other dog

Hey Spanky.When I got out of high school in 1974 I went to work at a garage in Cumberland,Va. and they had an 860 GMC wrecker, around 58-60 model I believe.It had a sloped hood with a 671 detroit ,5 spd,2 speed rear.They called it "Big Mama".Wish I had some pictures of it,as it's one of my favorite trucks ever,the 860 GMCs.They took the wrecker body off of it sometime in the late 70's or early 80's and put it on a later model 9500 GMC ,which they still use to this day,and sold the 860.

lol, that's good,because when I get on a roll it's hard to stop sometimes.

yarns? what's that?...there's no yarns,it's all true...I must be off now,Bill Gates just called and he wants me to fly over to his place to help him with a computer problem.

yeah,wiggle the handles-that's also the best,easiest,and fastest way to figure it out...why didn't I think of that...too obvious

Hey fuzzy buzzard,where is Vinton if anywhere? Couldn't find it on the map. I've been about everywhere in Ohio at one time or another.

Oh sorry,my train of thought got derailed by brake lights.The truck you're looking at- no idea what it might be for.I did see an old White with a 5 speed main,4 speed auxilliary, AND a 2 speed rear. And this was from the factory,not like the guy with the thirteen speed,3 speed ,and 2 speed rear.There I go again...

I had a couple of those old aluminum range selector valves in my tool box,they don't use that type now,they use that little plastic flipper button,and I polished one of them up and put it on my old Ford pickup gearshift.Strictly for decorative purposes of course.That was some years ago,but it's still around somewhere i'm sure. And i've seen a B-53 mixer with a little chrome flipper switch in a CB antannae ( sorry,I can't spell antenna ) mounting bracket on the compound gear shift that worked the brake lights-that would be me. I put LED tail lights on it,and they had to be wired backwards to work with a positive ground.I got the marker lights and turn signals working and figured 2 outa 3 ain't bad,and just put 2 more lights on for brake lights and hooked them up to the spring loaded toggle switch on the gearshift lever.Might not meet the official "brake light standard of installation and operation procedure comittee" rules,but it works great.

I forgot to mention it was dark when I dropped that piece of chicken.All I could see was the glowing charcoal.I just got in,unloaded lumber in Eighty Four,Pa. this morning and went to Neville Island and picked up a light load (18,000 lbs.) of rejected steel beams to take back to Petersburg Monday. I unloaded in Curwensville,Pa. Monday morning and had to go to Pittsburgh to reload.I ran 879 to 286 to 119 to rt.22 to 376 into Pittsburgh.When I got on 22 I noticed a truck back behind me a ways in the left lane passing everything.When I stopped at a red light he got back in the left lane so he could pass me like I was tied to a stump,but I was empty and pulled away easily.When he got his speed back up though,he passed me like I was backing up-right there in front of the Mack place in New Alexandria.Watt's Mack,I believe it is. Anyway,at the top of the hill just west of Watt's there's a turnout there on the right,for left turns and u-turns.All of a sudden the truck whipped off in there,and I couldn't see what was going on because he was pulling a van,but when I passed by I could see-there were several carloads of D.O.T. men in there.My first thought was panic because I thought maybe they were pulling everybody in,and it was too late for me.They're gonna run me down,i'm in a heap of trouble now !...but no,they never even looked at me as I drove by,but there's no doubt if the other guy hadn't been in such a hurry and passed me when he did i'd have been next in line,and the next victim.

Yum,had that gritty charcoal and ashes taste,but otherwise OK. Good thing I wasn't cooking over yak dung though.

...and then I was cooking the three chicken breastesess on the grill,and when they were done I moved the whole grill grate over to the side that wasn't over the charcoal.So the one that's twice as big as the other two could cook a little longer,I moved it back over the coals with the tongs,and forgot the grate was over top of the other one,and dropped it right into the coals and ashes.I brought it in and washed it off and put it back on-on the grate this time. I'm gonna eat it anyway.

Yeah,hate to be whining,but I can't seem to catch a break!

Went over to Wal-Mart a while ago to get some film developed. I'm gonna stop looking at the cameras that are right next to the counter where you drop your film off-now the camera I paid $199.99 for is down to $129.99

What is this DPF? Sounds like some sort of emissions control thingamabob-see,i'm not up on the technichal terms. I saw these trucks and thought they had been traveling in a convoy and the one in front stopped too quickly for the second two!

Hard to say about the trans,not much info to go on.It must be a duplex,triplex,or quad. if it's got 2 sticks,all were available in B models.The hi-lo splitter,I don't know-does it have a 2 speed rear too? If you can get the number off the trans. you can go to www.oldmacksrus.com/trannys and find out what it is. And oldmacks.com has a trucks for sale page,with photos,where you might get some idea what it's worth.I gave $6000 for my B-53 mixer 3 years ago,it was in very good condition.I have seen B-models around for as little as $1,000-$1,200 but they needed lots of work.There was one in Cumberland,Va. for $3500 that was in pretty good shape,a single axle B-61 tractor.

Well,sometimes it doesn't pay to plan to make a few extra bucks.Never did get anything to go with the magnet,so I took it by itself.I might as well have left the day I loaded it as it turned out.Then I could have gotten another load this week,but no, gotta be greedy,try to get two loads in one! I did make an adventure out of it though-I went across rt. 33 from Harrisonburg over to I-79, since I only had 8,000 lbs. on. That's a great adventure no matter what you've got. Hope the boss doesn't read this-"33?!! are you crazy? you must've lost your #@%&ing mind!". There's several 4 and 4 1/2 mile 9% grades across there,and the curves....I've been across there before,but I must admit it's not really a good place for a truck if you don't have to be. I went from Boardman to Aurora and picked up a load of roller coaster track at Geauga Lake Park,where they're closing the amusement park,and took it to King's Dominion in Doswell,Va. where they're gonna put it back up.(I would have said reassemble it,but I don't know how to spell "reassemble") They said when I loaded it that there would be over 100 truckloads shipped to get it all to Va. Might end up over there again next week -i'm loaded with Kyanite now going to Curwensville,Pa. I must be off now,but if anyone has any questions,feel free to ax...I just try to put a little humor in to relieve the job related stress.

Wow!...when I started driving nothing around these parts could hang with a V8 375- or a V8 325 with a little fuel turned to it for that matter,they were awesome.And what a sound with a straight pipe!

According to my GMC history book the 900 was available from 1947 until 1951,with several versions. Sharp looking truck,I like them 'ol jimmys too!

I unloaded a load of pipe right on top of a mountain ( well actually on the side of a mountain-everything in Cumberland,Md. is either on top of,the side of,or at the bottom of a mountain ) Monday morning,then went to Boardman,Oh. and picked up a magnet,then went to Macedonia and got a load of coils going to Roanoke.After I got the coils off I went to Petersburg and delivered the magnet and picked up another one going back to Boardman to be refurbished-they make new electro magnets there and also refurbish old ones.It's not very big,about 4' long and maybe 2' wide,and it was already pretty late when I got it loaded,so I brought it back to the shop in Concord,Va. in hopes of getting a load of Kyanite or something to go with it. They had a load going to Buffalo at the yard that was just 2 beams,about 8,000 lbs. so maybe that will work out-that would make a good paying load too,and light.The magnet is small,but it weighs about 8,000 lbs,so i'd be a little over with a load of kyanite.It's just a shame to take that little magnet by itself with all that trailer floor left over.

I just got back from the Appomattox Railroad Festival parade and it was a good time.Looked like a really big turnout this year,and lots of parade entries.Only bad part is when you're in it you don't get to see it. They threw me out this year,so I had to make an early exit-they said not to throw candy,but they didn't say not to throw cans of beer and cigarettes to the kids,and I wanted to give them SOMETHING you know...(I am kidding of course,let me make that perfectly clear-I didn't throw anything,but lot's of other people were still throwing candy)

I went to Raleigh with a load of steel on a side kit trailer this morning,got lost, ( kind of par for the course for me ) then came back to the shop and tied down a load of pipe going to Cumberland,Md. for Monday delivery. The guys in the shop had discovered that an empty Pepsi bottle explodes much louder than the windshield washer jugs.I guess they just ran out of the jugs and had to find something else.The Pepsi bottles take much more pressure to explode-then they'll blow off of the fitting and go flying across the shop,or the yard.They fired 2 of them at me out of a piece of exhaust stack when I was strapping my load down-Kevin had it on his shoulder like a grenade launcher while Tom applied the air, but I was out of range and the wind was throwing their aim off anyway. But,as they say,all good things come to an end. Todd (boss man) sent word down from the office that if he heard any more noise he was going to "fire the whole bunch".Tom put his impact wrench down and said "well I can't change this tire then,the impact wrench makes too much noise". I just left and came home.

The Appomattox Railroad Festival and Parade is this weekend.Last year Tom at the shop put the big "Mack" sign on the water tank on the mixer the morning of the parade. I had to burn the frost off of it with a hair dryer first,and we tilted a space heater up inside the shop to try to warm it up so the decal would stick. When I stopped by the shop to get fuel before I went to Seneca Tuesday it was 94 degrees. Still no rain ....speaking of Tom at the shop ( I'm Tom too ),he's discovered a new form of entertainment (?)-he took the top off a windshield washer fluid jug,drilled a hole in it and screwed an air line chuck into it.Then he connects an air line to it that has a shut-off on the wall,sets the empty jug by the tool box or under a trailer and waits for an unsuspecting victim to walk by,then he turns the air on and the jug explodes like a cannon firing. I think he's gotten about everybody-i'll be glad when he runs out of empty jugs.I think when I fill my washer tank if the jug is empty i'll cut a hole in it with my pocket knife.

Kind of like a knuckleboom-I've seen knucklebooms when I was young that had about 15 levers,plus the pedals,and wondered how anyone could run something like that.I'm not an equipment operator either,and of course people did run them and were good with them,but now they just have 2 joystick controls and the pedals.

That is a neat looking show-where is this located if anywhere? Is the old equipment and mixer retired and parked at the same site? I've seen some of the trucks at Winchester and the bus in N.C.