Freightrain

Welcome to the forums! Pictures please.

Was at local dealer a year ago and a guy came looking for brake treadle and it was $2000+ and they were trying to find one in the system. Yikes!

#11 is the one I ordered for my 300+. My 237 and 673 had the earlier #10 version

Times they are different. Hard to find help, so deliveries are a bit slower then they used to be. Like everything today.

My AC "quit" back in early July/June? Get cool, then warm. Repeat. I checked everything I could think of. Cleaned filter, etc. I had service come and found a piece of insulation had come loose inside the plenum which was blowing against evaporator and blocking air flow which made it hot. Geez. They screwed it back to and works flawless again. If I had thought to pull access panel off and look inside I could have saved a $90 call. Oh well, lesson learned.

Went over to Beaver Springs last Thurs for the annual FE Reunion. I won the Gamblers race on Friday. Yay. Didn't fair as well in the big race on Saturday. Had a great time overall. Saw lots of old friends, met some new ones. I had plans Sunday(local show that I am involved with) so headed out about 6 pm. Got fueled up, buddy followed me home that lives nearby. We made it back safe and sound. Sorta. I got off the highway at my exit and something seemed out when I tried shifting gears at the bottom of the ramp. Ugh. I got it moving and continued on without fuss. It had me wondering. I went about 5 miles and came into Mogadore, Ohio(about 10 minutes from home). There is a light on a slight grade. When I tried to switch gears and roll as the light turned green, the shifters wouldn't move. It lugged and stalled at the stop bar. Luckily of sorts. It's 12:14 am and I can't seem to move the shifters, even aux. Set brake, push clutch...nothing. all jammed up. WTH?? Luckily it is quiet and no real traffic. I quickly start assessing the situation. Thought maybe transmission issue but that would not cause the little Spicer box to jam. It has to be clutch. Bit pedal feels "normal". I push pedal and bump starter, nothing. Ya, clutch. The issue is, the whole weight of the truck is leaning on all the transmissions and holding them in gear. WTH do I do now? I can't screw around too much as I can't run the tanks out of air and be really screwed. Call a friend (wake him up?), call wrecker? My buddy got off previous exit so I call him. He is home and will drop his trailer and come assist. He just has newer Power stroke pickup but at least it is something for now. I get to thinking and realize "if" I can jack up one side of axle I can release the tension on the trans and get them in neutral. It would be a step forward. I get bottle jack out of bunk storage(has just put it back in before this trip). The jack has a leak out of the front knob and had leaked a bit out. I added another o ring and it seems to hold fluid so I put it back in the truck. I didn't have any extra fluid for it but I figured I would address that sometime. Seems sometimes was now. I blocked a few axles with lumber and found the jack would not pick the axle high enough to let tire turn. Ugh. By this time the local cop showed up to check on me. I was scurrying around getting this set up. He likes the outfit and my drag car. I dumped some 75-90 gear lube in the jack and proceeded to jack truck up. It worked. The officer said traffic is light and won't make me tow it. If it was 3 pm and busy he would have to make me call a wrecker. He said that I looked like I knew what I was doing and wonder back to his car. I told him for 24 yrs it has never left me stranded, even if I was 3 states away. Buddy showed up and I had it running by then to build air. I then shut it down, got it in 1st low, released brakes and hit starter. Nope, too steep. Fudge. Now it is stuck in gear again!! Jack it up and started over. This time I let it Coast back down the grade a few hundred feet to level ground and it then started in low and I took off. I tooted the horn at the officer and made my way South. My buddy followed as I now had to make a few turns and 8 lights and knew stop sign to work through. He ran blocker for the stop sign as it is kinda hard to see traffic and it is a main road. Got through there and the last 6 lights, turned into my neighborhood and into my drive. Whew..... Home, safe and sound. After poking around through the bottom hole it looks like maybe one lever is low(broke,damaged,etc) and not allowing clutch to fully release. I was able to unhook trailer and get truck back around in front of its garage space. It is too tight to just be able to back in without clutch. Likely push it with pickup. I haven't really determined what is going to transpire. I have engine, trans, and soon to be new dual disc clutch to install. No sense in spending money on old clutch. I think it is done for the season. I have one last stick race next weekend but not ambitious enough to have it done for that. My work has a 2016 f250 with a gooseneck ball. I will bring it home to move trailer into its parking spot. I will see how well it holds the weight. It does have towing package and brake controller. It may be okay? Will see tomorrow night when I drive it home. To top it off, when I walked into the kitchen at 1 am there was water on the floor in front of fridge. Thought maybe just defroster tray had moved. I wiped it up but Sunday morning a bunch more water. It had died and was warming up. Oh jeezus. I let my buddy know that I wasn't bringing rig and make other plans. He was fine with it, not catastrophic. We just use my big trailer as a hospitality tent for coffee and donuts. A friend used his 28 ft tag trailer instead. Life moves on. I drove black car to the show and hung out. I was whipped and everyone knew it. Karen and I just sat in our chairs and relaxed. Took Monday off to purchase a new fridge, I am in break down list so I get preferred delivery. I have little college frig that I bought when I had my little 28ft trailer that has been sitting in garage for years, It has my perishable stuff in it. I will make it a few days. I have old side by side torn down so it will be easier for them to haul out. Life is good. It can always be much worse. Picture with me and a friend Dan(right) who also sponsors me. He is part of the event and I wanted him in the winners picture.

Just look for the note "made in USA with global parts". Ugh.

Started with $50/ month back then. Now it is $500/ month. Growing quite well now. 30 yrs making 10%/year has worked out.

It was 25 yrs ago but local shop recored my heater core with no fuss. I was surprised they could get it "off the shelf".

Friend retired about 15 yrs ago from Food workers union. He had to get out before all the youngins gave away all their bennies. They want cash today!! Not for tomorrow. All this instant gratification crap. I don't have any real retirement so I have been putting money away myself for 30 yrs. Won't be rich, but will have significantly more then SS to survive on.

Like Uncle Ben, it was racist to have a black person on a a label. Stupid, just stupid what these morons today can force down people's throats.

Depending on distance, a quick fix may be good. Just get it good and warm to confirm patchwork.

Just got to reading this. My 300+ is an ESI, so I can post a picture of my mounting pad to compare to your 673T. I know there are some subtle differences in these mounts and oil holes. My old 673 I put spin ons but it was non turbo so I had to find spin on filters without the oil hole(from 711 motor) and no oil cooler.

Ok, that bottom picture is a top that could be used with a Triplex. The two horizontal holes in the front corner are for the shifter mount. Remember, a duplex has the compound on the RIGHT side of the main. Tri and Quad are on left side. A duplex would not need those two holes. So maybe the "early" lid was not universal fit. Yes, your brake handle would need shimmed up about an 1/8" to clear the two lumps for the cross bolts. I am not sure where they mount a brake on a trip/quad?

I'm just shy of 30k lbs. Not heavy but not light. I'd rather have more OD then I need then not enough. I can always run in 11th or 11th gear. Less heat and less power loss.