RowdyRebel

Hell, sometimes I'll tear something up just to give me an excuse to get out of doing housework. "I can't load the dishwasher tonight, honey, gotta fix the truck so I can work tomorrow." You really don't even HAVE to tear anything up, though...just grab your wrenches, roll under the truck, and make it sound like you're working hard...an occasional cuss word here or there to make it sound like the truck is being difficult & not wanting to come apart or go back together like it should (just make sure you have something in mind to tell her when she comes out to make sure everything is OK...) and make sure when you go back into the house claiming to be done that you are dirty enough to have done the job you said you had to do. The less she knows about trucks, the easier that is to pull off, though.

Guys used to haul much bigger loads with a lot less HP...what's the problem? It CAN be done. 3.55 gears might mean more downshifting to get up. The hills, but in an automatic that won't require any extra effort from the driver. It'll be slow going on the longer grades...and the 600HP large cars will blow your doors off...but 360HP will be more than enough to get the job done.

Macks can't be spec'd or driven like other trucks. 'Round here, they tried and are not happy with the results. Company trucks of all makes won't rev past 1300 or 1400 RPM...that's how the pencil-pushers in the office decided would make the trucks most "fuel efficient". Now I've never driven one of these new Macks to see how they drive, but my '01 doesn't really come to life until 1400+. Sure, it'll drive & pull at lower RPM's, but it smokes like a SOB and doesn't really have the giddy-up that it does in the 1400-1800 range. If the trucks were spec'd wrong, set up wrong in the computer, or driven by people who are used to driving Cats and other motors that are made to run at slower speeds and carry those habits over to the Macks that like to turn a little faster, it is lugging the engine more than it needs to be lugged. Have the drivers run it up to 1800 before grabbing the next gear...won't lug quite as bad, and might help with the soot situation.

When I need a hook, I prefer to see old iron roll in to drag me back...equipment that has already paid for itself several times over. Sure, those new rigs with all of the unnecessary bells & whistles look sharp going down the road...but they usually have notes attached to them, and for as often as they roll down the road, those notes are reflected in the rates. I've never paid more than $100/hour for a heavy duty wrecker, but I've talked to some drivers who thought they got a bargain at twice that rate, though.

...the empty trailer is probably all that petercar could handle. There's prolly a Mack waiting at the shipper for that trailer to show up.

Damn...what I wouldn't give for $5K...nice looking truck, and next time I need a hook, I could do it myself.

I found a matched set of 1926 Illinois tags at an antique shop in town...working on restoring them to like-new condition to give to my dad for Christmas. He inherited his dad's restored & show-winning 1926 Model T, and he'll be able to run these on the car as long as he keeps the antique vehicle tags issued by the state in the car with him. I never know what to get the guy...hope he likes 'em. Best part is, I've only got $50 tied up in the project...plates, rust-dissolving chemicals, primer, and the 2 colors of paint. Otherwise it's just my time with the body hammers & dollies straightening them out & raising the letters, cleaning the rust off, patching up the few minor holes, priming, spraying the background color, and then hand painting the letters & other raised sections. The ones I got appear to have the same color scheme as your...navy background & white letters. I opted for "close"...1 shade lighter on the background (available in a spray) and an ivory color for the letters ($15 cheaper for the quart I was going to have to buy...they screwed up mixing somebody else's paint, so it was on clearance). I figure it'll just give them that slightly aged appearance...but should be close enough that nobody should notice (or even care). Here's what they looked like after hammering on 'em for a few minutes:

If you've got a CDL, you're going to have to visit the DMV to fill out the form to certify your status...I haven't done it yet, but I think you'll have 3 or 4 options as to. whether you are interstate, intrastate, exempt, etc...and if you are required to have a medical card, they'll want a copy.

If you've only got 500 miles on the tire, have them checked. If they are out-of-round or have any other manufacturing defect, you SHOULD get a full refund. If the tire shop WON'T refund your money or give you the full purchase price of them as a credit towards another set, I'd be inclined to find another tire shop. Did this front end wobble with your last set of tires too? If it just started 500 miles ago when these were mounted, it's a pretty good bet the tires are the problem.

I had a bad shimmy in the front end and it turned out one of the "made in the UK" BFG's I had on there was severely out-of-round. Never had that happen with a "Made is USA" Michelin, BFG, or Continental. Sucked buying a new set of steers after only 40K miles...but I didn't want to destroy the new tie rod ends I'd just put on. Wonder if that tire had killed those recently-replaced tie rod ends or if the tie rod ends caused the tire to wear...but that is kinda like asking about the chicken & the egg...

An R model sure would look slick in front of this new Vantage round nose trailer. Better yet, it would compliment the styling of a B real nice I bet...

I'm 6'2" and I've never had any issues with leg room in my CH. Only space issue I've ever had was too much distance between the driver's seat and the passenger door...without a power window on that side, it's just too Damn far to reach to roll up when it starts raining...

Yup...apportioned plates will need a USDOT# with MC authority. You can register those with any name you like...your own name if a sole proprietorship, or if incorporated you'd use your corporate name. That name & USDOT# will have to be on the sides of the truck, too. Even farmers who cross state lines gotta jump through those hoops 'round here...if it can possibly be considered "interstate commerce", the feds want to have their hand in it so you'll have to abide by all of the FMCSA regulations.

Well, they moved him out of the ICU yesterday and into a regular room yesterday...so I guess the recovery is on track.

Mom got her long hair tangled in the vacuum once...that was back when I was a kid...old school vacuum that had some real power turning the carpet sweeper attachment. Ripped a good size chunk of hair right out of her scalp. It grew back, though...so the bald spot wasn't permanent or anything like that. Who would've expected wimins housework to be so dangerous?

When he read that, he started choking on his dinner.

...and I sent back this:

I guess I almost killed my dad last night...mom sent out this text as an update:

Last update I got from my mom was 4 hours ago...post surgery...alert & talking. I guess that's good. Haven't heard anything else, but no news is good news 'round here...

A finger is more than enough to stop a rolling creeper dead in its tracks. I wouldn't recommend trying it, though...

Always...unless you're talking to a cop. They are trained & encouraged to lie to you in order to get you to say or do as they wish...so I feel it is my duty to return the favor. Anybody else, I'm brutally honest with. If a cop asked me for the time, I'd feel obligated to lie.

The Good Lord was definitely looking out for my dad...usually you don't know you've got an aneurysm 'til it pops, and when it does you're pretty much a goner if the medics ain't right there ready to go to work immediately. He had 2.

I've got a '96 F-250 that's got over 200K on the clock & still going strong. Even my old Rangers have nearly 200K on 'em. Treat 'em right & a Ford will keep on running. Heck, drive it hard & abuse the he'll out of it and it should STILL last 20+ years as long as you keep the oil changed. Dad has a 150 crew cab...want to say it is an '04 and it has been trouble free...and the way he babies the thing, it'll be around as long as he wants to keep driving it. Only complaint I have about the new Ford trucks is that you can't even special order them with a manual transmission...automatic only, and I just won't buy an automatic.

I used to think I had no fear...this week has proven otherwise. Spent Sunday in the ER with the fiance...she'd had a sore throat for a few days, but Sunday she could barely breathe because her throat was swollen up so bad. Wasn't too bad 'til they stuck her with the IV...she really doesn't do too good with needles. Anyway, after they lanced the peritonsillar abscess and drained the puss, prescribed some antibiotics and sent her on her way. Then, Monday night I'm TRYING to change the oil in the Mack (which would have been done on Sunday if not for the ER trip) when I get a text from my mom that my dad is in the ER. Carotid artery was disecting (blood getting between the layers of the arterial wall) which had been causing him headaches for the past few weeks. They also found not 1, but 2 aneurysms in that same artery. Couple all that with a BP of 200-something over 100-something and it is amazing he's still alive. He's just now getting out of surgery to fix it all...so hoping to hear good news soon. That's a lot to be skeerd about in a few days time...so no "no fear" stickers for me. I don't like to tell lies...unless you are a cop, in which case very little of what I have to say to you is going to be true. Anybody else, though, I got no reason to lie.

Been wanting to do that ever since I started seeing those stupid "Calif***ya Certified Clean Idle" stickers. Funny thing is, Calif***ya doesn't want you to idle even if you have a brand new 2014 model year truck and meet all of the BS requirements in place for new truck emissions...so why even have the stickers? Piss on 'Em. I can roll coal with every shift if I want to...truck predates most of the BS...rolled off the line June 2000.