Bollweevil

I have been there, and done that. Without seeing his face, you can't really tell if he is holding his head to try to keep it from swelling, or just an aw sh** look.

geez...y'all make me feel so...so...well, fine actually. I'm just a stupid a$$ truck driver,have been for almost 30 years, but then everybody can't drive an airplane- I don't want no parts of 'em. I'm pretty happy, see - . I'm glad to be here and pester Rob- one of my heroes!

Anyone can fly a dangum airplane, they don't bend in the middle, fly backward, or fall on their face every time the see a hill. Can you imagine how much easier one of those construction site deliveries would be with a Peterbilt with wings. Just buzz over once to wake everybody up, then fly back over and hit the dump valve. No more backing a mile and a half, blind siding 90 degrees over a 12 foot wide bridge. Rt 50 would be so easy you might consider paying the shipper to haul his freight. Adding an endorsement to your license shouldn't be a problem, you've already passed the physical, and you don't have to be any crazier to be a pilot. Easy as pie, maybe we should open a school?

You may have two issues caused by the same faulty part. I don't know about a single disc pump, I have never seen one much less had one apart. But I know from experience that a Cummins AFC or PT type pump is capable of delivering 5 gallons of diesel into the oil sump in 5 miles. If you can make the engine run, you can find which cylinder is not fireing with an infrared heat gun. If it is a timed injection like a Mack, crack one line at a time. Kind of like pulling one spark plug wire at a time. You may not be getting fuel to the top on all of the cylinders. Try to post a picture of the pump. Personally, I would not start swapping parts around. Find the offending cylinders first then find out why.

Normally, the overhead adjustment will change over time due to wear. Changes over night are not usually considered normal. Especially a change like this. If you have white smoke, you have compression. You can isolate the weak, or dead cylinder with an infrared heat gun. If you don't have one available, after running the engine for a short time, feel of the cyl. heads at the exhaust ports. try to find a cold one. Many times a slobbering cylinder will leak out of the offending exhaust port and run down the block. If you still haven't found it pull the manifold off the engine and start it up. The bad cylinder will look like a volcano. How ever you isolate the dead cylinder, find it first before touching the overhead. Your engine should set by the outer base circle method as the later STC engines. After years of NTC's with Top Stop injectors, we are doing it the old way again. Once you have the bad cylinder at TDC on it's compression stroke, and you can't see something loose, bent, or broken. Then pull the injector. my guess is that the tip is gone off of it.

The only time you should have air to the parking brake chamber is when you have manually released the parking valve. It should be located in the dash or possibly between the seats, below the rear window. Normally you would need 60 to 70 lbs. air pressure to actuate the release valve, and keep it open. It should go without saying, that you should block the wheels if you are going to be under the truck testing these lines with the engine running. Since these lines were torn off, quick release valves on service and parking brakes, may further complicate or confuse the issue. you could e mail a phone number, and I'll try to talk you through this. James

You have pretty much figured it out by yourself. The front side of the chamber is the service brake, which is supplied by the foot valve. The rear part of the chamber is the parking, or spring brake, which is supplied through a valve inside the cab. Parking brakes are released by air pressure, not applied.

I don't think that these are dull ramblings at all. I think someone should only be limited by their imagination. Otherwise we wouldn't have light bulbs, airplanes, automobiles, or even an ice cold soda. I just can't leave Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness out of this either. When I was young, there were a lot of things I just couldn't do, because of my responsibility to my family. And neither could you. Well guess what. Now you can. I have stepped over someone else's toys, now they can walk around mine. Since I am already standing on this stump, when you do find yourself down under. Stay away from the Croc's. And if you can make it happen by any means take at least a short trip on a road train. It couldn't be any worse than pulling doubles through Mo. or Ill. And insist on driving, just don't look back. Hey man, you couldn't ride a bike either till the first time.

Any fool can take a girls clothes off. Say, thats really a nice looking excavator. I wonder if that operator could load a truck every 3 minutes without busting the sideboards off.

I used to carry enough tools to overhaul a Cummins engine on the side of the road. Not to mention various spares. Once in Hammond La. as I coasted toward a traffic light, the light turned green and as I began to pick up the throttle, I realized that the truck wasn't pulling. As I cleared the intersection, there was a wide spot, so I steered the truck out of the road, popped the brake valve and swung down. When I looked under the truck, I saw that I had lost a pinion nut. I rolled under the truck on the drivers side shoved the drive shaft forward to clear the pinion, pulled it off the slip yoke end, and rolled out on the passenger side with the drive shaft. Uncle Bill Hamby, who was riding with me at the time, had just opened the door and was getting out, spoke up ( Son, if you are not careful, you are going to run over yourself, you had that drive shaft out before the truck stopped rolling.) A neat thing about this calamity, was the fact that I had stopped at the rear of an automotive repair center, When I finally found a pinion nut, I stuck their air hose out a rear window, coupled it to my 50 ft. hose and hammered the new nut on. Not every break down has a happy ending, but this one did. James

Rob, the greatest benefit of a fuel warmer comes in extreme cold weather. To gain anything from this unit it would have to be plumbed to return heated fuel to the tank. In the past, before blended fuel became more popular, we would mix half no. 1 and half no. 2 diesel, to keep the fuel from jelling. When it was really cold and the wind was blowing out of the North Pole. even that didn't help much. It used to be fairly common to see trucks on the side of the road with the fuel jelled. I have used a water heated unit manufactured by Artic Fox, which mounted inside the fuel tank. It worked well, and I could use the cheaper southern fuel in the upper mid west. From a performance stand point, there is more to be gained by cooler, denser, air than warmer fuel. I would be interested to see a picture of this unit. James

Sometimes you just can't help it. If she didn't absolutely say, no more, then you might try the amnesia solution. I bumped my head and there it was. I don't know where it came from. Or just tell the truth, It's such a good dog, it followed me home, it likes me, I'll feed it, I'll take care of it, can I keep it.

What are you going to do in your spare time?

Other Dog said it best about our English, but our French is really bad. The last time I tried to order food in a French restaurant, I asked for two cups of coffee and got two catfish on a silver platter. You have a good start on that truck, keep the pictures coming.

Typically, a steel building will allow a much larger clear span area. If your primary objective is to get your tools, equipment, and projects under cover in your own shop quickly, that might be the way to go. Then again, if your business pursuits allowed you to do so, you might stick build it faster. Either way, what ever would make you happy would be the best. Since you are starting with a clean sheet of paper, it would be a good time to make a list of all the things you liked about your old shop, as well as the things you didn't like. I like a well lit, well ventilated work area, warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. If I were building a new shop, I would try to utilize all the ambient lighting that I could design into it. The time is coming when every one who operates a truck or a piece of equipment will have to account for every gallon of oil purchased for that equipment. To heat my new shop I would buy the best waste oil heater I could find. My friend operates an engine shop close by in Tenn. The state of Tenn. bought him a heater and set up a 500 gallon collection tank. In return he agreed to recycle used oil for area residents. It might be good for some of the other members to sound off about what they like in a work area. Shoot we might even draw up some plans for Paul's Ideal workshop.

Shucks, I didn't mean to do that. I just wanted to add a few cents worth. It was interesting to me to learn that over the last 5 years that these oil company's taxes had exceeded their profits by 19 billion dollars. No one in their right mind would invest ANYTHING in a start up company with only a 5% profit margin. The term oil company is pretty definitive. Why should they invest in alternate energy of any kind? It is only by the sheer volume of business that they generate a profit at all. From east coast to west coast we,re looking at roughly 90 different blends of gasoline, to comply with state and local emission standards. Auto makers are faced with increasingly difficult fuel millage standards. While at the same time the addition of ethanol has lowered actual fuel mileage by 20 to 30%. This is all brought to you by our congress, not by the oil company's. The best thing to do would be to fire every last member of congress tar and feather them and ride them down Pennsylvania Ave. on a rail. There is no excuse not to vote. By law, absentee ballots are required to be made available 60 days before elections

Interesting article on national news about the big oil company execs telling Congress how their record profits are completely justified, and how they should continue to get tax abatements and tax relief for their investments!

It is supposed to be a free country, and I don't think Congress should limit the profit potential of any industry. (Think back to truck regulations, railroad regulations and airline regulations, which were all huge failures. The government has no place in private business. Think Amtrak!!)

What would be a great idea, however, is to encourage competition in the oil industry, and to offer the tax incentives, that big oil currently gets, to fledgling businesses, who in turn, might drive the retail prices back to a reasonable level through competitive bidding for market share.

And - I believe that we can make that happen by constant bombardment with e-mail, letters and phone calls to our individual Congressmen. Just let them know what you want, and remind them that you do vote, and remind them, tirelessly, that they really do work for you, and you will not hestitate to find someone who can better represent you, if they don't want to.

This effort would be far more effective, and lots easier to get done than a trucker's strike that asks for guys to shut down the equipment that they already can't afford to operate. I know people who are doing exactly this right now on a daily basis. If we all did - it should make a huge difference. remember the "Squeaky Wheel" theory.

The truck strike did not have a real effect. It was doomed from the start - poorly organized, poorly communicated and, most of all, not supported by a large number of truckers for a variety of reasons.

Let's try an easier approach.

Paul Van Scott

Now Glen, You can always tell when a truck broker is telling a lie, you can see his lips moving. And congress has already promised that Mexican trucks moving products into the USA will be good for consumers due to reduced transportation costs. Why any day now I expect to see the price of Cummins engine parts, Levi's clothing, as well as food prices begin to go down. Surely. our government wouldn't allow a foreign company to build a trans corridor highway across the USA, with no congressional oversite. and then charge us to drive on it. Whats even more ridiculous is the fact that the American public has been conditioned to put up with such nonsense. The Federal dept of Transportation couldn't possibly be staffed and administered by political appointees, instead of experienced well qualified individuals from the transportation sector. On a personal note. Glen, it is not good for someone to keep their anxieties all bottled up. you need to enumerate them and talk them out. I will be happy to provide council for you or anyone concerning anything that affects our industry. The Doctor is in. Bollweevil

To clear the air, the OOIDA, is not my advocate, now or ever. They do not represent me or my business in any way. To say that fuel costs are eating people alive, is a gross understatement. If you asked a 100 drivers why fuel prices were so high you would get a 100 different answers. In the 30 plus years I have been associated with the trucking industry, the price of fuel has gone up every winter. There is plenty of diesel, but speculation in heating oil futures has ran the price up every year. It happens every winter. Everyone is upset over something, either real or imagined. From east coast to west coast I have listened to conservations on the CB and truck stops, and most of the people doing the talking didn't have a clue as to what's going on. Personally I would defy anyone to find 10 owner operators who would agree about anything. A major strike might not be a bad idea, IF YOU COULD GET EVERYONE INVOLVED ON THE SAME PAGE. Fat chance. The timing for a strike is not now, The trucking industry, just like any business, large or small is market driven. While there is always freight or product of some kind moving, this is a slow time of the year. If you are setting at home on your butt anyway, calling yourself on strike doesn't mean much. Typically, the 4th of July weekend is the busiest time of the year. That's usually when soft fruit starts coming out of California, and you can't find enough trucks on the east or west coast. You would have farmers, truckers, and the state of California demanding relief. In the meantime, if we are going to hold the country hostage, someone needs to come up with a list of demands. Because, again if you ask 100 operators what they would want, you would get a 100 different answers. As far as having a govt. program to help, look out, they are the ones that caused this mess. How anyone could continually reelect an ass of a congressman ignorant enough to propose an additional fifty cent tax on gas, to encourage people not to drive is beyond me. Now

Older Bulldogs had longer ears and a spiked tail. I've been told that the change might have had something to do with OSHA. Herb, could probably say for sure, and put a time frame to the change over. James

Come on fellows, somebody help David with these king pins. I have never seen a tapered pin set up, taken apart. HELP HELP HELP.

Doug. before you jump on this you need to Look at the tag on the Axle housing and determine which assembly you have. The Key word is MERITOR. Around 2001 Meritor introduced a couple of new hub ends one is serviceable one isn't. Get the number and email Barry for a parts breakdown. James

When you look at all the "bility's" involved, Your ability to make it work, the availability of parts, the liability involved if something did go wrong. Then a reconditioned steering gear looks a lot more attractive. Downtime is always a factor also. Check with Atlanta Gear And Axle 404 691 7662. They can answer any question you might have regarding your steering gear. If they don't have a gear in stock they can repair yours. James

For limited use a long fiber wheel bearing grease will work just fine, as a matter of fact it's worked fine for a long time. There are several factors that need to be considered if you are thinking about converting, in either direction. Number one is the seals themselves. An old style Chicago Rawhide type seal will not hold oil very well. They do a good job with grease, and they can be reused. On the other hand. a later National two piece type seal will hold either oil or grease. But, I have never been comfortable with reusing one of these seals in an oil bath configuration. Number two, is brake service. In a hobby truck situation, brakes should last for ever, so should bearings and seals for that matter, but they do need to be looked at, at some point. Grease is nasty for a few minutes, but you don't have to buy two forty dollar seals every time you pull the hubs. Gear oil is a much better lubricant for wheel bearings, maintenance wise bearings will last longer. the seals however require more attention. By that I mean you have to look at them. Just sitting seems to do something to seals. In the past I have seen trucks and trailers that have set for awhile without leaks, start leaking after use. On a personal note, I would rather have an oil bath set up, if parts are available.

Come on guys, it doesn't take but a minute. Stick a pin in the map.

All new bolts is not a bad idea. Flange head bolts and nuts are available commercially, as well as hardened washers. You will find hardened washers listed as structural washers. Measure OD and ID as well as thickness to get what you want. The Mack shoulder bolts are still available from Mack. If you need anything other than stock diameter or length, be prepared for dumb looks and shrugging of the shoulders. Any thing you could buy from Kent More would be pricey. The problem with purpose built tools like these are that they are often a non standard size. Wayne Tool Co. is an excellent source for reamers. Measure every thing two or three times and don't settle for anything you are not happy with. Be creative with your thinking, a fine thread metric bolt will work just as well as an SAE. If you find you have to enlarge existing frame holes a proper reamer is the easy, safe way to do it. It is absolutely faster and more accurate. I just finished installing a used rear suspension under my RS700, and finding suitable hardware was an absolute pain in the rear. Don't become overwhelmed with your project, keep plugging at it. If I can help find something send me an email. James