The phrase “Built Like a Mack Truck” is not just a slogan, it’s a bold statement. From the time British soldiers in World War I nicknamed the Mack AC model of trucks as a “Bulldog” due to its robust design and durability, the terms tough, rugged, and venerable have since become synonymous with Mack Trucks and their prowess in the vocational market of the trucking industry.
One of the most iconic, durable and popular trucks ever produced by Mack was the R-Series line of trucks. Introduced in 1965 as a replacement to the famous Mack B-Series, the R-Model was available until 1989, when it was replaced by the CH600. While the initial R-Model (R600) production had ended, other variants of the R-Model lived on and were produced over the years. Some of which include the RL (Western R with an L designating “lightweight” aluminum frame), the RS (a Western Mack with a steel frame, known as the “Value-Liner”), the RB (set back front axle version), the RD (heavy duty R model), and the RW, another Western model that replaced the RL in 1977, known as the Super-Liner. Production of the RD ended in 2003, and the RB was the last R-Series truck in Mack’s lineup until production of this model ended in 2006.
For Oconto Falls, Wisconsin Milk Hauler Jerry Schroeder, Mack Trucks are not just the trucks he runs, but the trucks he loves and has operated for 42 years since he purchased his first Mack – an RS686 in 1983. “I had been operating a tri-axle 1980 Chevrolet Titan 90 with a 5,000 gallon milk tank on it that was capable of hauling 43,000 lbs. Needless to say, the truck’s specs caused me to get overweight and over axle with it pretty quick and pretty easy, so I was looking to make a change.” As Jerry continued, “I knew what I needed and knew what I wanted, but was having trouble finding a dealer that could help me spec and build the truck I needed.”
After going to several dealerships in the area and talking to Kenworth, Western Star and others, Jerry made a trip down to Karstaedt’s Garage, the Mack Trucks dealer in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, at that time. “From the first moment I began talking to the salesman there, it was as though he was reading my mind and knew exactly what I wanted, which was a quad-axle set-up with a pusher and a tag axle,” said Jerry. He was so impressed with the salesman’s knowledge, Jerry ordered his first Mack, a black 1983 RS686 Value-Liner.
Known as America’s Dairyland, Wisconsin ranks second in the United States in dairy production. The state has over 7,000 dairy farms that produce over 2.5 billion pounds of milk annually. While California is the largest producer in the U.S. based on volume, Wisconsin is the largest dairy producer in the entire country per capita.
With deep roots in the Wisconsin dairy industry, Jerry’s family has been involved since the 1940s. His grandfather owned and operated a cheese factory and was also president of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association for many years. After serving in the U.S. Military and coming home from Korea, Jerry’s father James began his chapter in the dairy industry, as well. Initially he began driving a truck for his father at the cheese factory, but in 1959 he went out on his own and began hauling cream, which is a byproduct, and composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. But in 1965, James purchased his first milk route and thus began the Schroeder family’s foray into milk hauling.
While working for a milk hauler based out of Door County, Wisconsin, in 1977, Jerry had initially planned to purchase this business, but after the deal fell through, Jerry began talking with another milk hauler from Oconto County who he would regularly meet at the plant they would deliver to. Looking to get out of the milk hauling business, Jerry began talking with this milk hauler, and after several conversations, a deal came together with Jerry purchasing both his route and truck – a tri-axle 1974 Ford LTS-9000 equipped with a 4,200 gallon milk tank. With the deal done, at the young age of just 21 years old, on March 1, 1978, Jerry Schroeder Trucking, Inc., was born, and the rest is history.
Prior to getting into trucking, Jerry had attended NE Wisconsin Technical College where he learned to become a mechanic and work on diesel engines. “I figured I’d better know how to work on them if I was going to own them,” Jerry said while telling me about his trucks. “Milk Hauling is a 24 hour a day and 7 days a week job, so the trucks gotta go! They have to be at the farms and there’s no room for any breakdowns, so proper maintenance on these trucks is extremely important.” Telling me how reliable his Mack Trucks have been, “That first truck, the Ford, had been worked pretty hard when I got it. It had a Cummins PT-270 in it, and those engines had trouble keeping the head bolts in them due to the high torque, so it was a bit of a learning curve (and pain in the rear) for me when I first started trucking.”
Needing a newer truck and one that could haul more milk, Jerry bought the 1978 Chevrolet Titan 90 cabover, which was powered by a 318 Detroit and equipped with a 5,000 gallon fiberglass tank, in 1980. “Some of the farms you go into to pick up milk are pretty tight, so trucks like a cabover or conventional with a set-back front axle are helpful and a must-have for maneuverability at times,” said Jerry. While Jerry had more hauling capability with the new tank, as mentioned previously, he had weight problems with the Titan 90. So, after purchasing his first quad-axle Mack in 1983, the 5,000 gallon fiberglass milk tank was moved over to the chassis of the new quad-axle Mack. With a weight of around 35,000 lbs. (including the installed tank), Jerry said, “Milk weighs 8.6 lbs. per gallon, and like anything else in trucking, the more you can haul, the more profitable and efficient you can be. I could put on 43,000 lbs. of milk with that tank on the Mack, and with the quad-axle set-up, it was legal.”
In 1984 Jerry added a second truck to his fleet – an International – but that truck was quickly replaced two years later with another Mack RS in 1986. By 1985, the fiberglass tank he had on his 1983 Mack Value-Liner was getting worn out. “The frame of the tank and the tank’s cross-members were cracking and in bad shape,” said Jerry. With that in mind, he decided to make an upgrade. Contacting the Bar-Bel Fabricating Company, which was based in Mauston, Wisconsin, who specialized in stainless food-grade tanker bodies and trailers, Jerry had them build him a 5,500 gallon stainless tank for his Mack, that was also equipped with storage boxes and was 2,500 lbs. lighter than the previous fiberglass tank. A high quality milk tank, Jerry ran the Bar-Bel on four of his Macks over the course of 20 years and rebuilt the tank twice during that time.
Asking Jerry what a typical day in the life of a milk hauler is like, he said, “14 hours is a normal day, 12 hours is a short day, but like anything, you can’t control the weather, ice and snowstorms in the winter, or if the processing plant you’re delivering to can’t unload you right away, so sometimes you gotta sit and wait. The days can be long at times and wreak havoc on your schedule for the next day,” explained Jerry. He continued with, “Most days you work, come home, eat, shower, go to bed, and then you’re back up at 4 AM (or whatever time you gotta go) and do it all over again. This is 24/7, 365 days a year, and no matter the weather. When I started hauling milk in the late 1970s, I’d have 35 to 40 farms I’d load at, but over the years the farms have got bigger, and later on, throughout the late 1980s and into the 1990s, it would be 10 or fewer farms. Nowadays, a lot of the farms are straight loads in a tanker of 8,000 gallons or more.”
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 5×2 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 give my milk routes to my brother Denny and nephew Eric not long after that. With a new Mack on order at that time, I canceled that truck order, as well, and downsized everything. And before long, I was back to being just a one-man show, just hauling the pre-cast concrete, and after my radiation treatment, it was nice not to have the stress of all my employees, along with the schedule that milk hauling demanded, in my life at that point,” said Jerry.
Now 68 years old (and cancer free), Jerry is semi-retired but is still very active in the milk hauling community in Wisconsin. He is the current chairman of the Wisconsin Milk Haulers Association and is the milk haulers representative on the board of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association. “I love what I do, I love driving, and I’m still not done yet. I’ll hook to one of my nephew’s trailers once in a while when they need help and do a milk run, from time to time, and I really enjoy it,” said Jerry.
Married to his wife Gail since 1987, she fondly refers to Jerry’s RB688S as “The Mistress” due to the amount of time Jerry and that truck have spent together. But Jerry will tell you, “I couldn’t have done this without her,” because his wife has been an integral part of the business’ success. “After we got married, Gail took over all the bookkeeping so I could concentrate on the day to day operations of the company.” While Jerry’s name is on the door of his Mack, it has been a team effort for Jerry and Gail. “Running a business requires commitment and consistent effort, so being able to rely upon each other is essential,” said Gail, as she added to the conversation.
Besides trucks, Jerry loves all things nautical and loves to be out on the water in the summertime when the weather is nice. “I bought my dream boat a few years ago,” said Jerry. His boat is a beautiful 31-foot Baja equipped with twin inboard big block Mercury 454 engines. “It will run a little over 75 mph out on the water when its calm,” Jerry told me with enjoyment in his voice.
For this author, I was impressed when I first saw photos of Jerry’s 1991 Mack RB688S. You don’t see many 1991 model year Mack trucks, that have spent their entire life operating in Northern Wisconsin, that are in such great shape like Jerry’s, that haven’t gone through some sort of restoration at one point or another. This old Mack is definitely a survivor and a testament to Jerry’s meticulous care. But like his Mack, Jerry’s a survivor, as well, and maybe the best way to describe him is tough, rugged and venerable, or simply, “Built Like a Mack Truck!”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Special thanks go out to 10-4 Magazine’s youngest new photographer, Carson Lambrecht. At just eight years old, Carson took the time to photograph the 1991 Mack RB688S for this article. All the other older photos are courtesy of Jerry and Gail Schroeder.