jenandjon

We have a 90 Kenworth on the farm with 3206 Cat that does that. It's been doing it for years. It clears up after a minute or so in the summer. In The winter I smokes until it warms up. White smoke. 

In Nebraska the DMV told me I can pull anything I want as long as I am not getting paid to do it. 

It's not just trucks that do that. I added a 50-inch light bar to one of our newer tractors. I just spliced into the headlight wiring like I did on the older tractors. Boy did that piss things off. All the lights started flashing and just shut off. That was a real butt pucker upper.  I thought I fried the whole system. Cut the wires to the light bar and everything returned to normal. The computer did not like the extra draw. 

12 hours ago, lappir said:

Nobody else working on any thing? 

I moved my tool boxes out of the shop and into the "DromBox" today. Getting closer to actually loading the motorcycle for the trip to Kansas and then Oklahoma. Noticed on set of the drive tires seems to be a bit low. Will have to check the Cross Fires to see where it's leaking. I did the soapy water check when I installed them, but maybe I missed something.  It's turned very nice in SE Iowa finally and hardly worked up a sweat today, except when I rode the motorcycle to the Pioneer Farm Celebration for lunch. ATGATT sometimes gets warm. 

 

Rod

I have been too busy with Boy Scouts and working on the bus to do anything. I really need to get the truck out and go for a drive before winter hits. 

This happens a lot on our lowboy trailer. Just have to get under there and beat on the drum with a hammer. Not much you can do to prevent it. 

All I carry is some extra fuel filters. I have been meaning to get an extra belt and tensioner but haven't yet. 

I use one every day.

Michelin is overpriced and overrated. They came factory on our Kenworth trucks. Mediocre at best off road. We drive ALOT off road. 

Trailer prices wil be crashing soon. Wait a year and buy a toy hauler. 

The most reliable towing insurance you can get is having a credit card for emergency only. that is your towing insurance. Ask just about any owner operator on the road. 

Having said all that, I have towing added on to my insurance policy at state farm. It cost like $3 a month. They said it covers RVs. I guess when the time comes, we will see if I have to pull out the card or if the insurance will cover it. 

I spent th last week at Boy Scout camp. Wife sent me these pictures. Our trailer is at out lease spot down on the river. A storm rolled through, and a tree hit it. We fared better than my neighbor. His trailer is totaled. Sent pictures to state farm and they already have a check in the mail. After deductible $6,300 and change. 

Are you going to all a receiver hitch on the back? Going through that much work you just as well.  

I don't know if you realize this or not but when you pull the Johnson bar your brake lights come on. Also depending on how you have your brake controller hooked up it will still activate your trailer brakes. 

I just have a normal old fashion electric brake controller like you put in a pickup. I don't know how the others react. 

On 6/17/2023 at 7:31 AM, rickeieio said:

And PACCAR is the same.  I can't get my speed limiter increased because PACCAR says my tires are only rated for 75 mph with a full legal load.  Hello, we're not commercial.  Doesn't matter.  And as far as I have found, nobody but a PACCAR dealer can get into the computer to change the values.  Some shops say they can, but none have been successful.

But, there are plenty of guys who now can work on later John Deeres.....  Just say'n.

My only experience with Paccar is the manager at Kenworth said he wont sell one to farmers. Because they keep coming back. 

We have a couple guys that we go to with the Deere stuff before the dealer. The dealership changed hands and they didn't like the new management so they went on their own. 

Few people have had more trouble than me. Guy I bought it from said AC needs charged. It had a blown line. So... Rebuild the Air conditioning system. All the lines compressor and condenser. Exhaust manifold cracked, New turbo, new air cooler, head gasket, rebuilt transmission, rebuild rear end, Reconfigure the drive line because the guy that singled it didn't have the angles right. Every single coolant hose and line was either soft and ready to go or so rusty I couldn't trust them. 

That is just what I can think of right now. But I just turned 50. By the time I "retire" It will be in great shape to do all the traveling we want to.  Luckily I have a 60 series Detroit that anyone can work on and a manual transmission that wont throw codes. 

The thing with Volvo engines is this. If I am wrong someone will step in and say so. Volvo wont release the software to their engines. You have to go to a dealer. Any regular shop can not plug in and fix it. I found this out when I had my Mack. The mechanic at Mack told me this himself. Volvo and Mack are the same company now it goes for both brands. 

If I had known this was going to turn into a restoration project I would have chosen a cooler truck than a Freightliner Columbia. 

On 6/7/2023 at 9:58 PM, Trucker Bernadette said:

Did you single out the drives? I wasn’t going to touch the axles. Can an RV dealer install/hookup electrical? I mean, if someone buys a camper from them and uses a regular pickup truck, I’d think the dealer could handle setting up the electrical connections, doing it on my rig shouldn’t be hard, isn’t it mostly just a different pigtail?

 

As Chad Said get the Jackalopee. It comes plug and play now. Remove your old pigtail and plug this in. It converts your commercial truck wiring to RV.

On 6/7/2023 at 9:55 PM, Trucker Bernadette said:

Is there a specific hitch that works best? Someone said an ET? 

ET is the most expensive hitch on the market. I opted for the Comfort ride. There are a ton of trailer saver hitches out there as well. They are more affordable and easier to DIY yourself. 

Really any fab shop or machine shop can do it. I just threw a 3/4 plate on and bolted a Comfort ride on. 

https://i.imgur.com/YqpE0qhl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YqpE0qhl.jpg

Could be a fuel vac gauge. Basically the same as the air gauge. It lets you know when the fuel filter is getting plugged. 

On 6/1/2023 at 8:03 PM, lappir said:

Had a conversation with a "Trucker" today about Bio Fuel. He refuses to use it because they have started putting "Animal Fat's" as part of the Bio. He remarked it adds an acidity to the fuel and lot's more bacteria and such causing the "Black Mold" you may be experiencing.  His solution is straight #2 diesel and he adds a quart of non detergent 30 wt motor oil to every 100 gallons of fuel. Burns hotter, cleaner and lubricates better. Said it even quieted down a noisy Detroit motor causing the owner to have a concern that it was too quiet. 

The guy has a story for everything so I'm taking it with a grain of salt. 

 

Rod

The old truckers had lots of tricks that wont work on todays trucks. My Dad was an owner operator when I was kid. I have been around trucks and truckers all my life. To sit and listen to all the things they did just to limp home is incredible. In the old days you had to have some mechanical skills especially in winter because you get into some life threatening situations. 

They didn't believe in diesel treatment. In the winter they put a gallon of gas in the tank. Dad would put oil in the tank sometimes. I don't remember why.  But, I do remember him saying if you ever get in a predicament where you are sucking air and the truck stop is only a few miles away dump all your oil jugs in the tank and you will get there. Probably. 

You have to realize that the trucks Dad drove and the trucks today are very different. The old mechanical Cummins, Cats and Detroit's would run a practically anything. 

The old school guys wont use Bio fuel. They had lots of trouble when it first came out. I even shy away from it today. We got some on the farm one year and we had one jelled up tractor after another all winter. It was a disaster. Never again. If I run a cross a Bio blend on the road and its all they have AND its hot out I might get some to get me down the road.  

Managed to find some time here and there to work on the bus. Got the hitch on. ITs the same one I put on my Freightliner.  Today my Nephew should get the brake controller and trailer plug hooked up. Turns out this bus is wired like our HDTs. It was a challenge figuring everything out. I should have gotten a jackalopee but by the time I figured out what the problem was I was able to get a 3 wire to 2 wire adapter and make it all work. 

21 hours ago, dennisvr said:

I don't like to unhook if I don't have to, especially for a quick overnighter.  I usually drop my bags and find a level spot.  Your picture got me thinking how I could have a drop leg on the back to hold the truck level if it was too low.  Then I thought I would probably forget it and drive off, that wouldn't be good.  Then I thought how about an air cylinder plumbed into the brake system, so when I released the brakes with the help of a spring it would raise the cylinder automatically. Hmmmm, now I got to think if it would be worth the work.................

Leave the dump valve open then you don't drive off with it down. 

In my long haul days our Reefer trailers had legs that automatically come down when you set the brakes. So when the forklift went in and out it did t bounce around so much. As soon as I released the brakes they went back up. 

Took a weekend trip. Had to add a couple cans of freon to the AC. I will have to take it in and get that checked. 

I don't like to unhook when we overnight someplace. It makes the trailer more stable and saves time. I will usually drop the air and put the jacks down. Sometimes doing that we are too low and I need to unhook because the truck will loose air overnight. Well, I installed that new bumper hitch this year. I figured out I can put some blocks under the bumper and dump the air. I have a comfort ride hitch so I don't have to worry about that losing air overnight. 

On 5/28/2023 at 1:07 PM, runaway parents said:

Never been there is there enough room to park a 68' truck and trailer?

No we overnighted in Arco and bobtailed over. 

22 hours ago, runaway parents said:

Well sounds like you can't drive it a straight line either ha. We're headed to glacier next week  Yellowstone The next.  And then to Caldwell. We've been looking forward to this for years. A couple of pairs of socks and Underwear and we're off oh maybe some groceries too. As you Can tell the 2 of us are a little excited about going on vacation? It's been a long time coming..

If you are going that way you just as well take 20 across Idaho and stop off at craters of the moon national park. Its well worth a stop.