What A Day...

[RowdyRebel]

Started out with a bang....literally. I got loaded, pulled out from under the silo, climbed out of the cab, and started walking in to get the paperwork when it sounded like someone shot a cannon off. Airbag done blowed up. It was the same bag I had off the truck a few weeks ago fixing my hypothetical cracked axle housing....I saw it was looking a little dry-rotted and made a mental note that it would have to eventually be replaced. Eventually came today.

So, I flip the switch to dump the suspension air so it won't leak off all of my air and decide to limp it to Mack for a new airbag. I wish I had taken a pic of the old airbag....wasn't much left of it.

Anyway, my damned 1/2 fenders were installed without sufficient clearance when the airbags are dumped...hasn't really been a problem, because I don't do a whole lot of driving with 'em aired down. The driver's side, you might be able to slip a piece of paper between the tire and the fender...but you won't get a second piece of paper wedged in there. It was enough clearance that it wasn't rubbing...wasn't getting the fender hot. The passenger side, on the other hand, was rubbing. So, I removed the 4 bolts holding the front of the fender on. Of course 2 of 'em broke Then, I pulled the fender up on top of the bracket, so it would give the tire more clearance. I secured it with bailing wire.

The new bag Put it on myself right there in the parking lot. I'm too damned cheap to pay someone else to do something I can take care of in a few minutes.

The day didn't end any better. On the way home, had a herd of deer run across the road right in front of me. I got on the binders and managed to get whoa'd up so as not to splatter any of 'em, but the damned dog was getting excited when he saw the deer. He was trying to get his paws up on the dash to holler at the deer when I hit the brakes...so he met the windshield a little harder than he had anticipated. Yeah, the same piece of glass that I JUST spent $35 on Tuesday to get a rock chip fixed now has a HUGE crack from the damned dog. I was hoping to wait until the spring to put new windshields in as these are getting pretty sandblasted....how quickly plans get changed. If I had known he was gonna bust the window, I wouldn't have worried about that rock chip. I was actually pretty impressed with the repair job...I've probably had 20 or so chips fixed over the years, and this was the least noticeable repair I've EVER had done (you'd be impressed too if you had seen the size of the rock chip). Lasted all of 2 days...now I get to replace the glass.

[ajt3138]

hope your dog is ok. hypothetically, its a pretty hard hit to crack a windshield.

[RowdyRebel]

hope your dog is ok. hypothetically, its a pretty hard hit to crack a windshield.

Yeah, he's fine. He didn't leave an impression....didn't spider it either...just one big long vertical crack. Might be one or two short horizontal cracks, too...but it was dark and I was too pissed off to look too close at it.

[hatcity]

How's the dog doin today?

Them air springs are easy to replace, just a PIA to have to do it. Specially when you got a load on.

Did the top bracket come with it? mine did, but I just took it off and set it somewhere in the garage.

Should have snagged one of them deer. Venison is the ghoot

[Mike]

LOL... ..i'm sorry for laughing when I saw this (and I do hope the dog is fine and doesn't have a fractured neck) but it sounds to me like maybe the dog doesn't get out much. If it gets happy over a dear then maybe instead of fixing the windshield. I'd get some duct tape and tape the window with cardboard against the glass and draw a picture of a big dog on the cardboard. Then let the dog be happy all the time.

Rowdy, Let the dog be HAPPY, beg, borrow, or steal, another dog. Then your worries are over. Ya may not get the dog back for a week or two.

Truck Driveing Doggie Blues

mike