The Mack MR series is the low-cab-forward line in Mack’s range, the truck bodybuilders use for refuse packers and other municipal equipment. The records collected here cover the MR, MR600 and MR688 designations used by the line.
Mack MR series at a glance
| Maker | Mack Trucks |
|---|---|
| Type | low-cab-forward truck for refuse and municipal work |
| Cab | over the engine, with a low floor for frequent entry and exit |
| Body | fitted by refuse and municipal body builders |
| Assembled | Macungie, Pennsylvania |
| Powertrain | Mack engines, transmissions and axles built in Hagerstown, Maryland |
| Company owner since 2000 | Volvo |
| Market | Class 8 to class 13 vocational trucks |
There is no dedicated Wikipedia article on the Mack MR; this page is based on the company article and the related model pages.
History of the Mack MR series
The MR belongs to the vocational side of Mack’s business, the trucks that work a route rather than a highway. Its layout is the low-cab-forward: the cab sits above the engine and the front axle and the floor is low enough for the crew to step in and out at the kerb, dozens of times a shift. Chassis of this type leave the factory without a body and are finished by a refuse or municipal bodybuilder, who adds the packer, the hopper or the tank.
Mack has built trucks this way for a century and a half of American municipal service, and the MR carries on a tradition that runs from the AC’s chassis, used for fire engines in the 1920s, through the custom chassis of the post-war years. Since 2000 the company has been part of Volvo, but the trucks are still assembled in Pennsylvania, and their engines, transmissions, transfer cases and power take-offs still come from the Hagerstown plant that also builds the engines Mack Defense supplies to the military.
Design and features
- Low cab-forward: the driver and crew step in and out at kerb height all day.
- Built for bodybuilders: the chassis is supplied for refuse and municipal bodies rather than as a complete truck.
- Mack driveline: engines, transmissions and axles from Mack’s own plants.
- Vocational focus: part of Mack’s class 8 to class 13 vocational range.
Mack MR series versions
- MR: the base low-cab-forward chassis.
- MR600: the lighter of the two model designations recorded here.
- MR688: the heavier designation.
The other municipal chassis in the range is the Mack LE series, and the construction truck of the same generation is the Mack Granite. More trucks are in the Mack collection.
Sources
- Mack Trucks, English Wikipedia: company history, plants, market
- Mack Granite, English Wikipedia: Mack’s vocational range and driveline practice
