RowdyRebel

I love a challenge They had a pit they wanted the load dumped into... got-er-did don't look TOO bad in this pic... trailer had to be squared up with the pit to get it all in... ...which REALLY didn't leave a whole heck of a lot of room for the truck I love loads like this

just don't let the EPA catch you with that bypass to their mandated crap...the fine would cost about as much as the truck

Hell, even the ladies at the post office know me. I walk in and they hand me any packages that have arrived for me...don't even have to ask for 'em or tell 'em which box is mine. I love small-town livin'

I sat for 3 hours in IN waiting to take my motorcycle written test to keep that on my license while at CDL school. By the time I got to the window, I told 'em "just give 'em ALL to me! I had already taken the operator (for a regular car license), general CDL knowledge, combination (for class A), and haz-mat at the CDL school. So, in addition to the motorcycle, I took the tanker, doubles & triples, and passenger. Of course when I got my actual CDL, I had to drop the passenger endorsement since I didn't take the driving portion in a bus. I got to retake all of the tests again when I got back to Illinois. I took the passenger test again when I got the job driving the bus...they let me use their bus for the driving part. Bad part is that the school bus permit is only good for a year, so that's been expired for a while now....but I could still drive the city bus if I wanted to. I can go to the DMV, renew my license, get stickers for plates on 2 vehicles, and be out of there in less than 5 minutes. Longest I've had to wait around here was the one time I forgot to renew my F250's plates until the last day of the month...took a whopping 30 minutes. Good thing, too...they are getting to know me pretty well in there. Motorcycle in March. Trailer in April. I usually try to get those done at the same time, though. F250 in June. Ranger in August. I'd hate to have to spend hours taking care of that business...

It's always fun watching them fished out....

I did it for a semester...worked out great, because I could drive a morning route, go to class, drive an afternoon route, then go to my regular part time job. Extra $125/week. On the nights I wasn't working my other job, I would pick up routes in the city bus. I have every endorsement on my license...and the only restriction is a J12. Only vehicle I can't legally drive on the road is a combination bus, 'cuz the passenger endorsement is only good up through a class B. I need to find a passenger vehicle and a 10K+ GWR trailer to pull behind it and go get that restriction removed...

seriously?

Just remember...everyone who starts driving truck has been an idiot driving a car for several years prior...and a good size chunk of them failed at prior careers (if they even had a job) before climbing into a truck.

I had that problem when I first started driving school buses. I didn't hit anything, though...

Hell, I may as well have been. Grandpa taught me how to back a trailer as soon as I could reach the pedal on the lawn tractor...been doing it without any trouble ever since. The thing to remember whenever you are hooked to a trailer is that you are NOT driving the truck pulling the trailer. You are driving the trailer, and the truck is just the steer tires. Visualize where you want the trailer to go, then put it there. If ya really want a challenge, though, you oughtta try driving wreckers. Hook a car from the rear that has it's front tires turned in either direction. Yeah, it'll be dog-walking behind you all the way back to the yard. Now back it into the space ya need it to be in 'til the owner comes to claim it.

I have enough "fun" with my 240" WB tractor and 39' trailer. I could turn the wheel full lock in either direction and drive around in circles and never get the trailer to pivot on it's axles. A 28' trailer would absolutely suck behind my truck.

And when ya get to the point where you could practically back up in your sleep, you'll be backing off a 2-lane road into a 1-lane driveway in high-reverse at full throttle after a 1-day round trip that shouldda taken ya 3 days to complete Then ya get 2 days off at home while your truck catches up to ya

Actually, 53 footers are easy....ESPECIALLY behind short wheelbase tractors. Shorter trailers with longer tractors make things a little more interesting. When ya get good, you'll be able to back a trailer off a 2-lane road into a 1-lane driveway in high-reverse at full throttle.

It's called "bling" . Hell, even if they are butter faces, beauty is only a flick of the light switch away

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1789284

My parents have one of these that they pull behind their Goldwing. http://www.trailmasterinc.com/

Goldwings are easy to pick up...as are most bikes. Best way to do it is to face AWAY from the bike...one hand on the handle bar, one hand on the grab rail on the back. Keep your back straight, and lift with your legs. As the bike comes up, walk backwards towards it. Piece of cake.

I'll have to look at the print-out the Mack dealer gave me when I was there a week or so ago...they cleared the codes after printing everything off. I seem to remember something about a position sensor, and the 3-4 sounds downright familiar. They cleared 'em to see if any would come back (all were non-active) the next time I was in...definitely going to have 'em take a look. The problem is, it is not a "consistent" stumble. Sometimes it happens, most of the time it does not. Might occur 3 to 5 times throughout the course of a day....sometimes more, sometimes less.

Yup...they call that "gear fast, run slow" I've worked for a few outfits like that...one down in Texas had me driving a 2006 petercar...475 Cat, 10 speed (but ya drove it like a 9...stupid thing would shift itself between 9 & 10...usually at the wrong time ) and 3.36 rears...ran fine on flat ground. Can't say anything bad about the jake on the downhill side...but going up, it was never pretty. I partially blame the transmission, though...because it would not shift from 10 to 9 until it was lugging...no "anticipation" to be able to get the turbo wound back up before it would be lugging in 9th...so then you would shift to 8th...and sometimes catch it "between" gears...it would be in the hole, but not in gear. So, by the time you got it into a gear that would pull the friggin hill, you were in 6th...and being a 10 speed, the steps were too large between gears so there was no "working your way back up through the gears" to get back to the 8th or 9th gear that SHOULD have been able to pull the hill if I could have shifted it like I wanted to. That or it would be in 10th gear pulling the hill just fine, and RIGHT before topping the hill, it would downshift to 9th...then, instead of accelerating back up to speed, it would rev way up, realize we were now on the backside of the hill, and go back to 10th...but of course in the process of doing that, you lost at least 2 truck-lengths to anyone else pulling the hill along side you. Then I went to work for a company out of Memphis, in a 2005 freightshaker...435 mercedes, straight 10, 3.55 rears. I was running EMPTY across I-68 and would have to downshift to 7th to make it up some of them hills. Loaded sucked. Needless to say, when it came time to buy my truck, I spec'd it more like the log truck I used to drive...the one right before those other two. I can run an 80,000 truck across I-64 in Indiana and never downshift. If I want to avoid lugging, I can split it to 17th...still don't have to move the shifter, though.

My 2-70 air works great...was contemplating "upgrading" to 3-70 air last year, but Mack wants too much for the sliding rear window. Since it is slightly more than one of my truck payments, it will have to wait until June 2012...my first truck-note-free month.

more than a harley? Oil leaks? On a harley? NEVER!

I'm pretty happy with my Kawi They don't import 'em into the US no more, though...so ya can't get a new one Still a fun bike, though

I wish I was....but I'm not. The problem is real.

I read his post...mine ain't 'zactly like that. I get throttle response when I step on it...it's just that sometimes it cuts out momentarily. Most of the time it isn't really an issue, but every once in a while it'll happen at an inopportune time and I'd hate for it to wind up tearing something up when it happens. I seem to remember when I bought the truck, there was something about some sort of throttle recall. I'm not sure if it was ever taken care of or not...it was such an old recall by the time I got the truck that nobody had the parts on hand to do it and they weren't sure if it would still be covered...or something like that. I'll probably have to take it in and have the shop look at it.

The last few days, I've been experiencing an odd momentary cut-out of the throttle...usually as I'm accelerating up to speed, the truck will act as though I lifted off the throttle, then stepped on it again. Ordinarily, it isn't a problem...unless I'm in the low split gear and have pre-selected the high split...when the throttle cuts out, the transmission tries to split, but the throttle comes back before the RPM's drop enough to catch the next gear and it revs up pretty high if I don't catch it quick enough and lift my foot off the throttle. The other day, it happened on my way up the coal pile...stayed in gear (split selector was in low & so was the transmission...so it wasn't trying to shift on me), but it jerked pretty hard on the drive line. It only lasts a split second...but it's enough to bug me...can't afford to tear anything up right now. It's an '01 CH613, E-7 460