vision386

Years ago i worked with a guy (owner-operator) who once asked me what my normal transmission temp. gauge reading was,so i told him my average temp. was between 250/300 degrees on a hard pull.....he said his was between 750/800 degrees! and had been for months! i asked if there was oil in the trans.,and his answer was "i don't know,IS there oil in the transmission?" had never been checked since he had the truck (did'nt know how) seems the seal on the tranny had been leaking for over a year,and was never detected!.......long story short,he does'nt have a truck anymore!

Have'nt heard anything from randyp lately,was looking at some google earth satelite photos of daingerfield,TX came across this........may be the reason? i guess that "lagoon work" is as tough as he said it was!

These are what most everyone remembers,big, FAST KW's......but towards the end monfort did run some WHITE "road commodes" (road commanders) that was pretty near the end of the company as it was once known..........Mark

They did'nt pay any attention to the big "road closed" sign,they could only go so far, and they were turning everyone back around at the tollbooth the side roads were so plugged up with trucks they opened the eastbound side left lane and headed them back westbound!

You probly woulda made out good up there,they was paying dump trucks $25.00 a load to haul snow to a landfill,i talked to a guy with a tri-axle that was working around the clock 45-50 loads a day 6 mile round trip!

Know what you mean! i was glad to get some "heavy" freight back out of PA,i loaded 43,000 pounds of sheet glass out of meadville (erie) took it to there other plant in evansville,IN course i never seen anymore snow after that!

Thought you'd like that! had about a nuff dam snow to last me a lifetime!.....been a LONG trip past few weeks!.........Mark

I do remember that article,i have a stack of old trucking magazines going back to the sixties,will see if i can find it when i get some time....growing up on the east coast when i did,it was quite unusual to see a conventional out here,one of the very first "fancy" largecars i ever remember seeing was a Monfort KW,long wheelbase (for the time) V8 cat with a 2 stick trans.( i looked in the window lol!)....they were quite the outfit in their day!..............Mark

Needed to see something that reminded me of warmer weather.....hows this?

Just returned home from a LOVELY two week ordeal in sunny Buffalo,NY! left out tail-end of the week before last,with 17 stops in western PA,then ending up in the buffalo metro area.......well,last thursday night stopped at the T/A in Harborcreek,PA topped off with fuel (luckily) headed on up towards buffalo to start dropping again friday morning.(WRONG!) I-90 (new york thruway) is closed! seems a fed-ex truck pulling a set of doubles did some "tricks" ended up jack-knifing,setting off a bad chain reaction accident,all this on top of it snowing at the rate of 2 1/2 to 3 inches an hour! so in a little under 3 hours i had snow up to the middle of my side fairings! managed to get off the road into a service area,where i spent friday,saturday,and part of sunday while they cleared wrecked and abandoned vehicles off the road. The local news said there were in the neighborhood of 285 to 300 stranded cars and trucks in an 11 mile stretch of highway! some people were still in their cars as late as sat. morning! long story short,most people ran out of gas/fuel and just left their vehicles where they sat,so i was blocked in by several trucks that were out of fuel,there was not a heavy-duty wrecker to be had within a 100 miles of buffalo!....finally got going monday,only to have them close both bridges that go out to niagra falls,due to high winds, zero visibility! so i did'nt end up getting empty till THIS thursday,re-loaded in Meadville,PA took that out to Evansville,IN dropped, re-loaded,delivered in Martinsville,VA this morning......AAAHHH what fun wintertime truckin' is!......................Mark

Guess i shoulda' payed more attention in both reading and truckdriving school!

I have always liked craftsman tools as well,have used them almost exclusively for many years......anything i have ever needed as far as a specialty tool has normally been snap-on or matco.......i think the one "specialty" tool i bought on a whim and never thought it would see much use was my Dremel,that thing has sure earned its keep! i use it more than ever thought i would!.............Mark

Have to get out my sketchpad,do some "figgerin" digital clock? i'm thinking schwitzer turbo set-up....older analog type clock,i think i'd go with an old school paxton supercharger type set-up..............

Thats a good one! i was tinkering with our old electrolux vacuum cleaner the otherday,not enough power,so i thought why not a fuel injected 327 chevy? now when you hit the switch that S.O.B will pull a ten penny nail out of pressure treated 4x4 from 75 feet away.............

Well it was a grease fire,so i can only assume it was a Detroit!

Sounds like some leaf blower! i'm not as fortunate,my "little" riding mower is powered by a KTA-600 cummins,putting out a little over 500 horse,although it is no Mack,i AM able to cut a 6 foot wide swath of grass at 80 MPH (in the high side) so its not that bad! when i engage the PTO i can send the grass clippings over into north carolina,thereby avoiding making a trip to the dump......Have a good safe trip! hope you find that beach Hatcity was talking about!........Mark

Yup,those are sanders, they actually worked pretty good,my grandad liked them,we had them on all our trucks back then.........Mark

To me something like that is a real treasure! i have a picture of my grandfather standing in front of his AK-6,but it is so worn-faded/folded -up it is almost un-recogniseable and sadly not a good candidate for restoration....earliest one i have of my dad standing in front of his new 1965 IH CO-4070 is not in too gooda' shape either,but the memories are there non-theless......Mark

Thats one of the main reasons i quit going to the mid-america show in louisville,got tired of looking at petes and KW's all day! i really dont like any of the current "trends" in custom trucks these days.....just too much BS for me,i prefer the classic "old school" look in a truck,you just don't see much anymore. there are still a few around,but getting few and far between everyday!..............Mark

My wife and mother were going through a big box of old pictures at our family get-together last night and came across this one! i had forgotten about,its me when i was about 16,standing in front of my grandads R-685,if memory serves i was spotting apple trailers that day to bring up to the packing house to be eventually loaded on outbound owner-operator trucks......aaahhhh the good old days LOL! no gut,no gray hair,no glasses!...but on the otherhand, no power steering,no A/C, no radio!......just had to laugh when my wife asked my mom "is there a picture of him where he is NOT standing in front of some damn old truck?"......does'nt seem to be! LOL! funny how and old picture can take you back to a simpler,less complicated time...........just a thought anyway Mark aka R-685?

I ran an end dump early in my career,remember my boss had a little poster on the wall,"the 10 commandments of dump trucking" the only one i can remember was "thou shalt dumpest upon level ground".........i did'nt like it for just that reason,always afraid the dam thing was gonna' turn over!

I saw that truck yesterday,and had the exact same thought,was going to post it,but fell asleep early.....too much turkey made me tired,course the 8-9 beers i had prob. did'nt help.....does look to be in good shape however...........Mark

That is a sharp tractor! personally i could do without that stainless shield in front of the air cleaner inlet,but other than that,very nice lookin' outfit........Mark

I just got around to watchin' the latest movie,guess i'm bigtime now,got some screen credit! LOL! lumpy huh? just about pissed my pants! still laughing!!!!!!

Yeah, i know its a fake (looks good though!).....i agree,if she'd just shut the @#*k up..........i doubt she knows where korea is! i just read something else that bothered me,a recent poll of college students showed 19% ages 18-21 could NOT find the UNITED STATES on an un-marked globe of the world! pretty effin'sad as far as i'm concerned!................