New Transporter Truck

[truknutt]

Just took 2 repo'ed 40' toyhaulers to the auction and am leaving out for a 2700 mile one way run to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada tomorrow morning.

Yellowknife...Oh yeah that's "Ice Road Truckers - Season 1" turf. If you run into Alex, see how he's doing, DW was concerned!

 

[pmmjarrett]

At least your ice won't melt before your finished them. It's a tropical -17F this morning with a 10mph wind.

That's a heat wave. Blame it on global warming LOL

 

[pmmjarrett]

Yellowknife...Oh yeah that's "Ice Road Truckers - Season 1" turf. If you run into Alex, see how he's doing, DW was concerned!

Will do. The young kid Jay lives up the too. Be neat to run into them.

 

[beardedone]

Good morning. Red Deer was -26 C this am and will not be getting any better for next five days. Wear your woolies and bring a winter front for your truck! Hwy 2 in Alberta is in good shape - no ice, just lots of traffic.

 

[pmmjarrett]

Good morning. Red Deer was -26 C this am and will not be getting any better for next five days. Wear your woolies and bring a winter front for your truck! Hwy 2 in Alberta is in good shape - no ice, just lots of traffic.

-26C (-15F) was childs play..... er Bikini weather. It got down to -38F ( -39C) between Regina and Saskatoon when we went through..... and that doen't include wind chill w/ 20 mph winds.


This trip sugged and it still ain't over for a few more days but I'm spent for today and stopping for the night.

Trip started OK friday then going through the Chicagoland area on 294, the throwout bearing on the clutch really started howling. We stopped in Beloit WI for a bite to eat and when I pushed my clutch in to start the truck it wouldn't move so I pushed harder and managed to make the slave cylinder explode and blew it completely off the transmission. DOH!!!

Managed to secure parts friday night and found a Dodge dealer that could fix it saturday morning and was back on the road saturday afternoon. Can't ***** too much as I had 177,000 miles on it. Clutch plate still looked great and could have gone another 100k.

Cought up to my running partner in Jamestown ND and headed for the border, no problems there, just a 20 mph head wind killing fuel economy.

Temps were dipping to -20F shortly after crossing the border and I was slam full of winterized #2 diesel (wasn't planning to run #1 until we stopped in edmonton but temps dropped faster than expected... OOPS) so we double dosed it with Power Service and gave the Aux tank a shot of FPPF meltdown to unfreeze the line between my aux tank and main tank. My buddy was already having to change a fuel filter and his aux tank wasn't pumping.

I discovered later my aux tank wasn't freezing in the line but my mounts broke from the rough ride and pinched my fuel line. We used blocks of wood and straps to move it back into place and all is fine for now. His tank still wouldn't pump, his fuel looked like Corn syrup.

In Chaimberlain SK we both lost power and had to swap fuel filters in -38F temps, my fuel wasn't gelled but the filter was full of algea. Evidently all of the additives were really cleaning my fuel system out. We stopped in Saskatoon and bought more spare filters, fortunatly we never had more fuel problems the rest of the trip.

Unfortunatly in Lashburn, SK his chevy blew up the transfer case and had to be towed into Lloydminster AB to the GM dealer, I went to Lloydminster, dropped my trailer and went back to recover his. Towed in Monday afternoon, they pulled it tuesday and it was destroyed. $3500 for parts or $2800 for a reman were his options...... This is where he got extreeeeeemely lucky...... He had just picked his truck up Jan 1st after having his transfercase rebuilt by a GM dealer, it was his first rip with the truck since then and it was under warranty, didn't cost anything but a couple days down time, tons of phone calls and hotel expense.

The found a reman for him in Edmonton, had it shipped and we were on our way about noon local time.

Rest of the trip went OK, 1000 miles of driving on nothing but ice from High Level AB to Yellowknife NWT and back to High Level. Made delivery 3 days late but all was OK and no damage.

I will say the McKenzie river ice crossing into Fort Providence was "crunchy" and had a lot of wet spots on the ice. Last ice bridge I crossed didn't make that much noise and was dry.

Coming home was going OK so until today for me. Border crossing was no biggie. 45 miles later the road was blocked by a malfunctioning RR crossing and traffic lined up for a mile each side so I decided...... Hey, I don't have a trailer and looking at google maps on the Blackberry I see a way around it by going around the country block on a few back roads. That was a huge mistake and the beginning of the end of the day for me.

When I got to the RR crossing on the back road there was a foot deep snow drift that caught my right front tire, ripped off my air dam and spun me out 90* and buried me in deep snow straddling me across the RR tracks RF tire got caught between a tie and the rail...... If you've ever driven a 2wd dually you know they get stuck if you even think about getting stuck. It just ain't gonna move.

I'm was so ****ed and frustrated with this trip at this point I just wanted to watch a train roll over my truck, hey, it's insured and I have gap insurance too right...... A moment later I decided I didn't want to make the evening headlines and called 911 so they could notify the RR, was told no movement on that line was expected for a few days, then they got me a tow truck..... 30 minutes and $90 later I'm free.

About an hour later the adreniline rush wore off and I'm beat so I holed up in a hotel for the night. Will resume the push to Indiana in the AM.

I don't mind a bad day so much as hey, Sheet happens.... But dayum.... A bad couple weeks hurts. Nothing like working for 2 weeks for free EH!!!


So ya say ya wanna be an RV transporter.None.... It's one of the best ways to ruin a perfectly good pickup I can't wait to get the pickup off the road and get the medium duty out there.

 

[HarleyRyder]

Stuff Happens

I have no problem with "stuff" happening, it is just the frequency with which it seems to happen.

Glad your back. Missed your updates.

 

[pmmjarrett]

I have no problem with "stuff" happening, it is just the frequency with which it seems to happen.

Glad your back. Missed your updates.

LOL, Very well said.

Unfortunatly I ain't back to work on the truck yet, now I gotta work 2 more weeks to make up the money I was hoping to make on this one run so I can finish my truck. All I've done for 2 weeks was mabey break even at best.

 

[jimtoo]

Hey Mike,

As you know, and have you suffered a few, there will always be bumps in the road. Regardless of the road we take. But the main thing is you are safe, irregardless of cost or time.None

Jim M

 

[pmmjarrett]

Hey Mike,

As you know, and have you suffered a few, there will always be bumps in the road. Regardless of the road we take. But the main thing is you are safe, irregardless of cost or time.None

Jim M

Yep I'm O Tay....... Did you say BUMPS...... Oh yea, forgot about them too. I blew an air line on my air bags in North Dakota on the way up so I have to get that fixed too LOL.

Yea, the 911 operator I called kinda shocked me, she just told me if I hear a train or feel the earth shake get out of my truck and she'd call me back and let me know what the train schedule was looking like after she notified them.

Heck I was already out of it with what mattered to me at the moment.

1. my woolies
2. my empty wallet
3. My Blackberry Curve (Google maps on it saved my butt by being able to use the GPS function with it to get my exact location and street name after I got myself in trouble using it)
4. my trip settlement paperwork (so I could get paid)
5. my laptop (so I can find loads)
6. my file folder full of receipts (so I could write that stuff off my taxes)
7. my birth certificate (havn't bought a passport yet to run Canada when the rules change this summer)

I wasn't waiting in the truck to see what happened next with the truck straddeling tracks in the middle of nowhere in an area that trains run heavily through when headed to the border or back. I do some dumb stuff at times but I ain't stupid.

 

[leftyf]

I wasn't waiting in the truck to see what happened next with the truck straddeling tracks in the middle of nowhere in an area that trains run heavily through when headed to the border or back. I do some dumb stuff at times but I ain't stupid.

In a word, DAYUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[nhunter]

Never thought of them making a 2wd truck

 

[pmmjarrett]

Never thought of them making a 2wd truck

!!!!!!!None

 

[pmmjarrett]

Well it's off again to the great white north, just not so far north this time. Heading to Red Deer Alberta to drop a new Heatland 40' Cedar Ridge park model.

When I dispatched on it, it was supposed to be a 40' fifth wheel which sould have been a Cyclone........ Had a hard time figuring out how to get this park model hooked to the fifth wheel, took me a few hours but it's hooked to the truck now LOL.

Uggggggg I hate hauling park models and it doen't matter who makes them.

BTW...... Hey Jim do I win a prize for the first Cedar Ridge sighting.......






OK, I know I cheated.None

 

[beardedone]

Have a good trip. Fantastic weather forecast for the rest of the week. Don't forget your sunglassesNone

 

[pmmjarrett]

Have a good trip. Fantastic weather forecast for the rest of the week. Don't forget your sunglassesNone

I have transition lenses in my glasses. I was just looking at the forcasts for Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton.

Warm, sunny and a light breeze for the next few days. SCHAWEEEEEEEEEET!!!

Sure beats, Windy, snowing and colder than a witch. Will finally be above freezing so I can wash my truck that is caked with salt and sand from the last 2 weeks and 6000+ miles


P.S........ All goes well I should be delivering in Red Deer friday afternoon. OH and Jim said you were buying me a coffee at Timmy'sNone

 

[beardedone]

Hi, Sorry didn't reply sooner because I am in Edmonton on a short course for work ( I am supposed to be retired - long story, but work can be fun). I will be back Thursday night so I will look around to see if I can find you. What dealer are you going to? Jim is right too!

 

[Niles]

Here's a little prayer that might help those days;
Dear Lord'
So far today, I've done all right.
I haven't gossiped, haven't lost my temper.
Haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.
I haven't whined, complained, cursed, or eaten any chocolate, and I haven't used my credit card.
I'm thankful for all that.
But in a few minutes, GOD, I'm going to get out of bed.
I'm probably going to need a lot more help from then on.
Amen

 

[pmmjarrett]

Hi, Sorry didn't reply sooner because I am in Edmonton on a short course for work ( I am supposed to be retired - long story, but work can be fun). I will be back Thursday night so I will look around to see if I can find you. What dealer are you going to? Jim is right too!

Dropped at Paradise this morning and am a few hrs from crossing the border crossing at Portal ND now.

 

[pmmjarrett]

Mabey good news.....Are Y'all ready to resume..... ummmm..... new episodes of "Watch this ice road trucker trick his RV truck" LOL

Not too awful bad the last few days.

Picked up a 38' park model yesterday morning headed to New Jersey and of course I was promtly pulled over by the Ohio DOT right at the In/OH state line on the turnpike.... Geez, can a guy get a break sometime this month... Of course the first thing he wanted to see was my log book, which I proudly opened for him and showed him I just left Wakarua IN less than 2 hrs ago. He said is was the best logbook he seen all day and didn't even look past my last entry.... Anyways, I passed the Level 1 inspection and got a new "get out of jail free" CVSA decal on my windshield, WooHoo...... unfortunatly this truck gets retired next week and the F-800 ain't got that sticker.

Managed to snag a reload (another 36' park model) in West Boylton MA going right back to the manufacturer for warranty work and have another trailer going to Byron GA already dispatched on me. Going home after I drop that one. Should have enough $$$$ now to finish this truck and get it on the road.

Should be home hopefully wednesday and be able to resume work next weekend, mabey before, but I have a few things I need to do first like chase mama round the house, play with the dogs, chase mama round the house, spank the kid, chase mama round the house, file my taxes, chase mama round the house, fill out some VA paperwork, chase mama round the house, some other misc items and chase mama round the house......hmmmm mabey I should rest for a week before I start the build again.

I have already purchased 2 new front tires and a nice 32" x 80" 8 inch thick innerspring mattress for the sleeper as well as have a few other misc items I have riding in the cab with me. I should have almost every part I need for the truck other than a few misc nuts and bolts and extending the exhaust to clear the sleeper. About all that is left beyond that is Tags $413, insurance $238, annual federal inspection $50 and fill the fuel tanks $225

 

[nhunter]

About time some of us are going through withdrawl. Only 238 a year for insurance? I'm in the wrong place.