56 10-4 Magazine / February 2025 By the time 1991 rolled around, the 1983 Mack RS686 Value-Liner had over 800,000 miles on its odometer hauling milk. Jerry thought about rebuilding the truck and the Mack Econodyne engine, but with an old Mack Camelback suspension and a Mack 5x2 12-speed transmission in the truck, Jerry decided to go shopping and upgrade to a new ride. With his Macks having provided him performance and reliability, the choice of a new truck was easy. After visiting with Scaffidi Mack in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, Jerry spec’d out a brand-new Mack RB688S in the fall of 1990 and took delivery of the truck in the summer of 1991. Equipped with a 350-hp Mack E6 Econodyne engine mated to a Mack 13-speed Maxitorque transmission, the power is pushed to 4.11 geared rears, and then the exhaust makes its exit through dual pipes. Needing a heavy spec’d rig for milk hauling, the truck was double framed with extra cross-members, and all riding on a 50,000 lb. Mack air-ride suspension with a 21,000 lb. front axle. The truck has Dayton-style spoked rims all the way around with 24.5 rubber on the drives and 22.5 floats on the steer axle. On the inside, the RB has the plushest interior you could get in this truck from Mack, featuring a gray and black Level 4 Mack interior package. After arriving at Scaffidi’s, a Ridewell tag and pusher axle were both installed, and then the Bar-Bel tank was moved over to the chassis of the RB. A cigar aficionado and a fascination with everything nautical, especially big pirate sailing ships, Jerry’s company logo is a skeleton smoking a cigar. “I remember seeing this Latin saying that fascinated me and thought was cool,” Jerry told me. “I had the phrase placed on the side of the hood, and it is a topic of conversation whenever someone sees it.” The Latin phrase? “Illigitimi Non Carborundum,” which roughly means, “Don’t let the bastards keep you down.” Currently, Jerry’s RB has 1,061,276 miles on its odometer and only two drivers have been behind the wheel of this white Mack during that time. “This has been my personal truck, and my dad is the only other person I’ve let drive it,” said Jerry. Serving him well for six years hauling milk, Jerry later ordered a Mack CL713 in 1997, telling me, “When I ordered the RB, I wanted a 500-hp Mack E9 V8 diesel engine, but I found out that it was only available in the Super-Liner. And when I ordered my Mack CL713 in 1997, I missed out again. The E9 V8 was originally an engine option in the CL when they came out in 1993, but by the time I got mine in 1997, it was no longer an available engine option.” By the mid-1990s, Jerry was now operating eight Macks and had twelve drivers, six of which were part-time for the milk hauling side of his operations. “I diversified a bit and began hauling pre-cast concrete for Spancrete out of Green Bay, Wisconsin,” said Jerry. At that time, he had a pair of Mack CH600 tractors pulling Walker milk tankers plus another quad-axle (1994) Mack RB running milk. In 1997, after he got the CL713, he converted the 1991 RB688S to a tractor and began pulling a stepdeck, equipped with a Hiab knuckle boom crane, for self-unloading. “The boom crane is extremely handy when you’re unloading at a job site,” said Jerry. After taking the CL713 out of milk hauling service in 2004, the Bar-Bel tank was again moved over to another truck for the final time – a brand-new 2004 Mack Granite. Jerry’s CL713 was then fitted with a new flatbed body, that was also equipped with a knuckle boom, to handle pre-cast concrete deliveries. “I kept the newest Macks on the milk routes as there’s no room for breakdowns,” said Jerry, as he explained why he took the 1991 RB688S and then the CL713 out of milk service and put them into his pre-cast concrete hauling fleet. Then, as Jerry began telling me, “About 10 years ago, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and knowing what I’d have to go through, I decided to
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