Left Lane Ticket

[pro1driver]

To all who posted about their physical ailments, thanks for making me feel better!

it is our PLEASURE......

Truck work has never been easy. Torque on main & head bolts will wear you out. Clutch jobs are never easy. There is a lot of electronic work on trucks now but it takes a contortionist to get to the wiring harness, connections & sensors. I think being a truck mechanic/technician is the worst occupation there is on a body.

pretty much the same holds true for automotive techs, well, those that call themselves techs.

getting up and under a dash in cars is no picnic, nor is removing an a/c evaporator, which on some cars, can be a billed job of 10 hours labor..

then the constant upgrading of one's skills, and try and find any clinics or aftermarket training, when the training does not include a sales pitch for the product. more emphasis is spent on the product and how good it is, over the actual diagnostics and repairs.

today's "techs" are no more than parts changers. which, way back when, was nothing new either.

 

[Deleted member 5115]

Truck work has never been easy. Torque on main & head bolts will wear you out. Clutch jobs are never easy. There is a lot of electronic work on trucks now but it takes a contortionist to get to the wiring harness, connections & sensors. I think being a truck mechanic/technician is the worst occupation there is on a body.

I used to think truck driving was hard on my body until I had my own truck to work on. I was thankful it was only one truck and not a fleet.

 

[RacerX69]

Truck work has never been easy. Torque on main & head bolts will wear you out. Clutch jobs are never easy. There is a lot of electronic work on trucks now but it takes a contortionist to get to the wiring harness, connections & sensors. I think being a truck mechanic/technician is the worst occupation there is on a body.

Try working on a utility truck. The hydraulic systems get buried in between the frame rails, inside the pedestals for the mounted equipment and inside the booms. Some of the hydraulic hoses are 2 1/2" diameter 4 wire, heavy and stiff.

And the digger derrick trucks they used to have where I worked used to be GMC 7000 series rigs with the 8.2 liter diesel, with a single rear drive axle. They were grossly overloaded, usually around 42,000lbs on the rear. We were always replacing the leaf springs on them and sometimes had to do a welded repair to the top of the axle housing where the spring sat. It got to be a routine job, and two guys could knock a set out in one 8 hour shift.

But it was hard, dirty work, and the toughest part was torquing the u-bolts on re-assembly to something like 550lbs in 50lbs steps with a 1" drive torque wrench. We would take turns, one guy holding the wrench on the nut while the other turned it, then swap.

Those trucks had Budd nuts on the wheels so we didn't have to torque them, just run 'em home with the 1" impact gun. Still a bit of work, but the later International and Freightliner trucks had the coined nuts with hub piloted wheels and they also had to be torqued to 550lbs.

And the Internationals that replaced them had tandem drives, so they never had the issues with the overloaded suspensions.

See more of the rigs I worked on here: Racer's Wrenching Days

 

[Deleted member 5115]

I don't see lick of work getting done in any of those picture.

 

[grocerythrower]

I don't see lick of work getting done in any of those picture.

Thats a union mechanic fer ya..LOL! ;)

 

[RacerX69]

I don't see lick of work getting done in any of those picture.

Thats a union mechanic fer ya..LOL! ;)

Yes, it does look like there isn't much going on.

But most of the guys were busy trying to avoid a catastrophe.

There is a nice description of what is going on if you follow the link I posted earlier.

Meanwhile, it was lunchtime and I went into the lunchroom to fix a bite to eat.

 

[pro1driver]

Yes, it does look like there isn't much going on.
But most of the guys were busy trying to avoid a catastrophe.
There is a nice description of what is going on if you follow the link I posted earlier.
Meanwhile, it was lunchtime and I went into the lunchroom to fix a bite to eat.

i went to the pics, nice to see that the garage floors were so clean.

the job i had at the gas station, when i started work there, the floors were deplorable.

i had ordered up what ever floor cleaning soap was available, whether it was ZEP, or Gunk, i do not remember, but i do remember that is was somewhat highly caustic, and took the paint off the cabinets and my tools box.>!!

the owner/boss, did not like spending money, on anything.

but when he saw the super clean floors, he never bothered me again about spending his money.

 

[RacerX69]

i went to the pics, nice to see that the garage floors were so clean.

One of the benefits of working in a quasi-governmental job. The custodian had a riding floor scrubber, and spent lots of time on it. Sitting on his dead butt was easier than pushing a broom or dragging a mop and a bucket around.

And the shop is big.

When they first built the facility in the early 1980's there was a custodian on each shift. After a few years when the union contract was up for renewal they eliminated one, on graveyard shift. At the next contract renewal the day shift custodial position was eliminated.

Then they got the floor scrubber and asked the mechanics to sweep the floors so all the janitor had to do was hop on the scrubber and take laps around the shop.

When I left they only had part time custodial support. The swing shift janitor had to do the shop, the line unit tool room, the warehouse, the substation and meter department offices, and pick up around the yard where the trucks and equipment parked.

the job i had at the gas station, when i started work there, the floors were deplorable.

Many of the jobs I tried in the private sector after I retired were like that.

i had ordered up what ever floor cleaning soap was available, whether it was ZEP, or Gunk, i do not remember, but i do remember that is was somewhat highly caustic, and took the paint off the cabinets and my tools box.>!!

They used something called SC200 at the electric company. Very caustic. The fleet color was red many years ago, and if you got any of the floor degreaser on the finish it would turn it white in a matter of seconds, and if you left it too long it would remove the paint.

The stuff was highly concentrated, intended to be diluted 100:1.

Straight out of the barrel it would burn your skin.

the owner/boss, did not like spending money, on anything.

They never do.

but when he saw the super clean floors, he never bothered me again about spending his money.

One thing that will get a miserly businessman to spend money is if he thinks it will make customers happy.

Happy customers want to spend money.

 

[pro1driver]

One thing that will get a miserly businessman to spend money is if he thinks it will make customers happy.
Happy customers want to spend money.

one year, i cannot remember if it was my first or second there, the Mobil sales rep had visited us, with a district manager. i was "only" the manager and mechanic, so they had no reason to talk to me, since after all, i wasn't the lessee..

well anyways, about a week after the sales rep visit, he comes back, and hands over an award for "best looking service station"..

of course, i received no thanks for getting it that way..........

 

[RacerX69]

one year, i cannot remember if it was my first or second there, the Mobil sales rep had visited us, with a district manager. i was "only" the manager and mechanic, so they had no reason to talk to me, since after all, i wasn't the lessee..

well anyways, about a week after the sales rep visit, he comes back, and hands over an award for "best looking service station"..

of course, i received no thanks for getting it that way..........

Do you still have the award?

 

[pro1driver]

Do you still have the award?

no, when we closed up and sold everything, the owner took that, or threw it away..

i got an ash tray, that has a Goodyear(??) tire around it, and i took the dwell/rpm meter, and a few odd's and end's the owner never knew or remembered that he had...

if i can find that ash tray and i know i still have it, i'll take a pic or two of it...

 

[Deleted member 5115]

Try working on a utility truck. The hydraulic systems get buried in between the frame rails, inside the pedestals for the mounted equipment and inside the booms. Some of the hydraulic hoses are 2 1/2" diameter 4 wire, heavy and stiff.

And the digger derrick trucks they used to have where I worked used to be GMC 7000 series rigs with the 8.2 liter diesel, with a single rear drive axle. They were grossly overloaded, usually around 42,000lbs on the rear. We were always replacing the leaf springs on them and sometimes had to do a welded repair to the top of the axle housing where the spring sat. It got to be a routine job, and two guys could knock a set out in one 8 hour shift.

But it was hard, dirty work, and the toughest part was torquing the u-bolts on re-assembly to something like 550lbs in 50lbs steps with a 1" drive torque wrench. We would take turns, one guy holding the wrench on the nut while the other turned it, then swap.

Those trucks had Budd nuts on the wheels so we didn't have to torque them, just run 'em home with the 1" impact gun. Still a bit of work, but the later International and Freightliner trucks had the coined nuts with hub piloted wheels and they also had to be torqued to 550lbs.

And the Internationals that replaced them had tandem drives, so they never had the issues with the overloaded suspensions.

See more of the rigs I worked on here: Racer's Wrenching Days

So...how's it really work??? You climb into the seat and your buddy lifts the truck ten feet into the air, or what??

 

[RacerX69]

So...how's it really work??? You climb into the seat and your buddy lifts the truck ten feet into the air, or what??

Just like the service station lifts you used to see that picked up cars, only for big trucks. They have two with 3 post lifts, the rear post moves to fit the different tandem spreads, the front post moves to fit the various wheelbase dimensions. They have three 2 post lifts that pick up the single rear drive trucks.

And that drive on lift I posted a picture of where the girl tried to dump the truck off of it.

 

[pro1driver]

And that drive on lift I posted a picture of where the girl tried to dump the truck off of it.

oh....i thought that was unique way of fixing the exhaust system....

 

[Deleted member 5115]

So...how's it really work??? You climb into the seat and your buddy lifts the truck ten feet into the air, or what??

Just like the service station lifts you used to see that picked up cars, only for big trucks. They have two with 3 post lifts, the rear post moves to fit the different tandem spreads, the front post moves to fit the various wheelbase dimensions. They have three 2 post lifts that pick up the single rear drive trucks.

And that drive on lift I posted a picture of where the girl tried to dump the truck off of it.

I was referring to when you climbed in there to take a nap and lift 'er up so the boss can't find you.

 

[pro1driver]

I was referring to when you climbed in there to take a nap and lift 'er up so the boss can't find you.

that actually would happen to me on occasions when back in the old days, the car would have to be up on a lift, a guy inside to work the brake pedal to bled the brakes..

i'd zone out between.."pump it up"...and.... "hold it".....

 

[pro1driver]

one year, i cannot remember if it was my first or second there, the Mobil sales rep had visited us, with a district manager. i was "only" the manager and mechanic, so they had no reason to talk to me, since after all, i wasn't the lessee..

well anyways, about a week after the sales rep visit, he comes back, and hands over an award for "best looking service station"..

of course, i received no thanks for getting it that way..........

Do you still have the award?

no, when we closed up and sold everything, the owner took that, or threw it away..

i got an ash tray, that has a Goodyear(??) tire around it, and i took the dwell/rpm meter, and a few odd's and end's the owner never knew or remembered that he had...

if i can find that ash tray and i know i still have it, i'll take a pic or two of it...

Racer, regarding that "tire ash tray", here is a pic or two...

but wouldn;t you know it, when i did a google search for the tire that goodyear made, there was a link to eBay, where someone HAS an exact ash tray, only thing being different, is that mine has the name of a tire dealer (still in business to this day)...

so, i'd hardly want to sell it, and then again, with a name on it, that may "de-value" the ash tray....

maybe someday however....i may take a ride to the tire dealer, and see if he is wanting to buy it....

my ash tray pics.....

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the eBay ash tray.....

Original Goodyear American Eagle Radial Tire Ash Tray Advertising Clear Glass | eBay

 

[bigbird42368]

:Off-Topic:guess no helpful info for my friend on his ticket

 

[RacerX69]

Those tire ashtrays were very common "back in the day". Interesting how the asking price for "Buy It Now" is near $80, seeing as how they were given away to customers.

 

[RacerX69]

:Off-Topic:guess no helpful info for my friend on his ticket

I posted my thoughts on the matter before the thread got derailed.

Seeing as how the guy already got stroked in court about all he can do now is try not to get in a similar jam again. I really dislike truck lane restrictions, especially in high traffic places like just about all of Georgia. The lazy bums with speed restricted trucks won't stay to the right and clog up the traffic, so a driver is left to threading their way through the mess. Then you have that restriction on the 40 going through the Smoky mountains from Tennessee into South Carolina, and as I mentioned, getting stuck behind wussie drivers who are afraid to go the speed limit sucks.