RowdyRebel

Looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself...

YEE-HAW!!!

That's the Mack dealer that looked my truck over for me before I bought it...found it at an independent truck dealer about 45 minutes north of Denver. Seems like forever ago now, though...

I used to be a die-hard Ford fanatic. He'll, I've got 3 Ford pickups and an old Ford tractor. First semi truck I looked at when I was trying to become an O/O was an LTL9000. Then in 2004, they quit offering a manual transmission in the F150. If you wanted to actually DRIVE the truck, you had to get a Ranger or upsize to the F250/350...not TOO big of an issue because I wouldn't buy a full size truck smaller than a 3/4 ton anyway. Then they quit offering the manual transmission in the F250/350's in 2010 and somewhere in there stopped selling the Rangers altogether. You cannot buy a NEW Ford truck with a manual transmission...and quite frankly, I'd rather drive a Dodge with a manual shift than a Ford with an automatic.

Yup...hot & cold are backwards in her bathroom...next time I have the water shut off, I'll flip the flex lines under the sink around to correct that. I just went for the easiest fix under the house...didn't want to make the job any more complicated than absolutely necessary. She seems happy enough with it for now...and that's all that really matters.

In this industry, it helps to be a little crazy...keeps you from going insane. It's the ones who claim to be 'normal' that you gotta watch out for!

I can't claim credit for those...although it is something I'd be inclined to do. Use whatcha got to get done what needs getting done.

Yup...blowing tires can be a royal pain in the rear...even if you've got a jack and the OEM tire changing tools it still isn't guaranteed that you'll be able to get the blown tire off. I onced borrowed a shop's pickup to get home after being towed it & blew a tire about half way home. Jack was there...so we're the OEM tools & even a spare tire. Dadgum lug nuts wouldn't budge, though. I would've given ANYTHING for a 4-way wrench...or an air supply & an impact gun. I actually put a 1/8 twist in the OEM tool by the time I had those stupid lug nuts broke loose. Pretrips won't always catch tires that are going to blow out on you. The spare tire, 4-way lug wrench, and jack/wood block/etc. are good things to make sure you've got with you, though...makes life easier. I think I would've dropped the trailer & left the wife to look after it while I drove to get a jack & lug wrench and maybe even a spare. With my luck, I would've needed a new rim anyway if I tried dragging the trailer behind me to a shop. Heck, she could've locked herself in the Land Rover & listened to the radio. Or, since you unloaded the Land Rover & drove it anyway, use it to chase after what you needed & leave the truck hooked to the trailer...but that's just me. I hate paying other people to do stuff I'm perfectly capable of doing myself...even if it does tend to leave a backlog of projects I haven't had time or motivation to get around to doing. Heck, took me 9 years to fix the hot water to the sink in the 2nd bathroom...

Had plenty of supervision...

Got'r did...

I had a shark bite T at the house...but either needed a straight through fitting so I could cut out the old T or a plug to seal off the line after I cut it off from the cold water supply...hitting Menards in a few after I drop her off @ work.

...and a month of listening to my beautiful bride-to-be complaining about the lack of hot water at the sink in her bathroom, I FINALLY crawled my ass through the tiny little crawl space across the gravel "floor" only to find this. I REALLY wish I would've fixed this 9 years & 30 pounds ago. Guess I get to run to town tomorrow...I have a "T" to splice the hot water line to the sink into the hot water line to the shower...but don't have any way to plug the opening that will be in the cold water line after I move the hot line to where it should have been to begin with. Fun...

Also why I haven't been around much anymore...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_RfD-xTnV8

Whew....pulled up this site and thought I'd gone colorblind from staring at this dang computer so much over the past couple days while my truck's been in the shop! Sure am glad to know it ain't my eyes playin' tricks on me.... I did kinda like the blue, too...the black/gray looks good too, kinda reminiscent watching a black & white TV....but with a splash of color thrown in for spice. What was that movie where they did that? Oh well...too early to be thinking too hard about it...

Well...just got the call. Going to replace with what is in there for now....part alone is dang near $3000. To make the swaps I would like to do would be considerably more than I have available at this time...so perhaps in another couple years I'll tear it up again when I'm in a better financial situation. Gotta come from Jacksonville, though, so I'll be off at least tomorrow if not through the end of the week. Might take a ride down to the court house and talk with them about getting out of jury duty....after missing this week, I'll need to get back to work and can't afford to sit on a jury. Got bills to pay.

Yup....you can get full lockers. According to this, there is the standard inter-axle power divider...then there is an optional "inter-wheel" power divider....and then an optional "lockout". Not sure what the lockout option is though...perhaps that's the air-lock switch on the dash instead of the automatic inter-axle power divider that would be standard.

Oh the gray hair is already coming in quite nicely....

I hate borrowing money, and I don't need the carrier's hand in my pocket any more than absolutely necessary. I finally broke down and got fuel cards from them a couple months ago, but didn't use them until a couple weeks ago when they switched me back to tanks (costs me $100/day more in fuel) at the same time they paid me for a short week (3 full days and a partial)....needless to say, I wouldn't have run past Tuesday if not for the fuel cards. They "save" me $0.03/gallon, but cost $0.50/use....so on my typical fill-up, it saves me about $1.45 but comes at the expense of a time stamp on the transaction. So, I try to avoid using them if I can....but if I need every penny I've got in the bank to get something done, I can run on the fuel cards to keep money coming in. That is all the "help" I am willing to accept from the company though. The company is also looking into the breakdown policy I've got through them on the insurance.....$750 deductible, and it covers towing & downtime. If it is worth making a claim, I'm going to do it....but if I won't see much past the deductible, I won't bother. It has a "vanishing deductible"...so if I don't use it this year, next year the deductible will be less. Last year it would have been more. Bottom line, I'm not too worried about it. It won't be the end of the world if I have to postpone the upgrades for another couple years....I've driven it 5+ years with it set up the way it is, it would just be nice if I could modify it like I want it to be.

False alarm. The mechanic called me when he THOUGHT he was done...still needed to test drive, though. So, I took him at his word...but waited about an hour. When no phone call came saying "it's still broke", I figured the test drive went well....so I called dispatch to say "put something on me that I can load & take home tonight" and then headed up to get the truck. I show up and it is still in the bay.....axle shafts pulled....front carrier in the process of disassembly for removal. Turns out it wasn't JUST the cam & peanuts. Unfortunately their computers were down, so they couldn't give me any price quotes....want to find out how expensive my various options would be. 1) For them to fix what is broke in the existing carrier. 2) To order up a rebuilders series carrier w/ 1 year warranty...keep my 4.17 gears. 3) To order up a ReMack carrier w/ 2 year warranty...keep my 4.17 gears. 4) To order up rebuilders series front & rear carriers w/ 1 year warranties with 4.42 gears. 5) To order up rebuilders series front & rear carriers w/ 1 year warranties and full lockers with 4.42 gears. 6) To order up ReMack carriers front & rear w/ 2 year warranties and 4.42 gears. 7) To order up ReMack carriers front & rear w/ 2 year warranties, full lockers, and 4.42 gears. The option I choose is extremely cost dependent....while I'd LOVE to be able to choose option #7, I very well might end up having to go with #1 and just being patient and waiting until I'm a little more caught up financially before doing the upgrade I've been wanting to do for a while. Bottom line, I've just got to weigh the value of having a warranty vs. the cost, and just how much I want the gear swap and lockers vs. the cost.

...not if you simply chrome plated your existing bumper!

Back when I was looking into a life of public service (either FD or PD would have been fine with me...) and was testing everywhere that was having their little tests, most of the departments 35 years old was the cutoff, however for those with experience it was their age minus their years experience had to be 35 years old or less....so for example, a 50 year old guy who had been on the job for 20 years would still qualify, because age minus experience was under 35.

Congrats. So now that you are healthy, any plans to get back on the squad? Or are you already back to work there?

The tow won't be too bad....'bout $100/hour. Truck went into the shop sometime this morning...got the call around noon it was done. I'm not expecting it to be TOO bad, depending upon the price of the parts.

Well...just got the call that the truck is ready. Guess it was just the cams & peanuts that were shot. I'll be out there for a few days of the "fun" I guess...