RowdyRebel

Huh...all I gotta do is reach down and pull on a lever and I'm in 2 wheel drive. Push the lever forward and I'm in 4 wheel high. Push down and ALL the way forward and I'm in 4 low. Been so long since I tried using the AC in the F250 I don't even know if it still works...used to be I'd crank it up to keep the ice cream from melting on my way home from the store...it's only a 25 mile drive ...this year, I bought a cooler. It's the only vehicle I've got that has functional AC...unless it's quit working...then I ain't got a vehicle with AC. Not that it matters to me one way or the other....last year, I only had the AC at the house on for 1 day...and never even turned it on this year.

Not really. I've got less than $300 in the set-up I'm running....General Lee, Astatic mic, 102" whip, and the coax. Been working for me untouched for a few years. The oldest General Lee I have is in my F250...going on 6 years. The one in the Mack is only around 2 years old, though. The company truck I was driving at the time was broken into and General Lee #2 was stolen...so this is #3. #1 is in my F250 and is probably 6 years old. Hell, when I FIRST started driving trucks, I had an old Royce 23 channel radio...the thing was older than I was. Some lowlife scum sucking maggot broke into that company truck and stole it, too. That one hurt because it had been my grandpa's radio...pulled it out of his Mack when they came out with the 40 channel radio. I friggin' HATE thieves. Anyway, ya ain't GOTTA spend a lot of money...just go for the best bang for your bucks.

Best I ever got out of my F250 was cruising across Montana at 80 mph....saw 13.5 mpg. Usually, I only get 10 to 11...unless I'm having fun, then it's down around 6 to 8 mpg.

Whatcha gonna damage? Hell, just keep on truckin'. Besides, you're in a pickup. I got a 102" mounted on a fat spring on the rail around the top of a toolbox in the bed of my F250. Stopped, it only reaches 13'6"...when I'm driving, the wind keeps it considerably lower. On the Mack, though, the way it's mounted, the wind doesn't affect it much since it passes through the hole in the top mirror bracket...holds it upright.

Wrong on both accounts. The Pete vs. KW debate is like a Chevy vs. Pontiac debate. Pete & KW are both Paccar, just like Chevy and Pontiac are both GM. Either way, though, they are ALL crap. Everyone knows Macks & Fords will run circles around the rest when it comes to doin' REAL work.

I don't drive my pickups enough to worry about 'em. Gassed up my F250 the other day for the first time since May. Prolly been 3 or 4 months since I put gas in the Ranger, too. For me, a couple old reliable trucks without a note attached to 'em are worth way more than a new one with a note.

yeah, but just to help reduce the shock to the mirror bracket when it whacks something...

I bought my '96 F250 over 5 years ago. The money I've spent in maintenance & repairs (outside of what I knew needed to be done when I bought the truck) over the course of those 5 years combined don't equal what I would be paying EACH MONTH for a new truck. I've had my '92 Ranger more than 3 years now. ALL I've done to it is change the oil. Haven't spent a dime beyond that. I would be careful changing fuel pumps that don't need changing. When I was in college, my '86 Ranger was still my dad's and the fuel tank sprung a leak in their driveway. Of course they took it in to get a new tank...and while the tank was out, they put in a new fuel pump, too. 8 months later, I started having problems with it. Of course by then, it was MY truck. The pump would work fine for a while...and then it would quit. Let the truck sit for a while and it would work again. I guess it may have been overheating...just needed a chance to cool down. It was more of an inconvenience than anything...I rode my motorcycle 99% of the time, so it didn't really bother me TOO much...until I broke my collarbone and needed the truck to be reliable. I took it in (I'm not attempting to drop a 3/4 full fuel tank with only 1 good arm in a gravel driveway) and they changed the pump (of course after re-checking everything I had already checked...and TOLD them I had checked) and charged me almost 2 hours labor before they came out and told me what I told them when I brought them the truck 2 friggin' hours earlier! Anyway, they put the (NAPA) fuel pump in and it worked fine for about 6 months...then started doing the same exact thing. This time, I was healthy and pulled the pump myself and took it back to the shop and got a replacement (parts warranty...not labor) and went home to install it myself. About 4 months later, I got a deal on some parts...a guy was going to scrap his old Ranger and told me for $100 I could have anything or everything (except the transmission). I pulled the cab (mine was rotted out pretty bad), the rear axle (3.73 gear instead of the 3.08 I had in mine), and the OEM Ford fuel pump. When I got home, I put the Ford fuel pump back in my '86 and for 2 years after that, never had any further fuel delivery problems. That was when I cracked the head moving (pulling a 25' flatbed trailer behind my little '86 with the 4-banger, 5-speed, & 3.08 rears)...derned trailer weighed more EMPTY than I should have been towing LOADED...especially since I didn't have any trailer brake controller in my Ranger (and I rigged an adapter to the 4-flat on my truck to the 7-round on the borrowed trailer so I'd have lights). Yeah, I loaded the heck out of that trailer, too....still took me 4 trips to move all my stuff, though. That '86 has been sitting in my garage ever since. I have a 289 from a '66 Mustang I'm going to build to throw in there...of course that means the spare axle will likely end up under the '92 (which has 3.45 rears now) since the '86 is going to require a completely new drive train to handle the V-8's power. I'll probably convert the old truck to 4 wheel drive, too, while I'm at it. Best part is, it's paid for. It isn't on the road, so it doesn't have plates or insurance. It isn't costing me a dime, whether it sits a year or 10 years before I find the time and money to get started on the build. That's the beauty of having a vehicle that is paid off, owned free & clear. You can do whatever you want with it...or nothing at all...and nobody can say a damned thing about it either way.

Well, now...that explains a lot.

eh, you get used to the noise. It was funny...I was following a guy and we went under a 13'8" bridge. I knew I was going to smack it with the antenna...so when I did, I told him "I just hit the bridge" in as serious-sounding voice as I could muster. Of course he got all concerned...thinking maybe the bed was up a little.... I had to mount it on the lower mirror bracket...and held a couple of those plastic insulator things into the stock CB mount and passed the antenna through that hole in the top mirror bracket to keep it upright and not blowing in the wind. Like I said, for $15-$20, I don't worry about it getting beat up. I sure wouldn't want a $70 antenna to be getting into everything. This whip is the same one I had on a flatbed truck running OTR for 6 months before coming to this company...where I had it on the company truck for over a year and a half before I bought my Mack and moved it over onto it. The things been getting into everything for almost 4 years and still works as good as it did when it was new. Not bad for $15-$20.

In case you missed my review of the 29 w/ bluetooth.... "I also tried one of the Cobra 29's with the bluetooth, but it's sitting here at the house until someone (hopefully Astatic) comes out with a noise-canceling mic for it. The thing is like a dadgum speaker phone....picks up ALL background noise (including the person you are talking to...) so you have to turn the mic gain way down to talk on the phone with it...but then when you hang up and go back to using it as a CB, you have to turn the mic gain back up or people can't hear you too well. When I was talking to people who use a headset, they seemed to have more troubles hearing me than the people who held their phones to their ear...not sure if there's anything to that or not, just an observation. The OTHER problem I had with it is the stupid button on the mic to answer/hang up the phone...VERY easy to "accidentally" bump and hang up mid sentence. Would have been MUCH better if the button was on the CB itself (instead of on the mic) and if the phone was muted until you keyed up so that the background noise wouldn't be a problem for people on the other end. A true noise canceling mic wouldn't hurt, either." I had both the 29 BT and the General Lee in the truck for a while...left the General Lee on 19, and used the 29 to go to whatever off-channel they were using where I would load or unload (I usually forget to go back to 19 when I get back on the road...and wonder why nobody will talk to me until I realize I'm not on 19 )...as well as being the "hands free device" to avoid looking like I was on the phone even when I was. It was a good concept, with poor execution in my opinion. Again, a TRUE noise canceling mic (like an Astatic) with the button to answer/hang up on the radio (instead of on the mic where it is easy to accidentally hit) and it would be a darned good radio and would likely still be in the truck...but when you have to turn the mic gain all of the way down whenever the phone rings and the person on the other end of the phone STILL can't hear what you are saying due to the background noise in the truck...and when you have to turn the mic gain back up so that you can be heard when using it as a CB, it just becomes more hassle than it's worth. It is out of the truck until I can find a good quality noise canceling mic...then I may try it again. Until the aftermarket catches up and puts out a GOOD mic, I wouldn't waste your money on the blue tooth.

Yup. That's my problem with new pick-up trucks, too. They put so many extra bells & whistles on them these days as "standard features" that a person who NEEDS the truck to do actual WORK can't afford it, and even if he COULD afford it, he wouldn't want to use & abuse it like trucks are SUPPOSED to be used & abused because he just spent more than a year's salary to buy the stupid thing. Just give me a 4x4 truck with a strong pulling motor, stout axles, a manual transmission, and a stiff suspension to handle heavy loads. I don't need the 2000 watt 8 speaker sound system. I don't need leather seats. I don't need power windows, door locks, leather wrapped steering wheel, air conditioning, carpet on the floors, anti-lock brakes, air bags, shoulder straps on the seat belts, GPS, back-up sensors, turn signals in the mirrors, tail gate steps, or any of the other stupid crap that makes the truck "feel" more like a car. If you want a car, buy a friggin car! If you are going to buy a truck, it ought to RIDE like a truck. You ought to be able to get in and drive it with your muddy boots still on your feet, and hose the damn thing out when you get back to the house. You ought to be able to wrap a chain around that stubborn stump, put it in low gear, and give a tug or two without tearing the back bumper off or setting off the air bags. You ought to be able to take it down through the ditch and between some trees to get where you need to work without worrying about scratching your $50,000 ride.

Nope. Don't need no stinkin' weather band sitting in a truck. Want to know if it's raining/snowing/sunny/windy/etc...? Look out the windshield. Want to know what the temperature is like? Roll down the window. You get A,B,C,D,E, and F. D is the CB channels. You also have AM and FM. You have enough channels to find one nobody else is on if you are running with someone who has a similar radio. I'm pretty sure the General Lee is similar to the Connex...not sure which model...I'm thinking the 3300. Only thing I wish it had was a freq. meter like my Galaxy 959. You can buy 'em to plug in separate, though.

I won't dump next to someone...and if they back in next to me and start raising that bucket, I'll kick their a$$. Sorry, but the 2 seconds you are trying to save by dumping before I'm done ain't worth my dying over if you lay it over on top of me. It doesn't take THAT long to dump off...either wait, or find someplace else to dump. Luckily, around here most guys have sense enough not to do the side-by-side thing.

Maybe he should have been more specific when he was askin' his parents for the car

Get a steel whip antenna, not those junk fiberglass ones. I've used the Wilson 2000 in the past and got great use out of it...I just can't see paying $60-$70 for an antenna when I can buy a 102" whip for $15-$20 that works just as well. The nice thing about steel whips is that they can take serious abuse. My 102" whip mounted on my lower mirror bracket reached 15'6" when I first put it on. I've been under 13'7" bridges at 60 mph...and even a 12'6" bridge at 45 mph. Yeah, smacks the snot out of the bridge and keeps on working. After a while, the end starts to curl around and you can either straighten it back out or just leave it. Still works either way. ...and I just looked at the box for my Cobra 29 BT and it says "Made in China". You ain't likely gonna find a CB radio made in the USA. If you do, let me know.

That guy is an idiot...and I'm sure he'll put it on its side again...and again...and again...until he learns how NOT to lay them over. Yeah, $#!t happens sometimes, but to cop that attitude that you HAVE to lay 'em over in order to be a REAL dump truck driver is akin to saying you HAVE to crash to be a REAL truck driver. Doesn't make much sense, does it? The goal is to deliver your freight and NOT tear up your equipment and NOT damage anything at your customer's places and NOT wreck anything else along the way. There is not much you can do in the event of a mechanical failure when you have the bucket in the air. Operator error is another thing...not finding a level enough or solid enough spot to dump in, for example, or not making sure the load is evenly loaded...not piled up on one side of the trailer. ...don't judge the company by the idiots you find up there.

I would LOVE to spec a truck and have it built at the factory for me...get EXACTLY the truck I want & need and have a warranty to back it up instead of trying to find something "close enough" and hoping it was taken care of by the previous owner(s). The only way I'd ever actually BUY new is if I had enough saved up to pay a large majority (if not all) of it in cash...wouldn't want payments any higher than the ones I'm currently making. I just have no interest in OWNING a truck newer than 2002. I don't want EGR. I don't want DPF. I don't want SCR. I don't want ANYTHING those know-nothing bureaucrats in DC are mandating on these trucks for the sake of solving a non-existent (but politically driven) "problem". So, since the government has pretty much taken me out of the new truck buyers market, I've got my "close enough" truck that will be modified and upgraded as time and money allow until it has the specs of the truck I would buy if I were to spec a new one.

I would LOVE to see how some of these old trucks and trailers would compare in a wind tunnel test against some of the newer trucks. The B model trucks with their sloped windshields and rounded edges I'm sure would do better than my CH...and the rounded nose on the trailer is making a comeback. Vantage has that as an option on some of their end dumps.

They've got a terminal in Springfield, too...and working on building another one in Marion....and I think they even have one up in the Chicago area (but in Indiana). They go all over the place...both dumps and tanks. If they have a load going somewhere, they'll send a truck. They only have a handful of each of the other trailer types...I think the RGN's are mostly just used to move their own stuff around...whether it's their own loaders or moving stuff for one of the affiliated readymix company....or possibly to retrieve a wrecked truck or trailer...

I'm partial to the General Lee. I've got a couple of 'em and use Astatic noise canceling mics. I run 'em through 102" steel whips, too. In the F250, the whip is mounted on the tool box at the front of the bed. On the Mack, it is mounted on the lower mirror bracket. I used plastic zip ties to hold a pair of plastic insulators in the stock CB mounting hole and have the antenna passing through it to help hold it upright (instead of being free to blow in the wind). When I first put it on, I measured it at 15' 6"...but it's probably a little lower now. Being that high, it gets into EVERYTHING! Bridges, tree limbs, telephone wires, stop lights, etc...if it goes over the road, I've probably tagged it with my antenna at some point....so the tip is a little bent In my Ranger, I've just got a Cobra 29...never really liked this particular radio because it's got that "nightwatch" lighted display. At night, it's great...easy to see what everything does...but during the day you have to turn the backlight way down or you can't see what anything does...and when you do that, you can't see what channel you are on. I also tried one of the Cobra 29's with the bluetooth, but it's sitting here at the house until someone (hopefully Astatic) comes out with a noise-canceling mic for it. The thing is like a dadgum speaker phone....picks up ALL background noise (including the person you are talking to...) so you have to turn the mic gain way down to talk on the phone with it...but then when you hang up and go back to using it as a CB, you have to turn the mic gain back up or people can't hear you too well. When I was talking to people who use a headset, they seemed to have more troubles hearing me than the people who held their phones to their ear...not sure if there's anything to that or not, just an observation. The OTHER problem I had with it is the stupid button on the mic to answer/hang up the phone...VERY easy to "accidentally" bump and hang up mid sentence. Would have been MUCH better if the button was on the CB itself (instead of on the mic) and if the phone was muted until you keyed up so that the background noise wouldn't be a problem for people on the other end. A true noise canceling mic wouldn't hurt, either. I've also got a Galaxy 959 out in the garage somewhere...worked good for me for several years. Still works, I just prefer the General Lee.

Best part was, no new holes in the truck! The 5th wheel is mounted far enough back that there was 1 set of holes remaining on the frame bracket the 5th wheel is bolted down to that I was able to use. If I had to drill the frame, it probably wouldn't have been put on there. Trust me, there's STILL more than enough potential projectiles in the truck...but nothing near as bad as the pin. Most of the time, I'd have a duffle bag on top of the pin with my clothes in it if I was going on an overnight trip...the duffle bag wedged between the jump seat and the door. The dog's food & water bowls are on the floor in front of the jump seat along with a 1 gallon insulated jug with ice water. Then there's the dog...not to mention the hardhat and other stuff hanging on the gunrack in the back window... ...got a lot of stuff in this here daycab I TRY to keep most of it stowed where it ain't in my way...but there's only so much a person can do

I pull just about any trailer they need me to pull. I'm the only truck they've got that can drop & hook and run any of their trailers, and lately they seem to be taking advantage of that fact to "fill in" where they are short on trucks. Ordinarily, I pull a frameless end dump, so my 5th wheel has a pin blocking it...but when I hook to a framed trailer, the pin ends up on the floor of the cab between the jump seat and the passenger side door...something I've never really been too fond of doing. I needed to figure out how to stow it securely OUTSIDE the truck. Finally got around to it this weekend. * Two 1-1/2" close nipples * One 4' long 1/8" x 2" angle iron, trimmed down to 38-7/8" * Two short (maybe 4") pieces of 3/8" x 2" angle iron out of the scrap barrel * Two 5/8" grade 8 bolts, 2" long, with washers, lock washers, & nuts Played with the welder a bit...a couple coats of paint...and this is what I ended up with Works great, too

tanks... dumps... and now vans... That 53 footer REALLY made my truck look small They pre-loaded this HUGE trailer for me to hook to...sent me ALLLLLLLLL the way to Columbus, IN with it...and when I opened the doors, I almost busted a gut laughing. They had 6 tiny little pallets tucked away in the nose of the trailer. 4.5 tons.I could have rented a friggin' U-Haul trailer and pulled this load behind my F250 This company also has flats, liquid tanks, and RGN's....haven't had the opportunity to pull any of them....yet....

My truck just got heavier today I FINALLY got around to fabricating a little bracket thingamabob to hold the pin for my 5th wheel when I hook to a framed trailer. ...up 'til now, it rode on the floor between the jump seat and the door.