No-nonsense appearance

Ever drive a “honey wagon”? That’s among the nicknames for service trucks that pump out septic tanks at homes in rural areas that lack sanitary sewer service. Over the years, I owned two houses like that and watched curiously as guys with such trucks drained the tanks every three years or so. Mack Trucks had that type of vehicle available for inspection and driving at an early autumn event in east central Wisconsin.

The truck chassis was an MD6, the Class 6 version of Mack’s medium-duty series that’s now in its third year of competing in the midrange segment. The other version is the heavier Class 7 MD7. The builder was whipping up interest in the series as it claws out a business share that’s brought extra revenue to its dealers and also is pleasing customers, representatives said.

Since 2020, when the series went into production at a newly established plant in Virginia, the MD’s market share has grown from zero to about 5.5 percent – not exactly a hit, one could say, but still cause for celebration by Jonathan Randall, Mack’s president, and David Kriete, third-generation owner and president of Kriete Truck Centers, the Mack-Volvo dealer in Wisconsin. They were among our hosts at the press gathering at Road America, a mecca for motorsports fans, near Elkhart Lake.

Randall said the MDs initially were aimed at the “box truck” portion of medium duty, where a large majority of sales are, but dealer and customer acceptance has seen them sold into niche applications not originally envisioned.

Septic service is one; others are towing, dump and even highway hauling.

“The other day, I saw an MD expedited (freight) truck out on the road,” he commented.

At a preliminary session with reporters came a question about the series’ “vendor-supplied” powertrain, Cummins B6.7 diesels and Allison automatic transmissions – the same components used by most other builders of midrange conventional-cab trucks in the U.S. Given the common componentry, what makes Mack’s MDs special?

“The truck,” Kriete answered. “It’s very simple, and our customers want a simple truck” for medium-duty work.

“The MD stands out because it looks like a truck, drives like a truck and feels like a truck,” Randall said.

I had to agree after eyeballing and driving the septic tanker and two other trucks: an MD6 with a roll-back tow body toting a NASCAR-style race truck, and an MD7 with a loaded water tank. This was in a coned-off section of a road-racing course. Modest hills, tight turns and a single brief straightaway kept speeds low but still impressed us with the vehicles’ maneuverability, comfort and quietness. I had driven a new MD on public roads two years prior, so the experience here was a refresher.

MDs have a no-nonsense, all-business appearance, from the steeply sloped hood and tall cab – unadorned with chrome baubles except for the Mack bulldog on the nose – to the interior that includes the basic instruments: big analog speedometer and tachometer; fuel, air-pressure and engine-condition gauges; and clear and colorful pictographs that appear at startup and when necessary to call out anything troublesome with the engine or chassis systems.

A Class 8-type, fully adjustable air-ride driver’s seat was covered in cloth and contoured just right for what’s probably all-day comfort, though time behind the wheel of each of the three demo trucks was too brief to verify that. Cab interiors were quiet unless the engine fan was running.

This quietness is due to ample insulation and careful attention to detail, like underhood electrical wires terminating at the firewall, pointed out a Kriete representative. Wires all end with connectors on the firewall, so noise doesn’t follow them into the cab. The steel cabin, based on the Anthem and other Class 8 Macks, is wide enough to accommodate three people (a two-person bench seat also is an option) and is tall enough for lanky guys.

I like to stretch out, and there was more than enough room for my short legs. But long-limbed drivers might find the cab’s length and standard seat travel a bit less than ideal (though seat tracks can be mounted a little farther back). The steering wheel is flat at the bottom, adding space for meaty thighs.

The mainframes look to be scaled down from Mack’s heavy-duty models. Steel C-channel rails are set the industry standard 34 inches apart and are 7 millimeters thick for MD6s. These are rated for up to 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, so driving them doesn’t require a CDL. For MD7s, the C-channel rails are 8 millimeters thick and rated for up to 33,000 pounds.

Neither is subject to the 12% federal excise tax levied on heavy trucks at the time of purchase. Add tandem rear axles to an MD7 and it would become a “Baby 8,” but tandems won’t be available for maybe five years, because Mack currently is putting its development dollars into electric MDs that are due out soon, Randall said.

Though a lift axle could be added to an MD by a dealer or upfitter, a buyer wanting to avoid the FET should wait at least 6 months – probably more – before doing this. That’s because the resulting truck would have an over-33,000-pound GVW rating, and the IRS would want to collect the tax that the buyer saved upon purchase, according to the National Truck Equipment Association.

By the way: The racing truck aboard the roll-back tow body is owned by Keith Slagg, an owner-operator trucker from Racine.

“It’s a Midwest car and it’s identical to the ones in the NASCAR Infinity series,” he explained. He campaigns it on paved tracks around Wisconsin, though this was its first visit to Road America. And of course, it went no faster than the MD it was on.

Kriete is a sponsor of the car, which is appropriate since Slagg also is a customer. In his working life, he drives a Mack Pinnacle 613 that pulls a dry van hauling manufactured goods around the region. He said he once ran a small fleet with several rigs. But he prefers being an owner-driver “because I now have no employees,” meaning none of the headaches of being a boss. Most OOIDA members know the feeling. LL