other dog

They're heat treated!

Thanks, i've got a few ratchets to take back.

My Canadian assistant actually put the chains on for me- She's a tremendous help- she went out to see if the paper came just a few minutes ago- ...and she went over to start the bulldozer across the road so it could warm up!

I saw a car in Chester, West Virginia. I put two puncture wounds in the side of the van when I was backing blindside through the gate. It was dark and raining, but that's no excuse- I usually back up a few feet at a time and get out and look, but this time I backed just a little too far and hit the gate hinge on the post. I saw some goal posts in Canton. Saw a lot of snow here yesterday... ...but I chained up and went to the beer store!

Got this Craftsman box in 1974 as part of a set- still have most of the tools. The roll cabinet is still in Appomattox at my late father in law's place. I'm going to go get it as soon as I get another shed.

I'd almost forgotten about Montgomery Wards. While Ma would order about everything from Sears or from Aldens, I don't think my grandfather ever ordered anything that didn't come from Ward's.

We haul out of Wellsville all the time, I think this is Pennex in Greenville, Pa. though.

They are tipper trucks. I had more pictures of those Macks somewhere, but they're similar to this-

I did not have a snowblower, but I did use my non-ethanol gasoline powered Stihl leaf blower to clear the driveway before, worked great on this dry powdery snow.

I was whining about that this morning- "Sure wish I had my non-ethanol gasoline powered STIHL leaf blower so I could blow all this snow away from here!"

He told me me to "not be surprised" if he showed up this winter, and that he was going to bring some "real" beer. Wanted me to barbecue something, because he wasn't allowed to. But he hasn't mentioned it since- he did make a solo trip to the west coast last fall, at 80 years old. I haven't talked to him much lately, but he did hit me up on Skype a few weeks ago and we talked for a pretty good while. I don't know if he'll ever actually come here or not, but I think the notion could strike him at any time, and he might- I would not be surprised.

I saw a big Holstein. A barn. and a couple of big Mack trucks.

I was looking around on Hank's Truck Pictures the other day and clicked on the William Weatherstone Collection. I found that when you click on his stories he has all the stories that used to be on his website there, just like in the book that he sent me. Might be some good reading for a snowy day....like it is here- already got about 8 or 9 inches and it's still snowing. http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/pix/trucks/weatherstone/stories/weatherstone_newest_book_print.pdf#zoom=100,150,50,200

Yeah, they had the "Fall and Winter" catalog, the Christmas catalog, and then you'd get the "Spring and Summer" one, and they had just about anything you could think of. My Ma would order our school clothes from the Sears catalog.

I went there one time in the 80's to pick up a load. One thing I remember is that they would not let me take my binder pipe in. They said it was because so much pipe and tubing was used in the submarines they would not take any chance of any piece of pipe getting on the base and being used accidently. Sounded kind of far fetched to me, but that's what they said. I picked up two 50 foot long tubes there going to some place off of I-64 between Williamsburg and Newport News, Va. I think they were for periscopes, but i'm pretty sure they were empty. I was supposed to go all the way back up to Maybrook, N.Y. to pick up some permits when I left Groton, but I couldn't see doing all that, so I just opened the stretch trailer I had one hole and rode on, hoping no one would notice. No one did. Supposed to have a permit for a 50' load then...times sure have changed, eh?

What's the saying- "there but for the grace of God goes I" ?.. it's something like that...kind of meaning that it could be any one of us.

I just saw this on Facebook, so I guess it would be OK to post here- maybe we could all step up a little, just what we can... ‎Mike Harbison Sr.‎ to MACK trucks 45 mins · For those of you that haven't heard,on Dec.26th I suffered a stroke.Luckily all functions returned and I'm "fine" as I'll get,but the drs. also discovered some heart trouble which in ordered to be corrected,I'm going to have to have a major lifestyle change.Also,because of my current condtion,the took my CDL for a minimum of 6 months. Because of this,I'm going to have to sell a vast majority of my trucks and parts. I hope I'm not wasting my time by posting this and I'm sure I will offend some,but #1,I don't need sympathy,I need to sell trucks,I've posted stuff for sale in the past and seems like only get tire kickers and dreamers,if you are one of those,read this and pass by,I don't need the stress. #2 I'm not posting pics,I have several B models,F models,R models,E models,C models,H models,G models,U models,MH's,Cruiseliners,etc,parts to projects,PM me for details if you are a seriuos buyer. #3,I'm in Iowa,if thats to far away for you,please don't add to my stress. #4 Just because I'm sick,don't mean I'm not going to be fussy about where my old trucks go,I'm not selling good stuff to see get chopped up or rat rodded. Thanks,hope you all understand the way I'm dealing with this.

That's the tractor I grew up on, except it was a tricycle type- narrow front end. I was driving a C in the hayfield before I started school. I would just steer it between two rows of hay bales while my Daddy and Grandfather would load the hay on the wagon. When we got to the end of the field my Daddy would jump up on the back and start me up between the next two rows, I was about 4 or 5 years old. It was great.

The best tractor pull I ever saw was a showdown between an 830 John Deere and a Farmall Super M at the antique tractor pull. Long story short, both made a full pull, they put all the weight they had in the sled, both made a full pull, then they had several,about 6 or 8 ....uh, we'll just say "large" men get in the sled, and the M finally won it. The funniest thing was when the John Deere came unhooked on the second pull, and the driver just kept on going, never looking back. The official was jumping up and down,waving his arms, yelling,..and the 830 just kept on chugging along. But I have to give him credit, it never seemed to strain, never changed it's tone, it just kept on pulling when it was hooked to the sled.

And, one time a Midway Trucking (out of Brookneal, Va.) IH was waiting in line to get unloaded at the Westvaco paper mill in Covington. He was parked along the road where the trucks were always lined up, along side the rail road tracks. Trucks were backed up a little because they had a bunch of train cars to unload too. One of the FWDs came over to grab the wood off of a train car- they would pick up the whole stack,one lift- and when they slide the forks under the wood, they would lower those curved prongs over it to clamp it all together. And when the operator closed those curved forks they caught the cab of the Midway truck, ripping almost half of it off- good thing nobody was riding with him! The operator couldn't see the truck at all, because it was on the other side of a train car.

Westvaco used similar machines at Covington and on the local wood yards, but they were FWDs. I remember when "Chief", the switch truck driver, dropped a load of chips at the Dillwyn wood yard one time. He didn't put any wood under the landing gear legs and when he pulled out from under it it just sunk until the nose of the trailer was almost on the ground. They brought the FWD out there and slid the forks under the front of the van and it just picked it up so effortlessly it was amazing. I've seen them run the forks right through the frame rails of a log trailer in Covington- now it wasn't a new Pitts, it was like a converted, already-worn-out-old-flatbed-log trailer, but those machines just had awesome power!

I've read that the strongest securement point on an aluminum trailer is the spools, on a steel trailer it's the stake pockets. On the flatbed I usually pull i've bent and/or ripped several of the stake pockets by chaining to them, but sometimes you need a chain to be in a particular place and it might be at a stake pocket, otherwise i'll go around the spool with the chain and hook the chain back to itself, never had any issues doing that.

Happy New Year everyone.

Happy New Year Vlad! That big coil was aluminum cable, it only weighed about 25,000 lbs. I probably would have been ok loading it all the way to the front, but I put it in coil racks where it says "load single coil here" on the frame of the trailer.