An old man's career goes flat, Snackbar moves to open deck

What I when I lost that bolt was run a bungee from the bolt hole in the bracket to the frame so I could still run the unit without melting the bungee.

 

Rant time!!!!!!

Carrier APUs are total garbage!!!! Not only did the exhaust rip the welded nut out of the case that holds the exhaust bracket on, but the welded nut on the APU frame for the lower back case bolt is gone. Plus, when they replaced the water pump, they put one of the broken off bolts for the fan shroud back in (to the new water pump), but didn't remove the 2nd broken bolt and put the 3rd one in. Now, it already broke that bolt, AND the bolt that holds the alternator adjustment bracket to the water pump has broken off leaving just the main mounting bolt holding my alternator tight. If I were a company owner or owned my own truck, you couldn't give me a Carrier APU free of charge...I would take it and sell it for scrap and use the money for a down payment on a used TK.

 

The Carrier APU on my truck is also a turd. I was finally able to get it running good and starting reliably, then the HVAC fan stopped working. This thing has spent more time being a paper weight than it has being a good usable tool. The guy who has the twin truck to mine had his APU removed.

Wait, I just remembered that the AC doesn’t work because a part under the bunk leaks freon out as fast as they can put it in.

 

Luckily my company has used TK’s for years. I’ve actually fixed mine by watching YouTube a few times. TK service isn’t bad as 9 x’s out of 10, they’ll drop what they’re doing and fix your unit since they’re so simple to fix.

On a side note, had a Crete driver park next to me at the TA in Barstow. I had no idea that opti idle thing that constantly starts and restarts the engine was actually still in use. That is highly annoying. It was 60° degrees last night but I ended up firing up the TK to drown out the noise of his truck starting every 20-30 minutes.

 

They only tried APU's one year way back when I was with them, ever since they swear by opti-idle no matter how it screws with a driver's sleep.

 

I have 40k miles on my Freightshaker and 1,000 hours on this new Carrier Aspen APU and i haven’t had a lick of trouble with either (yet)

 

I swear I70 in Indiana was paved by children

 

It would be smoother if they pulverized it down to gravel. Easier to maintain, and would cut down on tailgating some.

 

I think what happened to the case bolts and exhaust...I think the nut welded to the frame for the back case bolt must have let loose first, then that let the case drop and bounce which worked the nut loose in the case that held the exhaust letting it drop. As for the bolts breaking on the engine, that has been an issue with this unit since I had it, and I doubt they will ever fix it right.

 

Sounds like the difference between good old USA made nuts and bolts compared to the Chinese made ones. Save a few cents in construction and not pay any warranty claims for broken bolts.