RowdyRebel

Worst case scenario, put a valve stem on the air tank and carry a bicycle pump. Might take a little work to air it up, but you'd never have to worry about the pump running the batteries dead, running out of gas or not having the gas motor be able to start to run a compressor, flattening all of your tires and still not having enough air, etc...

Me & batteries don't get along too good...had a battery-powered Lincoln at the timber company I used to work at, and even with 2 batteries, I STILL ended up using my manual squeeze one. The Lincoln I bought is air-powered with a variable speed trigger. It's also the 4th air-powered grease gun I bought. The first was a CH...cheap, $30, had to keep squeezing the trigger over and over again. The benefit is that it's a LOT easier to squeeze the air trigger than it is to squeeze the grease. It worked for the first tube or two I put through it, then it quit pumping grease and I couldn't figure out how to get it to work again. The second one was a cheap, $40 "continuous cycle" gun that I saw at the farm supply store. It worked GREAT....just squeeze the trigger and hold it....but when I used up the first tube of grease, it lost prime I could never get it to pump grease again...although if I loaded a tube of grease in it and let it sit for a couple weeks, I could use it....until the grease ran out, then it wouldn't work anymore. So then one day I was at Sears and saw a Craftsman air-powered, continuous cycle grease gun that said it was "self priming". Yup. I fell for it. It didn't work any better than the other two. Needless to say, I thought long & hard about dropping the $100 on the Lincoln gun...after wasting as much money as I had on the other ones. The ONLY reason I decided to try it was the fact that (other than the battery issues) the Lincoln grease gun I used at the timber company worked flawlessly. Like I said...I couldn't be happier with it. Cuts the amount of time I spend greasing the truck considerably.

With budd wheels, you have a barrel nut (inner nut) that is threaded on the inside as well as the outside, with a square cap on the end to put your socket or wrench on to tighten it up. You put the inner wheel on the studs, then tighten the barrel nuts to hold the inner wheel in place. Then, the outer wheel goes on over the barrel nuts and the outer nut threads onto the outside of the barrel nut. About the only good thing I can see about them is that you can roll the inner wheel up onto a 2x4 to lift the outer wheel off the ground, then you can remove the outer wheel to fix any problem you may have with the outer tire.

heat + humidity =

go read the thread I just started

My head hurts now. Maybe I should stop doing this: and that WOULD have been at the bottom of the original post, 'cept I got the message: Dangit...there I go again

...almost didn't get all my loads ran today 'cuz of my late start. LUCKILY I had the foresight to put some anti-gel stuff in the tanks when I fueled up on Thursday (before parking for the 3-day weekend). I don't think my block heater is doing much, though...plugged it in last night and it still was slow going this morning. I thought I'd have to jump it with how slow it cranked the first turn or two...then it started gaining a little momentum and fired up probably 5 or 6 seconds after I turned the key. I seem to remember last winter, the truck would blow out hot air almost immediately and the temp needle would at least be in the blue if I had plugged it in the night before. Temp needle this morning was no different than if it wasn't plugged in...pegged as low as it'd go. No heat, either...had to idle it a while to warm it up. I had left the bed partly raised, and the tarp open...so that if we had any moisture it would go into the bed and run out through the tailgate...rather than collecting on top of the tarp and then freezing making it nearly impossible to roll up to be able to get loaded. My first issue with that this morning was when I could not move the metal slide to lock the handle straight....it was frozen. So, I rapped on it a few times with a hammer to break the ice and managed to get it to work so I could roll the tarp back over the trailer...80 mile bounce to the first load, and I get better fuel mileage if the tarp is covering the trailer. So, now that THAT's done, the air pressure is built up enough in the truck that I can release the trailer brakes...and TRY to lower the bed. Nope. Air line to the pump is frozen...or maybe the valve in the controller. All I know is that when I moved the lever to "lower", air was rushing out of the back of the controller. I left it like that...hoping it would blow itself clear and start working while I checked the tires. Yup. Got back in the truck and the air was no longer rushing out of the control valve...but the bed wasn't coming down, either. Dang. Hydraulic oil must be the consistency of molasses Go into the house to warm up while the bed SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWLY makes it's way down. FINALLY ready to leave...put the truck in 2nd and start letting out the clutch. I'm in high range...but the lever is in the low range position. It won't shift to low range...danged air line must be froze. Oh well, I'm empty now...maybe once I get rolling things will thaw out and start working right. What a way to start a new year 'sposed ta be colder tomorrow All y'all Northerners need ta keep this danged cold weather up there where it belongs Truck's plugged in...again. Anti-gel added to the fuel...again. Tarp open....again (although I only gotta go 10 miles to get my first load...1" clean rock...probably can get away with not rolling the tarp until after I pick up my 2nd load) Truck bed DOWN tonight, though....ain't going through THAT again I'll raise it Wednesday night...they's calling for snow Wednesday into Thursday I like snow...I just don't like the cold.

I think I'll be up near a yard that has some tomorrow...I need to swing in there anyway for a trailer light that fell out (center marker light in the rear), so I can ask them how they are set up. I may throw my valve in the truck to ask 'em whether they would have any idea how it works and if it's what I'd need to work their trailers... As for the 'lectric roll tarp, I've put that on hold for the time being. I've got prices, and it looks like it'll run me a hair under $200 to get set up with it. First things first, gotta make it through the winter. Hopefully it'll pick up next spring (like it SHOULD have LAST spring) and I'll have the extra cash to throw around then. Even if I already have the right valve for the side dumps, I will probably hold off on setting it up...probably going to need at least $100 in hoses and fittings...plus it's too darned cold outside to be fooling around with stuff I don't need to be messing with. I'm pretty much just trying to figure things out now...do the research...so when the time comes to move on it, I can get things set up quickly.

'specially with one of these: http://www.lincolnindustrial.com/asp/products/greaseguns/air.asp Best $100 I ever spent One thing for sure, DON'T go "cheap" if you want an air-powered grease gun. Don't ask me how I know

I've used a broken stud to try to see how deep into the barrel nuts the stud goes, and I don't think there's enough room for longer studs...they'd bottom out before the inner wheel was held securely. The truck was bought with the wrong barrel nuts on it...which I'm assuming wrecked the flange on the rims, so that even when I figured out they were the wrong barrel nuts and put the correct ones on, the inner wheels still weren't held securely enough. As the rim flanges got worse, the vibration caused the barrel nuts to break with greater frequency...and started wearing the inside edge of the inner tire quickly, too. When I had the tire shop actually LOOK at the rims for me, the condition of the rim was very closely correlated to the wear pattern of the tire....the worse the rim, the worse the tire. 4 new (reconditioned) inner wheels, and so far no further problems. Barrel nuts are all intact, and the tire wear problem has subsided. I'm HOPING the problem is "fixed".

I haven't seen the side dumps being pulled by any o/o trucks yet...so far only the company trucks have 'em. They are set up a little different than the end dumps...best I can tell, they got 2 lines to the trailer instead of just the one. On the company end dumps, they only have 2 hydraulic lines...one from the tank to the pump, and one from the pump to the trailer....they don't have the return line from the pump like I do, and they don't have a return line from the trailer like I do either. Supposedly, the side dump trailers will dump to either side...but I have only seen 'em going down the road, so I don't know if they have to do anything more than moving a switch one way as opposed to the other, or if they have to get out and move some pins around like you would on an end dump to switch the 2-way tailgate from a top hinge to a side hinge. As for the filter, I know you don't want the filter in front of the pump, because if it gets plugged you'll be sucking a whole lotta nothin' and you'll burn up the pump. You also don't want it in a pressurized part of the system, as the filter ain't made to withstand the 2000+ psi of the pressurized system. So far, I haven't had any problems...it's in the return line, with a short little hose from the output of the filter back to the tank. There isn't enough pressure in the return line to even budge the needle on a gauge even with the filter there. Right now, the only time oil passes through it is when I have the PTO engaged and the control in the "hold" position. I figure SOME filtration is better than NO filtration. I already had to buy a new pump once to get going on dumps (the one on the truck when I bought it was only putting out 1200 psi)...don't want to have to buy another one for a while.

The harsher the environment you run the truck in, the more often you need to grease. Monthly may work fine for a highway cruiser, but when you play in the mud, dust, dirt, etc. every day, you need to grease it more often to make sure the aggregates haven't made their way into places they aren't supposed to be, wearing out parts prematurely. I'm usually good greasing it every other weekend....if I try to push it to 3 weeks, though, I can hear the truck telling me it ain't happy.

Build a truck right, upstarts and small fleets can't afford to buy 'em new. Build a truck right, and the companies that afford to buy 'em new don't want to get rid of 'em. Build a truck cheap, people can afford 'em...until they start breaking....and then it leaves a sour taste in the mouth of the small fleets that bought 'em used. Danged if ya do, danged if ya don't.

Tryin' ta get the fiance to hurry her cute little butt up here and pick a date for the shindig....gotta get started making me some little grease-monkeys of my own before I get too old to do the job myself... That's why my dad had kids...once we knew our numbers, we were dad's remote. "Hey, put the TV on channel 7!" When we got older, we had to mow the lawn, do the dishes, and basically every other task mom & dad just didn't feel like doing. By the time I was in high school, I was doing the oil changes on the family cars...with more service & repair work as time went on.

Holy crap. I don't know that I'd want to be out in -20 degree temps doing ANYTHING...let alone working on a truck. I think I'd get one of those propane or kerosene heaters... It's mid 20's ABOVE here and I'm dreading going out to grease the truck. I could PROBABLY get away with waiting 'til next weekend hoping for a warmer day since I just greased it last weekend, but with my luck it'd be 32 and freezing rain instead of 25 and sunny...so I'll bundle up and do it today so I can have the luxury of choosing whether or not to do it next week. I try to get it greased every other week...but in the winter I'll do it more often so I'm not FORCED to do it in unpleasant conditions. I can't wait 'til I get my shop built....indoor parking/work environment with HEAT! just bought the land 2 weeks ago.

Looking back through some old pics to see if I could find a pic that would show.... this is out in Colorado buying the truck... this is from when I got my new drives: It's had budd wheels as long as I've had it. As fed-up with 'em as I am, I can't see myself swapping out the hubs. I'd have to get new rims, too, and if I'm going to take on that expense, I'll upgrade the axles and suspension to 46K w/ full lockers while I'm at it instead of JUST changing the hubs on my 38K rears....and same with the steers, instead of JUST the hubs & rims, I'll put new axles & springs (probably 18K) and get wider tires so the front won't be as likely to sink in softer ground. CTI would be a nice touch too all the way around, while I'm upgrading axles & such...maybe with dash controls to air 'em down for extra traction...might help on tire wear, too, if I could air 'em up & down depending on the load so they maintained their intended contact patch with the road. ...if'n yer gonna spend money "improving" anything, ya may as well save up for a while and go all out.

nope...they NEVER crack, break, or have any other kind of problem I've been having problems with these stupid barrel nuts breaking ever since I bought the truck. Usually it is just one or two at a time...easy enough to take care of. One trip, though, I loaded & did my walk-around and everything was fine. 60 miles later, I pull onto a DOT scale 400# heavy on my drives (but legal on the gross) and thankfully they gave me the green light. I exited off at the next exit (1/2 mile from the scale) and pulled into the fuel stop. While fueling, I did another walk-around and found this...right rear drive...the side FACING the DOT officers in the scale house. I didn't think to get the camera out until after the outer wheel was removed (didn't take long...only 2 lugs were holding it on). FWIW, though, we DID find what we are HOPING was causing a majority of my wheel issues. When I bought the truck, it had barrel nuts with the large flange for aluminum inner wheels, but I had steel. Anyway, I broke a few barrel nuts, but NO SHOP ever caught the error...even when I got new drive tires, the tire shop didn't catch it. This truck is my first experience with budd wheels, so I didn't know any better. Anyway, once I became aware of THAT problem, I bought the proper barrel nuts and had them installed....but the barrel nuts still kept breaking. Eventually, the tires started wearing the inside shoulder, too...but since I run a VERY aggressive, open lug tire, both the tire shop and the Mack dealer chalked it up to the tire design. After the 8-broken-barrel-nuts-in-60-miles incident, I put my foot down and insisted SOMETHING had to be wrong. I was having the inner drive tires flipped on the rims anyway, so when they saw the rim flanges were worn I got 4 new steel wheels while the tires were broken down anyway. So far (knock on wood), I haven't had any further troubles....but the trouble these stupid budd wheels have caused me up to this point is still in the back of my mind going down the road. I still carry 10 extra barrel nuts & 10 extra lug nuts for each side... As soon as the truck is paid off, I'm upgrading the axles...beefing 'em up...if for no other reason than to get these blasted things OFF my truck. Anyone who actually WANTS these wheels is out of their friggin' mind

I dunno...I also got a few Fords and a Kawasaki in my "fleet".

Brand loyalty doesn't pay the bills...bottom line does. The way most of these companies operate these days, they only hang onto trucks for 3 years and sell 'em. That way, they are constantly getting maximum tax deductions on the depreciation, their trucks are always under warranty for major repairs, and they have an advantage recruiting/retaining the steering wheel holders of today with "new" equipment. They spec their trucks cheap & light...just enough to do the job they need 'em to do, no more....which is another reason they don't want to hang onto 'em past the end of the warranty period. A company with that sort of business model won't look to Mack to provide 'em with trucks, and even when they do, they don't spec it as a Mack...they get the Eaton transmission and Eaton rears...lighter & cheaper. A company which hangs onto their equipment and runs 'em til the wheels fall off 'em, needing the trucks to take a beating and keep on working reliably day after day...those are the companies that turn to Mack. The bottom line is that businesses are in business to make a profit. If they aren't seeing a profit, they won't be in business very long.

ummmm....why would you want to switch to budd wheels? I've got 'em on my '01 and never have really liked 'em much...although I seem to have figured out why I was busting barrel nuts all the time so they don't seem AS bad these days. I STILL keep a pretty close eye on 'em, though. Worst was when I had 8 barrel nuts break on one side of one axle in a matter of 60 miles....got REEEEEEEAL lucky....outer wheel was only held on by 2 lugs. I've looked at Alcoa's website for new rims...I run H-rated 11R24.5 tires, and I know they have rims rated for those weights...just not available for budd wheels.

The yard I run out of hasn't seen any of 'em yet...but at the safety meeting, it sounded like a few would be heading their way eventually. Once they get some there to look at, they'll know more...

I've been in a few situations where the interwheel locks would have maybe prevented my having to dig out the chain and get pulled out. The Mack rears will only do so much for ya...work GREAT as long as I am moving, but once I stop (to load/unload/figure out where I need to go)... What would make it better, though, if it were set up on a pair of switches...like a freighshaker I drove as a company driver. One controlled the power divider, the other locked the center differentials. That way, if you were just needing a little extra traction to keep you moving (and you still needed to be able to steer) you could just engage the power divider....but if it was really bad and you just needed to get moving, you could lock it all in and go straight. I like the idea of stronger axles...but are they axles? Or are they V*lv* axles with a stamp on 'em?

The company I'm leased to has bought a couple dozen of 'em...and me being me, I like to be versatile and keep my truck set up to run any and all of their equipment. When I bought the truck, it was set up to run just about anything hydraulic...but I had been on tanks as a company driver so I pulled the wet kit. When I put it back on, I simplified it considerably. Right now, it is sort of a cross between this: and this: I have the hoses coming out of the hydraulic pump in the 3-line dump set-up, but I have the return line from the pump run to a T where it splices into a return from a trailer connection and through a filter before getting back to the tank like in the live floor set-up. I have a valve in the garage that WAS on the truck...4 ports, 2 large ones with 2 slightly smaller, one of the large ports stamped "pressure". It's also got a solenoid with 2 air fittings...one on either end. I can post a pic if it would help...just gotta go out to the garage with the camera and snap one. I'm thinking it would be used to set the wet kit up like this: What I need to know, is how do I go about checking this valve to see how all it works...how to go about hooking it up...and what all it will be capable of doing? I have no paperwork, and cannot find any markings on it indicating a manufacturer or model number. The other question is, how would this valve NEED to work in order to run a side dump trailer? I've been searching the interweb for 2 days now and the best I've come up with is SDI's web site which says "2 Directional Hydraulic Flow is required for operation of SDI Side Dump Trailers. If tractor is not equipped with 2 way flow wet kit, then SDI's Air / Hydraulic Valve option must be added to trailer."...but I can't find anything to tell me what that means. The company trucks pulling the side dumps have 2 hydraulic lines going to the trailer...does it pump hydraulic fluid both directions? Or is it two separate push lines that, like the end dump, allow the trailer (and gravity) push the hydraulic fluid back the way it came? If the valve I have will work, I can set the truck up for the meager cost of a couple hydraulic lines and a few fittings. If not, I can quit worrying about it because I'm not going to spend an arm and a leg trying to set the truck up to pull trailers I may never get to pull. RIGHT NOW most of the work for them is too far north for me to be dispatched on 'em...but I figure since they HAVE the equipment, the possibility exists that they may bid jobs that need 'em around here in the future and I'd like to be ready to roll with 'em if that day ever comes. I just need to know how the hydraulic system needs to be set up to run a side dump....and figure out how the valve I have works What I'm THINKING is that I could easily add 2 more fittings to the bracket that currently is bolted to the truck, routing one line from each of the smaller ports on the valve each to it's own fitting. Right now, there's just a pressure line and a return line. I would imagine I would connect the pressure line from the pump into the valve at the port stamped "pressure" and out of the valve at the other large port before re-connecting to the current pressure line to my end dump trailer. If I were to pull a trailer that used the smaller ports, I would couple the pressure line that currently goes to the end dump trailer to the current return line so that when I moved the current control switch to the "raise" position that would send hydraulic pressure to the valve it would have someplace to go while "holding". I've got a 3-line air feathering valve...air in plus two air outs. I figure the air outs would run to the air fittings on the solenoid. I guess what I'm HOPING is that the solenoid would change the direction of flow through the smaller ports (which loop to the trailer to operate the side dump/belly dump/etc), with the pressure in port supplying hydraulic pressure and the return port giving the hydraulic fluid someplace to go when it gets back to the truck. I'm guessing that's what they are talking about when they say "2 way flow wet kit". Anyway, that probably doesn't make any sense to anyone....I've just got a 3 day weekend and I'm TRYING to do something useful with it.

EGR is a useless system mandated by the government....and the government is run mostly by lawyers. I don't know of ANY diesel mechanics or even truck drivers who currently serve in congress. Personally I'd be looking for a way to bypass it myself if I had a truck that had it...especially if it were causing me problems. Same with the DPF and the up & coming SCR. Heck, I knocked the innards out of the catalytic converter on my '86 Ranger. I pulled the airbox off my motorcycle and switched to individual pod air filters and had to block off the emissions crap too. When I was shortening my exhaust stacks, I made sure the baffles were knocked out or the mufflers on my Mack. Engines are supposed to be able to breathe. The less restriction to the air flow, the better. Cold air & fuel in, hot exhaust out. When you put hot exhaust back IN, you have less room for air & fuel, as well as a hotter air/fuel mix....makes absolutely no sense to me. A hot intake charge won't make as much power as a cold one. If it works, more power to ya.

I lived in the dorms all 4 years. They cooked for me. They cleaned the dishes. I was close to classes. No slumlord issues or problems. It was nice.