RowdyRebel

nah, he mashed his OWN face into the windshield when he tried to go through it to get that deer I was tryin' ta git whoa'd up for. And that's just a piece of rope, unless you're looking at my blood...which is also in there. It's amazing how much blood gushes out of your nose when it gets cut open.

...which is sorta what they were dealing with. They have a month and a half before I'm scheduled to be in again...and have seen what they have to work with. They said that ought to give 'em time to order up some wiring harnesses & such to get things back in order. They'll have it Fri/Sat/Mon...so HOPEFULLY when I get 'er back the 'lectricals and the turbo boost will be good as new. Sometimes 1/2 the battle is knowing when it's time to pay someone else to do the dirty work

Tried to bite my nose off. After I whooped his ass real good, I was about to snap his little neck before I reigned in my temper and tossed him in the crate instead.

Which is exactly why when I ran the 4 gauge cables from the batteries up to the electric roll tarp controls, I ran a 10 gauge jumper wire from those roll tarp controls over to an auxiliary fuse block I bought at Auto Zone...which is where all of my add-ons get their power. The truck's wiring is the truck's wiring. I don't mess with the truck's wiring. My wiring is my wiring. My wiring is kept simple and designed to do what I need it to do...nothing more, nothing less. Starting from scratch, I can pretty much wire anything to work the way I want/need it to and it works without any problems....but when it comes to deciphering some college edumacated engineer's idea of the best way to turn on a set of lights when they aren't working, I'm lost.

...so I took my truck in a while back for a new turbo, along with a few other "minor" things. Only electrical issue at the time was the "R" idiot light would be on (but dim) all of the time and would brighten up a bit when I'd actually put it in reverse. Anyway, I got the truck back and the marker light switch wasn't working. Keep in mind, the headlight switch was already redneck-engineered due to the dang things burning out all of the time. The headlights and clearance lights were either all-on or all-off...no clearance-lights-only setting with a simple toggle switch. Anyway, the marker light switch is supposed to work the 2 outside cab marker lights on the roof, as well as the tail lights across the rear of the trailer (the ones that blink when you push on the button on the end of the turn signal lever). I unplugged the switch, and it wasn't getting any power to the plug. So, when I got home, I redneck-engineered another simple toggle switch running power up from an auxiliary fuse block I installed (I don't like to mess with the truck's wiring...I add my own for anything I install) before plugging a single wire into the terminal that made the trailer's tail lights come on. Somehow, though, while all of the truck's lights were on, the trailer was missing the clearance lights (normally operated by the headlight switch). It was late, though, and since I now had tail lights, I wasn't going to be TOO concerned about it. I was just missing the amber lights on the front of the trailer, the amber lights at the mid-point of the trailer, and the 3 DOT lights on the rear of the trailer. About 45 miles into the first day, I made a turn and noticed ALL trailer lights were on, and continued to work fine all day. The next day, again, I was missing the headlight-switch-operated trailer lights...but by the time I climbed down out of the cab and turned towards the trailer, they were on...and stayed on for the duration of the day. Anyway, after a couple weeks of this, I had shop time scheduled to try to find the last 10 psi of boost I'm missing. I swung by the company shop to hose the truck off...clean trucks are ALWAYS more pleasant to work on than dirty ones...and when I went to leave, I noticed the headlight-switch-operated trailer lights were not on. I grabbed my multi-meter, unplugged the pigtail from the trailer, and tested the headlight-switch-operated pin...it was showing 12+ volts. So, I figured it was a trailer issue. I put the trailer into the company shop. Although the plug was showing 12+ volts, it would not light a test light. The other pins would...turn signals, brakes, etc...just not the headlight-switch pin. Hook a battery up to the headlight-switch-operated circuit on the trailer, the lights came on. In other words, it wasn't a trailer issue. When I dropped the truck off, I told 'em the 'lectrical issues needed to be resolved before they worried about the boost. Oh yeah, the "R" idiot light started being on again when I got home from the company shop. The plan was to do whatever the CX recall was for the headlight switch issue (even though I have a CH, my toggle switch was there as a direct result of my getting tired of spending $30/pop every couple months when the danged switch would blow) and try to figure out why the stock plug for the marker light switch wasn't getting any power. Most of all, though, I needed the trailer lights to be working...because that's something that will get me pulled over and will cost me money. I left the trailer hooked up when I dropped it off so they could see exactly what I'm working with. Anyway, I picked the truck up early Monday morning: The headlight switch, by itself, does not turn on ANY trailer lights. It still works the lights on the truck that it always has. It is once again a Mack toggle switch, so I can turn off the headlights while keeping the amber clearance lights all lit. Ain't been able to do that in a LOOOOOOOONG time, so it's kinda nice. The marker light, however, was STILL just my redneck-engineered toggle switch, and still controls the 2 outside cab marker lights on the roof...except by itself it now does NOTHING on the trailer. Yeah...you read that right. NEITHER switch, by itself, turns on a single trailer light. For the trailer lights to be on, BOTH switches have to be "on". If EITHER switch gets turned off, all trailer lights are shut off. The switch on the end of the turn signal lever does nothing. Don't get me wrong...I'm absolutely NOT complaining. I told 'em I needed the lights to work, and they do. I guess it is more of a surprised feeling than anything, after the scolding I received about my electrical alterations and how they were doing all this work (at $75/hour) to get the electrical system back to "stock". I told 'em "GOOD! That's how I want it!". Besides, what they can do in a couple hours in a climate-controlled shop with all of their experience and the resources they have available to them, it would probably take me a month of sleepless nights (after working all day) flying blind (since I don't know what I'm looking for or where the typical problems are) working outside in cold/rainy weather....well worth the money. The way it is now sure ain't the way the switches & lights would work in stock form....but all my lights are now working...so I am happy. I think part of the reason they came up with the solution they did was because it was a short work day....new years eve...and they all wanted to get out of there. I told 'em when I dropped the truck off that I'll be taking a 4-day weekend next month...that they should expect it to be back for whatever they don't have time to get to this time. Haven't talked to them since picking the truck up, though...been fighting the sore throat/stuffy nose/fever/etc that my fiance gave me while I was there ringing in the new year with her sick ass. Battled through work yesterday bundled up with the heat cranked and kinda glad they didn't have anything for me today. It's back to work for tomorrow, though...sick or not....hopefully not. Did I ever mention how much I HATE electrical problems?

NY Supreme Court blocks diesel retrofit regulation December 27, 2010 By Charlie Morasch, Land Line staff writer The New York state Supreme Court recently struck down a controversial regulation that required retrofitting diesel engines of trucks working on government contracts and subcontracts. New York Supreme Court Justice Donald Greenwood ruled Dec. 14 that trucks working for private fleets contracted by the state aren’t required to comply with regulations that followed a 2006 law. The law was reportedly passed with the intent to require emission control devices on government owned trucks because such retrofits could be funded with federal money through the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation expanded the regulation to include private fleets working on state jobs, according to the Gilberti, Stinziano, Heintz and Smith law firm. The firm represented the plaintiff, Riccelli Enterprises Inc., in the challenge. Joe Rajkovacz, OOIDA director of regulatory affairs, said the ruling and its significance shouldn’t be taken lightly by other states. “The trucking industry faces many mandates from environmental agencies around the country. There are many of these regulations whose legal legitimacy is questionable,” Rajkovacz said. “Kudos to the New York Supreme Court in upholding the law and signaling to the New York Department of Environmental Quality that ‘the ends do not justify the means’ in attempting to regulate where clearly they had no authority.” Rajkovacz said states that create environmental regulations should do so fairly and only based on reliable science, Rajkovacz said. “Many of these types of mandates under the guise of environmental issues are nothing more than veiled attempts to re-regulate the trucking industry – a point we’ve made in our petition to U.S. DOT on registries required by CARB and ports,” Rajkovacz said. In New York, the Supreme Court is a trial court. It is not the state’s highest tribunal. New York’s highest court is the Court of Appeals.

Me & Dozer just got into a knock-down-drag-out. Was playin' on the floor like we always do & he started growling like he sometimes does. Next thing I know, he takes a big'ol bite outta my nose...which he's never even TRIED to do before, however he was surprisingly successful in the endeavor. That was probably the biggest mistake he could've made. Before he could get away, I grabbed him by the neck & punched him a few times in the ribs. He snapped at me a few more times before I had him on his back ringin' his little neck...blood from my nose dripping in his eye & mouth as he gasped for air. I hit him a few more times across the snout before picking him up by the throat & hurling him into his crate. That's where he's gonna spend the night. Hell, he'll probably spend the day in there tomorrow too, instead of riding in the truck with me....all depends on how he acts tomorrow morning when I let him outside. He's lucky I don't take him out back & put a 230 grain FMJ through his fuggin skull. I usually have zero tolerance for animals biting me....but he's been my little buddy for over 2 years now. If it happens again, though, he's a goner. In the mean time, I got a crapload of blood to get cleaned up...looks like someone just got murdered in here. Never knew a person could bleed so much from such a relatively small couple of wounds. So much for going to bed early tonight hey...I got some of this stuff....it oughtta work

I LOVE the snow. I can do without the cold that typically accompanies it, though...but I absolutely LOVE the snow...and the sleet...and the ice...and the freezing rain... Anybody can drive down a clean, dry road....takes skillz ta handle the fun stuff. 'Round here, we ain't had more than a dusting of snow...warm enough temps that the roads weren't any fun. Today's a little colder...wish we'd get about 2 feet. I'd still be able to get out. If'n ya gots ta shovel, it's time ta get a bigger truck.

If the lightning bolt light is on, you can turn off the cruise control and press and hold the set/decel button to get the code. The lightning bolt will flash, pause, then flash some more. Count the number of flashes. For example, one I see from time to time is "blink blink blink blink (pause) blink" would be a 4-1 code...which on my '01 CH is for the Vehicle Speed Sensor. Another is "blink (pause) blink blink blink"....or the 1-3 code for the fuel temp sensor. There may be more than one code...and once it has run through all of the codes causing the light to be on, they'll repeat. Not sure if it's necessary or not, but I usually keep holding the set/decel until I've seen 'em all and they start repeating. If the codes don't tell 'em what's wrong, it'll at least give 'em a jumping off point for where to start looking.

Why couldn't you just convert that one to hydraulic? You can buy a cylinder from TSC or any other farm supply type store...install it in place of the doohicky ya gotta move to adjust the thumb. Run some hydraulic lines up to where you's sitting and add a control valve. They got different size cylinders & such too, so you can get one that will do whatcha need it to and probably get set up for $500-$1000 if ya DIY.

Yup...that's a heavy SOB to put on the catwalk just for looks.

The air & electric were run up through the bottom of the hydrant. Air connects to the left and right side. Electric to the rear.

I've been having under-power issues myself. Where would I find that to see if it's unplugged? New turbo got me 5psi over what I had...but I'm still about 10psi short of where it SHOULD be... That short rubber hose is oil-soaked on mine...like it's leaking oil out from there.

Why stop at 1? For the pickup, I'd recommend 5...only need power to the middle 1 though....

The real price of a clutch is the labor...not to mention the hook to get it to a shop...plus the down time, which probably won't happen when it is convenient to you. If the truck is going to be down anyway, and you are already doing the labor as part of another job, I'd just go ahead and do the clutch too...especially if he miles on this one are up there that you think it'll be needing to be done soon anyway.

My phone rang at 1:00 AM this morning. Even though my alarm was set to go off in only 30 more minutes, I was planning to unload on whoever it was with a nice string of 4-letter words. Glad I looked at the caller ID first. It was the night time dispatch guy calling to say don't head in for my load this morning....that I 55, MO 32, US 61....basically every road in/around/through where I was needing to go was shut down because of ice, and they didn't need any MORE trucks in the ditch....that I should go back to bed and call in the morning. So, I did. Woke up this morning to a friggin' mess. 2 puke piles....2 runny shit messes. Dog was 1 for 4 getting it in a suitable location. One time, he went into the kitchen (tile floor)....the other 3 messes are on the living room carpet . Looks like Dozer is going to be banished to the kitchen for a while now whenever he's in the house....'til he learns that ALL "accidents" need to happen in there. Wouldda been nice if he wouldda barked or at least TRIED to let me know he needed to go out.... Anyway, I called into dispatch, and of course the morning crew didn't have a clue what had happened last night on the roads. "They were all fine this morning...we had no idea you were told to stay home" Load time rescheduled for this afternoon....gonna load & bring it right back home. No point in running it, since all the fuel stops will be closed by the time I'd be heading home and needing fuel....it'll deliver tomorrow. SHORT DAY!! I volunteered to work Saturday, though.....took Monday off to replace a radiator hose I found had broken during my usual Sunday afternoon pre-pretrip, because of course NOBODY that was open on Sunday had 1" ID radiator hose. Wasn't leaking, but it wasn't under pressure at the moment, either. If I jiggled it a little, it would drip. Worked out for the better, though...because the sun was on it's way down, it was 20 degrees, and the wind was blowing 90 miles an hour on Sunday. Monday was still cold, but the sun was up & the wind wasn't blowing. I friggin' hate December....never can get a full week of work in. If they don't have anything for me to do on Saturday, it'll be two 3-day work weeks in a row...preceeded by a 4 day work week...and likely a pair of 4 day weeks to finish out the year....unless one (or both) of 'em is shorter

http://www.4lo.com/calc/gearratio.htm tells me it'll be around 71.8

What's the final drive in the transmission?

Wouldn't even do it for ME, 'cept I kinda like me and the truck was goin' there anyways....

In high school, a girl in one of my classes got a brand new Honda car for her 16th birthday. Didn't even know how to raise the hood to check anything...barely knew enough to put gas in it. Within 15K, it needed a new engine....never had the oil CHECKED, let alone changed. ....and to think people like that share the road with us

I always thought Monfort was known for fast trucks.....and their sister company is now known for the slow ones.

'nother warm thought for a cold day...

$1/ton really isn't very good at all. Heck, that's what the company charged me to haul rock back to my own house, with my own truck, burning my own fuel, on my own time, but in their trailer.