RowdyRebel

Neither. All I do is stand up the tire, hook the airline up to the valve, and it seats itself. Michelins are good like that. When you start getting cheap on the tires (i.e. company trailer tires ), they sometimes need a little ether to get 'em to seat. Ever priced a cheater tank?

If it weren't for the occasional $hit storm, we'd have nothing to post... It's all in good fun

Actually, they are Alcoas...

...and that's EXACTLY the kind of person we need. The current administration shows us what we get when we elect an ambitious feller who dreams of holding the most powerful office in the world. The previous admin wasn't much better...but at least he (and his wife) RESPECTED the office....no getting off AF1 in tank tops, cut-off shorts, and sneakers. We need to get back to electing the best person for the job....not the one who wants it the most.

I do my own tires. The tires on the Mack are the easiest...FAR easier than my motorcycle. I just lay the rim down on the ground and walk on the tire sidewall. After one or two trips around the wheel, the bead pops off. A little soap to lube the tire/rim and a pair of 30" curved spoons make short work of dismounting & mounting. Setting the bead is even easier than breaking it. Use a quality tire, and all ya need to do is stand the wheel up and put the air line on the valve stem. Now, I've never done anything with split rims...so I'm sure there's a few differences.

Whuddayou know? You wanted to trade your for a petercar I'll take a truck that gets me in and out of wherever I need to go and is still roadworthy when I am ready to get back on the road over a truck that rides like a Cadillac but can't go where I need it to...

A truck ought to ride like a truck. If I wanted a Cadillac-smooth ride, I'd buy a Cadillac.

Actually, they don't mind....I had a u-joint that was starting to make noise and needed replacement. They couldn't get me in to do it for me, so I swapped it right there in their lot. Only lost 1 load...so I guess I didn't do TOO bad My coveralls paid for themselves...kept my clothes clean & grease free. ...but I know what you mean...the Mack dealer up in Evansville didn't want to get me in (this was the first summer I had the truck) when the axle hub seal was leaking...some of the nuts were stripped on the studs. They wanted me to leave the truck with them overnight...as though I had a way to get home or wanted to buy a motel or something. When I told 'em "well, if you've got the parts, I can do the work myself in your lot" suddenly they could get me in.

...so if you were to get up, grab the chair you had been sitting in, and proceed to break it over their head....would they assume 30% of the responsibility since if they had just been somewhere else at the time, they wouldn't have been hit by the chair? After all, if they had just looked into their crystal ball in order to see what is going to happen that day, they would have known not to be exactly where they were at the exact time the chair came flying.... I think I would have told 'em to get f***ed. I'll file bankruptcy and write it off before I ever pay out on a BS claim like that.

Depends. When I was on tanks, I'd run for weeks with duct tape repairs to product hoses. The air line patch was on there for a day...gave me time to get by the store to buy the "proper" coupler to make a DOT-legal repair without losing any loads. Could have left it, but if the DOT saw it, they would've been that much closer to meeting that month's quota. The radiator hose was on a company truck...the shop wasn't answering the phone and he just needed to go 15 or 20 miles to get there. When the shop saw it, they told him it was the best patch job they had ever seen...prolly could have run with it for a while, but they put a new hose on there anyway. The fuel return line repair got me home. I've got the new line to put on there, just didn't feel like doing any MORE work on my truck in the Mack dealer's parking lot this week

There is a LOT of force transferred in a wreck...and not a lot of "give" in the back end of a truck to absorb that energy. The driver of the truck that hit the other was expecting the impact...he saw it coming. He likely had his seat belt on, which kept him from kissing the windshield. The driver of the truck that got hit, on the other hand, may not have seen it coming. If he was leaning forward in the seat...or had his head turned...or was reaching for something on the passenger seat or bent over picking something up off the floor....any other movement that kept his back and head away from the seat, injuries are not all that unbelievable. My fiance got rear ended in her pickup by a 17 year old kid in a minivan. Van got towed and the kid walked away from it without injury...but even though her truck was still drivable and didn't look too bad, the front seat passenger broke a collarbone...the rear seat passenger tore a tendon in the knee...and the fiance had a big 'ol knot on her head, compressed disc in her neck, and a lumbar compression fracture. Getting hit from the rear is a good way to get hurt.

...product hoses...air lines...radiator hoses...fuel return lines... ...is there anything this stuff CAN'T fix?

I've had pretty good luck with this stuff: http://www.duckbrand.com/Products/duck-tape/standard-duck-tapes/industrial-grade-duck-tape.aspx Excellent adhesive qualities...and half the price of the gorilla tape. I prolly have 3 rolls of the stuff in my truck at all times

Today, I got to add the fuel return line to the growing list of parts & pieces I've fixed w/ duct tape...

Oh...I don't use my real name for any of it. Hell, I even have an e-mail address that I ONLY use for junk crap like that...NOT my "official" e-mail. Any business contacts searching for my "online activity" by searching my name or e-mail address will come up pretty much empty. Google my name and the ONLY thing that comes back to me in the first 20 pages is my name in a list of graduates from the SIUC College of Ag from a few years back. Everything else is others...brothers, mom, etc...but not me.

When I got back on line a few years ago, it was the first place I thought of to host pics. I have a whopping 11 "friends" on there... ...and I wanted my number on the side in case I'm parked somewhere and anything happens to the truck....that and if I'm playing with someone in traffic and they decide to call the company, they call my phone (easy...it's on the side) instead of the carrier (gotta remember to look it up later) ...not that I would do anything like that though....

I white out the carrier name. I got no problem showing my company name, though....it's on the side of the hood. I just white out my home town and phone #

http://www.kfvs12.com/Global/story.asp?S=12399522 Truck that dumped it's load left the quarry maybe 3 or 4 trucks behind me. It was a Pemiscot County truck...guess after coming off the hills, driver reached to reset the cruise and hit the wrong switch...opened the belly dump instead. Spread the load real nice on the right lane for about 1/4 mile leading up to the Benton exit. From what the lady at the scale was saying, this is the 3rd time it's happened this year with a Pemiscot County truck that loaded at one of their facilities. If it were a private carrier, ya think they'd have been shut down by now? Car that got hit was a state car....crown vic. Trunk was obliterated, but the passenger compartment appeared to be relatively unscathed. The truck that hit the car didn't look like it had much (if any) damage. Freightshaker. Can't remember if it was a columbia or century...saw it driving away a few hours later with a state trooper right behind him. He was the only non-government vehicle involved though...so they are probably bending him over and having their way with him.

Who were they looking for? I'm confused. Who are these union guys, how are they affiliated with the quarry, and why would you show them any ID?

If there is a nuclear facility, that's probably the one....I seem to recall him saying something about nuclear power something or other...

I've got a buddy who works security at the power plant up thattaway...

To get to Mackpro from your home 20, ya either gonna pass right by me, or within 15 miles of me...depending on which route ya take. We prolly pound the same pavement more often than you think.

Awww, hell...I'd be in hog heaven on roads like that. Unfortunately, them roads don't come around often enough...

Just be careful...them things have a lot of spring pressure in 'em, and can fly off with quite a bit of force once you remove the clamp. Luckily, the brake chambers aren't too terribly expensive...one of the less expensive things that can go wrong....and don't take all that long to change out, either

If you have no air in the service side of the system, your brakes will be on. The starter tank air has nothing to do with the brake system. You CAN manually release the brakes with a bolt in the chamber....however, if you manually release them, you will have NO brakes at all (especially with no air). I wouldn't recommend doing that unless the truck is going to a shop on a hook. If you were able to build air and only had parking brakes on 1 axle of your tandems, you could limp to a shop with the brakes caged...but still not if you don't have air pressure. You NEED air pressure to apply the brakes. If you can use your mobile compressor to air up the service tanks, and stay outside of the truck to listen for the air leak while the compressor is running. Is the air leaking when you try releasing the brakes? Or perhaps when you step on the brakes? Either of those, look & listen closely at the brake chambers...possible diaphragm broken. In my experience, a broken diaphragm will dump your air pretty quick. If air is leaking, you WILL hear it. Try this, too...especially if your compressor is loud (and hides the noise from the air leak) Connect the starter air tank with the service tanks with a valve, so that you can air up the starter air tank and shut off the compressor...then use the starter air tank to charge the service tanks and listen for the leak.