mr. cob

Howdy Nwcid, Found this, put a sleeper on the rear deck and call it good, yeah it's not as nice inside as the usual HDT used for dragging a camper but it should do what you want to do and its CHEAP. $17,500 Get Financing as low as $294.00/month* Stock #: - Odometer: - Military Trucks - EXTRA LONG WHEEL BASE- DUAL 14 X 20 DRIVE TIRES, HEAVY REINFORCED FRAME, CAB HEAT, CUMMINS DIESEL, 5 SPEED TRANSMISSION, CAB HARD TOP, EXCELLENT SHAPE, MILITARY REBUILD T... More Info Eastern Surplus & Equipment Philadelphia, PA Dave

Howdy iddy, That's thinking outside the box, very cool and looks like it will work great. Dave

Howdy Jay, The important thing is if your truck suits your needs and YOUR happy with it that’s all that matters. We jest with each other but it is truly in jest, well all except Jim and his Western Star and Aaron and his Volvo, I camp with those folks so teasing each other is just part of the round the campfire laughter. Dave

Howdy Jay, Lookin good, real good. Dave

Howdy Nwcid, Greetings and welcome to the forum from a fellow NorWetter. I know it’s a long trip to the National Rally but if there is any way you can make it I strongly suggest you do so. I bought my first HDT in August of 2014 went to my first National Rally in October of 2014 with that truck which was a great truck but after attending the rally and learning what I did if I had it to do over I would not have bought that truck. So I started to seriously look in 2017 for what I really wanted, found and built my present truck in 2018. Looking what others have done gives you a much better idea of what can be done and what you may want rather then what you think you want now It’s much easier and cheaper to do it right the first time then do it over again or get another truck. Dave

Howdy Bob, 5 inches will be plenty, the big thing with using chains is to remember to stop and tighten them after you have driven a mile or so, a tight chain is a happy chain just keep the speed DOWN. Dave

Howdy Bob, Something to think about, the deck on my Freightliner looked really nice it had cutouts for the rear tires that had very little clearance just enough t get the tires on and off NOT enough to install chains if needed. I know that many probably most will say you don't need clearance for chains as if you hit bad road conditions just sit it out and wait for better conditions. That works if you are someplace where you have a safe place to sit it out but what if your in the mountains and it starts to snow or ice up and there is NO safe place to pull over and sit it out. I don't drive in nasty conditions unless I have to, if I know a storm is coming I'll wait a few days if nessisary before setting out or continuing a trip, but I cross mountains a LOT and I have hit snow twice while going to the national rally, three times when going to or leaving from Moab and drove over 2,000 miles in snow and ice when I drove my Pete, home from Minnesota when I bought it in the third week of December. When I built the deck for the Pete, I made sure that I had clearance for chains, I don't want to use them but I have HAD to three times in the last two years. Dave

Howdy Bob, I used 1/4 inch steel plate on mine, used 2 inch square 1/4 inch thick cross stringers 12 inches apart the lenght of the deck, might be over kill but I can carry darn near anything on my deck and the weight of the deck aids in traction. Dave

Howdy trimster, I would suggest building your bed to carry any possible FUTURE loads. It's MUCH cheaper to build it right the first time then to rework it later if your needs change, it will also increase the resale value of your truck should you sell it down the road if the deck is capable of carrying more then a motorcycle. For example, my Freightliner had a deck capable of carrying a motorcycle but nothing heavier, when I decided to carry a Smart Car rather then spend money I would never recover in a sale of the truck building a Smart Car bed I sold the truck as it was and built a new truck. It's your truck and your money but it would be wise to keep in mind possible future needs or sale. Dave

Howdy All, Like I said I said in my first reply I don’t know anything about the C13 but if it’s an ACERT engine I too would advise against it when I was looking for a Peterbilt many warned me to NOT buy one with the ACERT engine. The twin-turbo engine was known for head gasket problems max boost on the regular Cat such my C15 is 30 psi on the ACERT version it’s 60 psi This was because of trying to meet pollution specs the power was strangled upping the boost was an attempt to regain the power but it caused so many problems that as Glenn said Cat just stopped production of engine’s used in on HWY trucks. Dave

Howdy rpsinc, "I" am a big fan of the Autoshift, had a 10 speed in the Freightliner and now have an 18 speed in the Pete. The thing I like most about the Autoshift is the control having a clutch gives you when backing to the pin and starting out on slippery surfaces. I also like that the Autoshift allows YOU to control the shifting up and down so long as the shift that YOU command does not over-speed or lug the engine, it will also YOU allow to select the starting gear within a range, for example my 18 speed defaults to start in 3rd gear however I can choose any gear from 1st to 5th as the starting gear. Being able to command down shifts is wonderful when coming down mountains and wanting to increase Jake Brake efficiency by down shifting. When using the cruise control on the older trucks the computer often times doesn't downshift soon enough when climbing grades, by the time the computer commands a down shift you have lost momentum and speed, here's where the 18 speed shines, just command a split downshift, the truck will maintain speed with only 200-300 rpm increase rather then a full shift which will increase the engine speed 400-600 rpm. The thing I didn't like about the 10 speed is that it didn't "skip" shift automatically, you could skip gears manually but the computer when gear to gear when up shifting. That and the gap between 9th and 10th gear was excessive, times were that you were running at the top of the rpm range in 9th or close to lugging the engine in 10th when pulling under load up a grade for example, there was no happy medium. The MORE gears the better in my opinion. How many speeds in the Autoshift in the truck your looking at? I like the 18 speed much better then I liked the 10 speed, having the ability to split gears with the 18 speed is great when your in the mountains plus the overdrive is nice. I don't know anything about the C13, my Pete, has a C15. Dave

Howdy Cory, Wishing you and DW a happy anniversary. As its going to be a while before your going to be towing a trailer on a regular basis, do you really need to replace your drive tires at this time, OR can you safely drive the truck for now on the tires you have? Tires will age out before they wear out when used as we use our HDT's so if your tires are SAFE to use I would suggest waiting as long as possible before replacing them. Just a thought. Dave

Howdy All, Paraphrasing the words of a Chicago low life politician, never let a crises go to waste if you can make a buck off of it. Yes, I am in a cynical mood today. Dave

Howdy Cory, As one who was born and raised in the northern hinterlands of Minnesota, unless you really like cities stay as far away from minniapolis/st. paul as you can. The northern half of the State especially what is known locally as the North Shore, is beautiful and for the midwest very scenic. As for fishing be sure to check out Leach Lake, and the upper and lower Red Lakes. BEWARE the Mosquitoes, they are ravenous and at times are so bad no matter if you take a bath in 100% Deet, they will suck you dry. In fact a favorite Native American torture in that part of the country was to strip a person naked, tie them to a tree and walk away, the mosquitoes would drive the victim mad before they killed him. You have been warned, seriously. Dave

Howdy All, I just got a privet message from some clown called taco time, with a stupid video / song. I clicked this person profile and it says they joined an hour ago. If this is a legitimate member please take me off your list to send crap to, if its a spammer would the mods please remove this creep. Yes, I am in an exceptionally good mood today. Dave

Howdy All, Now more then ever with so many rampaging in the streets wishing to burn and tear our country down, it is imperative that we remember what the true meaning of the 4th of July is, FREEDOM. May each and everyone of you and those you love enjoy not only the holiday but the rest of your lives in a land that people risk death to get in to rather then death to get out of. Dave

Howdy Chad, Most of us know how difficult it is or was to suffer under that burden, as "Dollytrolly", would say, drive on we are all pulling for you. Dave

Howdy Chad, As this is a family rated web site, please be careful when using four letter words, the "work" in particular is most offensive. Dave

Howdy dennisvr, We were camping on BLM land an actual off road riding area, you can camp there two weeks for FREE. There are many large parking-camping area no water no power no garbage bins there are some tolits. google, Hemingway, off road area it’s about 20 miles south of Napa Idaho, just a few miles off of Hwy 45. Dave

Howdy All, Click this link to be taken to the photos I took during this years WCR, there are photos of the Elks Club dinner, the pot luck dinner, our trucks and a few of our boondocking SxS camping on BLM land. Feel free to use these photos for personal use, please NO commercial use, thank you. https://mr-cob.smugmug.com/2020-West-Coast-Heavy-Duty-Truck-Rally/ Dave

Howdy All, We got home yesterday, June 27th, some of us spent a few days after the rally playing with our SxS's in a near by BLM campground off road riding area. Thanks Chad, for another fine rally we all appreciate the work you put into making this an annual event that does the HDT community proud. I have attended 5 National HDT Rallies, they are great events I am NOT putting the National down in any way but the WCR is a lot more FUN, because it's smaller but growing every year it's easier to meet and spend time with others, we have events like the wine tour, painting classes, and the day at the gun range that make this a more interesting event which allows us to participate and share knowledge in things other then HDT's which makes this event so much more personal in nature. I fell down on the job of picture taking this year but I did take some of the Elks dinner, the social hour and pot luck, and of course I got a photo of everyone's rig that I could find. I'll post a link to the photos when I have them up on my photo web page, anyone is welcome to use these photos for personal use please don't use them for commercial purposes. Dave

Howdy Steve Thanks for your reply and information it all makes sense now I thought you were dragging the typical RV trailer Dave

Howdy Steve, Your trailer being “28” from our back of the cab”, doesn’t that greatly affect your ability to maneuver in tight places? As most of our trailers are 102 wide we need to have a a bare minimum 51” between the trailer and the back of the cab in order to get the trailer 90 degrees to the back of the cab. 51” gives NO margin for error of any kind. Real world number to allow for uneven ground or flex of any source or kind puts the distance needed from the trailer to the back of cab to anywhere from 53” to 56” depending on one’s personal preference for not causing any damage when maneuvering into or out of tight situations. I would appreciate knowing if the 28” distance from back of the cab to the trailer has caused you any maneuvering problems, thanks for any information you can share. Dave

Howdy Hutch, Got it thanks. Dave

Howdy Hutch, we were going to stop and visit but I misplaced your phone number so couldn’t call. When you get the time please PM it to me, thanks. Dave