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In the field fixes?

DCM_Doc said:
A section of a cross tie chained between the axle & frame of a trailer will get you a few miles if spring leaves are broken. Years ago the shop I worked in did this to a tractor to get it to the deadline while waiting on parts. Somehow it got hooked to a load & the driver drove it several miles before he realized something was wrong.
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Nothing quite like that to show you did a thorough pre-trip. Haha.
Had a driver hook to a trailer that had a brake can caged...never noticed it till he got back in the yard. DOT would have LOVED that one.
 
WildHeart said:
Welllll...I have always been hourly..but they ran the **** out of us, we were all off road we could doctor a log and nobody was the wiser. It all depended on how badly you wanted to get home to your dinner or were left cooking canned ravioli on the engine block while trying to fix something.
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ohhhhhh man the stories i could tell you

but one thing i will say, the hos used to be..... if you ran 5 hrs you could take a 5hr. break then run 5more hrs. then take a 3 hr. break and boom ! you have 10 more hrs to run
 
20_yrs_2_go said:
ohhhhhh man the stories i could tell you

but one thing i will say, the hos used to be..... if you ran 5 hrs you could take a 5hr. break then run 5more hrs. then take a 3 hr. break and boom ! you have 10 more hrs to run
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I believe that entirely, had an old timer that ran with me the first two years in the business of hauling pipe and doing rig moves (that probably should read: the old timer that kept me alive my first year in the business) had a plethora of stories to tell me. Whenever we were on a long haul I could always pipe up on the radio and ask him to tell me a story and he would ablige. He was a wild driver back in the day and they were always entertaining!!

He moved away two years ago to Texas and I miss the socks off him. I have a soft spot for curmudgeons, and he was the best one ever.
 
While on vacation once, the alternator belt flipped out in the middle of nowhere. Unpacked the trunk full of luggage, got out the wife's panty hose and tied it up around the pullies. Stopped in the next town and bought another belt......and panty hose.
 
othertrucker2001 said:
While on vacation once, the alternator belt flipped out in the middle of nowhere. Unpacked the trunk full of luggage, got out the wife's panty hose and tied it up around the pullies. Stopped in the next town and bought another belt......and panty hose.
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That's won't be the first time I have heard of that fix...I would like to see that first hand honestly, not that I think you're fibbing, I would just be amazed. Damn things couldn't keep from running while putting them on every.time., granted twisted they might have more strength but just astonishing to me that they would even get you a mile.
 
I've used those small elestic bungee cords as throttle springs. Sliced potatoes and rubbed them on the windshield, washed the windshield with 7Up, and rubbed those hard packs of chewing tobacco on the windshield, all so I could drive in the rain cause my wipers had stopped working.
 
WildHeart said:
Not too long ago truckers didn't have the benefit of calling for help, you didn't have cell phones or company radios. Sure you could get on the CB and ask for help, nowadays you risk getting some creeper that wants to fix more than just the short in that pigtail you have, but there are times when the threat of down time or just the desperate need to get your thingamabobit delivered yesterday and you have to resort to less than ideal fixes.

Some of the best, most informative and genius stories come from those inevitable out in the field fixes.

So what broke, and how did you fix it without having to call for help?
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I had to replace the glad hand grommets a few times.

then this one time, the plastic air line came undone from the connector mounted on the back of the cab. I had to re-insert that, till it clicked (locked in place), then drove off.

whew...tough repairs.....almost had to call the US Coast Guards, Navy Seals, Army Rangers, and Goober Pyle....!!!!!!!!
 
Several years ago we were told in the shop to put "Glad Hand Seals" on our repair orders not "Glad Hand Rubbers: as some were. It seems the ladies in the maintenance records would start laughing & disrupt the office when they saw "Glad Hand Rubbers" on repair orders.
 
DCM_Doc said:
Several years ago we were told in the shop to put "Glad Hand Seals" on our repair orders not "Glad Hand Rubbers: as some were. It seems the ladies in the maintenance records would start laughing & disrupt the office when they saw "Glad Hand Rubbers" on repair orders.
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And just because of the laughter...I would keep doing it.
 
DCM_Doc said:
Several years ago we were told in the shop to put "Glad Hand Seals" on our repair orders not "Glad Hand Rubbers: as some were. It seems the ladies in the maintenance records would start laughing & disrupt the office when they saw "Glad Hand Rubbers" on repair orders.
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Dirty minded little ladies aren't they?
 
DCM_Doc said:
No reason not to have a little fun at work. Life is too short to not have fond memories of your job.
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We used to write up things like "the lug nuts are leaking" or "the Jonny bar isn't working" (on a bobtail) or a long winded crazy description of a simple fix just to mess with our mechanics...we got told to quit it by management, but the mechanics looked forward to our antics so when we had a valid problem it typically got fixed quickly.
 
Oh come on now, who hasn't ever filled the turn signal fluid,checked the muffler bearings,had to find the vapor lock key,replaced the kanooter valve,made sure the "id10t" form was current and a few more that slip my old mind "nuff said back to bed stay safe
 
I don't leave the terminal without my jumper airlines and electric cord to bypass a dollie,converter,jiff To many times left with a bad one or the set your to pick up has a hole in airline or that set of trailers just doesn't like that electric cord Saved me sitting around waiting for road repair more times than I can think
 
One time I was out in a field in my E-250 w/351 gas job and the brush pulled the wires off of my fuel pump. I had a #20 propane bottle in the back with a 25' hose on it for a heater I had along. I inserted the hose directly into the air filter intake, opened the bottle and drove out of the field on propane 'til I got to where I was able to get under there and reattach the wire. I have also used propane in place of starting fluid around the farm.
 
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