Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Meanwhile Some Petty Theft...

At TTR here, we're not supposed to take a post from one thread and bring it over to another. Not. Well, rules were made to be broken and just rap my knuckles like I'm Bright One with his hands pushed out in front of him and the nun has a wood ruler coming down on them...

Here's Blair talking about giving ODFL 2 week notice and the color of coolant. Now, if you're a company driver like me, you leave the color of the coolant up to the shop and don't worry about it. Blair can no longer do that. Neither can Bright One, tsavory, Wayne or Tim with Landstar.

No, their driver tickets--one-year, two-year, three-year, ten-year, etc. take a back seat to a whole new pay grade. Anyway, here's Blair... going through a mid-life crisis and firing ODFL.

Blair!! Back up!! That's ODFL, not Mega-Fly-By-Night!!

Sheesh!! No-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-oo-ooo-oooo-ooooooooooooo...

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...268615-journey-begins-purchased-truck-24.html

 

A Safe Bet

Sunday you could have laid a hundred dollar bill on the fender of one of the Mack's and challenged me to point out the air pressure governor for $100 easy bucks. And when I gave you the drop-dead look, settled for, 'Just tell me, Vic, is it bigger than a bread box or smaller?'

Ugh! At least that's a 50/50 chance.

Here's a video on the innards of the air pressure governor...

[video=youtube_share;9Vb32PL1PVU]http://youtu.be/9Vb32PL1PVU[/video]

Quiz to follow. How many here knew that it's smaller than a breadbox?

That the air pressure governor fits in your hand even...

Well, almost. About 2 inches wide and 5 inches long. Give or take.


//Got email asking if I'd take a KY tomorrow. Emailed back after checking Accuweather and looks like colder tomorrow and up above 50 degrees Saturday. So yes, I'd rather take the bad weather in the truck and the good weather here so can get something done. Had one of Bivi's tamales at Main Street Coffee... stopped in to see mechanic Pete who was torching off leaf springs that broke loose from rusted shackle mounts and over time cut and broke right through bottom of pickup bed. Owes me $100 from repairs not completed and paid for. He's more than good for it, I suppose.

 

Eh! Gov, Everything All Right?

Once I got the truck to a safe spot I called Terminal Boss to let him know what's up. He wanted to know what I planned to do. I planned to keep going and see if it worked itself out, my air was back up into range and then... Whoa! It passed 125-130 with no nice little relief valve pop.

It hit 140 and looked like it could still climb. "What are you telling me, Vic? What's the bottom line?" Terminal Boss is no more a truck mechanic than I am and wouldn't know about air governor cut outs at 120-130 psi (pounds per square inch). He does, though, know the cost of road service.

"Can you bring it in, Vic?" Told him I thought I could and was looking at a nice, large, empty church parking lot across the street. "Bring it back and let's have Reed (Reed the Mechanic) take a look at it."

Now, recall our first video here. He talks about looking at the discharge line for any obstruction and specifically mentions ice. His demonstration air governor's mounted right to the air compressor, which is very typical. He also mentions replacing the air line from air compressor discharge to the governor if needed.

[video=youtube_share;JZM2NFExZsA]http://youtu.be/JZM2NFExZsA[/video]

Let's take a look at one in more detail on the air pressure governor ports.

[video=youtube_share;FHGcXvDmZ5E]http://youtu.be/FHGcXvDmZ5E[/video]

 

Supply Circuit Overview

Before we move on, let's get an overview of the 'Supply Circuit' where the compressor supplies air to the system. Don't worry if you understood the earlier videos and this one up to a point and then lost it in some details.

Not to worry.

[video=youtube_share;VQx6arI16FQ]http://youtu.be/VQx6arI16FQ[/video]

I didn't start out to discuss air dryers but there it is, part of the Supply Circuit.

Guess we need to look at that, too.

[video=youtube_share;EAZJuaX1xNM]http://youtu.be/EAZJuaX1xNM[/video]

Let's look at an air dryer test procedure...

[video=youtube_share;CpVaHnZds_Q]http://youtu.be/CpVaHnZds_Q[/video]

Here's an air dryer that's gone bad and the primary tank's not building air until the owner (a gal, by the way) pushes up on the exhaust vent valve which then allows air to build up in the primary tank.

[video=youtube_share;46Qb4E-VUTg]http://youtu.be/46Qb4E-VUTg[/video]

Here's an air dryer replacement on a Mack, not like ours but same flavor truck. We have Pinnacles (sleepers) and day cabs. Note the air brake antifreeze because when my sstory gets that far, that's what Reed the Mechanic used to get me back on my way to KY. No parts replaced... but I'm getting ahead...

[video=youtube_share;RKuSgM-eLtE]http://youtu.be/RKuSgM-eLtE[/video]

 

Shingling a Roof... But First

Here's an old boy who wants to shingle a roof--but first he has to deal with an air governor that has failed. Truck won't move and you'll see that the air governor's pretty inaccessible, maybe part of the reason Mack decided to put ours on the firewall where they freeze up easily in cold weather. At least we can get at it. Doubtful that he tried any Air Brake Antifreeze before replacing the air governor...

[video=youtube_share;JqZLrx5mm_0]http://youtu.be/JqZLrx5mm_0[/video]

 

More on the Air Compressor

What if your problem is the air compressor? Company driver? No problem, right? But if you're like Blu, Bright One, Wayne, tsavory, Tim with Landstar, ya gotta dig into the wallet, break the piggy bank, although I've already given away that all Reed the Mechanic needed to get me going was Air Brake Antifreeze. It's all good, right?

[video=youtube_share;4IvInwtPKw8]http://youtu.be/4IvInwtPKw8[/video]

Here's another video on the air compressor. Note the air pressure governor mounted on the right side of the air compressor (your right side)...

[video=youtube_share;xoUpJIhphz4]http://youtu.be/xoUpJIhphz4[/video]

 

How Reed the Mechanic Got Me Back on the Road

As I've described, Monday morning we had a few problems. It had rained Sunday, these light, pin-point drops that cover everything and it came down for hours. In that case, my first concern was that my trailer brakes might be frozen up, with the brake shoes covered wet and possibly frozen to the drum.

Here's what you DON'T do: You don't drag the trailer. We have a mechanic right there on the yard to help. One morning a while back, Reed the Mechanic spent the morning loosening up frozen drums. When I saw him, he wagged his finger at me when I said, "First, we always mash on the brakes like you're trying to adjust the brakes, right?"

"Don't abuse your brakes," he interrupted and before I could continue, said, "Back up first."

Yeah, back up first. Yes, you can mash on the brakes. Don't drag the trailer trying to break them loose. Reed the Mechanic will come over and take a respectful hammer to the drum, the shoe (carefully) and a propane heater, too.

Happily, my trailer brakes were good. When I backed up, the tandems on both sides turned. Tried it a couple times in fact. My trouble only began out on the street as my air pressure went from too little, to too much, and to too much again. The Boss had me turn around and return to the yard.

Once up at the gate, my problems compounded. Couldn't move under power. In neutral, the truck would roll backwards. But under power, I was dead in the water, stuck outside the gate in the cold. When Reed the Mechanic arrived in his shop truck, it took a while to get enough air into the lines again.

In the meantime, I was stuck just outside the gate!

"Air governor's froze up," he said. Once I had enough air pressure, we ran the truck inside the yard. Since Mack chose to locate the air pressure governor up on the firewall, it is accessible but doesn't get warmed up much by the engine. Reed the Mechanic opened a fitting and flooded it with Air Brake Antifreeze, then applied a little heat with a small butane burner while I fanned the air down below 120 pounds as the compressor otherwise would run it right up to 140 and above. Eventually the alcohol in the Air Brake Antifreeze worked.

We finally heard that nice relief valve pop as the governor cut out did it's thing.

Satisfied on the yard, I continued on to KY. No further problem.

No parts replaced. Just Air Brake Antifreeze added.