From the conference room back to the driver's seat

I never did run the overhead. I was waiting from news from mechanic Ryan if they were still going to do outside work. He said that he had been hit up about doing work for several people and after a family meeting his Mom was convinced that they needed to reevaluate their insurance and overall business plan before continuing to take on outside work. So maybe it's a good time for me to be self reliant. I live across the street from the guy who I had hired as my mechanic at former job so maybe I can pay him to help me with it.

I did think about the muffler and probably will change it. One thing I'm tired of is soot flakes being thrown all over the truck when I start it in the mornings. Maybe a muffler with better flow will help.

I got a good paying load toward the house so here I am. Took a rock on the right windsheild thanks to a belly dump and rough roads so looks like I'll changing that out. Figures it would happen three days after I put my Pikepass on. Hope I can peel it off without damaging it.

 

Delivered in Vernal and got home for a few days. Under the truck and trailer greasing and looking around I find a brake hose rubbing on a clip. $10 for a pre-made hose from Napa. I need to invest in a steam cleaner. I think with a truck this old I need to keep it much cleaner to avoid unnecessary scrutiny from the occasional overzealous inspector at the chickenhouse. Spring is here, maybe I can get a deal at a farm auction. Or maybe I just need to justify going to the auction.

Ended up replacing a couple trailer tires and both steer tires. The right steer tire started to feather on the outside shoulder. I flipped it on the rim a few weeks ago but I knew it was already gone. I don't believe in only replacing one steer tire so I had to buy a set. Went with the Bridgestone Ecopia R283 tires. Two steers, two Hercules 16 ply trailer tires, mount, balance, etc for just over $1700. I did get some credit for the one steer tire and we are waiting to see if Goodyear will cough up some warranty ont he one that feathered. It's worth a shot.

After all that I took truck and trailer down to SLC for an alignment. The truck was pulling to the right and trailer was tracking to the left, so the whole combo was fighting itself going down the road. $620 for truck and trailer alignment but it sure drives a lot easier now. My trailer has the Hendrickson suspension. it is designed so that if the alignment needs to be adjusted the bolt must be cut out and replaced. The head of the bolt is a torx type head and breaks off once the proper torque has been reached, making it a one time use bolt.

Took some copper out of NV to OK. Can't believe they didn't expect it to be tarped, especially while they're telling me stories of guys who have had the same load stolen enroute. It wasn't the big ingots, it was square sheets, about 2'x2', in bundles. I tarped it anyway. Sitting in Amarillo now waiting on Monday for the next load.

 

I usually like the Michelin XZA3 but they didn't have any in my size and I didn't feel like waiting til the next afternoon because I would have had to cancel my alignment appt. I prefer to run a 16 ply tire. They are a little more expensive, usually by about $40-50, but they last a lot longer.

My truck has 11r24.5s on it now. Eventually I want to switch to the 22.5s it originally had. I don't go off road enough to need to be this far off the ground. Maybe I'll find someone who wants to trade.

 

I'm sitting here waiting for the second half of my load to be ready. It's going to be pretty heavy and I was thinking about ordering on board scales for the trailer. There's Air-Weigh and Right Weigh. Anybody have an opinion on either one?