RowdyRebel

A bigger truck! I've always said "If you've gotta shovel in order to get out, you need a bigger truck." Well, I don't know if I HAD to shovel, because I didn't try...but I DID shovel, because I'm pretty sure it would've had difficulty, especially without a trailer hooked up.

Guess the little guy wanted in out of the c-c-c-cold!

Occupational hazard is right. IL recently enacted a law prohibiting booby traps...but as long as "I was in fear of my/my family's safety" can reasonably be uttered? Perfectly legal to send 'em off to meet their maker.

Yeah...I ain't skeerd.

...I can't help but laugh! http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/02/15/carjacker-thwarted-by-confusion-over-stick-shift/

Ranchhopper: That's what happened to mine several years ago. Stripped away everything that was in the way, drilled out the ends of the cracks, cut a groove most of the way through the housing along the crack, then welded 'er up to fill in the groove. Ground it smooth, primed, and painted before flushing out whatever shavings might have got into the housing when I drilled the holes...reassembled everything and it's been good to go ever since.

Wonder if somebody OUTSIDE of Mack (such as the Diesel Dr. in Mt. Vernon, IL) would be able to either install an "unofficial" XT file or tweak the P file I have to make it perform like the XT...and what problems I might have in the future with the "unofficial" ecm program. I don't have a warranty, so that isn't a concern, although I AM hoping to get the old girl overhauled in the next year. Plan on going stage 2 Rochester injectors, and their turbo to go with it when I do get the rebuild. If I could put the XT file with all of that, I'd have one mean dog.

Wish I had $15K so I could afford to make the trip out there to get it...wonder if he'd trade? Wonder what the new company would say about that if I brought it to 'em to be inspected & stickered up...less than a week after putting the truck I've got now on with 'em. At least the headlight lenses on that one are replaced with the bulb, so no need to "restore" them. Probably be best if I just keep dreaming about "some day" and wait a while longer...unless somebody wants to wrap it up and give it to me as a birthday present?

I never have been much a fan of that "conditioned" air...prefer mine au naturel...

Well, they are stickering it up right now...sounds like they have a flatbed load that I can pick up when they are done...so I bought one of them bars to cinch up the winches and close the snap binders. They were asking me if I had any equipment for flats and I told 'em "No...been 8 1/2 years since I've pulled a skateboard and I was a company driver back then. Sure, I've got a couple chains & binders...like maybe 4 or 6...laying around in the shed, but if they didn't like the way my TRUCK looked, they probably wouldn't like those old, rusty, greasy, oily, ugly chains & binders. IF I stay on flats, when I start getting paid, I'll look into a headache rack and some chains, binders, and straps...but I'm NOT paying $35/strap at the truck stop, or a handful of chains & binders for a dozen or so just for an occasional run. If anything, I'll wait 'til I get my discount card and go to their retail store (truck co is another division of a parent corporation that has a handful of farm & ranch supply stores where me & the wife already did a lot of shopping for her horses) to pick them up. Probably going to start shopping around for a headache rack so I've got somewhere to hang everything...UNLESS I decide to play with my welder and convert the muffler braces into a headache rack of sorts...We'll see.

The Meguires kit they sell at Auto Zone seemed to do a pretty good job...came with a hand-pad with 1000 and 3000 grit papers, then a buffer wheel for the drill and a micro-fiber cloth, along with the buffer stuff and protectant stuff. Cheaper than new headlights would have been...but I sure miss the good ol' days when new headlight bulbs INCLUDED the glass lens...might have been a little more time consuming changing a bulb, but you never had to worry about dull/cloudy/expensive-to-replace lenses that need polishing before a company would hire you. Oh well...going to get fingerprinted this morning to put hazmat back on my license and get a TWIC. At least that way if THIS job doesn't work out, I can always jump into a fuel tanker for a company a guy I know is pretty high up in...

I've always been more concerned with function over form. Pretty trucks are for sissies, and an ugly truck can haul anything a pretty truck can without all the worrying about turning into this jobsite or crossing through that mud hole or if the hopper you are loading out of is going to drop a few chunks onto your hood or roof as you pass under or the unimproved road you've got to run down is going to get the truck dirty. Screw that. Give me an old, ugly, beat up truck that I don't have to worry about...something I can fix myself, and fabricate what I need if the stores are already closed by the time I'm wrenching without it looking out-of-place. Besides, ANYBODY can buy a nice truck...doesn't mean they can drive it. I've found customers are more impressed with a guy who can get the job done (even if his truck IS old & well-worn) than they are with a driver who drives top-notch show-quality equipment but comes up short when it matters.

"Your headlights aren't bright enough." Gotta be the strangest reason ever for not passing a truck on it's inspection. Funny thing is, they light up my path plenty fine...even on the darkest night, low beams are more than sufficient. "You should probably give it a fresh coat of paint, too!" So, it got a rattle-can special touch-up...and I'm going to try one of those $20 headlight restoration kits and see how it goes for round 2. The truck is dern near 15 years old, closing in on 1,000,000 miles, and been pulling pneumatics and end dumps for 7 years...IT ISN'T GOING TO LOOK SHOWROOM NEW!!! I'm signing on to pull anything from an end dump to hopper bottom to flatbed and even dry vans. They were also "concerned" about the lack of air conditioning, but I've been driving it for 7 years like that and it ain't killed me yet. First time I've ever failed an inspection over non-DOT issues. To say I'm not amused would be an understatement.

I looked at the exploded view pic, and gotta agree...definitely looks like that turbo piece. Guess I can quit worrying about that. Thanks.

...not exactly a penny or a nickle, but it was what I have readily available:

E7-460...and they are small enough (I think) judging by the outside diameter of the drain and assuming it is the same thin wall stuff as the fill tube it drops straight down into...

The top photo is just the washer from the inside of the oil fill plug. It fell off an oil change ago, and I replaced the fill plug. The other one looks to be complete (as in all of the pieces are there)...maybe 3/4" inside diameter.

I'm hoping it is part of the turbo that blew a year (give or take) ago...first time pan has been dropped since then. Anybody know if that's a likely possibility or if it is something more serious?

...so does anybody know what it is, where it came from, and if I need to keep it shut down 'til it's fixed? No telling how long it's been in the pan.

...and found THIS!

Dropped my oil pan to retrieve the washer from the oil fill plug...

Damn...y'all gotta give me more credit than that! Swift? Schneider? Lucky I can't reach through this here interweb and bitchsmack you for even THINKING such nasty thoughts. I've got something lined up...great company from all I've heard talking to people and people who know people...nobody's spoke bad about 'em other than the typical stuff that is going to be found ANYWHERE. I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch, though, so I'm not going to spill the details as to what happened to lead me down this road 'til the new name is on the doors and I'm working again.

...stay tuned.

Just wanted to say hello from sunny Southern Illinois!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/24/firearms-enthusiasts-crash-gun-buyback-to-hunt-bargains/