Basic Mechanics Every Newbie Should Know

- Changing fuel filters and knowing the signs of when a filter is plugged up.

-a 3 pound hammer is also good for knocking stuck trailer tandem pins out of the frame.

-Have some one who can show you the difference between a oil leak and a oil seep (seep is when the leak is somewhere else).

 

This is something that I did not start carrying in my truck till a few months ago. Just a few weeks ago my fan rubbed through the radiator hose and this stuff saved my butt big time. Will never go without it again. It's sold under several different names at hardwares stores and such.

http://www.rescuetape.com/

 

Learn how to adjust your headlights! Yes both sets as in those stupid fog lights that some morons think help them see deer better! The right side should be aimed at the right ditch line and down and the driver side down below where the low beam from the head light is aimed. Having them aimed up is stupid and irritating to other drivers even in the day time and diffuse shorter than the low beam so they offer no help at "seeing" anything at night! They were first made for daytime driving, in, you guessed it, fog! They were and still are made for YOU to be seen by the other driver! Day Light Driving lights are for the same reason! You want to see at night then adjust those head lights or use your high beams just remember to dim them when you see other lights at night FORGET that 500 foot rule!Dim them when you see approaching lights If you really need high beams then you really need to see that eye doctor! You have a problem!

Adjusting headlights is necessary if someone changed the headlight or replaced the mounts due to an accident.Now, for some stupid reason new trucks off the line do not get them adjusted! I've had to adjust those closed beam lexan types in every new truck in the past 10 years! They throw them in and drive the truck off the freaking line! Fog lights in the bumper always need to be adjusted! You know this as every Swift truck you all whine about does blind you because they use them to hunt UFO's at night!And how hard is it to kneel down in front of the truck, reach in and grab the thing and jerk it forwards? Only the really lazt will put up with the "### light calls" on the CB or run with it off because they can't figure that part out! Heck no tools needed!

Most headlights now adjust from the rear of the unit. No more using a screw driver from the front! Freightliners now use a 1/2 inch socket! Use an extension with it so you aren't leaning all in the engine well! They also don't just go up and down they freaking warp! Some moron college boy came up with that one never having to use his piece of wonderment to trucking! He needs to be tarred and feathered OR made to adjust every truck with his brilliant invention on it! It used to take me about 30 minutes to adjust my head lights to where they did the best work, now it's almost a 2 hour ordeal especially if you're looking for UFO's at night!

I usually set my low beams like this:

Drivers side I have where it hits the ground about 200 feet at the most in front but about 3 feet inside the center line or in the center of the tire track for the drivers side. It is out of everyone's eyes and at their maximum disfusement limit. (no that bis not a word or auto correct has no check for it, but you get the drift) The passenger side is the same distance BUT I put it on the line on the edge of the asphalt. This does help to show up any critter thinking of bringing you into his suicide pact with the trees!

Wiper blades: CLEAN THEM! I clean the blades once a week! Did you know most manufactures recommend that they be replaced every 50,000 miles? I use my own window cleaner on them OR Dawn dishwashing detergent. Dawn will take the grease and oil off them! I carry a small bottle of Dawn concentrate in my milk crate in the side box.

Best way to clean: wash the window first. Using a paper towel get it wet and then add a few drops of Dawn. Pull the wiper out and then wipe the full length of the blade several times. Look at the towel. Pretty greasy right? Yeh it is! Don't BS Me! Now does the blade have those groves in them? If so then if you have finger nails put the towel on the blade and then put you finger nail on it into the grove and wipe several times. Yep, pretty dirty wasn't it? Then go back over it again and get what came out of the grove and go do the other side! You'll never have live through another smearout nightmare due to dirty wiper blades! I actually got mine to last 2 years by keeping them clean. This is also good advice for those of you who drive out west where rain comes from sacrificing a virgin to the gods! That heat and dry weather will dry out your blades to the point where they fall apart when you turn them on unless they're stuck to the windshield from not being lifted when you cleaned the windshield!
I actually had to pick up a "new" truck that had been sitting on a lot in Phoenix to drive back here. It started to rain when I got up to Flag and when I turned the wipers on the rubber tore off the backing because they were like glued to the windshield and I had to use my razor scraper to get the stuff off! That was a fun filled afternoon! Sitting on the side of the road for the rain to stop so I could stop at an auto parts store for a pair of blades! Not funny!

Have fun out there!

 

If admin wants to dock this? awsome! Ill feel honored.

 

Why would admin dock this post? It's a very helpful post. Does it really make that big of a difference if it's a repeat post? If you have a problem with this post, why don't you just not read it? Erasing this post would do more harm than good...

 

But its say in the haz mat book and test, you have too take the tire off if it is overheating, or did i read thisa wrong again, now i dont about you , but have no tools that big , and my car jack gonna bend like heck in da middel , i always get a kick outa that, for if its that hot , i let the ins and fire dept deal with it and run and hide in the woods becuse im draing the rest of my tire check fluid Everett .

 

dock means save...........

 

Rollover...... boy o boy... fog lights for daytime driving ????? Son, I wish you'd spend some time up where I come from..... where seagulls walk when it's foggy.... and I'm NOT joking.

Methinks we need a little definition here.

Fog lights: Amber colored with fluted (cross hatched) lenses, mounted at bumper level. Used in conjunction with or instead of low beams at night in fog or snow. The light pattern is like a flattened oval; wider to the sides than your low beams and closer to the truck. They let you see the ditches, etc better and don't glow back so much from the moisture in the fog/rain.

Driving lights: High intensity white lights for seeing beyond the range of your high beams. Clear lenses. Mounted at grille height or higher. These are what you see mounted on the roll bars of desert racers and off-road posers. Most places they are totally useless and often illegal. In moose country you will see trucks with em mounted on the mirror arms and aimed at the ditches. Moose are inconsiderate and expensive "guests" in your grille so you wanna see em as far off as possible.

Daytime driving lights: Low intensity "low beam" headlights. These are the "so you can be seen" lights. They are 1/2 or less brightness than your low beams and are not intended to be driven by. Ever notice hard it is to pick up a car/truck (especially in your mirrors) in the rain or driving into/out of the rising/setting sun when they don't have their lights on? Ever notice how you can see an oncoming vehicle so much farther away when it's headlights are on? That's why they invented these things.

The rest of your post I gotta agree with. Stock lighting on today's vehicles are junk and their mounting systems are trash.

 

A few things that I thought of on my last trip.

Know and have everything you need to replace, splice or block off common air lines.

For those on here that actually use tire chains and don't just park when you need em know how to fix them and again have everything one would need.

Don't have to know how to fix electrical but know how to find it and wrap up say a rub through wire in electrical tape or isolate the problem so that all your lights don't go out due to a breaker fuse tripping.

How to prime the truck up if it does run out of fuel. For instance CAT's love the return line pinched with vice grips to get them going again.

 

Been driving one thing or another after another for 40 + years. In the past with split-rims and tube tires you might be right. Nowadays I am assuming that you mean change out a rim/tire combo with a jack and a tire wrench.

Good luck getting a rim off that was put on with air-power at a tire shop.

No way I am I going to try and change a modern tubeless class 8 truck tire out, period. I have seen what a blowout can do to people. You might as well be playing with a Claymore mine, when that thing blows up in your face.