Moresmoke

Do you have a better design for constant use? Water cooled, pressure oil lubed compressor... that is running all the time anyway. Life of an air compressor doesn’t get much better than this. Couple things to remember about an engine driven compressor on a truck. Engine idle speed is ~700 rpm. High idle ~2000 rpm. So for stationary use, you have at best half of the rated air flow. The other issue is that the plumbing past the tanks is not very big. If you use the trailer supply to feed a tool, you have too much pressure drop. The tank volume is also small, so if you tap into a tank, you are still lacking in usability. Best bet is to have a newer truck with added tank capacity if you have auxiliary air needs. Or you could install a PTO and a screw compressor...

On the topic of warming the oil. If the truck is out of the wind and the block heater is plugged in for a sufficient amount of time (3-4 hrs +) the increased ambient temperature of the engine block will warm the oil in the pan. Generally, if you plug it in overnight, just the block heater is sufficient to give a decent start down to about -20F.

Also, if the passenger seat is a decent air ride one, make sure the isolator is not locked out. It lets the seat slide front to back just a bit and keeps the backrest from slapping you on every bump. My wife has back/hip issues, and I get a lot less complaints about the HDT than the F350.

I used urethane to mount my side widows. So far so good.

When I did the figuring for my deck, I came up with 1/8 on 12” center crossmembers. I was planning for a 10000 lb farm tractor as the load. So far so good.

Some tread patterns squirm a lot when new. Breaking in the steer tires on the drives wouldn’t eliminate it, but would greatly reduce it. The big thing was no feathering, cupping etc. When the fleet was only 10-12 trucks, we would run rib tires in the summer to save fuel, and switch to snows for winter. Those rib tires would last forever and a day on the drives.

From prior experience growing up under a truck with a wrench in my hand... If you are going to put on two tires put them on the same wheel position. That way you have a pair together. Starting tires on the steers is not a good idea. They are much better off to start on the drives. We used to order trucks with XZA1s all the way around. After 20k or so we would pull the rears and put them on the steer of other trucks. Would hardly ever get any uneven wear by breaking them in that way.

My truck came with singles. I switched over to duals this spring. The tires I had were due to be changed because of weather cracking. I am not currently a fan of Michelin’s in any flavor. Anyway, my reasoning for running duals is pretty simple. 1: I travel the most on weekends, often late into the evening. In locations where the tire service guy will get to you first thing Monday morning. I want to get home. If you travel mostly popular routes with services, may not be an issue for you. 2: There are more budget friendly tires available in sizes for duals. I can buy a pair of mid tier tires for $600. There isn’t much choice out there between the top names and the never heard of China imports in wide base. I noticed a significant drop in fuel mileage going to singles. I did go to a much more aggressive tread than I had previously.

As long as your wiring is more graceful than mine. But I got it all in there. Mounted to the front side of the headboard.

I put some in my 630. Most RV windows are made for a thin wall. I made a spacer box out of wood/MDF to account for the thick walls of the Volvo cab. I used windshield urethane to glue the wood box to the inside of the wall, them the same for the window itself to the outside. I ended up making new wall panels for the inside of the sleeper as there were a bunch of extra holes from the cabinets I removed. The trim rings for the RV windows were screwed the the wood window frame clamping the wall panel in place. There are stiffeners inside the wall that limit how big of a window you can put in unless you move them. Also, the sleeper control panel had to be moved in mine to make space for the window. There was enough wire harness to let me do that.

The body extends about 5 feet beyond the frame. Overall length of the truck is about 30 ft, this is a short nose Volvo. You would need a longer deck to pull a 5th, there wouldn’t be enough length to turn with what I have.

Another look left moment. For reference, bed is 14.5 ft. I pull a TT so makes things a bit easier.

I think the fan is triggered off refrigerant pressure. Been a while so I may be wrong.

The Reese Goose Box mentioned above replaces the fifth wheel pin on a camper with a gooseneck hitch. It also has an air ride cushion built in. There are also other similar options on the market. https://www.reeseprod.com/products/pin-boxes/goose-box/uW9rVuV4JAj75t!ZHQnotJoVbxIFMqvl

The Goose Box might be a good compromise. It’s not hard to mount a gooseneck ball at the back where it’s out of the way. The ball flush with the top of the frame rails is just about right.

I think the first question to ask is how far are you going to travel with the RV? The full timers here that move frequently, there is no doubt they need the suspended hitch. Once or twice a year to a not to distant spot over decent roads, you may get by with the commercial hitch just fine. There are folks out there that do it.

Treadle valve is the name of what you are looking for. Look for a number on the valve. Should have either a Volvo number or a manufacturer number. Or, call another dealer. Have your VIN handy. There are a couple Volvo dealers with online stores. Volvo does not share part numbers easily. They want you captive to a local dealer.

I am the proud owner of a 2012 eco special set the world on fire with fuel mileage truck. There is a reason the original fleet dumped it with 420k on it. I predict many disappointed owners and operators next year! Now if I had extra time and money at the moment, I saw a sweet big hood double bunk Autocar for sale a few weeks ago. I’m sure it would suit me just fine.

I guess technically 33,000 is the dividing line between 7&8. But I would consider a single axle tractor an 8 especially pulling wiggle wagons.

My dash meter tends to be slightly pessimistic. Two weeks ago ran west across 94/90 to Bozeman, 6.1 mpg pulling a paltry 6500lb TT. There was a really good headwind most of the way, and I was making pretty good time. Return trip across Wy and SD did’t have a lot of head wind but plenty of cross wind. Got up to 6.5 by the time we got home. Didn’t go any faster than 77 as that’s all she’ll do. I don’t care to hand figure mileage, it’s not that important. We had a great time, that is what’s important.

What the future holds no one knows, but a recent statistic I have seen is 66000 drivers have been laid off in the past couple months. You’d have to give me a truck at the moment and I probably wouldnt even try to run it and make money.

Reminds me of an incident and the resulting conversation I had with the insurance company about 10 years ago. Insuance co, “Sir, you do not have collision coverage on your 1986 Freightliner.” Me, “Which part of ‘86 Freightliner did you miss?” (I had just called the ins co to let them know a liability claim would be coming.) That old truck would gain 10% in value when you filled the tanks. And most of the rest of the value was mounted on rims.

Buy an old truck that has compression fittings? I would not have any expectation of the suspension holding air if the supply tanks have leaked down. It is an ongoing battle to keep air in these things.

Big Rick’s comment I think is a bit misleading. Commonly in the trucking industry, owner operators that are leased to a carrier, are only covered by said carrier’s insurance policy when they are under dispatch. Hence the existence of “bobtail” insurance policies for coverage when not working for the contracted carrier. Now back to your question, my last experience with Progressive commercial insurance was about 15 years ago. The only downside to the policy was it had a quite restrictive mileage radius. I think it was a 300 mile limit. No idea if they still work the same. Currently, I am insured under a “farm” policy. The only restriction is that I cannot haul anything for someone else. I can operate “commercially” if I want, but must be hauling my own stuff. Cost is about the same as my F350 that is on the same policy. (All that said, the S&B is insured as a farm by the same carrier.)

That one is kinda hard with the trailer all twisted over. If you can get both legs on the ground, the air suspension is your friend. Dump the bags, wedge the truck as far back as possible, inflate, crank down, repeat. I’ve had to pick a few up. Would get a few on mornings when it was -30/-35F out. The grease was stiff enough that it would fool the drivers when they did a tug test, but the hitch was not latched. The trailer would pull across the yard just fine, but when they made the turn onto the highway, the grease would break loose and the trailer would slide off. Thankfully we had a big old Cat that was capable of lifting a loaded trailer. But still not something you want to be doing in the middle of the state highway.