What type of repairs have you done on the road?

I built a 53 foot trailer out of an old fridge, some bamboo sticks, and 2 rust wagon wheels just like Macgyvre.

Ok seriously most I did was fixing the lights on a trailer.

 

Replace a turbo which cost me twice as much cause I didnt clean the air to air and blew the brand new one. I cleaned everything from the air cleaners(replaced the filters) and tubing on the cold side. Cost me 5k by the time I was done. I do most of my work BUT made a costly mistake. When they took the air to air apart once I was at the shop, there so much pieces in there and was told I was lucky nothing went into the intakes of the engine. I GAURANTEE that will NEVER happen again and I preach to others that they dont make the same mistake. I was in a hurry to get home, had worked 20 hours that day and had lost the turbo @ 3am. I was dead tired and wasn't thinking, and it cost me dearly.

 

I have bypassed and air dryer that was not functioning properly. Used connectors, clamps, etc to splice broken air lines. Replaced engine belts. Replaced mudflaps and hangers. Done all sorts of wire splicing or replacing for lights. Caged brake chambers that were not working to release brakes. Replaced fuel filters in cold weather. Etc, etc, etc......

 

I put a head, rocker box, and piston in the truck in my avitar, while sitting in the emergency lane on I-85, 30 miles north of Montgomery, Ala in 1976. Started about 10am and was rolling around 2am that night.

Also put a turbo on in the emergency lane on I-40 in NC in the late 80's. Too many smaller things repaired on the road through the years to remember, like alternators in parking lots, u-joints, water pumps, ect.

 

I fixed lights, mudflaps, changed fuel filters, swapped a starter, fixed an ECM wire broke into and changed a blower motor so I would have AC.

Semi related, I had a friend break down 4 hours away in VA in his SUV. I drove up there, dropped his fuel tank and changed his fuel pump right in a convenience store parking lot. It was raining too. I did it because he had his kids with him and a repair like that on the road would of cost him an arm and a leg. Needless to say I was all nasty and tired when I got home around midnight. What a day. You don't want many like that.

 

Well. I haven't made any of those big dramatic repairs.

I carry a fairly basic tool kit: a 180-piece socket/wrench/screwdriver set, several sets of pliers, two Vise-Grips, A 4-pound hand sledge, a claw hammer, a wire tool, a crow bar and a side-cutter.

I also carry a "trailer kit" that contains every light a trailer will need plus electrical connectors, shrink tubing and air line quick-connects. Of course, I carry every light my tractor could need, as well as fuses, extra coolant, oil and washer fluid.

Disposable supplies are glad hand seals, zip ties, duct tape, black electrical tape, extra wiring, WD-40, and a motley collection of screws, nuts and bolts...with flat washers and lock washers.

This gives you a fair idea of what I am prepared for.

What I have done: replaced lights, rewired lights, fixed mud flaps, spliced a cracked air line and "repaired" a hole in the trailer with duct tape. Just the basics...enough to get me to a shop to have it done right.

If that makes me less of a trucker, so be it. I'm not an expert and would rather trust the major stuff to people who know more about it than I do. Oh...and I'll take a trailer to a shop for top marker lights. I'm not tall enough to reach them, I don't carry a ladder, and I'm afraid of heights.

 

Replaced lights, glad hand seals, changed tires, repaired PTO units, replaced fuel filters, replaced air lines, replaced brake chamber boots, electrical system repairs, straightened out bend spreaders on dump beds... few other odds and ends.

 

The most I've had to do is replace the electrical line between the tractor and trailer when I was with my trainer. The electrical connection box on the trailer was going bad but I figured a new line would somewhat help since it was worn badly too. The old one wouldn't get a connection at all but the new one would as long as it was held up. I hooked a bungee up to the reefer frame and held the line up through the loop of it so the weight wouldn't pull the connector down. It worked pretty well although I would lose lights on the trailer in a sharp turn but only at the sharpest point of it for 1 second or so.

The funny part was it took me a good 15 minutes to convince my trainer to let me do it. He kept insisting we take it to a TA the company told us to go to. It was out or route and we never would of made our next pickup before they closed. Fixed it in a few minutes for a much lower cost to the company and made our pickup before they closed. Not any kind of dramatic repair but it was pretty ridiculous to think about taking it to a shop for that.

 

I adjust my brakes and change my trailer lights...thats it mechanics is not my thing I dont have the patience and I got big hands so squeezing them in to the engine try to get that last screw thats stuck rusted doesnt do me well.