RowdyRebel

Probably be 3-4 weeks. Mack dealer is booked up solid for the next couple weeks and are down a couple mechanics out for vacation. Company has some spare trucks, so I'll be talking with them about renting/borrowing one until I get my truck back. Gonna suck driving a freightshaker again...but it beats sitting at home NOT working and wondering how I'm going to pay for everything.

...speakin' of Leroy and deers and such...

14 miles from where the wife works. 12 miles from her horses. Hell, as the crow flies, I'm only 15 miles from home...just gotta swim if that's the way I wanna route it. Anyway, company has trucks but no drivers, so I called an O/O friend with his own authority who runs in this area quite a bit. It'll be a couple hours, but I'm safe where I sit so that's OK. Called the wrecker co and they'll head up this way when I get word from him that he's on his way. Like Hannibal used to say on the A-Team..."I love it when a plan comes together". Anyway, I crawled under her as best I could (without laying in the oil) and I don't see any protrusions or big gaping holes anywhere. Be funny as hell if it were just the air compressor that exploded internally, but at this point, we're down for the overhaul. Can't see having the truck in the shop for 2-3 weeks and NOT getting it done, when it'd be scheduled to go back only a few days later anyway. Hopefully when I get it back, it won't be consuming/leaking any oil.

Is what is showing on the display right now where I sit waiting on a hook. She done give up 34.1 miles into my day. Oil was @ the full line & antifreeze was @ the cold full line when I fired up the truck in the driveway. Heading north on the interstate, 26.8 miles from my delivery, the engine started rattling and white smoke pouring from the stacks. I shut it down, knocked it into neutral, and coasted a little over a mile up the road to a "truck parking" area (former rest area)...she's off the road and in a safe parking spot...just hope I didn't toast the transmission getting her there. Anyway, wrecker will be on the way just as soon as the company gets back to me as to whether they have a driver and truck who can come up here and either deliver the load or take the trailer back to the yard less than 20 miles back behind me. Be a whole lot cheaper if the wrecker company can send a smaller unit to just tow the tractor as opposed to a loaded T/T combo. Anyway, like I said, no rush because I'm off the road (otherwise I'd just pay for the big gun to get me out of harms way ASAP). In the mean time, there's a big ol' puddle of oil under my truck...but the oil is 1 gallon (maybe more) over filled...and the overflow tank is empty (haven't cracked open the top tank yet to look). So, looks like it dumped the antifreeze into the oil, but the oil isn't the tell-tale milky white, so I don't know. Had my overhaul scheduled for the first week of next month. She didn't quite make it, though. At least it happened today (close to home) instead of yesterday (ever drive AR9 from Mountain View up to Melbourne? I LOVE roads like that, but not someplace you want to be when something breaks). Anyway, probably rent a freightshaker from the company for a few weeks 'til Mack can get it fixed for me...otherwise I'm done for a few weeks because they're pretty well booked up for the next week or two before they can get my truck in.

...now THAT would have made for one hell of a video! Hope he recovers quickly...and get him a dash cam for "next time".

...that crossing the road in front of me is a BAD IDEA!!! 55 mph & no damage to the old dog.

I was in the pickup on my way home from Missouri...this was the bridge across the Mississippi @ Cape Girardeau.

The vehicle with the biggest tires has the right-of-way!

This is the issue I was HOPING to look into IF I could get into the box. Only way to turn on the outer 2 cab marker lights is to jumper right here (where the relay ought to be). Was hoping to find a loose/broke wire on the switch side of the relay to get it working right, but couldn't get in to see what's going on. Oh well...maybe next time.

Nevermind. Getting too late in the day to continue tearing into it, so I put 'er back together.

Got a new end soldered on, but figured while I'm there I'd open up that fuse box under the hood to check some other connections I've been having issues with. So what's the trick to getting this thing open WITHOUT breaking it?

Found this:

USSR = Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics ...and the way this country was founded, government was to take care of things which are impractical or impossible for the each individual to do...things such as national defense, etc. Under the Constitution, the government also has the power to post roads, which as transportation methods evolved and it became necessary to improve those roads beyond the dirt horse and buggy trails, these improvements were funded by USER FEES. Vehicle registrations. Fuel taxes. Excise taxes on tires and new equipment. In other words, the government exercises a power it has under the Constitution (to post roads) by means of collecting user fees (taxes & fees paid by road users) to fund the improvements to the system of roads. So I'm paying for the roads I'm using, along with all of the other roadway users...and if I don't want to pay for the roads, I'm free to stop using them. The government doesn't pay for a damn thing without first taking the means to pay from the people. I have no problem with user fees, so long as the revenue collected is spent for its intended purpose. I DO have a problem with government using the collected user fees as a slush fund to pay for other unrelated items...and then seeking to raise the user fees due to lack of funds.

Don't try to convince us that "you have to go to a museum" to find a commie when a major contender for the Democrat nomination is a proud socialist, and the DNC chair can't articulate any difference between socialists and democrats. Seems to me like commies aren't all that rare after all.

Easy enough to combat. Figure the number of miles you drive in a year, and divide the extra BS taxes by that number. Add another 10% (or whatever profit margin you figure on any other expense when you're building an estimate or rate quote) of what you get and bill that to the customer as a "(name of the tax) surcharge". Let the customers see how taxes affect rates (and therefore take a vested interest in keeping taxes low). Won't cost you a dime (actually, you'll profit from it) and gets the point across that businesses (when run properly) don't pay taxes...they simply act as the middleman passing any taxes through to the customer. "$#!* flows down hill."

I'm gonna have to have a little chat with that driver of mine...I mean talk about excessive idling! 31,XXX hours on the truck and not a mile to show for it? He must think he's paid by the hour...

This one scared the hell out of me when it happened... School bus full of kids...thought it was pulling out in front of me and I had NOWHERE to go!

(in my best Axl Rose voice) All we need is just a little patience...

WIDE LOAD! (skinny road)

Got one of them "low miles" trucks now! 8)

$6000 well spent, in my opinion.

ROTFLMAO!!!

It is a Cobra 840 (I think..can't remember the # off the top of my head, but it sounds about right). It does alright...sometimes better than others. Occasionally it gets all wavy and blurry, while other times it is crystal clear. Who knows. For $160, though, I'm not complaining. It is enough to show what happened when those around me are being stupid.

Good friends will help you move, but a REALLY good friend will help you move the body!