For this month’s second Bridgestone Million Mile Club member, we head to Ruakaka and the yard of Ian and Shelley Newey. Their company, IK & SM Newey Transport, is home to a wide array of Mack product, with fleet No.40 being Ian’s personal ride.

The Neweys’ area of expertise is the handling and transportation of logs throughout the Far North, an area of the country renowned for gnarly access roads and challenging skid sites, testing the mettle of man and machine.

Ian is quick to bestow praise upon his trusty steed – a 2005 Mack Qantum. It was part of a cancelled order for Thames’ Provincial Freightlines, and the Neweys grabbed the opportunity to secure one of the homeless pups. “Essentially, what you are looking at is a cabover version of the 8×4 CH Mack,” explains Ian. “Under the rebadged Renault cab, it is all typical CH spec from the 470 EA7-CCRS engine and 18-918 Roadranger gearbox through to the 46-160 Meritor diffs and rubber block suspension. It’s straightforward and bulletproof, but you have to take care of it. It truly is all about the maintenance, especially on the roads we deal with. It’ll tell you when something is wearing out, and you have to act on that – don’t leave to the point of destruction.

“It’s coming up near 2,000,000km on the clock now. In that time, it has had three sets of heads. This is a known issue with electrolysis. It is countered by using quality coolant – once again, preventative maintenance prolongs the life expectancy of individual components.

“We have also done a couple of bearing rolls in its lifetime. But we can honestly say it is still running the original camshaft, and it does not burn any oil.

“With this in mind, we keep our service intervals low as well. Typically, we drop the engine oil every 20,000km and between 80,000km and 100,000km for the gearbox and diffs. It’s not rocket science or a secret. The bottom line is, don’t be lazy with maintenance – look after it, and it will look after you.”