the original finish off with a grinder and belt sander and polisher. Did I miss something Mack-related?

 

[lilredex]

Looks like the wires got crossed ....guess it was a gift of old age, creeping in.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Haha. I know the feeling!

 

[JjKk40]

My one and only Mack (S) wrench made by Bonney! Very cool! This reminds me, not of Mack, but of the Peterbuilt truck dealership on rt 80 as we use to pass it going to my grandparents house up in Scotrun PA!

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Nice find. If I didn't already have it, I'd be trying to wrangle it from you.

I know Monroe County well. I grew up in Carbon County.

 

[JjKk40]

Nice find. If I didn't already have it, I'd be trying to wrangle it from you.

I know Monroe County well. I grew up in Carbon County.

Yes they moved there back in around '86ish from here on Long Island! Then my Aunt met someone (my uncle) and moved from Scotrun down to Danielsville, closer to Allentown, which he was from! I love PA!
I'll never forget the candle place on 611 and the outlets in Tannersville!

 

[Arne73]

Here's some vintage Mack swag.
Dad worked for a Chicago area company that built mining and dredging equipment and in turn, he'd take us to the trade shows at McCormick Place. My brother and I dragged home bags full of treasure including these Mack keychains.

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Picked up this double-ended S-shaped pin spanner this morning at the flea. Made by Bonney, Mack Truck's crosstown neighbor. I'm not exactly sure how old it is. It's the first and only Mack tool I have that doesn't have the script logo, but I am not convinced its newer, given its type and finish and that Bonney B-shield logo on the flip side.

 

[wrenchguy]

Assembly line tool? Only other embossed Mack i saw on goofoo was a valve spring compressor. Another assembly line tool?

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Probably. Does not seem like an on-board toolkit tool.

 

[Sebhac0123]

Wow this is great! i didin't know these existed. I would love to own some, definitely some good history pieces!

 

[3baygarage]

I saw this old listing on Worthpoint via Google.

Mack Spanners

Thought they might be of interest.

Chopped from the listing:

 

[Ton ton]

I didn't know you could buy Mack truck tools. Learned something new today.

 

[Ricky Joe]

Picked up this double-ended S-shaped pin spanner this morning at the flea. Made by Bonney, Mack Truck's crosstown neighbor. I'm not exactly sure how old it is. It's the first and only Mack tool I have that doesn't have the script logo, but I am not convinced its newer, given its type and finish and that Bonney B-shield logo on the flip side.

I don’t pretend to know the actual application of your spanner, but it is similar to a Ford Model T fan spanner. That B shield logo is also similar to Model T wrenches made by Bonney. I’ll get pictures tomorrow.