BillyT

Happy birthday(a little late) I was a union car hauler before a union card became a way. To avoid a days work!What a small world,I used to haul steel coils  out of Homestead  works of Us steel (where the United steel workers were born out of the ashes of the Homestead riots in the1890's) to Gate 10 Lackawanna N.Y. US steel works! five years later the car hauling company's,had something called a half rate back haul.you picked a

Happy birthday DCR! Ever wonder how you got that old? I do every  day! I'm always amazed how cheap retired fire trucks go for! An 87 Ford f 700 with 16000mi 3208 cat With a straight 6speed from a local retirement community's volunteer dept listed at 8700$ admittedly a non purpose built c/c,but not broken in at that mileage! Wouldn't hazard a guess at what it sold for new!Almost certainly could be had for any reasonable offer!

Anybody heard from Freightrain our friend Bob  was asking about him I told Bob about his chicken lights!

The 237 maxidyne when it debuted in 65 I think was argueably the biggest breakthrough in diesel engine technology at the time.It was a turbocharged " high torque rise " engine with a 5 or 6 speed triple countershaft tranny to handle the torque.I'm not an engineer,but I know how they pull! You wind the thing  to 2100, as you pull you can let it drop to 1200 before shifting. On your Cummins or Detroit of that era you have to shift at 15 or 1600,If you lugged it to 1200 it would overheat ,the Cummins often warped or cracked a head! Hence the need for a pyrometer.The first time you drive one and don't let it " drop" it won't shift without grinding,but once you get used to it you're "golden"

Two questions for anyone who has the answers. What was the last non computerized Mack? And if you bought that Diamond T glider kit built in Hershey Pa,could you put an older "pre emission" engine and tranny in it like a 300maxidyne and not be held to 2017 emissions standards? I'm not gonna do it,but I'm hearing all the problems you guys have with late model emissions compliant trucks.I'm thinking a glider might be the answer.Do these modern trucks get such improved fuel economy as to justify all the b.s. computers an sensors that drive up maintenance costs?

As usual Teamster Grrrl,your points are well taken! While I agree in principle with many of Trumps "promises" most are half campaign rhetoric and the other half monetarily and politically impractical! While I would prefer a utopian world where all immigrants entered America like KSBs wife and many others in a legal manner,we are stuck with many who have been here for years that didn't.we don't have space in our overcrowded jails,or the money to deport the others! So give the ones who have no felonies a pass and have them report to processing centers and get an I'd card that will make them legal to work till they become citizens.Have them report annually until they become citizens with instant deportation the penalty for not reporting on time! Find the money and personnel to deport the criminals! Having said this establish a date for these procedures and deport anyone still here who doesn't comply! I suspect that most of those who are here illegally would be happy to begin life "out of the shadows" and work towards citizenship! After the established date Double the personnel and efforts to deport any new illegals and make all new prospective citizens go thru the previous procedure to become citizens!Yeah, I know it isn't fair, but neither is life! Also find a way to make Mexico help police our borders maybe a head fine on illegals! Or a tax on Mexican companies profits on the products they export here! Bet the companies wouldn't be as easy as we are on their " fellow citizens" if it affected their profits!

Hobert 62, Don't forget to remove the visegrips lol True story...I hung a set of aftermarket duals on my welding truck,was on the last hanger and too lazy to get a half inch wrench,so I used a vise grip. Two years later I'm under the truck doing something and there's the vise grip! A little rusty, but still hanging there!

Gonna have to lengthen those shifters so the little guy can split his gears!

General Ike you're pretty close to Orlando,It just occurred to me after the Pulse nightclub situation that the Westboro Baptist Church didn't fly the entire congregation there to celebrate, as they

Dagotwit, I once delivered a new Ford cab and chassis to Alexandria, was waiting for a bus back to Pittsburgh had a couple hours so I went to a Japanese crab shack and got a plate of crabs and a pitcher of beer! Had never eaten fresh crab before and I was beating the thing to pieces with the little wood mallet they give you! The waitress took pity on me and showed me how to crack its shell!

Saw a couple of middle schoolers properly folding the flag as they took it down for the night. Very inspiring! My buddy,a navy veteran,saw an an adult school janitor drop the flag on the ground while doing the same thing! "Read him out",and then educated him.Of course that wasn't a protest,was just ignorance on the part of the janitor.Rowdy rebel,I agree it's their right to express themselves,but like you don't have to like it! Poetic justice if they set themselves on fire while burning our flag! Lol on a more pleasant subject, just on my beloved Isuzu p.u,I've had to create two special wrenches on for the Weber carb,another for the water neck. Standard wrenches were too long in both cases. When I realized Milwaukee power tools are now made in China,I bought one of the last American made ones in a pawnshop.40.00 ! What I didn't realize was you need a special tool to change the grinding wheel( it's a 4.5" grinder.Ground down an old pair of "off brand" channel locks for that job! Anyway,I feel your pain !

KSB,received my car and driver last week, didn't  read the Vw b.s. yet, prefer road tests and nuts and bolts over corporate ethics, but I will read it just to stay informed! My wife's Corolla has the Takata air bags! The rascals sent me a letter warning to not use the r/f seat! They will pay for a rental.car but they are keeping that quiet of course was in one of my automotive publications!

Like your B Pete! Uncracked B model wheels are hard to find,but there are ads in Hemmings and Street Rodder by people who refurbish wheels.Won't be cheap I imagine tho'!

Whites t.s was one of my "must stop" locations since 1974, Must be about the third generation of whites now.the late owner Dave White was into motocross racing and has one of the best firearm and knife collections I've seen! Also have a good cafeteria with home style food,Also had  a couple of antique motorcycles.Worth seeing if you have the chance!

Been to Simmons quite a few times,used to run the Shenandoah valley quite a bit. I haven't been to a flying j since pilot bought them is it better or the same? I kinda lean toward waffle house over huddle house,depends on the location. Harry...love your yellow B model on the subject of the cracked manifold, a good welder with a dc machine can weld a cracked manifold with a product called Ni rod the key to success is preheat and slow cool you bevel the crack (I used a dremel tool) and do short beads at low amperage.After each bead you peen the bead with your chipping hammer,and let it cool til you can touch it with your hand for a second.The second and each succeeding bead you start on the preceding bead(not on the cast iron) you need to preheat the whole manifold to just hot enough that you can only touch it for a second.When you're done it must slow cool.I covered some cast I welded with an asbestos cover. You can heat it in your barbecue grille just don't eat it! I used to weld flawed air brake castings for a friend who had a contract with WABCO we never had a comeback.Just thought of this, you cool it in your grille, just heat the grille and shut it off put in the manifold in and close the cover.

Rowdy,,I got the Avalanche mixed up with the Aztek! You're right the Aztek is arguably the ugliest vehicle built...Ever! Also as you said,today's youngsters aren't all hopeless! I was heading for the waffle house in McDonough Ga when I realized I turned the wrong way on the ramp! So I made a u turn on the two lane and got stuck in the wet grass on the shoulder, with a 53 ft dry van! Blocked the whole road! I had visions of a 200.00 tow job when a kid about 19 and his girlfriend pull up in a brand new Dodge 1500 4wd he pulls up in front of me and throws a chain on the ground! I said "you're liable to burn up your tranny guy" " nah she'll do it"!  He says ...and it did! We both got to the Waffle House and he wouldn't even let me buy them dinner! But who else but a certifiable red neck engineer carries a 20 ft log chain in their brand new pickup?😁

Lost my post,Gray hair, to continue I would tighten the Strap so they couldn't Jimmy the lock and get in while I was sleeping! The guy that told me about the tanker also said a New York policemen told him If you shoot a criminal roll the body off on the side and leave! Politically incorrect for sure!

Timmy, those loaded trailers have always been  hard on fuel economy! But the empty ones are hard on earnings! LOL 😁 Had a temporary solution when hurricane Andrew hit S.Florida, they paid us the same to bring roof insulation to Miami that they paid us to deadbeat back to La grange Ga to get them more insulation! Was temporary,obviously, hurricane Andrew like most natural disasters created many millionaires! Every junk tri axle dump in America doubled in price and was on its way to Miami! Was a windfall for truck tire repairmen also as the nails and debris on the ground destroyed truck tires!

Just sale the date on the post,thought they were coming up with a new scrapping program you were referring to  The one that already took place!

I pity those folks unable to do even basic maintenance on new cars and trucks! A trip to almost any dealership necessitates the purchase of a jar of Vaseline! Of course many repairs on a big truck requires thousands of dollars worth of lifting and other specialized equipment.also a helper! Don't give the s.o.b.'s any new ideas for a "sweetheart" emissions agreement with the EPA! So far here in Fla we have no state inspection.for non commercial vehicles,and no emissions testing except in high population areas. Of course I'm not so naive as to think that couldn't end momentarily! The only noticeable result of this is the high number of burnt out headlamps turn signals etc! With state inspection at least the vehicles get checked once a year! By the same token I run a straight exhaust on my pickup and the cops don't say anything! My wife says it's like riding with a 15 year old!!lol

The original concept of seniority both union and non union was to reward a worker for having worked for a period of years at a company and  presumably helped them prosper.Also in a job that requires a level of physical labor and or stress(trucking) as a person becomes older,seniority enables them to earn a load or position that is easier! A straight drop in Indy,as opposed to a six way split in NYC! Lol  I support  organized labor as it was originally intended,a living wage,safe working conditions,and retirement benefits etc. To be quite honest in many cases the "benefits" have gotten out of hand! Around the time the steel industry left America for good a USW got one weeks vacation for every year worked! So a 20 year employee  Got  five months paid vacation! I think that's a bit much! I'm not saying the union drove  the steel companies out of America, those cheap third world wages (that caused China to surpass the U.S. in GNP) were the main factor,but in some cases they did contribute! Also some work rules that required an extra employee where one wasn't  needed didn't help! An in law of mine worked for Otis Elevator,any time they had an " open hole" meaning an elevator opening without an elevator rather than put a screen or barrier across the opening a man had to guard it all night when nobody was working!