RowdyRebel

Most of the trucks I've driven that have had locking differentials, those diffs were locked with the same switch as the power divider....so you were either ALL locked in, or you were open all of the way around....all or nothing. The last company truck I was in before buying my Mack had the axle differentials on a separate switch from the power divider so that they could be locked in independent of the other. In other words, if I needed extra traction but still wanted to be able to turn, I could flip one switch and lock the power divider leaving the center differentials open to allow easy turns. If I needed forward bite, I could flip both switches and be locked in on both sides of both axles. I never encountered a situation where I'd want the center differentials locked without also engaging the power divider, but I suppose that was an option, too. I'm surprised that having the locks on 2 separate switches isn't more common...

I always wondered about that.... They sag their pants, trying to be "gangsta" while they are out committing crimes... ...and wonder why they get caught. You ever try running with your pants around your knees? I'd imagine it'd be kinda hard to run when you have to hold your pants up with one or both hands...and even harder to jump fences, etc. Even a fat, out-of-shape cop has no problems catching a person who's tripping over their own britches

Like I said, it is INSURANCE...not a pre-paid medical service plan. I don't expect my auto insurance to cover brake pads, tires, oil changes, or fuel. I don't expect my homeowners insurance to cover paint, light bulbs, lawn care, or snow removal. Why do people EXPECT their health insurance to cover preventive/regular maintenance type stuff? Insurance = asset protection. When I was shopping, I was LOOKING for a plan that covered extraordinary expenses, NOT the ordinary ones. That is what insurance is for, after all. When you buy insurance, it is inexpensive. When you buy into a pre-paid medical service plan, it gets expensive. Every penny the insurance expects to pay out (and then some) will be collected as a premium. I'd prefer to keep the money in my pocket until I actually NEED medical care...and when that day comes, I'll pay my part of the bill. Major medical plans are out there. I got mine through BCBS, and I'm not worried about "insurance in name only" either. The policy is what it is...written very clearly in black and white in a binding contract. It cannot be canceled as long as I pay the premiums, either...that's also in the policy. Guaranteed renewable, too...also clearly written in the policy.

Depending on the car hauler trailer, if it has any hydraulics on it (ramps, etc...), the PTO can run it. Heck, my Mack has 2 PTO's on it...but then again it's a lot newer and still a working truck.

Your government insurance is subsidized by taxpayer dollars. How much is the GOVERNMENT paying in premiums for your insurance? Sure, YOUR portion of the premiums is less...but I guarantee the contribution of both yourself and your former employer add up to MUCH more than what I pay. ...and I haven't attended college in years. Attended fall '97 to spring '01, then spring semester '04 to finish up and get my worthless piece of paper. My insurance is an individual plan, paid entirely by me for me. Yeah, it's got a $1750 deductible. $0 - $1,750 I pay 100% $1,751 - $16,750 I pay 20%, insurance pays 80% $16,750 - $5,000,000 insurance pays 100% It's not supposed to be a pre-paid preventive medical treatment plan (like your all-inclusive taxpayer funded plan). It is insurance. Asset protection in the event of a catastrophic injury or illness. Nothing more, nothing less.

It has a lot to do with exactly what you want the insurance to cover. Just like when insuring a car, the more coverages you buy, the more expensive your premiums become. Lower deductibles mean higher premiums, too. My plan has a $1750 deductible that I have to pay before BCBS pays out one red cent. Go see the doctor? Out of my pocket. Need medicine? Out of my pocket. That is until I've spent $1750 for the year. Then BCBS picks up 80% of the bill, with me forking over the other 20%. It goes on like that until I've spent $4750 for the year out of my pocket in addition to the premiums. Worst case scenario, I've got less than $6000 in medical bills I need to pay each year. So why in the world would I want to ENSURE I have to pay $500/month in medical bills by taking on an all-inclusive type policy when I only have to worry about coming up with that sort of cash right now if something major happens? Just doesn't make any sense to me. Insurance at ANY age is a gamble. You are gambling that you might get sick or injured and want to protect your assets so you buy a policy. The insurance company is gambling that you wont get sick or injured when they write you the policy, and the premiums they charge are based upon what they feel their risk of having to pay out are going to be. The less likely they think they are to have to pay out, the lower the premiums. If you need a lot of medical treatment, and you expect the insurance to pay for it, it SHOULD be expensive. Why should you expect anyone else to pay your way through life? If you have a bad driving record...tickets, wrecks, etc..., your car insurance will be high. If you live in a bad or a storm-prone area and have a lot of claims against your homeowners policy, your home insurance will be high. If you are on your death bed, you aren't likely to be able to find an insurance company willing to write you a life insurance policy, either. That's the other thing about these reforms that has me irked. What OTHER insurance is required to cover "pre-existing conditions"? You can't drive around without car insurance until you wreck and then expect to buy a policy to cover the damages to your car and the liability to fix the other person's car. If you try to do so, you'll be thrown in jail for insurance fraud. You can't go without a homeowners policy until your house burns down and then expect to buy a policy which will pay for your house to be rebuilt and all of your stuff replaced. There are laws AGAINST that. So why should health insurance be any different? If you have insurance at the time of a sickness or injury, it is not classified as a pre-existing condition...and even if you switch insurance providers, the mere fact that you HAD insurance at the time waves any waiting period before pre-existing conditions would be covered. Insurance is asset protection. It isn't supposed to pay for maintenance or any other regularly expected expenses. When people stop expecting other people to pay their regular medical bills for them, premiums will come down. Sure, there are a few tweaks that COULD be made to lower the cost of insurance by lowering the physician's cost of doing business, as well as encourage more people to buy insurance without unconstitutionally mandating they do so...none of them would require ANY taxpayer money, nor would they lead to any "single payer" government run insurance plan. Fix what's broken, but leave what is working alone...like they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My main concern is just where exactly in the Constitution did We the People yield our Rights to Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness to the Government? When did we, who USED to be free individuals, cease to have the right to self-determination? I'm self-employed. I went out and shopped around to find a health insurance policy which works for ME. Anyone who tells you health insurance is expensive is lying to you. It doesn't HAVE to be. I pay less than $1020 per YEAR in premiums. As long as I continue to pay the premiums, the policy is guaranteed renewable and cannot be canceled by BCBS (yes, it DOES say that in the policy). I bought this insurance policy as more of an asset protection plan (same as any OTHER insurance policy) rather than expecting it to pay for "preventive" care. Does your car insurance pay for your gas, oil changes, tires, brakes, and other KNOWN costs of owning a car? Why should a health insurance policy be required to cover those same KNOWN costs? Long story short, under the house bill recently passed, I will be PENALIZED because I do not spend ENOUGH of my hard-earned money paying premiums to a health insurance company for coverages I do not want or need. Even though I have determined that the level of insurance I have bought is sufficient for my own needs, people I have never met hundreds of miles away have determined that my choice in health insurance policy is not good enough to make THEM happy, and therefore I must pay more. If, as a result of this legislation, my health insurance plan is terminated...regulated out of existence...I will CHOOSE to go without insurance rather than partake in any "public option" run by the government. They don't know it yet, but I WILL NOT PAY their penalty. I am self-employed. There is no "employer" to force to collect the penalty from me before I get paid. They can seize bank accounts, but before that happens, my accounts will be closed and I will start working on a cash-only basis (or accepting checks from local banks which I can cash at their bank). If the government wants my money, they have to come through me to get it. If any government agents show up at my door to seize any assets for payment of the health insurance penalty, I will treat them the same as any other common thief. Bring the body bags, you'll need 'em. Liberty or death.

Freedom of speech works both ways. You have the right to say whatever you wish to say, but you are NOT guaranteed a forum to say it in. The advertisers ALSO have a right to say whatever they wish, and they use their dollars to do the talking for them. The owners of this forum have been gracious enough to allow you to participate in it, but THEY are the ones who own it and THEY are the ones ultimately responsible for its content...sort of like a child breaking a window and the parent having to pay for the window to be replaced. They have to lookout for their own best interest, and if one of their "children" is potentially going to cost them money, they may see fit to take action and "ground" you...either by giving you a "time out" to think about what you did wrong, or by banning you for failure to abide by their rules. If you want to have a forum where you can be free to say whatever you want with NOBODY allowed to limit the content of your posts, you are free to start your own forum and pay for it out of your own pocket....but even then, if it is hosted on another server, there will likely be rules. There are a few "anything goes" type forums out there. If that's what you want, seek them out.

I was wandering around Agmart in Sikeston the other day and found an 11 piece deep well impact socket set, 3/4" drive for $39. It has reasonable sizes for most applications...I'd have to go out to the garage to see the exact sizes...but it goes from slightly smaller than an inch (prolly 7/8 if I'm remembering right) up to a little bigger than 1-1/2". ...and a 3/4" drive impact rated for 1000 ft lb can be had at NAPA for $350 or so

Sometimes mine does, sometimes it don't. It seems to be leaking occasionally from the group of air lines that go through the firewall. That's been leaking sporadically ever since I bought the truck, though...one day I'll get around to swapping out the part...but not yet. It's only air...

Mine does that, too. Replaced the air compressor when it started taking forever and a day to air up (and was getting a lot of oil in the air tank). New compressor, same problem. Changed out the air dryer when it started popping off 8-9 times per mile. New dryer, same problem. I wouldn't pull your hair out trying to "fix" it...especially if there isn't any air-pressure problems.

That's how I figured it worked...DC 'lectric motors tend to run backwards when ya goof up the wiring...so if ya WANT it to run both ways, you just need to have a way to change the direction of the current flow.

I would guess it probably has something to do with maintaining the tail lights & clearance lights on 2 separate circuits. The headlight switch turns on the headlights, as well as a couple clearance lights on the truck, and the outside running lights on the trailer (the turn signals). The second switch turns on the rest of the clearance lights, as well as the 3 center as well as the inside running lights on the trailer (brake lights). If EITHER circuit has a problem, you still have SOME sort of lighting on the truck & trailer to identify it as a larger vehicle...either lights on the corners, or the 3 lights in the center. For a more practical use, though, the switch that turns on the center three & the tail lights is also wired into the same circuit as the switch on the end of the turn signal switch. When you pass someone, and they blink their lights to let you know you cleared 'em, either switch can be used to flash your tail lights to say "thanks" without shutting off ALL of your lights. The other switch on the side of the turn signal lever will flash the high beams. I only use that during the day...or at night to tell someone coming at me to turn their dadgum high beams off. When someone clears me at night, I turn the headlights off and back on in order to avoid blinding the guy that is watching his mirror to see when he's cleared me.

I'm guessing when you say rocker switch "remote", you mean the switch is on a low-amp circuit and controls a relay/solenoid which sends the big power to the motor. They do the same thing with the ignition circuit...otherwise you'd have 4-gauge wire from the battery to the keyed ignition switch, down to the starter. Much easier to run the big cables to a remote solenoid and have the little wires going to the dash to control the solenoid. I had a company driver with one of the trailers unplug it for me to see while waiting for the quarry to open the other day...matches the plug that came with my truck. Going to try to clean it up for re-use, but if I can't, it's not like they are all that expensive. I used to wire industrial control panels during summers & any other breaks from school...got a pretty good understanding on how things work and am pretty good reading a schematic. I can wire up just about anything and can usually get it working the way I want it to...I just hate tracking down electrical problems in OTHER people's wiring jobs (i.e. OEM wiring harnesses). When I'm staring at a wiring harness with 50 wires that all look alike bundled together and I need to trace 1 of them to find where it goes, my eyes roll back in my head Main thing you have to watch out for in ANY electrical job is the amp requirements of the lights/motors/etc. you are trying to power, the amp rating of the wires you are using, and the amp rating of the fuse or breaker. The fuse should be higher than the peak current draw of the light/motor/etc., but lower than the rating of the wire or any switches....and keep the fuse/breakers as close to the batteries as possible, since any "short" before the fuse has no protection....so if your breaker is in the battery box, it's in the right place.