highway

Well, I went on a short ride with my brother Friday, and the back seemed to handle it pretty well, even helping him strap down the load of pipe he was taking to a gas well here in WV. The trip was a couple hundred miles total and it didn't do bad. It did start hurting after I was on my feet for a while at the gas well as we waited for the pipeline company to unload 22 pieces of pipe and them reload 17 of them back on the trailer after they rejected them. After spending 5 hours on the well site waiting for someone to make up their minds whether they would accept the already reloaded rejects or deliver them back to the shipper, we finally headed home. The back was bugging me a little when we got back home, and on top of the long day we both had, a 6 pack each helped both of us forget the day! When I finished my 6 pack, I wasn't feeling any pain either!

Well, I have made it back home to the Wild and Wonderful, and even though the forum problems prevented me from posting any sooner, if you are waiting for pics of my new ride, you're not getting any! Not that I wouldn't want to share the pics, but there are no pics to be shared. After I finally got the Cascadia out of the Freightliner dealer, I was assigned a load to pick up on Monday the 24th in Richmond, IN and drove out there on the 23rd and bad news. After just the short 100 mile ride from Columbus to Richmond, my back felt almost as bad as it did when I first broke it in December. That and the facts that the load I was assigned actually didn't pick up until Tuesday and a call to the dispatch office for the account that was getting the Cascadia in Tomah and then finding out from them the Volvo I was assigned was not there anymore but was assigned to another driver, I told them I was taking the truck back to the terminal in Springfield and coming home! I turned the truck back in and went on a Leave of Absence (most probably permanently!) and got a bus ticket home. Then after I got back home, my now ex fiancee told me she didn't think it would work between us, so I was saved the hassle of unpacking and packed the rest of my things and currently staying with a friend that is more like a brother to me. I honestly think the ex's problem is she enjoyed being in the truck and I couldn't give her that life anymore, and I'm beginning to think she was more in love with my paychecks than me. Oh well, her loss! I'm happy, and had a wonderful 4th of July with my "family" where I'm staying now, and also was invited and went to my ex wife's house to spend part of the 4th with her and her family as well. My ex wife and I have managed to stay in touch and be parts of each others lives even after our divorce in 2001, and I see this now as a possibility for us to get back together. I'm not rushing into anything with her, but just going to let time take its course, but at least she also knows and understands my back problems and understands I may never drive again and has no problems with either. Also, the week after I got home again and moved from the ex fiancee's, I had to go back to the emergency room because of my pain. The ER doctor said there was no new damage to the fracture in my vertebrae, the X Rays looked the same as the ones that were done in April when my back doctor said everything was healed. The only thing that the ER doc could figure was that my back was aggravated from the bouncing up and down in the truck. I don't know for sure, but it appears as if this may be the end of my driving career. I'm sure though, if I feel up to it, I will be able to find out for sure, since both my "brother" and his dad, who we live next door to, are both drivers also, I can go for a short run with them.

Well, I have finally made it out of the motel, but not out of the dealer! I'm just waiting on a load assignment now, and have been all day. The whole problem, the NOX sensor in the regeneration system went out, so what I figure set the lights off in the first place was that it was probably going to do a regen as I was going down the road and it found it the sensor was out. Oh well, hurry up and wait!

I'm surprised that with all the BBC comments so far, no body mentioned putting them on upside down! I've seen that more times than I can remember.

Yes, all the time! Nothing makes me angrier than getting this "no one else will EVER think of this" idea and the next month I see it in the magazine! I know no one is actually stealing the idea, but still it's frustrating sometimes thinking you have an original idea then BAM, you find you're not as original as you thought. What really scares me the most with a few of my crazy ideas is that there is actually someone out there as nutty as I am!!

Keep building everyone!! Eventually I'll be able to get out of the 1:1s again and get back to work on the little ones, so keep this going!

Actually Dan, that isn't the largest sleeper on the market, it is only a 180" (since they measures sleeper length in inches) sleeper. The largest I have found, and will be the size of my next custom sleeper build, is a 230" sleeper like what is on this truck.

Thanks Dan, it was nice meeting you and everyone else tonight, and hopefully I can get time to stop by again, just without the 1:1 big truck being in the shop! Hopefully someday soon I can start working on this again as soon as I get time split between the 1:1 and the little ones.

LOL, Wayne, that sounds like a terminal!

Well, Michigan=Meijer! You never know, they might have 1 or 2 Danes floating around, or it could be a phantom Meijer trailer.

I just never seem to get a good Cummapart, the only one I ever drove that I liked was in a 74 White Western Star wrecker, and it had the 444 Big Cam in it, backed by a deep reduction 15 speed. If I'd drop her in deep 1, that thing would move Mt. Rushmore! That is one thing I'm looking forward to with the Volvo when I get it, I have never driven a truck with front air ride. I'm just hoping I don't have issues with it, even though the Pete was not a good mountain goat, I had very little problems with it, just a couple electrical issues. I had a taillight melt down and take out all the other lights but the headlights and brakelights, and I had a problem in the bunk with fuses blowing and one power port melting the end of a three way plug, but that was probably more from the three fans I had plugged into it! The Series 60 has always been my favorite engine, I had a 470 horse in an old Werner Classic XL that would put large cars to shame on hills! That thing would pull even the heavy loads up 5 and 6% grades at 55 to 60 MPH!

That's Ok, I knew what you meant! I have had one of those weeks, listening to greenhorns that were acting like 5 year olds! That's probably why they all got new trucks, just to shut them up!

Seems to me your spell check needs a spell check, because it can't spell either LOL!! Doners is spelled wrong, it is spelled donors. I have found though with using Google Chrome as my browser, it will usually throw a fit over names like Firebird, and it sometimes doesn't like compound words like unbuilt or diecast, and it seems like you must use Chrome too, because it says "unbuilt Firebird" is misspelled to, and it says I can't spell my name either!

I'm not really sure if anyone has made anything like that in resin or not Mike, but I can at least let you know for a frame, most of those style trucks as well as most RVs, just have a normal 1 ton pickup truck frame, engine, and suspension, just lengthened to fit the whatever body is going to be on it. You could get away with probably using the Ford F250/F350 frame and the wheels from the dually kit, and source whatever engine the 1:1 has in it. The main body shouldn't be too hard to build from sheet plastic, but the biggest pain in the you know where you will have is the front end/hood.

Hmmmmmm, Meijer is coming to mind, maybe even Walmart!!! Since Moebius was smart and made their kits 1/25 scale, I don't see why it wouldn't be too difficult to swap in the rollup door from the AMT double trailer kit or maybe even the Ford Louisville. Speaking of the Louisville, you could even steal the liftgate from it and put it underneath. If you would like to steal that idea, just keep in mind, and should do this anyway in the front and rear of the tandem rails anyway, put a bar in one hole of the slider rails a hole or two forward of the liftgate. This prevents the tandems from being slid into the liftgate, and otherwise just prevents the tandems from being slid too far forward or back to where they come out of the rails.

Box trailers don't have a frame like that, only containers do. Using a container frame like this one: If I remember correctly, I think that container, since I had to modify the axles to be more American because the chassis is European specs with a spread axle, also comes with fenders. Another choice could also be a frame from AMT's Fruehauf flatbed.

I'll have to keep a watch for you out here Wayne! Don't worry, if your 387 has the same 425 Cummapart that my 386 had, 2 more gears didn't help mine! A heavy load and a 5 or 6% grade=25 mph! At least be thankful you have an APU, mine only had the Espar heater and me and the better half roasted during that bad heatwave last year. We idled at night, but if we were stuck waiting for a load, it was miserable! The only bunk ventilation was the two little vents, and they didn't do much of anything. There were a few times I opened the bunk door to let more air in. Actually Bob, I want the greasy side down, up would mean bad news! I'll keep you in mind, I made it through Wichita 1 or 2 times last year. Sorry to hear about your health problems, hopefully someday you can get back at it. Well, in other news , I finally left the terminal today, but obviously if I'm online, that means I'm not in the truck! I made it as far as London, OH, which is only 20 miles from the Springfield OH terminal, before the truck broke down! Two check engine lights came on, and after contacting the Breakdown Dept, they told me to bring it to Columbus to the Freightliner dealer. So, I get to spend another night in a motel, just 50 miles farther east than I was last night. I'm just glad this is only mine til I (hopefully ) make it to WI. Then I get my (hopefully better) Volvo. I just hope I'm not going to be stuck in the shop for too long.

If I'm in that area, I'll send you a PM! I probably am Andy, but after 8 months of medical leave, I don't have anything extra for hobby shopping right now. As for meeting up, I'll see how time looks and what they have scheduled from me next, because there may even be a reason I might have to have the Volvo I'm picking up there might have to go to the shop before I leave with it, never know in this business! Even if I can't, you can still PM me here and whenever I have internet access, we'll chat. Well, I gotta start packing everything back up and head over to the terminal to get rolling. Until next time I have internet access, later!

Man, I really hate to hear that Marshall, until I started feeling better only about a month or so ago, I was starting to think the same thing myself. I'm still not 100% sure how the bouncing and sitting is going to be on my back, but I'll just have to take it day by day. I'll be safe and maybe if and when I get around your neck of the woods, maybe we can meet up somewhere and have some coffee and talk little big trucks! Build on my friend!

Right now, this is my 1:1.

I have to remember before I leave the terminal tomorrow hopefully I can get a pic of the new antennas, they have them in the orientation room for the qualcomm training!

Hmmmmmm, I just wonder if the keys to my Volvo rig will fit????? I didn't steal it sir, my key fits!!

A 2011 Freightliner Cascadia, even though this is just my temporary ride to Tomah, WI to pick up my assigned truck, a 2012 Volvo 660.

Well, here is my new ride, at least to Tomah, WI to pick up my assigned 2012 Volvo, a 2011 Freightliner Cascadia.

I don't know, I'd estimate e feet might be between 3 and 4 feet! Why, the rivets have already been counted!!