doubleclutchinweasel

Congrats!

I have also seen worn out kingpins cause a shake.

I know all of the ones we had were 12V positive ground, but some had a 24V starting circuit.

That reminds me of something I saw in town when I was a teenager. My buddy's dad ran an auto parts store in town. We frequently used the alley behind the store to come and go through the back door. Across the alley, there was a small textile plant. In the middle of that alley, the textile plant had a loading dock, coming off the alley in a "tee". There was a wide spot there, but nowhere near enough to back a trailer into...or even pull it out. Occasionally, we would see a "pup" trailer at that dock. But, we could never figure out how the driver got the trailer in there, as there was not enough room to swing the tractor nose within that alley. At best, we figured you could only get about 75% of the way in there. One day, we caught the driver swapping out the trailer. Was the coolest thing I had seen (to that point!). He backed the rig down the alley, and kicked the trailer into the tee as far as he could. The tractor was pretty much against the opposite wall. Then, he unhooked from it and drove around the block. He would then back down the alley from the other direction, and re-hook to the trailer...at an almost-jackknifed angle. When he pulled forward, the trailer squared up to the dock and just touched the wall. To remove it, he did the opposite. He would hook to it from the 2nd side and back up as far as he could without the trailer hitting his cab. Then he would back in from the 1st side, re-hook, and ease ahead. Have no idea how they figured that out the first time, but he made it look easy! Wish we'd had camera phones back then!

This guy has some awesome stuff on his website. Check him out, if you don't already know about him. https://mackmacktruck.com/mack-truck-restoration-by-mickey-delia.html I love the yellow/black R-600 he did for Stavola Brothers. That's the paint job I always loved.

This one lit up out behind the plant a few years ago. What alerted me to it was 2 big "booms" when the front tires popped. Nobody hurt, thank goodness.

What the...?

From the Baltimore Sun some time back. Luckily, no injuries.

That's for "power steering"!

I think it's the retro-entabulator holding it up there! Or, maybe the hypoofenator!

Years ago, I was working at another of our facilities. One of the guys who came to work there with us had been and owner-operator, and had recently hung it up to be able to stay at home more. Pretty cool guy. We had lots of talks. Lots of them centered around trucks, naturally. Anyhow, I had been on a recent road trip, and had passed by an older cafe on the way. It was a place I had passed numerous times, but I had never had stopped there. I noticed it was now permanently closed. So, I asked that guy if he knew the place. He said he knew where I was talking about. He then proceeded to give me a real history lesson! Apparently, he had encountered that same cafe on a particularly tiring trip. He wanted to rest and get a bite to eat, so he finagled his rig into the rather tight parking lot and went inside. He sat down at the counter, and waited for a server. Nobody ever came over. Nobody ever brought him a menu. So, he finally moved over to where a man was sitting at the counter talking to the woman behind the counter. He asked the woman if he could get some scrambled eggs. She said they didn't have any eggs. So, he asked about getting a cup of coffee. The woman got a little irritated and said, "There ain't been a cup of coffee poured here nor a chicken laid an egg in 20 years. Do you want some p...y or not?" He decided just to ease on down the road! The way he told that story was great, and I laughed till I almost cried. I still lose it when I think about him telling that story! That place is long-gone, but that memory will live on as long as I do!

Before I started using Opti Lube, I did actually use 2-stroke oil in the old R600. It did show a noticeable improvement in lubricity in the study I have referenced before. But, the Opti does more than just that. A lot of the available additives didn't do much for lubricity, and some stuff actually made it worse. I guess it depends on what you are asking from an additive: anti-gel, lubricity, cetane booster, water separator, etc. I mean, if somebody gets what they want by putting a dead possum in the tank, go for it! I don't judge!

Check out these guys. They have at least SOME of the ones that match up with factory stuff. The bullets they have matched up with the ones on my old R. EMTS parts used to have some also, but they don't appear to have too much any more. Not sure if any of this will help, but it's all I've got! https://www.slclighting.com/search-results-page/marker%20lights https://www.slclighting.com/product-page/cab-marker-chrome-high-impact-amber-incandescent Also check out this conversation from a few years back...

Yeah, I believe it has been raised, and none too soon. But there are still plenty of videos out there of The Old Can Opener!

But, isn't it still nice that SOMEBODY noticed, and took the time to acknowledge, the skill required?

The driver sure was lucky in that one. A foot or two sooner, and the whole rig would probably have went straight down onto the lower level. Could have been VERY bad. On some of the others you guys posted, I sure hope nobody was seriously hurt on those. Abrupt stops and "unintentional convergences" with bridges can be hard on people as well as equipment. Do you guys know this website? http://11foot8.com/

Nicely done.

Good to know. Didn’t really plan to order from them. Just thought the shirt was cool. But, again, thanks for the heads-up.

Powershift Video

Maybe everybody is trying to resurrect all the pre-emission trucks they can find, but most of the conventionals are already gone, and all that is left are the cabovers???

Another one off the web. Ouch!

I think this was at redbubble, or something like that. Love it!

I frequently eat lunch at a restaurant next-door to one of the local truck stops. Watching the drivers come in and out of that place is scary. There are a few who know their truck and are careful to square the corner off nicely. Those guys are pros, and you can tell. But, too many of the drivers just appear lazy or careless, cutting the corner off with no regard for vehicles sitting at the light. Watch their eyes and you can see that they don't even glance in the mirror to see where their trailer is. Lots of accidents there. The road leading to our plant is curvier than I would have made it for an industrial entrance. Similar problems there. Some of these guys just have no regard for anybody. I have been run off in the grass several times. Again, they don't even know where their trailer wheels are. The guard rails along that road are all black-marked and flattened. I followed one truck out of there once which dragged the trailer wheels along that guard rail for a good 100 yards. Hard on the guard rail, and probably not too good on the tires, either. Kinda sad, really. So, when I see someone who really pays attention to what they are doing, and are careful about how they drive around other vehicles, I make it a point to acknowledge their efforts with a wave or a thumbs-up. I actually waited on one driver to get out of the cab the other day, just to compliment him on how well he negotiated a tight parking lot. Even he gave me a half-cocky response! Oh well, at least he earned it! When my dad was teaching me to drive (too many) years ago, he was very clear that the truck needed to do everything possible to avoid an accident, even if it was the car which was at fault. His main concern was that nobody got killed, because in a car vs. truck confrontation, the car always loses. That has stuck with me. Of course, this is not limited to truck drivers. Car and pickup drivers aren't really any different. Or, for that matter, factory workers or construction workers or any other profession. Seems like there are precious few people who take pride in doing their job well anymore. So, to those of you drivers out there who still take pride in your job, and are courteous and careful on the highways, a great big THANK YOU and WELL DONE from da' Weasel! I appreciate y'all!