Mack is offering weight savings for vocational customers when pairing its mRide suspension with proprietary Mack axles, the company announced during a Work Truck Week virtual press conference March 8.

The Mack mRide spring-leaf over rubber-block suspension, designed for vocational customers needing improved stability and greater traction on jobsites, now offers additional weight savings for increased payload when paired with proprietary Mack axles.

The weight savings is possible by casting suspension components into the Mack axle housing. Available at 40,000-pound and 46,000-pound suspension ratings and with standard track axles, customers can save 140 pounds with drum brakes and 146 pounds with air disc brakes.

The mRide’s parabolic springs are thickest at the center to ensure the clamp load area offers the greatest strength and are tapered to improve driver comfort. The suspension provides extreme articulation and constant tire contact for traction on jobsites, according to Mack. The spring leaf design and V-shaped torque rods ensure stability to efficiently transmit forces into the truck’s frame. Shock absorbers, along with rubber and steel shock towers, improve ride and handling. 

The mRide is fully integrated with Mack MP engines, transmissions and axles. It can be spec’d in the Mack Pinnacle axle forward, Mack Granite, Mack TerraPro and Mack LR. 

Mack also recently announced that it has enhanced its standard axle warranty for model-year 2022 Mack models, extending time and mileage coverage.

In 2014, after the mDrive was introduced, HDT Equipment Editor Jim Park, who also writes for our Canadian friends at Today's Trucking, took it for a test drive: