rickeieio

In my 50+ years of owning/operating diesel equipment, I've experienced algae 3 times. First two were in a tractor that had been using nothing but treated ( by us) fuel. Can't remember on the third. This from small tractors to large 4wd and harvesters with 250 gal. capacity. But, all my equipment has sat for many months at a time with less than 1/2 tank, usually over winter when the worst condensation should occur. Never any appreciable water in the filters. Therefore, my thought is, why bother? My old fuel supplier said all his fuel was treated, so don't be double dosing. Now I'm down to just 4 diesels. Less to worry about. Like it says on the fuel cap of many old tractors, "Buy clean fuel. Keep it clean." BTW Vern, my cholesterol and sodium levels were getting out of hand, so I switched to watermelon. 😁

Not today, but in the past week..... While doing ,my pre-flight at AV8R3400's home field, I was poking under the hood and discovered my coolant reservoir cap was a.w.o.l. Larry was kind enough to loan us his car to run down to the Kenworth stealer and ransom a new one for only $51.xx. While there, I really blew the budget by dropping another $115 on a windsheild fluid pump. KW is proud of their stuff.. So, we got home Monday and while unloading tools and such, I put some assortment and repair kits on the tailgate of my pickup, so I could just back into the shop and put things away. Well, since we've retired, it seems the squirrel population has exploded in our shop. No matter what I'm doing, a squirrel gets my attention and "POOF", I forget what my immediate task was. Sure enough, I got distracted and drove home and arrived minus my vehicle electrical repair box. All my crimpers, strippers, tone generator, specialty bits for WeatherPack connectors, gone. But, over the years, I've likely found enough tools along the road to be breaking even. Still, it will take a while to assemble another box with all that stuff. I wish I had taken an inventory to make it simpler.

Oh Carl, I'm so tempted to make a crack about how Donna hasn't replaced you......but I won't.

Installer positioned Jackalopee below the 7 wire run, so water followed the wires down to box. Shame on them for not drilling drain holes.

Oh, the fun working on "work" trailers. Before retirement, we had a 25 ton rated tandem lowboy, aka drop deck, that needed a new floor/ 20' of wood deck, 8' of tread plate in the rear, and no bed over the truck axles. We had sycamore sawn to 2 1/2" x 12". Cut all the boards to length and painted them with used engine oil. Of course we did this in December, and got light snow and freezing rain in the middle of the project. Susan worked under the trailer, laying on cardboard to stay dry-ish. We eventually got it done, and sold it a week later.

Well Dang. I just popped up 3 bushels of popcorn, expecting a double feature tonight, and it done. This is gonna take a lot of water to eat by myself.

Welcome!!! Nearly all of us use ramps for loading a smart, three wheelers no so much. Wife's three wheeler (Can-Am Spyder) goes in the garage.

Good thing I bought the big pack of bacon and we had extra butter in the freezer. Went to the local roadside stand and bought another gallon jug of popcorn. Oh, and Vern, don't forget all those ground wires too.

I'm just watching the popcorn bag get close to empty. Vern, hold on until I get back with more.

We pulled in to Larry and Julie Wenning's (AV8R3400) place yesterday on our way home from the UP. Had a pleasant evening with them and planned for a morning departure towards home (Cincinnati-ish). This morning, I raised the hood to check the oil and wash the windshield. I noticed fluid stains down the right side of the motor. Not good. Somehow, we lost the cap off the coolant expansion tank. Larry called the local KW dealer, and they had one for the trivial price of $51.xx. Yikes. Larry loaned us his car so we wouldn't need to unload the smart, (thanks, Larry), and we fetched the part, plus the windshield washer pump and a gallon of pre-mix anti-freeze. $185.xx total. Ouch. Installation of the cap is the limit of my pay grade, but I prevailed. I'll wait until we're home to swap out the fluid pump. The old one works for a bit if you whack it with a hard object, so I'm guessing the brushes are bound up. So, a BIG THANKS to Julie and Larry for their hospitality and help. The folks on this forum are the best.

I've met Vern. I know better than to fall for "finish your popcorn". Maybe finish this bowl and go pop another bushel.

Vern, just sit down and close your eyes. Now dream of popcorn made in a real old timey popcorn popper, using a little bacon grease and butter instead of veggie oil. Sprinkle on just a little fine salt, not too much. Everything is gonna be okay.

Popcorn was getting cold so I ate it. I'll pop more later......

Vern, I don't want to spoil the suspense, so I'll just say, we had a similar issue with our ISX (random mis-fires). Many $$$$ later, we found the problem. I'll wait until the end of your story before saying what ours turned out to be.

To me, state of registration is not the issue. We drive very little in the truck's home state, and trave across many. Pulling into a repair facility and having the service dep't refuse to work on it because it's deleted has become a very real concern. It's just not worth the risk, to me. If I were looking to buy a second truck for use in bad weather, I'd go south and try to find something clean and pre 2003.

Whether a "deleted" truck will be a problem is anybody's guess. And ONLY a guess. No one really knows, yet. My philosophy is to buy a late enough truck to have emission system that has the bugs out of it. As mentioned above, 2016 or later. That said, the original question was whether to buy a particular truck. I would investigate what it would cost to put the truck back to original before making the final decision.

Welcome to the Nut House!!!! Upon providing pictures of your truck and a bit of background info, (just make something up, we'll never know), we'll send you your decoder ring and temporary tattoos.

And don't forget, the wire running to your plug is likely a limiting factor too. Trying to maximize the power out of your alternator may shorten it's life considerably. We're up against a similar problem, and it's worse if the truck is parked far away from the camper. It doesn't happen often, but it does happen. A small genny may be in your future.

That's my tongue-in-cheek way of saying, not every moment has been smooth. We have faults, there have been compromises, and through it all, we remain best friends.

I tried to use Google translate but it said "no results found". But, knowing Georgia, I figgered it was sump'n like that.

Ten years ago, I wouldn't have considered Chinese origin tires. Having friends who trade with the Chinese and have products manufactured there has taught me that the Chinese are just building what the market asks for. Want cheap? They will do it. Want quality? They're happy to show what they can do. That said, I've bought about 20ish Sailun tires in the past few years. I wouldn't hesitate to buy them again. And of course, none of this addresses the o/p question..........

One problem is, we all think we're young, until the day we wake up and realize we're old.

Welcome!!! First thing is identify the Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR) of your tow vehicle. Next, weigh said vehicle with full fuel, any passengers (inc. pets), expected gear etc. The difference in actual weight and GCVWR is what you can safely tow. NOTE: this will certainly be much less than the published tow rating, because you are now using real figures, not some advertising guys' wish numbers. Now compare your real world numbers with what your desired trailer weight ratings are. Hopefully, you'll be in a safe range. I like your idea of wanting tandem axles. They tow much nicer than single axles.

Another happy ending!!! Good to hear it was fairly simple, though not likely cheap. BTW, thanks for stopping back and letting us know the outcome. So often, someone starts a thread, gets suggestions, and never lets us know how it turned out.

I would think as long as the tray under the wipers drains properly, little water would make it over the lip in front.