mr. cob

Howdy Larry, Darn it, that's sucks. Hoping things work out for you and you can continues truckin. Dave

Howdy Cory, Just my opinion and I am NOT a DOT employee or lawyer but in the 10 years I have been using an HDT as a tow rig even when bob tailing I have NEVER pulled into a weight station even if the signs flashed to do so. From what you say you have your paperwork in order, if they want to talk to you after chasing I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles but I seriously doubt that would happen. In 10 years I was chased down ONCE in commifornia the Trooper asked me "why did you evade the scales?" I told him, "I didn't EVADE the scales, I drove past them as there was need for me to stop." Showed him my paperwork and drove on down the road. What do you mean when you say you have your "DOT plate"? If you have ANYTHING on your truck that in anyway indicates that you might be commercial your only asking for trouble, to include the wording "Not for hire" that is a commercial term meaning that the truck this is displayed on is contracted to a specific company or is owned by an independent operator who chooses who he want to drive for and is not for hire and to haul for anyone else. Dave

Howdy All, As the song says, "Eastbound and down, big diesel humming.................." We are leaving in a few minuets headed to spend the night at the "Baker Truck Corral" near Baker City Oregon, GOOD food at reasonable prices, cheapest diesel fuel in the area and a large parking area to spend the night. We have been using this as a sleep, fuel ,eat stop for years, highly recommend it. Leaving from the truck corral Monday morning and headed to the Hemingway ORV area to meet up with the AWCRR ( After WCR Rally ) folks looking forward to seeing everyone again. Safe travels to all. Dave, Donna, Newt and Willy

Howdy Chad, I'll try to keep up, last winters riding really wore my what at that time were new tires down, doing a lot of spinning now it's time to get new ones again. Dave

Howdy Dan, Donna and the Boys will be there, can't leave home without them. Be good to see you folks again. Dave

Howdy All, Greetings from the Nor-Wet, where it has rained nearly everyday since we came home from Arizona first week of April and the daytime temperature has yet to get to 65 degrees. I am so looking forward to some SUN and warmer weather. We won't be attending the rally this year BUT we will be attending the "After Rally, Rally" our plan is to get to Hemingway ORV Park on June 20th so hope to see many of you there. Enjoy the WCR and join us at the AWCRR if you can. Dave, Donna, Newt and Willy

Howdy All, Thanks for all the replies. My compressor is NOT working. I have a diesel mechanic friend stopping by on Friday to take a look. Dave

Howdy All, At my age, I refuse to let the cost of fuel stop me from enjoying myself. YES, I am upset with the cost of fuel but if the choice is to enjoy my life at a COST or sit home and brood about what might have been, I am filling the darn tank, burning it, killing the planet and endangering the childern. I know some folks can't have this attitude and that life is a struggle which the high cost of fuel is severely hurting, remember who did this to you when the time comes. Dave

Howdy Chet, Thanks for your detailed reply. My truck takes the new style refrigerant, I will try jumping the contacts and see what happens. I checked all the fuses, cleaned all the replays there are a ton of what I think are circuit breakers but I don't know if they can be pulled or how to check them. Dave

Howdy All, A while back I posted about recharging the AC system with one of those do it yourself kits. Where I live, The Peoples Republik of Washington, such things are now against the law. Be that as it may, I sourced some of this planet killing, child endangering, stuff and proceeded to install it in my AC system, followed the instructions and am left wondering if I have a compressor problem. The air coming out of the vents seems a bit cooler but its NOT cold. Reading the instructions it says to make sure the AC compressor is running. Problem is with the engine running I honestly can't hear if the AC compressor starts, runs and shuts off when you flip the switch. I have sat in the cab and watched the tach as I turn the AC switch off and on, I see no difference in RPM, so I am clueless at this point. Any suggestions you can make will be greatly appreciated, thanks. Dave

Howdy Cory, Geterdone 😄 Dave

Howdy Chuck, I have used a toy hauler for the last ten years hauling anything from many motorcycles to the Smart Car, and now the CAN AM SxS. Max weight I have carried would be close to 3,000 pounds of vehicles. In my opinion the BIGGEST mistake most folks make when buying a toy hauler is they get one with too SHORT of a garage. I have had an open style trailer with a 16 foot garage and for the last 8 years have had one with a wall and door between the living quarters and the garage, the garage on my present trailer is 18 feet long. A point to remember, MOST toy haulers have very little storage space, they are not made for full time living. Having a larger garage gives you some place to store stuff that you would be able to put into the under and side storage areas of regular travel trailers. MOST toy haulers will have gross weight LESS then 20,000 pounds, many the two axle type much less. My triple axle trailer has a gross weight of 20,000 pounds and a TOTAL cargo capacity of 4,200 pounds. REMEMBER that cargo capacity includes ALL of your camping gear, cloths, groceries, tools, spare parts, water, gas in the toy fuel tank. If your going to be happy with a toy hauler you have to keep in mind that ( one ) you have to have ROOM to get around your vehicle to tie it down and ( two )you have to have enough side room to open the door of the vehicle to get in and out of it. My toy hauler is the wide body style, it has 98 inches between the walls, 96 inch wide ramp door opening. You can buy an enclosed car hauler type trailer that will carry a full size car, small truck or SUV but it won't have living quarters unless your willing spend a very considerable amount of money. Most toy haulers are NOT built to live in full time, they don't have the insulation and condensation protection of a full time live in travel trailer. There are toy haulers out there that are built like travel trailers for full time living, they are very expensive. So if your going the toy hauler route make sure that the vehicle you want to carry will FIT, allows ease of tie down FRONT as well as rear and won't overload your trailers gross weight requirement. Unless you buy a premium top of the line toy hauler or unless you make a deal for it to come equipped with GOOD QUALITY tires be prepared to lay out substantial money to replace the junk tires and wheels that most toy haulers come with. I hope this has been of some use to you. Dave

Howdy Chad, So glad to hear you weren't hurt stuff can be replaced, good friends can't be. Now get yourself a big toy hauler, I am sure Jim will help you spend your money. 😀 Dave

Howdy Chet, Thanks for the tip on running a separate ground, I will do that and install it just to make sure until I get a chance to fix the plug properly. We are well, back home in the rain and gloom but in good health so really can't complain, do hope your health problems get better soon. Dave

Howdy Chet, If your talking about the wiring, it's "fixed" for now but I know it's not right, plug needs to be taken apart and all wires reinserted to repair it properly, but for now it's working. Dave

Howdy All, I have been chasing an intermittent ground on my Hayes Brake Controller, the brake controller works, but when the ground isn't grounding the brake lights stay on as if the brakes are applied. The problem is when the quick disconnect plug was fitted to the wires the ground wire didn't get crimped as it should so I cram it into place everything works as it should, I don't have the tools needed to take the wires out of the fitting so I have been doing backyard fixes, today I wedged a piece of a paper clip into the crimp fitting that also lays against the wire, this worked, I am thinking if I just solder that paper clip in-place the problem should go away. All'yall KNOW how much I like to work with wires and my expertise in doing so. Next up, take the inner door panel off the passenger side door of the Pete, there is a little spring inside the bottom door latch assembly that was worn out or broke. The door would open and close but it wouldn't latch tight and if bucking a hard head wind the door would shake a bit. Of course the whole latch assembly was riveted to the outer door skin, so way above my pay grade to replace it. Went down to the hardware store, bought a two inch long spring with eyes on the end, zip tied that bugger in place and the door opens, closes and latches the way it's supposed too. All in all a pretty good day, bonus, it wasn't raining and the sun was almost shining. Dave

Howdy All, Thought I would up date this thread, I went down to the local auto parts store expecting to buy a do it yourself recharge kit; as I endure living in the Peoples Republik of Washington, this can no longer be done, these types of products have been outlawed and can't be bought or sold in the PRoW, gotsta save the childern, the planet and the polar bears I guess. Dave

Howdy Rotorhead, Unless there is a specific reason you want a singled truck, you just like the look for example, I would suggest leaving it tandem. I doubt you will ever recover the cost of doing this in better fuel mileage, having had a singled truck before building the tandem Pete, I much prefer the ride and stability of the tandem truck, more brakes more tires on the ground in case of mishap and a thing that has always been a factor in my mind RESALE value. Once you single a truck you pretty much kill its commercial resale value. Leaving it tandem gives you more options as to what you can carry and not have to worry about over loading it. If you have or plan to do a full on RV hauler custom build and would only be interested in selling the truck as an "RV Hauler" singling the truck shouldn't hurt its resale value and may add to it for the right buyer. If on the other hand you build your truck so that it is EASILY convertible back to its original commercial configuration when it comes time to send it down the road you can sell it as an RV Hauler or take the deck off if you have one, replace the stock 5th wheel and sell it back into commercial service. When I build the Pete, which is the type of truck that does have commercial value as there is always an owner-operater looking for such a truck, I built is so that it can be sold as it is now a dedicated RV Hauler, or take the deck off and sell it separately, reinstall the factory 5th wheel and it can be easily returned to commercial service, if I had singled the truck its commercial value would have been ruined. So just something else to consider, it's your truck, your money, do what makes YOU happy. DAVE

Howdy All, Thanks for all the replies. I know NOTHING about vacuum pumps and gauges, this came on very slowly so I think I'll just try the do it yourself kit and see what happens, if that doesn't work I'll take it to a shop. We are on our way home but its getting HOTTER and having the AC sure would be nice. Dave

Howdy All, I have been driving the Pete for four years now and the AC has slowly gotten less efficient in cooling and is now not doing much. I have watched a bunch of youtube videos and it seems like an easy task to just buy a recharge kit from an auto parts store and do the job yourself, other videos warn AGAINST doing it yourself as there is no way to vacuum out the air that is in the system or tell how much pressure is in the system when using the do it yourself kit. So, what have you folks done? Buy the do it yourself for under 50 bucks or take it to a shop for a couple hundred, any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks. Dave

Howdy Dennis, Yes, Jerry modified the mounts and I bought two tanks at the Pit Stop in Quartszite. The 9 gallon tanks aren't that much bigger then the 7's that the trailer came with but now two 9's and two 7's for a total of 32 gallons of propane so we can last for a quite a while when boondocking. Dave

Howdy All, We are still boondocking on the north side of Hwy 74, about half way between Wickenburg and Phoenix, really like it here and the SxS riding is the BEST I have ever done. We'll be here for a while, come back to La Posa LTVA for a while then head north to Parker and Lake Havasu area before heading towards home second week of April. Dave, Donna, Newt and Willy

Howdy All, ALL HDT'ers are welcome, the secret handshake and midnight initiation ceremonies have been waived for all new comers. 😄 Dave

Howdy usbusin, I don't have a high dollar internet system, the wifi here is so SLOW I can't post photos or I would be doing it. Maybe someone who has good internet could post up some photos it's getting to be quite the gathering, in fact I am going to change the thread title, I am declaring this the first "Official Quartszite HDT Rally". Dave

Howdy All, The folks just keep showing up, Yesterday Mark and Jen arrived, today Chad and Jen pulled in, a couple I don't know joined our group with a large Totter Home, and another fellow arrived with an HDT, large box on the back and a long extension to tow a trailer, no trailer yet perhaps later. Still plenty of room so if your in the area show up and join our merry band of miscreants and swap lies around the campfire. Dave