One of the top causes of diesel engine failure!

This is one of the top causes of heavy truck diesel engine failure; a cracked charge air cooler. This crack was different, and very hard to find. Due to vibration and heat, most charge air coolers crack on the hot side where the intake hooks up to the header pipe of the cooler itself; but this one split right in the middle. Not only in the middle, but on the back side where it faced the radiator. I have never seen one do this. It was a difficult, kind of old school diagnosis, since none of this showed up both times this unit was hooked to a code reader. This got past three different professional diesel mechanics, and it was only found when I showed them how to pressure test a charge air cooler with pipe fittings.

This charge air cooler took the turbocharger and the center section of the exhaust manifold with it when it split; approximately 4K in repairs.



OLD SCHOOL: The firmly held belief, demonstrated by action, that NEW does not always mean BETTER.

Chance, you are such a smartass. Will you be my friend?

A 225 ton anode makes it to the mine.

This 225 ton anode came all the way from Salt Lake City to the Freeport McMoran copper mine in Miami, Arizona. I'm not exactly sure what the anode does in the copper smelting process, but it must be important to bring it in.

Another old truck

This is a 1983 Kenworth W-900 that belonged to a friend of mine from Duncan, Arizona. This is the truck that is in the rear view mirror following me up the hill out of Clifton, Arizona. This truck was originally a fuel truck with no sleeper and a tank on it, but as can be seen in the picture, it has undergone a few changes. It had an A-Model 3406 Cat in it from the factory, but my friend found a B-Model in an old truck parked in a field. He had the engine rebuilt at a shop up in Show Low, Arizona, by an older mechanic who was well known for his hot rod truck engine building skills. They set it in the frame, and it made quite a difference. This thing would pull that 8% grade out of Clifton at 50+ mph. I never drove it, but I ran quite a few trips with the guy that owned it. He sold it to another friend of mine who ran it a couple of years, then the last I heard about it a guy we all knew bought it for about two grand and took it to Florida; he said to restore it. I hope so. If I would have known it went for two grand I would have bought it myself.