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BillyT

Pedigreed Bulldog
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Everything posted by BillyT

  1. Damn!! You guys/gals are my heroes! Is it not obvious that there is NO hope left for the "developed" world! If I run out of power before I'm done I apologize as this will be my longest post ever! As we speak the government has legislated abs,front and side curtain air bags active suspension and drls( daytime running lights) All good, no problem! I agree! Now add a rear camera and STOP!!! My wife's 2012 basic corolla had all this but the camera.I would trade the active suspension for the camera! However the average asshole is clueless when they blow a tire most hit the brakes!! We all know that! So the active suspension could save their lives AND ours! I don't need active suspension on a F ing Corolla it only makes the struts more expensive when I replace them or if you have them replaced! The reason I advocate the rear camera is obvious. The most defensive driver on earth cannot see a toddler behind the car when backing up,maybe a beeper when the camera sees a potential person or object. KSB will know ,but I heard several more incompetence mitigation devices are legislated on The cars sold today! We have all seen defensive driving incrementally eroding away!! I first noticed it in the middle eighties! If you are too tired,incompetent or distracted to stay in you're f ing lane you need to rest,lose your license,or remove the distraction in that order!! As for the accident avoidance sensors,, I can only think of one situation where proper following distance doesn't remove the need for that and it is when a large vehicle is blocking your vision and their brake lights aren't working! Very uncommon! I can't count the times 7seconds following distance in a semi and 4 in a car saved my life and the lives of those I would have hit! The state of Florida says 3 but I do 4! The average asshole in traffic does between 1.5 and 2! Had a lady( I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt!) Dropped her kid off behind me at school, turns out of the school onto hwy 19 changes lanes twice,smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone, 5 above the 60 speed limit and never uses a turn signal! This is not an anomaly we see it all day right? Consumer Reports says they support legislation that puts all this bullshit on cars! I'm canceling my subscription and sending them an e mail why! I'm actually conflicted on this subject as the average asshole really needs these things to drive safely! One of the problems with this bullshit is it drives the price of a car thru the roof for a responsible person who worked hard for their money and doesn't need this crap but will have to pay for it on a new car! Also (correct me if I'm wrong) the majority of problems with newer vehicles is electronic not mechanical! So they pay extra for this crap and then pay again at the dealer when it f up! With the prices of new vehicles and failure of many salaries to keep up with the cost of living people are keeping New cars (the handful that are bought, not leased) about 6 yrs so the electronics are starting to f up! Another thing( thought I was done, didn't you😁)? Imagine the horrendous accidents that will be caused when these devices f up! Some of us are old enough to remember when anti lock brakes came out on big trucks! The lawsuits are still pending against Freightliner! I'm not close to done but I'm hogging the site so gimme some input! There's always mandatory sterilization😁
  2. Ksb, where do you find this stuff?😁 They forgot to mention the earplugs the driver had to wear(od of course) to protect his brain from the concussion every time he shifted that deuce and a half and you could hear the drive line clunk across the street!😁Heavy gunner you're right of course! I started looking at "shifting a two stick mack " videos on my kindle and watched videos of every two stick ever built and a couple three stick heavy haulers! Discovered that when I shifted a triplex two handed and held the wheel with my knee I was "showboating" It was the only way I was taught😁 I always thought it was more difficult one handed!Gearhead 204, The military had very little confidence in the average intelligence of its members judging from that explanation of a "fluid coupling"! I was taught by the one fan facing another fan analogy!
  3. Ksb, where do you find this stuff?😁 They forgot to mention the earplugs the driver had to wear(od of course) to protect his brain from the concussion every time he shifted that deuce and a half and you could hear the drive line clunk across the street!😁
  4. 41, I've always liked Marlins, you never see one but the styling is unique with the creased belt line ! My 64 Ambassador was a two door hardtop in near new condition! Was a v8 probably a 304 automatic,with buckets and a console. Was hit in the front,but you couldn't see the damage til you were on top of it! Was kinked like a giant bent it over his knee! Was nine yrs old so probably totaled! Definitely the most comfortable car I've owned except for the 51 roadmaster. Twenty five bucks!
  5. Thanks guys for all your responses! I was on Google looking for the fine for no lights in the fog and discovered this motorist bitching about getting a ticket for no lights in the rain in California called the cop a clown! Said she was only going 400 yards from wal mart to some other store wondered how she could get her fine reduced, thought it should be 20 bucks! No imbecile it should be 500.00 first offense and 30 days loss of license!
  6. When my dad had the salvage yard in the 50s we got in a really solid business coupe, fixed it up and sold it.Never thought about it at the time,but it would have made a great camper! I had a couple fluid drive mopars,couldn't blow them up!Could wind em up til the valves float then shift em without the clutch,they refused to blow up!(didn't have enough power to blow the tranny or the engine! What fun!
  7. 41,always liked AMCs I had a 64 Ambassador hardtop and a Gremlin. That is a very rare piece! How many were made? I should be shot for admitting this, but my best friend had a 70s Javelin 390 4speed that he blew up on the drag strip,I was in the salvage business and I got in a 68 Rambler 258 automatic and we swapped it into the Javalin!Bolted right up but didn't QUITE perform like the 390😁
  8. Same back atcha KSB,couldn't have said it better!
  9. The original definition of " moron" was a person with an IQ of 51 to 70 , but in modern times the term retarded was often used,until political correctness removed all terms with the slightest negative connotations from our vocabulary!
  10. As you all know I've been known to use some colorful language but this subject makes me almost speechless with anger! It was very foggy this morning in Hernando County Florida! The visibility on hwy 19 was less than 1/8 of a mile! I was taking my grandchildren to school (less than 3mile!) And I counted 8 cars without their headlights on! 2 were actually at the school presumably delivering their most precious possessions to school!! I observed 2 more after dropping the kids off on school property! I pulled onto hwy 19 " flat on the mat" and watching my mirrors, prepared to "hit the shoulder" if some moron came out of the fog bank with no lights! I flashed my lights at each one and was regarded with quizzical expressions (like I had two heads) I also threw up my hands when on the 2 lane to the house same results! I know I'm " preaching to the choir " with you folks as you're professional drivers! Some of the diverse morons I've observed were a white haired dude about 50 (dropping off his grandkids) and several thirtyish and fortyish mothers and dads dropping of their kids! The vast majority of those who had their headlights on had drls (daytime running lights) as evidenced by their taillights being off! I'm fairly sure in court if they got nailed in the rear the poor bastard who hit them would be blamed (they had their headlights on right) In Florida statute 3.316.217 states during any rain,smoke,or fog your lights must be on.The general rule "wipers on ,lights on" is supposed to apply, but we can all see the potential loopholes that apply here! The whole thing amounts to that rarest of all commodities, common sense! I can almost guarantee that if you or a cop confronted these people they would be either surprised or indignant or both! "What do you mean I'm doing something unsafe?" By the way hwy 19 has a 60mph speed limit an all of the aforementioned morons were doing that or more! Comments please!
  11. Ill be damned! I've had quite a few miles on an 8v71 and the engine didn't sound at all like a 2cycle Detroit! The 13 speed was obvious as they showed the cab interior! That would have been my choice of engine(in that time frame) as they were so reliable,and the empty dump body had plenty of room for oil lol you had to watch the Cummins of that era as they were known to warp a head when overheated!
  12. What were they running 335 maybe? Wow!
  13. Do you really think they'd let him near a barbecue lol Just kidding OD did you do any good on your insurance claim?
  14. I saw a picture of a guy down here in Florida I think, has an old raggedy p.u, and it's covered with vets signatures drives it in parades and stuff! Very cool! My mos was metal body repairman,so they had me beating dents out of foot lockers! Civilians did all the real work at Ft Benning, in 65 they made about 3.00 per hrs, not bad, minimum wage was 1.00 per hrs!
  15. 41 I was a freight car repairman until 1981.Up to that point the rail cars used sort of a disc brake deal where the brake shoes grabbed the outside of the steel wheel! Almost like a disc, self cleaning and out in the air stream for cooling. Actuated by a long linkage rod to a giant air tank under the car! Almost like the pre maxi air operated emergency brake system on the old truck trailers. Have they come up with a new disc brake system,or are you referring to the system I described?
  16. It only makes sense that disc brakes on ANY vehicle assuming they are sufficient square footage ( pad and rotor surface ) and properly retrofitted, or factory installed for the gvw of the vehicle will stop better and last longer due mostly to better cooling! Of course they are by nature self adjusting and self cleaning! And remember 99.9 percent of those trailer brakes you see smoking at the bottom of Monteagle and the grapevine are drum brakes! I actually saw a tractor catch on fire at the bottom of Monteagle and burn to the ground from hot brakes! And while it is a downgrade that deserves your respect it's not even close to the worst one! BC, I'm not surprised that the bus fleets are utilizing disc brakes due to the value of their cargo and their litigious nature 😁 The cargo that is lol As far as the big truckload fleets are concerned most can't see past initial cost at least in America! Plus until they become (the standard) parts availability could be dicey,as some of the members have noted.
  17. Hobert,don't feel bad I spent 15 minutes the other day looking for my partial plate and it was in my mouth! And of course all the countless times I've looked for a tool and it's in my back pocket and I did that plenty of times when I was young!
  18. We should each post the the dumbest thing we've done,I'll start! Had a Studebaker Commander 1954, same as a hawk, different grille and trim real low slung! Monkey Ward was getting rid of all their auto parts,had a big sale Buick dynatone mufflers 3.00 each anyone of a certain age remembers the long round muffler! Got two plus two bendable pipes hangers,etc.Was at my buddies aunts,in her garage facing in! Had no torches just hand tools and a hacksaw. Cut the Y pipe in half. Had GM style mounts on the manifolds just loosen them and the pipe can be moved. Mounted one muffler on each pipe.put a bendable pipe out the back on each muffler,under each axle. Started it up sounded real mellow! Let it off the Jack stands and both mufflers are flat on the floor!! Hmmm! What the hell to do? The differential is mounted above the springs.we'll just turn it around and mount it under the springs the spring hangers line right up😁 Of course we had to cut off the emergency brake cables with the hacksaw(who needs an emergency brake anyway! )Did all that and let it off the Jack we have a nice California rake and three inches under the mufflers,let's go for a ride😁 It had a two speed hydramatic. Put that sucker in reverse and Damn near went thru the back of the garage! What's wrong? That's right asshole you changed the rotation of The differential when you turned it around!! Ok now that we realize what we did we put it in low and backed out of the garage! We were in a residential area with a 35mph speed limit. We put in reverse and boy was it good off the line right up to its top speed of 40 mph!😁 Ok no problem we'll just run local and it's fine! WRONG! We went about 2mi and you can smell that unmistakable aroma of burnt tranny fluid, and the needle on the temp. Gauge has disappeared into the dash! Not surprising since we are doing 4000rpm at 39mph in reverse ( now forward) So now we have a car that will do 100 mph in reverse and 40 forward but not for much longer! The studebaker had been a good driving car even if it was painted olive drab with a brush,and both taillights would fall out if you bottomed out on a pothole or at the bottom of a hill! Pittsburgh having so many hills and potholes this was a common occurrence! My old mans auto salvage yard was about 9 miles away and it probably took us an hour of driving 2 miles and letting it cool off,then another 2,and so on! After having promoted the good engine and new exhaust system, I got him to trade me "whatever he had runnin' " for the Studebaker! It couldn't have been much because I don't remember what it was! I didn't learn to weld til I was 35 and I was19 at the time. And having just ruined the tranny it wouldn't have been worth turning the spring mounts around! It did hurt though I paid 50 bucks for the Studebaker and about 28 for the exhaust😁
  19. That expansion and contraction temperature thing went thru my head before you "came clean" be sure to put a sheet of metal on the floor before you apply the " bronze wrench" to remove the annoying rounded edge from that wheel so the concrete doesn't spit back and catch your hair on fire! Lol
  20. Low cab forward trucks are the "go to design" for small and medium sized businesses (largely non freight hauling) service businesses. Here in Florida the Isuzu NPR, seems to be the dominant brand.Having no need for a truck of this nature it never occurred to me how important a close by dealer network receptive to small business needs is! Ksb,these trucks are built in America right? You didn't mention that fact,and one can no longer assume! The worst truck related experience I have ever had involved a GMC 7000 2.5 ton hotshot tractor! This was a conventional,sleeper equipped tractor that GM promoted for hotshot use!. It was equipped with an 8.2 litre Detroit turbo 210 hp engine six speed Eaton tranny hydraulic disc brakes.I pulled a 48 ft Cherokee flatbed.I started to list the ridiculous longevity of all standard maintenance item but its ancient history! 1988.The American car and truck makers seem to have learned their lesson (build a reliable vehicle, or lose what market share they have left)Isuzu has been building reliable lcf trucks for decades (engineered for third world roads) I hope GM can compete in that market! Our domestic auto industry depends on it! I accidentally discovered Isuzu quality when I bought my 1200.00 92 p.u. It will easily outlast me with routine maintenance! I first became aware of these Japanese medium duty Cabover and low cab forwards when my American made GMC tractor was putting me in the poorhouse! One of our o/o bought a Hino Cabover and another an Iveco Cabover. The Hino guy was in his 20s and had to put GMC emblems on it to park it at home,his dad was a 20 year guy and worked at GM s Packard Electric division in Warren Oh.😁 The Iveco guy was In his 40s and had previously owned a couple of "large cars" Both had seen how unreliable the GMCs were! and to a lesser degree the then new Dodge 5.9 one tons! The Dodge one tons had problems with the Getrag 5 speed trannys,but we're exponentially more reliable than the larger GMCs also they would get 20mpg loaded! One thing I noticed about the medium duty Japanese trucks was the suspension bushings were greasable, unlike the throwaway rubber bushings on the American trucks! Many of the little Japanese one ton size trucks had air brakes as well! The big number when the cdl was introduced was if you had a straight truck rated 26000 or above you got rid of it quickly to avoid having to pay your drivers a living wage! I've often wondered if a Japanese truck rated 25900 with air brakes required a cdl? If so did the Japanese offer a non cdl 25900 version with hydraulic brakes? I hope the GM low cab forward lasts long enough to haul the last of their Chinese built Buick Envisions to the scrap yard! Sorry, I couldn't help myself!😁
  21. Interesting discussion! I've never driven or seen a big truck with disc brakes! I figured they were either too expensive or unreliable so never became popular! From what Heavy Gunner says they wear out pads in the same order as hydraulic disk pads (piston side first to wear out), makes sense in both cases as the piston side contacts the rotor first and gets a little extra wear before the other pad contacts the rotor! On self adjusting drum brakes I have never,not once ever seen a brake that wouldn't take some adjusting! Turn the adjusting nut in till the brakes lock, then back it off 1/4 turn then grab the linings and shake them to make sure they aren't binding and you're done! Of course visually check all the visible components. I always did this before I crossed into California! You could feel the difference in braking after this procedure! The brakes may have been legal without adjustment, but not necessarily equal. When you adjust them they are all equal! As far as the newbies go the vast majority aren't gearheads and have little knowledge of anything mechanical! They got into trucking because it was the only job that paid a " living wage" without college,and In many cases with college! At least half of them couldn't even drive a stick tranny when they went for training! You don't even have to parallel park a car in Florida to "qualify" for a drivers license. The majority won't last a year, because you have to love trucking to be able to tolerate the ever increasing corporate and regulatory bullshit that it entails! In the meantime God help the motoring public! By the way one of the three tragically killed wrecker drivers in Florida this year was killed by an 18 wheeler! The other two were killed by drunk drivers!
  22. Does anyone question the ability of a small toolbox to drop 3feet and punch holes in a truck bed? Maybe if it's filled with mercury! And the corners are sharpened to a razors edge! Also what is unique about the roll formed, high strength steel they use in the GM beds compared to the steel they've been using for years?
  23. The guys have suggested every trick I know,and have used! I've had them slide right on, but have never had one bind as bad as you describe! Maybe get it on as straight as you can,til it stops, then turn it 90degrees and pry it easy with the spoon bar and repeat the process again a little at a time. Maybe measure the spoke edge to the wheel to see which location is farthest out and pry there! When you install the fronts put a straight edge next to the tire and torque the nuts in a crisscross pattern while turning the wheel, so it will be true when they are tight. Good luck!
  24. The dude in question rode his Triumph on a regular basis when the temperature was in the teens!
  25. I'm not a biker,but they are real popular in Florida and a couple of guys get injured or killed every week in Tampa Bay, and it is almost always when a motorist pulls out in front of them or changes lanes into them! The guy who got me into trucking was a hard core biker and he and almost everyone I knew who "rode" had laid one down or was involved in some incident with a four wheeler!
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