RowdyRebel

So I pull into a Home Depot for a delivery and I'm greeted by a JB Hunt driver asking if I could help her find an air leak on the trailer when she steps on the brakes. Like any good hand, I agree, and as soon as I drop off my paperwork I start heading back to where they'll be unloading me. I stopped next to the docks, though, and walk up to her truck. She's sitting in the driver's seat and proceeds to tell me that the air leak sounds like it is at the rear of the tractor behind the cab. I tell her to step on the brakes, and it didn't take 2 seconds to discover the problem. The service line was still hooked to the plastic doohicky on the back of the cab, and air was rushing out when she stepped on the brakes. She flat out refused to accept the reality of the situation, claiming the red line is for the trailer brakes and she's been driving 10 years and she "knows what she's doing". After explaining twice that the red line only releases the parking brakes, and that the blue line is what supplies air for the service brakes, I gave up and pulled forward to where I needed to be. I understand that she had dropped her loaded trailer to hook to this empty and pull it out of the dock so she could hook back up to her loaded trailer to put it in the door before hooking back up to the empty again to leave...and she was being lazy by not hooking up the blue line...but to think the trailer has a service line leak when the service line ain't connected, and then ARGUE with the person who you asked to help when he points out where the "leak" is...Ron White is right...can't fix stupid. scary thing is, we share the roads with idiots like that who don't know the first thing about how these trucks work, have no desire to learn anything beyond memorizing a list of parts and the phrase "cracked, broken, or missing" in order to pass a pretrip "inspection" during their skills test. I suppose that's why there are people who think we need more mandated BS...elogs, speed limiters, stability control, traction control, adaptive cruise control, automatic transmissions, lane departure warnings, driver-facing cameras, and now self-driving trucks and wireless vehicle inspections. It's getting to the point where a trained monkey could do the job...and the pay seems to reflect that at a lot of the ATA carriers who are pushing for all of this technology to be mandated industry-wide. Hire folks who need babysitters, but babysitting them costs money. Take it out of what you'd otherwise pay the driver to maintain profitability, but now your drivers don't stick around long because there are better paying jobs. So how do you reduce turnover at your crappy ATA company? Get your buddies in government to mandate babysitting industry-wide and now you can continue hiring idiots and reduce turnover because there are no "greener pastures". Damn...didn't mean to go off on a rant like that, but hell, it had to be said. Sadly, my days in this industry are numbered if the ATA gets their way. I just can't allow myself to be pulled down to their level.

I was GUESSING (based upon the partial schematics I have) that power was supposed to come through the relay, to the switch, loop through the directional "clearance flash" returning to the switch, then out to the lights. (35-A-2.0) looks like the hot to pin 85, and branches off to (35-A-3.0) providing the hot to pin 30. Pin 86 comes out (35-C-0.8), before passing through 3 symbols or references I'm either not familiar with or simply don't have before going into the switch pin 2 with the same (35-C-0.8) wire number. It goes through the switch to pins 1 (normally closed, wire 35-D-0.8) and pin 4 (normally open, wire number 35-E-0.8). Wire 35-E-0.8 goes into the normally closed circuit in the directional switch (pin 5) before going out to ground (pin 11, wire BK-E-0.8). Wire 35-D-0.8 comes from pin 4 (normally open) on the lamp switch down to pin 8 (normally closed) on the directional switch before exiting to ground through the same pin 11 (BK-E-0.8). Both the right and left cab clearance lights have wire 35-B-0.8 going in, and BK-E-0.8 coming out to ground, so I'd assume that's the same wire that comes out of pin 12 on the light switch, but again just working with a partial, can't tell what all the wire passes through along the way.

...and now, even with the jumper removed...whether the relay is installed or not...I'm getting a reading of 7.35 volts at pin 12 (35-B-0.8). All I did was spray some electronics cleaner spray into the under-hood fuse box to clean up the connections a bit. I'm officially stumped. Gotta put the dash back together now & run to town...load's gotta get delivered and I have another to pick up, and the both the receiver and the shipper closes in 3 hrs.

Ok...so I just tried putting a jumper in between pin 30 and pin 87 on the relay, and the marker lights and the indicator light on the switch all come on (whether the switch is on or not). The "clearance flash" button on the turn signal does nothing to change that. Pin 12 on the clearance light switch (35-B-0.8) now has power...but stuff still ain't working right. Moving the jumper wire to relay pins 85 & 86 doesn't seem to do anything. Relay IS getting power to pins 85 & 30.

I'm working on the same problem myself. Marker lights quit working after a hail storm came through...in the morning, I moved the wire on the block under the hood (to trailer plug) for the marker lights over to the tail light pin...so now trailer lights are an all/nothing deal. Only lights NOT working at this point are the 2 outside cab marker lights. New dash switch. New circuit breakers, both in the dash and under the hood. New relay under the hood. New light bulbs. I have a partial wiring diagram from the local dealer...on the switch, pin 9 is to ground and pin 10 brings in power to light it up with the dash panel. Pin 1 (35-D-0.8) goes to the turn signal "clearance flash" switch, and pin 4 (35-E-0.8) comes back. Pin 2 (35-C-0.8) comes from the cab & trailer clearance lamp relay (fuse box under hood), but it looks like it might make a few stops along the way. Pin 12 (35-B-0.8) makes it's way to the right & left clearance lamps on the roof, but it looks like they might also make a stop or two along the way. If I put power to pin 12, the indicator light on the switch lights up...but not the lights on the roof. Tested the switch on the turn signal, and it seems to be working as expected. I'm friggin' stumped.

It's been going on for quite some time. The dirt track my grandparents used to race at...developer came in and bought up the surrounding land and build a neighborhood around it. New residents bought these homes right near a dirt track...AND THEN COMPLAINED ABOUT THE NOISE on Saturday nights. After fighting legal battles for several years, the track owner passed away and his kids just didn't want to keep fighting their father's fight, so they shut it down. That happened when I was a kid...prolly 20 or so years ago. The way I figure, if it was there when you moved in, you deal with it. If you're there and somebody wants to do something new, then you can voice an opinion. Hell, county here passed "nuisance ordinances" 6-8 years after I was in the house. I say they don't apply until such time as I've been justly compensated for the lost property rights. I bought the house in part because I COULD let the grass grow if I'm out on the road for a few weeks...or leave a project truck in pieces in the driveway for a while until I get back home to finish it up. Now? Grass can't be more than 8" (I still mow once a month if I feel like it) and you can't have inoperable vehicles parked (deputies ain't got the balls to show up here to ask...hell, even the game warden was leery about making that turn up the drive when he wanted to ask if I'd seen anyone messing around with the ammonia tanks across the tracks. I've got a reputation around here that tends to keep the uninvited away...) World sure would be better if people would just take ol' Hank's advice:

Y'all beat me to it...'nother vote for a ROAD TRIP!

I'd have to disagree with the premise you put forth that a Peterbilt or Kenworth would be a "better" truck or an "upgrade" from a Mack...ESPECIALLY if you're talking about doing actual work with the truck.

...an interesting view this morning:

I met the one in the middle (Jessi Combs) a few years back at the Chicago Motorcycle Show. She was there building a custom bike with a few other wimins...USED to be on Xtreme 4x4.

Always makes me wonder when I see somebody old enough to buy their own beer with a case of nasty light...that's the cheap crap underage kids drink from plastic cups at the keggers because they're too young to know what beer is supposed to taste like and the host doesn't want to pay more than he has to for stuff that's just going to be puked up later by most of the attendees. I don't miss college. Beer is SO much better these days...

Actually, a good brew is my "thinkin' juice". When I'm stumped, or when I'm starting to get a little frustrated with something, I crack open an ice cold, sit back, and sip on it a while 'til a solution comes to me. It's amazing some of the Redneck Engineering marvels that come about that way.

"Does it get light in the front end?"

Eh, it's not really "reality" as it is getting ideas for some of the projects I've got on my "to do" list. Sometimes what they do makes absolutely no sense...like taking an ex-military 6x6, converting it to a 4x4...and adding air ride. But, instead of plumbing into the air system, they mount up a 12 volt compressor to provide air to the bags. Ridiculous.

...and I heard the guy on the truck tech show say something so ridiculously stupid that I just couldn't believe there is even a market for. They are converting a 2WD Jeep into 4WD, jacking it up, putting bigger tires on it, etc... Anyway, while talking about the need for beefed up brakes, he said he was using "Zinc plated brake rotors" to protect them from rust. My question is, what good is a protective PLATING going to do a component that relies upon FRICTION to do its job? Wouldn't that zinc plating wear off rather quickly? Seems like a waste of money to me...

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/04/07/dukes-hazzard-star-james-best-dead-at-88/

Had recorded some sound as the hail was bouncing off my roof...but too big to attach.

...or better yet, gitcher hard hat on!

My preferred "adult beverage" ranks #5 on the craft brewery list and #10 overall...

If somebody has an "open to the public" link to the schematics for a 2001 CH, I could use that, too. Dealer printed off enough to get me started searching for the cause of my lighting issue, but still missing pieces of the puzzle.

Hell, I'm approaching 19K bobtail...and fixin' ta get heavier here once I get a round tuit. Thinking about making a headache rack...but low-profile. Don't want to encroach upon my rear window that opens for better air flow, but now that I'm flat bedding, I DESPERATELY need someplace to stow straps, chains, edge protectors, binders, bungees, etc... BESIDES on the passenger side floor. Been contemplating incorporating the muffler braces into the idea...but not sure if it would be so wise to weld a brace between the two and make them more rigid. I figure I could make a platform about 6' wide by 3' deep and run it right up to the hydraulic hoses...fill in the empty frame space between the back of the cab and the catwalk. Mount a box on each side to store straps, etc. in...and weld a piece of angle iron between the muffler braces to hang chains from. Still in the "thinkin'bout it" stage, though...

Wonder if that's how those TV charities feed starving kids for $0.20/day...I've heard it really sticks to your ribs!

This new company, I have the option to run my own numbers and be a "dedicated carrier" doing the same thing I'm doing running their numbers. If they tell me I have to run e-logs, that's probably what I'll end up doing...and then staying on paper & joining any and every legal effort to defeat this mandate. The "bad actor" mandate went down in flames...and it only took 1 of several legal arguments against it to beat it back. The feds haven't really addressed ANY of them, so I really don't see whatever the FMCSA puts out sticking around very long.

Wait...crayons are supposed to be sharp?

Ummm..."All 3 trucks go and extra parts no separating!" in one sentence, and then "Selling separately, too" a little bit later. So which is it?