Dollytrolley Posted June 3, 2017 Report Share Posted June 3, 2017 So Dollymamma has hinted that I am to Wake-up the Dollytrolley from it's too long winter nap out her in the wilds of Last Chance Peak just East and up the hill from Death Valley......... Seems odd that she wants to trek North since we are just getting to Ice-Break with day tie just a tad over +100f up on the hill and down in the "Valley" they haven't been past 114F yet .......burrrrrrr.... Anyhow since I don't run much in camp except the manure fork and grease gun it is my chore to get things packed up and air up the tires (26) and light the fires..... Now I spent Jan - March shoveling snow up in Oregon while the Dollytrolley just sat like a lump of iron here a Last Chance Peak and when I got back down here we would only take the Trolley out for a run once every few weeks so..............Bad juju happens to IGNORED-ABUSED Trucks ........and the offending truck owners....... So up and at working this morning at the crack of dawn and a fresh TON of hay is tossed into the back cargo box of the trolley and more junk and stuff is strapped down so the start-up and check the AC in the Trolley is delayed till ........11:00.........(97f) under a very bright desert sky..........great time to test the AC.......Maybe....... So.......tilt the hood and make sure the engine is still there and then climb up in the drivers seat and turn the key to the key to the on position and wait for the gauges to self-check and swing full range and the Driver Info Display do its check and then turn the key to start and on the third rev the M11 cackles to a steady purrrrrr and the oil press is 60 psi and holding and the Volts are 13 and steady .......and swing the gaze to the left and the wet tank air is............18psi and the secondary is.............is.......is .........10psi.............hummm........ So......well maybe it's time to look back at the oil pressure again.....shucks it's still 60 psi…..look at volts …..13 and steady…..darn…….so slowly I swing my gaze over to the wet tank gauge…...25psi and slooowly rising and…….the secondary gauge and it says…….15psi……….uggggg ……..bad juju… Now this is were my abused childhood comes into play…...you see “Grumps” had a theory that EVERY one in the cab of a truck had a vested interest in the truck's air system status since every person in the truck had “skin-in-the-game” so……….he felt that EVERYONE should keep in the gauges a LOT and yell out if ANYTHING ODD might occur……… So this morning I was sitting in the seat staring at the air gauges and my “Grumps-alert-horn & flashing -red-warning” was saying………..your screwed……. Now this is not good it's been less than two minutes and under 40 psi and I am feeling like this day is about to get ugly…….. So…...now it's time to think of a “easy” “explanation” of why the two air gauges are 10 psi apart instead of the normal 2 psi apart……...think quick…….OK I got it…….the air-dryer purge valve has some crude stuck in it so all I have to do is just build up the air to 130psi and let the valve cycle and it will open all the way and bow the crude out…….man am I Smart….. If I am so smart why am I sweating…….oh ya seems in my looking at the air gauges I forgot to turn on the A/C so I crank up the A/C and then look at the air gauges and they say…...65 / 55 psi…….and climbing slooooowly so being Smart I bump up to 1200 RPM…..now two minutes at 1200 RPM I see 100 / 90 psi and not really gaining AND a ODD thing happens the radiator fan drops off for about 30 seconds and then engages for a few seconds and drops off and so I look at the Temp gauge and it says 180 f steady…...hummm well being Smart bump up to…….1500 RPM and then the gauges start to climb VERY slowly……...so bump up to……..1800 and slowly air builds to 125 / 120 psi and won't build any more so……...shucks I back down to idle and the gauges drop down to 110 / 100 psi and hold steady and the fan is on full blast but the temp is 165 f……….Ok maybe I am not so smart so I guess I will have to remove that grungy filthy purge valve from the air-dryer after all…….so I shut the engine down and step out and a gush of air blows my cap off my head……..and the 1/4” air supply line to the……..the…...the……..darn radiator-fan clutch control valve was gushing air out of a fracture that was about 80% of the line just outside of the compression fitting on the valve…….Bingo now I know what the fan was trying to tell me……..smarty-pants. Hummm….so much for …..smart. Now the good news….. this fitting is the BEST fitting on the whole truck to change and I have a bag of spare fittings AND the hose was plenty long so all I had to do was to cut the hose end square and install the new compression fitting and cinch it down and bingo …..fixed and it was just getting to 100 f (plus a 170 f M11)…… Maybe not smart…..but lucky. Not good to let the machinery sit too long……. Drive on……….(better lucky than……?) 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VegasFlyer Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 DT, I have a feeling that if Grumps was anything like a few characters that I met from that era, he would have written your story to read. "Went out to start the dang truck and found a cracked air line. Took me more time finding my dang hat than it did to fix the dang line!!" Just sayin...... John Southern Nevada 2008 Volvo 780, D13, I-Shift 2017 Keystone Fuzion 420 Toyhauler 2017 Can-Am Maverick X3-RS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted June 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 1 hour ago, VegasFlyer said: DT, I have a feeling that if Grumps was anything like a few characters that I met from that era, he would have written your story to read. "Went out to start the dang truck and found a cracked air line. Took me more time finding my dang hat than it did to fix the dang line!!" Just sayin...... John, Yep so you likely met a few "Grumps"....... His nickname for me as Einstein.......today was as Grumps would say......."Classic case of "overthinking" something while the fan was turning off and on yelling.......hey dummy fix my airline...." Drive on...........(Don't overthink.....too much) 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alie&Jim's Carrilite Posted June 4, 2017 Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 Most of the Grumps I know would have asked " Why didn't you do a looksee under the hood before crankin it? You would have seen that mess and fixed it first...." Alie & Jim + 8 paws 2017 DRV Memphis BART- 1998 Volvo 610 Lil'ole 6cyl Cummins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dollytrolley Posted June 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2017 5 hours ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said: Most of the Grumps I know would have asked " Why didn't you do a looksee under the hood before crankin it? You would have seen that mess and fixed it first...." Shucks A & J ......I am so blind I could not see the crack hiding just under the compression nut even when it was blowing my hat off and of course the other 25 plastic tube in the bundle make a great hiding place as well......... But in the cool (75f) of the crack of dawn in the morning I will continue to look at more tubing and wires and, ......and,...... and see where the next "adventure" is about to happen ......... 1/4" air line cracks at the nut are a bear to see but even worse are the Itty-bitty-itty hair-like airlines that Freightshaker loves to run behind the dash to run the itty-bitty-little air-dashpots that run the flapper valves for the heat and A/C duct systems........these airlines are about the size of 30 gauge wire..........kinda begs the question........how many miles of cheep plastic airline do truck makers need to cram into these rigs.......... As I recall Grumps had few airline problems......those rigs used mostly braided Aeroquip lines not Cheep--plastic crap like "modern" trucks have........... Grumps would think we are crazy to trust our hides to a bunch of cheep plastic air lines that you have to chase leaks with a "wisper and headphones almost every day.........Grumps would say ........"IF you can't afford braided air, oil, and fuel lines go fishing and get out of trucking......." Now I gotta go look at more cheep plastic some more......and maybe have some prune juice...... Drive on........(No...... don't ask to use my wispererrrrr I need it full time.....) 97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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