RowdyRebel

I've looked at the schematics and understand what is needed to wire 'em. I used to wire industrial control panels to pay for college. The way the company has it, there is a reversing relay that is remotely mounted somewhere in the cab (usually behind the driver's seat). This relay reverses the electricity.....+/- to roll the tarp one way, -/+ to roll it the other. That relay has the 6 gauge wire from the battery, and 6 gauge wire to the trailer. There is also a normally open rocker switch, which can be located anywhere in the cab (usually near the dump controls). This is wired up with 14 gauge wire, as it is a low-amp circuit that only controls the reversing relay, NOT the high amp motor on the trailer. ANY on-off-on switch rated for 15 to 20 amps will work, but should be the type of switch that returns to the open position you release it. Since I made the OP, I found the 'lectric roll tarp controls that came with the truck when I bought it. The reversing relay and switch are the same component...turn the switch one way, it directs the power +/-...turn the switch the other way, the power to the trailer is -/+. It even has a 50 amp breaker and a light to indicate when the trailer motor is engaged. I also found the plug end that works with the company trailers. All I need now is the 6 gauge cable, because the knuckleheads at the dealership that disconnected everything I didn't need at the time decided to CUT the cables instead of merely disconnecting them. Cheapest I've found so far is through my former employer, but it's still pushing $3/foot. If I buy another female and another male plug, I can make do with 3 sets of 6 gauge jumper cables. What I can't figure out is how you can buy 16' of 6 gauge jumper cables, cut to length, with some pretty nice clamps attached to each end for $24...so it is $72 for 48' of 6 gauge 2 conductor fine strand cable in 16' pieces with some nice clamps...but for a 50' roll of JUST the cable, they want nearly $150 I'll probably be going the jumper cable route...

...somethin' 'bout 'puters

First, you don't even own the friggin' truck yet. Second, how many forums are you going to solicit advice from...only to ignore all of the advice you get and buy the truck anyway? yeah...I followed Gambi's link about the 'puters and clicked around a bit while I was there...

Since hooking to a dump, I probably spend 95% of my time in IL and MO...with rare short trips into KY or IN. However, I keep the "limited long" plates & permits which keeps most of the lower 48 on my cab card. I think they FINALLY dropped Calif***ya off, which I had asked them to do last year since my truck is old enough they ain't gonna let me in for too much longer anyway. Every once in a while, they'll toss a longer trip on me...either down to TX to see my gal or elsewhere...went to WV a week or so ago (delivered the morning after the mine blew up) and even made a recent run to GA. While I like being home, sometimes it is nice to get out there, set the cruise, and see something different for a day or two.

287 is a G load rating. I run H. 726 is a closed shoulder. I run open shoulder, aggressive lugs for traction. 725 WOULD be an option, if it were offered in H load rating...but it still isn't aggressive enough to suit my desires. 260 is comparable to the XZE2, but 3/10 of an inch narrower on the tread. Not sure how much that matters, but a narrower tire will have a smaller contact patch with the road and be more likely to dig in when on softer ground. When I bought the truck, it had Continental HSR's on the steer axle and I thought I liked them...until I ran the Michelins. Even running through standing water at speed with one side of the truck, it does not "pull" like it did with the HSR's. The only time I've EVER had a problem with the XZE2's gripping the road was running on snow-pack and trying to slow an 80,000 pound truck to make a left turn...but then any tire is going to have problems in that circumstance. I look at drive tires like this: Every time I get stuck, I either have to waste time getting myself out (if I'm empty), or find someone to pull me out (if I'm loaded, or if I'm on uneven ground). Wasting time costs me loads, and in some cases, that lost load was the load that was taking me back towards the house...so instead of being paid to go home, I had to bounce. Every time it happens, the money lost would buy a new tire. Running a less expensive, more fuel efficient tire that lasts a few extra miles but regularly gets me stuck ends up costing me more money than I'm going to save with that tire over a more expensive, more aggressive tire that gets excellent traction when I need it. If I was a highway truck that rarely ever went down a gravel road (much less a job site), I would be looking at different treads...more conservative, fuel efficient. If I hauled general freight, I could live with G load ratings. However, if I am loaded heavy at the nose of the trailer and tear a tire on my way out of the quarry, I want to know the remaining tire has the best possible chance of limping me to a tire shop for a replacement... Actually, I can't complain about the wear on the tires apart from the mechanical problems (rims on the drives, and whatever is wrong with the front). The tire that is on the front that is bad had other issues...the left front shock somehow bent and needed replacement within a month of the first new shock. Swapping sides and flipping the tires on the rims to maintain direction of rotation seems to have sped the process along. I do run crossfires on the drives to maintain pressure equalization between inside and outside wheels, and visually check 'em every day. I put the tire gauge on all of 'em at least once a month.

Well, that set of tires didn't last NEARLY as long as they SHOULD have. Drives were all new 12/08, and the steers new in 2/09. Part of the problem was the stupid budd wheels. Truckpaper ad said aluminum wheels, but when I got to the dealer to see the truck, they claimed an error in the ad...only 6 aluminum wheels, with steel inner wheels. I drove it for 7 months...then found 2 broken barrel nuts. Got them replaced at C'dale Mack. 2 weeks later, I got my new drives at Ozarko in Cape. Broke a few more barrel nuts and FINALLY was told of a difference. Pi$$ed me off a little that NEITHER shop that had previously messed with 'em had noticed they weren't the right ones. Turns out, I had barrel nuts for aluminum inner/outer wheels...NOT for steel inner/aluminum outer. So, I changed the barrel nuts and was fine for quite a while...then they started breaking again. One here, two there...I carried extras to fix as they broke. The inside drives also began to be eaten up on the inside shoulder...every other lug. Had the tires rotated, new shocks, adjusted air pressure...still eating up the inside shoulder. Took a trip, and in a matter of less than 100 miles, 8 barrel nuts broke on 1 wheel. Got 'em replaced, and 200 miles later I had a broken stud...probably one of the two that was hanging onto that outer wheel. When I got home, I took the truck back to the tire shop...insisted that SOMETHING wasn't right. Sure enough, the flanges were wore out on the rims...likely due to running the wrong barrel nuts for almost a year. I'm guessing the dealer that sold me the truck had another truck, budd wheels, with 8 steel wheels. They probably figured that swapping the aluminum inner wheels on my truck with the steel outer wheels on the other truck would increase the value of the other truck more than it would hurt the value of the one I was going to buy...but they didn't put the proper barrel nuts on when they made the swap. Of course there isn't much I can do about that now. Anyway, the inside wheels are down to 2/32 on that inside (now the outside...had 'em flipped on the rims when I replaced the rims) and need to be replaced...but I ain't got the cash for new drives. The outsides are all still 6 to 7/32 and should get me through the summer. So, the original plan was to buy 4 used tires (already bought 'em...$100/ea.) to put across the rear axle, where if they blow, there isn't anything (of mine, anyway) for them to get tangled in...no fenders, etc...rotating the 4 outside tires up to the front axle. I was planning to get those 4 inside tires I remove retreaded (even though I hate retreads, it's all I can afford at this time), then place them on the front axle when I get 'em back, so I can send the 4 from the front (currently on the outsides) in for retreading, and when I get them back, they'd go on the rear axle, so I could use the cases from the 4 used tires as well as the 2 steer tires to get 2 new steer tires. (The left steer was wearing much faster than the right...I rotated them, and now the right...formerly the left...has been chewed up and is toast.) So, because the truck chewed up that one steer tire, I'm going to have to get the alignment checked and get new steers FIRST. I'll get my old steers retreaded to have as spares while I do the retreading on the drives...been hesitant to put the used tires on the drives because they are an unknown...I'd hate to put 'em on and then have to buy a new tire in 2 days when they start blowing. At least having the 2 spare tires in the garage will ease my mind about both the retreads AND the used tires. Now I just gotta get pricing on the retreads... OOIDA has pricing for the XD4, but not the XDE M/S (what is on there now...REALLY like 'em), the XDS (my 2nd choice...looks pretty similar to what I've got), the XDY-1 (aggressive, deep lug, open shoulder), the XDY, or even the XM+S4. I'll end up with one of them tread designs on my XDE M/S* cases...and also on the XZE2 cases that are my current steer tires (if I'm gonna run recaps, they are gonna be my cases, and I'm gonna have spares at the house ready to mount). The steers will likely be replaced with another set of XZE2's...love the tire, just gotta figure out why the truck chewed that one up like that.

135908. That'll tell ya more about my truck than I know.

sweet

There's a big construction outfit in C'dale that's got one...I'm guessing it may be our "stimulus dollars" at work, since they get a HUGE number of state contracts for road work. I've talked to the guy who drives it a few times, and he seems to like it.

Whereabouts in W.KY are you? I'm in So.IL...not too far from W.KY. Guys in Cape had mine apart and couldn't find anything wrong...

I think your truck is my trucks older sibling. 25 psi is the best I typically see, too...with rare (and brief) runs up to 30 psi before dropping back down to 20-25 psi. Noticed my pyro temps are running 800 or so lately, too. Even the company petercars are able to out-pull me on a hill. This thing just doesn't have the power it SHOULD have.

Where is he at? I've run into that, too. I've got 3 Mack dealers (or 1 dealer with 3 locations) within an hour of here...one location (35 miles north) fixes the truck and takes my money, but they don't seem to take me seriously....they have customers that have been there longer and have more trucks, and they get the attention. Then there's the one I usually go to (18 miles South). At first, it was REALLY tough getting in there, too...same reason. I had a LITTLE history with them, though, because I used to haul logs for a company that was in there pretty regular so at least I was a familiar face. Been going to them almost exclusively for the past couple years and they are starting to treat me like a regular. The third location (60 miles east) I've only been to once...that was when my jakes first started acting up and I thought maybe it was the switch. They seemed to know what they were talking about when I was talking to them, but I was needing to get back on the road and they wouldn't have been able to get me in until the next morning. What's odd, though, is I could ask the same exact question at the 2 locations I typically go to, and get 2 totally different answers.

I almost bought a full-auto bb gun....it was on the shelf at the Rural King....looked like a tommy gun. Unfortunately, I'm broke and didn't have the money.

The Mack dealer in Cape had mine all apart when it first started happening to mine. They said everything appeared to be working...had power to the solenoids...had oil pressure...but the dang things just don't work. No idiot lights, either...just very weak performance.

hey...could ya do that grenade pic without the added words? Just the big-ass grenade in the back of my truck? Friggin' awesome!

LOL...I go on "vacation" and drive straight through wherever I am going...usually out to my brother's in Montana....27 hours each way Not to mention, I have a bad habit of overloading my pickups....if the bumper ain't draggin, it'll haul more. Pulled a 25' flatbed trailer behind a little 4-banger Ranger. Wasn't wired up for trailer brakes, so when I had the trailer loaded down and the bed full of stuff...let's just say I had to start slowing down WAAAAAAAAY before I had to stop

I've been using Rotella almost exclusively since I bought my truck. It uses oil, and the tube from the turbo to the oil fill has a buildup of leaked & cooked on oil. I tried using Bulldog once, and I still used oil...and the jakes quit working after 20,000 miles. Not only that, but the ONLY place around here that carried it is the Mack dealer in C'dale...Cape doesn't, and no other stores carry it so it's tough to get your hands on. ...That and it's only carried in the 1-gallon jugs, not the 5-gallon buckets like I prefer. I switched to Delvac because it was on sale cheap. I'm back to using just Rotella...and the jakes have somewhat returned...on "high" work like they are on "low", and on "low" they don't do anything. The convenience of being able to buy it just about anywhere (and in the 5-gallon buckets) almost makes it worth the usage that hasn't gone away with any of the oils I've tried. I just wish them jakes worked right again.

It's a public forum...gotta watch what ya do and say. Not so much when ya can't be identified

Nah...I was in the truck when it was going up. Once it was up, that's when I got out to make sure it was all coming out. Hell, someone had to steer the truck to keep it from getting too close to the edge (which was crumbling away beneath my wheels). I've had trickier dumps...I love the challenge. Any idiot with half a brain can dump a load off a trailer onto a concrete pad. It's all good, though. Company driver that dumped ahead of me pi$$ed the guys off at the jobsite...guess he was either too skeerd or not good enough to get his truck lined up and dumped into the pit...so he dumped about 3' in front of the pit onto the gravel road. Probably 6 or 8 tons that he hauled out was lost in the ditches and on the gravel road. Then the knucklehead pulls out without rolling his tarp back over the trailer and leaves a nice cloud of dust trailing behind him as he heads into town...

unless, of course, he becomes a DOT inspector. I don't wish success on ANY of 'em, because for them to succeed, drivers usually get raped.

A truck just ain't a truck 'til it's got a gun rack.

That's prolly more true than you'd want to believe.

My trainee was watchin' everything I was doin'....ain't gonna be long before I can turn him loose so I can get me a real job. He's a real go-gitter.