Geoff Weeks

Kinda sounds like it was "finding ground" through the ECM circuits?

I was talking about the GMC/Chevy using them, I know they were in other trucks and have seen one (in a D/R) at the ATHS show IIRC.

Steel cable is used on rail cars. I have used chain, but they discourage it claiming it "damages the sticks". rubber belting or steel edge protectors do a good job.

Yep, looks like the docks at the plywood plant east of Bemidji MN or several in (now closed) fire brick plants in MO.

Seams like those docks were made for railcar unloading. Been in a few like that. I was delivering a "drop table" to a railyard (drops the motors and axles out from under the locomotive) . They were insisting that I back in an 11' door when the load was close to 14" wide! Ended up on the old turntable and backed in on the tracks. Drove onto the turntable then rotated and back into the shop.

For the right load, they are the best. Moving production machinery from one plant to another, that can't get wet, there is no equal. On the other hand, general flat bed freight they are a mixed bag. When conastoga's first came out, there were states where the width was a problem on 102" width trailers. It took federal ruling that the tarp system wasn't considered the trailer and could be wider.

Up in Canada, they carry aintifreeze in a spray bottle to spray on the tarp to keep it from freezing together when folded. You can carry a lot more stuff on a flatbed that you can with a curtinside or consatoga kit. I have pulled all three. The last two are great for uncrated machinery, which is like tarping an octopus with rigamortus. However you can't pull OD loads or hang stuff off the front and/or rear of the trailer like you can with flatbed. Not that I like tarping, but it is part of the job. When I was operating, there places that would not load either of the "covered" flatbed, they didn't want to work around the covers.

No, I know it was before that time, I saw it in a manual before that date. Kinda a moot point because no one I have ever heard has seen one "in the wild" for themselves. The one I saw could be no later than late 60's early 70's. I was working at the shop in the early 80's where I saw it and the manual was older at that time.

This is a little out of my experience, however I know someone who posts on a different board, He repairs "lightening strike" vehicles. One thing I picked up from him, that one bad module can pull the whole Canbus down giving the impression that everything is "dead". Once the one the one thing that is killing communication on the bus is disconnected the rest can come back to life. This requires locating where they are tied to the canbus wiring and removing one by one, until the bad one is found, re connecting one by one to make sure you don't have more than one. He also says to check the resistance between the hi and lo buss wires and look for a set resistance (150 ohm?) I'm not sure about the resistance I could check with him if you get that far. Higher is an open somewhere and lower is something on the buss is shorted.

repeated bad ECM's with comm codes would have me looking at the wiring harness also. My guess is something is cross shorting and frying communication. Going to be hard to find.

Good shops are often booked out several weeks and give preference to their local customer base, and bad shops, well why would go there. I can't remember who recommended United, it might have been the truck equipment shop that built the DOT plow trucks (whose name escapes my memory right now). Edit: The truck builder is now call "Reading Truck" 4400 and Calif. changed its name or sold, That is why nothing "rang a bell" when I went looking for the name.

Just trying to help. In my case, I had the part numbers in hand when I called them for my Rockwell QAR rear pinion seal. Still not a slip in by 10 am and pick up the same day deal. I layed over in a motel and they came and got me. I am all for doing it myself and most times I do, but somethings can't wait or at least shouldn't if you are talking a trip of over 1000 miles. Yes, I have come across "mechanic's " that do more harm than good. These guys did what I asked, and while not as quickly as I would like, the workmanship was acceptable.

Re-powers were a bigger thing in the 50's and 60's. Once engine longevity caught up and surpassed chassie life, they went away. Through the late 60's IHC's inlines heavy sixes could be inframed (dry liners). It wasn't just the vehicle mfg that were into that game, Herc and Conti, Buda and the diesel engine makers all would do retrofits. You can see ads back then in places like CCJ for retro-fits. I knew a guy who hauled Ford cars out of the assembly plants, so they had to have Ford trucks. One of his buddies retro-fitting a RD IHC under the hood to replace the Ford powerplant that crack the block.

According to the .net Big cam came out in '76 I had a '79 in one of my trucks. There was a long time when Gassers still were used in heavy trucks. Esp in the east where the runs were shorter. By the late 60's they were on the downslide, but I had a '69 Fleetstar with an RD gasser in it as a parts truck. I think I mentioned elsewhere that LaPort transport ran Ford and IHC Gassers into the late 90's.

And I want you to succeed, which is why I am passing on hard learned experience. There is tools made to slide the hub, wheels and tires off as a unit. I know one shop that does all brake jobs that way inboard or outboard. He claims it is much faster. I kinda figured that truck wasn't your sole means of employment, but you never said, and I didn't assume. There was a shop I used in the valley (if we are talking the SLC valley) that had no problem working on old stuff when I was out there. No idea if they are still in business. I'll see if I can find their name and number. I know they did a pinion seal that was on my '83 was gushing, and I wasn't going to drive it home over 1000 miles like that. United Diesel Service 1905 pioneer. Did fair work, I used them a coupla times, but that was a decade ago so things might have changed.