Rob

Spent quite a bit of time yesterday yakking with a trucker friend of mine whom runs older equipment and paper logs. He has been at it quite a while and runs a very clean 1996 Kenworth all over the southern parts of the country and doesn't have problems. He does not try to push the limits however and keeps the paperwork straight as that's the last 15 minutes of his working day in the truck. Apparently, it can be done; just has to be kept up with including time stamps on fuel, food, and motel breaks. Basically keep up on the time on duty, and off duty accurately. Another friend of mine hauled this auction purchase trailer into their yard and it's needing a lot more work than the purchaser expected. I'm quite possibly going to look at it on Tuesday as it's supposed to rain most of the day and that will preclude any work in sod business.

When I was working my shop I had a lot of the same setup; reels mounted in a housing above, in front of, and between two stalls. Washer solvent, 50/50 coolant, (green) 50/50 coolant, (Dex-Cool) 5W-20, 10W-30, 15W-40, NGLI-2 grease, and a corded drop light/cord all contained in a "Lincoln" branded housing. All the reels were "Reelcraft", and some pumps were Lincoln, some Graco, some Sandpiper, but all air powered. I still have everything including the storage reservoir(s) which are out back. Not a very portable setup at all but sure would kick cars and trucks out quickly when I was into that type service business.

Fisher, although a GM owned subsidiary, also stamped the body panels for the 1973 to 1976 Ford Thunderbird. They did some for the Ford Granada, and Mercury Monarch also. Not guessing as I was repairing cars when those were common on the roads.

My pneumatic setup is on a 50' spring rewind reel fed with a 100 pound barrel and has worked very well for a lot of years as long as something is in the shop. This portable thing was nice to be outside and able to grease well without hand pumping. I have an LED "Bayco" drop light and it works very well. It pretty much resides on the charger when not in use and it's about four years old. I've not really noticed any decay to battery life yet but it's about 2.5 hours before it's noticably dimming. My son in law purchased that for me to lose my corded lamp. I still have it and a few flourecents around too which all work well but have a cord.

I don't have many cordless tools at all myself. An older DeWalt drill and the battery packs are both dying. Both function but won't hold a charge overnight. They were new in about 2004 so a pretty good life. My son in law has access to discounted Milwaukee tools through his work so kind of leaning that direction. Milwaukee corded tools are very good and I have several. Those frozen fittings can be difficult for sure. I have an "Alemite" branded impact grease gun and you fill this thing with grease, work it to purge the air by hand, snap it onto a frozen zerk and smack with a big hammer. It either blows the clog clear, or explodes the zerk!! Thanks for telling of the DeWalt as I don't know anybody with one and that brand is very popular around here.

Been kind of wanting one of these for a spell but too cheap to make the purchase I suppose. In house mechanic has a Milwaukee 18V unit and I was using it to grease the telehandler yesterday. It's a lot easier and less cumbersome than my pneumatic type to use. Online research shows that little unit to develop 10k psi if needed too..... Also separated the truck and trailer I drive to grease up the 5th wheel and this power unit made it very easy. It doesn't move near the grease quantity my Ballcrank unit does, but it's a lot more portable. Thinking that might be a good thing to ask for from the kids for father's day.

Man I'm glad you found my missing nail as I was afraid it would wind up in a tire.

Thanks Paul. That certainly hits the areas I needed addressed. That old 300+ engine still has a lot of life left in it and I've been trying to skirt the ELD mandate they insist upon. This should cover it. I think my R model would best that International pulling identical loads myself as the International takes quite some time to accelerate when loaded.

I'm wondering what an electronic logging system requires to be utilized with an older truck which is completely mechanical, (1980 R Model)? Electronic speedometer or odometer, no problem. I'm assuming there is a module or transceiver installed into the truck but it needs inputs? I've never been involved with any electronic logging in the past so all greek to me, but I remember paper logs from years ago prior to exiting the trucking scenario. Can paper logs still be used? Truck stops still carry them? I've been detached for right at 15 years so certain a few things have changed in the timeframe...... Reason for the questions are to use their DOT number and go out of state, I need to use electronic logging as it's interfaced into their software.

I worded that badly: Each distance would be about 150 miles. The operating radius would be 150 miles.

No, it would be about 150 miles round trip. By the time it would take to load, transport, unload, deadhead to backhaul provider and get home, would be close in time. We are trying to figure a way to have the delivery staged the evening prior to save that time off me. Rain and sod/landscapers don't go so well together until the next day and then it's all Asshole and elbows.

Looks like I may have a pretty good option coming forth citing I've once again become a productive member of society. If I can come up with something that will run electronic logs, I can have not only my current employment which has no backhauling, to a dedicated backhaul from another vendor. I'm thinking of maybe a newer, (around 2000-2002 model year) CH-613 SFA with a E7-427 engine and 13, or 18 speed transmission. Day cab only as I'm not living on the road and shouldn't run out of hours with the runs I do now. I absolutely despise that Fuller FRO-15210B in the International I'm driving but that's because the shift shaft and keys are worn out in the top cover, and it won't repaired if the truck still operates. And no, I'm not going to force failure. Makes for a real sloppy shifting, and inconsistent unit. Ran across a pretty "crusty" RGN I'm putting thought to also. Has a lot of rust for being a 2007 but from the Northeast anything is possible. It is an XL80 mechanical detach with a flip. All 12 tires are good as are the brakes and underpinnings but about 1/2 the crossmembers are perforated. The main beams look pitted but don't have any holes from my understanding. A buddy looked at it for me and is going to look closer zooming in on the main beams. It is oriented in the photo too allow new wiring to be run:

I've seen frame flange widths be 3/8" different from rail to rail on the same truck myself. That B-61 was almost 5/16" wider on the rt. rail as opposed to the left. Upper and lower flange widths were not the same either but I don't recall what they were. They however made an excellent road drag for the driveway.....

B, and most R series trucks used a 1"X36 spline count adapter for mounting the steering wheel to the column. When ordering a wheel they usually need to know what adapter to install so it fits your column. The CH series and newer used a metric adapter. The steering wheel on my R-795 is from a CH but the adapter is from another R model. I drilled out the fasteners and changed the hub so I would quite catching that broken finger in the effn window frame!!!