Better late than never!

I've been a little out of the loop for a couple of weeks, and here's why. I'm now contributing to this blog; Life on the Road. It is a community of diverse individuals posting on a variety of subjects, and I hope you'll drop by and check it out. There's a link on the right side of my blog, or you can find it HERE.

Thanks!

Clampettism of the Day!

Clampettism: (1) An action, idea or object displaying Clampett-like traits or characteristics. (2) An operation undertaken in a fashion to evoke Clampett-like styles or behaviors. (3) An operation gone awry with unintended side effects resulting in a Clampett-like outcome.

Clampettism of the Day is a new feature of this blog, designed to showcase actions, ideas or objects that meet the Clampettism criteria outlined above. If you have a Clampettism you would like to share, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Here is the first Clampettism of the Day.

Thank You.

What is it about trucks?

What is it about trucks that capture the imagination? They’re everywhere. What do people think when they look up into those big trucks as they flash by on the highway, all paint and chrome and spinning wheels? As a young boy growing up in Arizona, when I was at school I would look out the windows at the road, and I’d watch the trucks going by. Maybe it was just my circumstances, what with my dad driving trucks since before I was born, but I liked reading the names on the doors as the trucks went by. Kansas City, Chicago, the names of all the places I had never been whispered through my mind. I knew better than most kids where that road went, because I’d been there a few times myself.

The Book of Days, Vol. II Trucking Stories from the Big Road

It's finally done! Vol. II of my trucking stories is on the Kindle! You can follow the link on the right side of this page, or you can find it HERE.

Tools of the Trade

You need to have the right tool for the job you're trying to do. This is my winch bar, "Frankenstein." Like the original, this Frankenstein was assembled from parts.
This Frankenstein started life as an ordinary winch bar; I don't even remember where I got it. I don't remember if I bought it, found it or if someone gave it to me. What I do know, is that after several years of pulling winches tight, hitting snap binders to ensure the handle was closed and pounding copper cathode sheets flat, 'ol Franky was looking a little the worse for wear. I was at the shop one day, and it occurred to me that I either needed to fix my winch bar or replace it.
My winch bar had been custom radiused, as shown in the picture below, and I really liked that curve right behind the slug that fit in the winches. With it curved like that, a tall dude like myself can get a better shot at the top hole on a winch. Since a new winch bar would have been straight, the decision was easy; so Frankenstein was born. The winch bar was starting to pull apart right behind the slug end, so I welded the tear shut. To forestall the bar pulling apart again, I decided to weld a spine down the length of the bar. The spine also acts as a wear surface; very handy when pounding on something.













The kinetic end had cracked as well. To avoid pulling the end apart, I welded a little plate across the kinetic end, then ground the end at an angle to facilitate getting the end under a binder handle.













I added reinforcement to the cup side of the kinetic end by putting a plate over it, then adding a mini-spine to it to keep the kinetic end form pulling off and drop me on my ass when tying a coil.














There you have it; a specialized, custom built tool for a difficult job. If you've built something like this, leave a comment and tell me what you think.

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?