adept99

We'll help. Especially since there seems to be an opportunity to improve/repair/upgrade each and every rig attending the rally. I'll be glad to to do a seminar - "How to win the BS contest at the evening campfire." or "Backing over bushes 101" and the companion "It's Rutting Season at the corners" We could have a truck rodeo - Just need a place and 250 traffic cones. Whatever you need, Paula & I will help.

Me thinks a hint of irritation is leaking out...

Welcome to the Dark Side... If you have time, try to pick up the appropriate fuel filters before you try to drive the truck. Get a phone # for a diesel shop/tow operator and, without changing the filters, drive the truck home. Filters are not hard to change but if you do plug one up before you get home, then all you need is the mechanic for a road call and you'll already have the filters. DON'T tow the truck without disconnecting the driveshaft, less than a mile will toast the transmission. If you need some additional help, send me a pm with a phone # and I'll see what I can do. Paul

Carl; ol' party pooper here. There just isn't much of a way to do what you are describing. You gotta have something that will squeeze the air to whatever pressure you want. Ultimately, that will be some type of compressor. You can get very high pressures from a very small compressor, but they have virtually no output volume. Consequently, it will take forever to fill your tank. On the other hand, if you use a large compressor, you can fill the tank quickly, but your compressor driver (motor/engine) will run out of power pretty quickly. So how to get from 120 psi to 160 psi? First, make sure your tank and piping (including hoses and fittings) are rated for your highest pressure plus 25%. Then you can decide to upgrade your compressor to one that will make air to the pressure you want. Now, if your existing air tanks and brake cans ever see that pressure, right after you hear a loud "POP", hang on because it will be an exciting ride down the next hill. Not Really. It can be done, but it takes a series of valves and connectors and I would be unwilling to have my brakes tied into such a Rube Goldberg setup. I suggest you find a place to mount a small compressor and we can find a way to do a gross fill on that, and then finish with the small compressor. You really don't want to expose the truck compressor to those high pressures, and you REALLY don't want to modify it in any way. Paul

Thanks 5'er, now I feel much better...Now all I need to do is pay for the 2 toilets we replaced and the hydrostatic drive on the Grasshopper mower...

I recently let a mechanic replace the cooling fan up front. He's normally cheap, fast, and honest. Told me to never bring it back. I would hate to guess what Murders Benz would have charged.

This is one of those unimportant but nevertheless irritating issues. On our 2013 Smart Barabus, several data items are set using the buttons on either side of the main instrument display. The right one sets the time while the left one sets the dash illumination level. They have worked in the past, both consistently and intermittently. Currently, neither works and it acts like the switch isn't making contact because the contacts are dirty/corroded. Yes, I'm holding the button down for the required 18 minutes... Does anyone know how to get this section of the dash apart so I can clean the contacts? Replace the switches? Burn the car? (not really a fan of Smart cars...) Thanks

Any ideas as to what caused the fire? Inquiring minds want to know (I have an '03 ford pickup that parks in the garage below the house)

And 5'er, I can guarantee you that if I had run into a road that I could not take my delivery truck down because of an administrative rule/law, the recipient of the item would then be welcome to come down to the dock and pick the load up themselves, because they had not provided reasonable access.

Suite, you probably already know this, but don't forget that on the pressure side of the power steering system, you need a fiber or wire reinforced hose and a mechanical end, not a rubber hose and a hose clamp. Most large NAPA stores can make one for you. Conversely, a hose clamp will not work on a wire reinforced hose. Maybe on a fiber reinforced one.

Hey ABS Just curious - how did you determine your pin weight? That is pretty heavy, about 30% GVWR, where you should be down around 20-22%. (Watch, someone will bite my head off for that statement because it isn't really correct. Pin weight is affected by the Gross Weight of the entire rig, not just the trailer, but it will guide you in the right general direction). You probably already knew that and I'm Captain Obvious.

Not gonna say it won't work out, but a Smart AND a Bagger may take up more room than you think. Realistically, that's going to take about 9 ft of clear space, and that doesn't really count much for jack knife turns. The handlebars hit, crash bars and saddlebags do OK. I got a bit of a surprise when I realized that the DW's CanAm Spyder three wheeler takes up as much room as the Smart. Get the ol' measuring tape out and some sidewalk chalk & lay it out. Make sure to check for odd protrusions, like mirrors and handlebar ends. Try swinging the tape from the Kingpin around the outside of the trailer nose the change in dimension might surprise you. Paul

I read your saga above, and the P.S. in another thread, and thought to myself, "Man, I know how that feels". Don't know if you remember me from Sonoma Co. Fairgrounds, but kept getting tangled up with the folks that live out there and never did get to call you. Or go to dinner. Sorry for the rude behavior. We lost a transmission out of our 2001 Volvo VNL 770 autoshift. Same kind of deal. Did not see any evidence of leaks, just a few drips now and then out of the rear main. Several weeks prior to the actual failure, I noticed that when I slowed for a corner (not a curve) that when I reapplied the throttle the transmission would take an extra second or two to re-engage. On two occasions, it failed the re-engage at all. The first time, I towed it about 1/4 of a mile over to a gravel lot about 2 miles from home. Next morning, it would engage but I was scared to try to drive it 5 miles to the diesel shop. Did anyway, and sure enough, it failed the second time. Coach net came and towed it. A day and a half later. Anyway... First estimate - $8K. That triggered a long discussion with the DW about whether to keep the rig or just sell it & move on. Obviously, the value is gonna tank if we sell it with a bad transmission. On the other hand, that's a pretty healthy hit on the old retirement fund. Lots of other stuff to repair/replace "because we're there", so new clutch et al, tail shaft bearing, oil cooler, etc. Seemed like the hits just kept on coming. Then came the issue with the hydraulic clutch linkage and the EZ clutch. They didn't want to play together. Fixed. Then new transmission would not stay in reverse. Several days to find a smashed wire to the reverse sensor. Final Bill: $10,142 Had our failure been as severe as yours, we probably would have given up. Fortunately, when we bought the truck, I had a DYNO test run and every thing checked good, so we're fairly comfortable with the equipment. I guess my point here is that if you have an older truck like ours or like yours, you avoid things like Emissions controls and a lot of other extra costs on the front end. Even if you do have a failure, it's not likely to offset the differential between new & used. Just thought you might want to know that other folks have made more or less the same decision as you've made and intend to keep on trucking on down the road (BTW: Think we might could slip into the WCR some year?) Paul

Did you have to buff out the fingerprints embedded in the grab handle??

I think I can clear this up. If the party of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd parts can back the entire train around the corner to reach the Loves fuel island without disconnecting any of the originally connected component parts, that would satisfy the first segment of the administrative law requirement. The second part of the admin section would give way to serious criminal charges regarding exposing the general public abnormally hazardous conditions thereby setting the stage for an extended psychological examination of the operator's intent and general mental state. At any point in this process, the DW of the DH involved may end the entire procedure by uttering the magic words "Name" Get in the damn truck and let's go...Please!!