Bad day today

jon f mn · Dec 3, 2015

Starter went out completely on my truck and the soonest I could get anyone to replace it was Tuesday. So I decided to replace it myself, in the parking lot of our terminal in Dallas. Lol, I know, I'm a glutton for punishment.

So I pick up a started and crawl under the truck and that's when things turned bad, the oil filter right in front of it started leaking oil and everything was dripping with it. YUK

Well, Only took me an hour, but the new one is in.

Not sure I'll ever be the same again tho.

I'm just glad the weather was nice, and I can take a shower and clean up here. Guess that's the joys of being an owner/operator.

K Effective · Dec 3, 2015

Sounds like more than one problem, and that tire looks a little soft, too!

rrlund · Dec 3, 2015

Ya,I wasn't quite that dirty changing the oil in two tractors today. But then,wouldn't you know,while I was filthy,the new gal who works for Crop Production Services stopped in to introduce herself. She must have thought I was literally,a dirty old man.

RBoots · Dec 3, 2015

Jon, was the leaking filter
part of the starter problem,
or just an additional
problem?

Ross

NIK OWEN · Dec 3, 2015

GLAD 2 GIVE U A NICE SUNNY TEX DAY..MY BUDDY FROM BABBITT, HALVOR LINES, AINT SO WARM @ JELLYSTONE..BE BLESSED, GRATEFUL, PREPARED

danofarming · Dec 3, 2015

Good job Jon. We have been doing away with the little solenoid that comes on the new starters.

tim s · Dec 3, 2015

Semi's are dirty and "nasty" to work on....

jon f mn · Dec 3, 2015

An aditional problem, but I'm due for a change anyway so it will be replaced tomorrow. This is the second starter on this truck, and it did the same as the last one. I doubt the oil had anything to do with it. The new starter is a bit different and appears to be heavier duty. Hopefully it lasts longer.

showcrop · Dec 3, 2015

Is it one of those where you need three different extensions in order to get both bolts?

jon f mn · Dec 3, 2015

Yes, and a swivel socket.

JimS · Dec 3, 2015

I was managing a ranch in CA. The 82 year old neighbor comes over in his coveralls all dirty asking if I had a transmission jack.
When I inquired what he was up to, he told me he got the turbo flight trans out of his motor home but was having trouble getting
it back in without a jack. I thought he was nuts. He then tells me a story about coming down off a mountain driving a crane and
exploding a clutch. Not losing one, not fading but exploding through the housing. He stopped it by running it into the cut bank
of the mountain. I expressed dismay. He said calmly, "Yeah. It was quite a pucker moment." He said pulling the tranny from the
motor home was nothing compared to doing the crane clutch with minimal tools.

You should hear his stories about being a diver off of subs in WWII.

You, my friend, had a good day. I had a good day. Nice work.

jstpa · Dec 3, 2015

When they first introduced those starters they didn't come with the little solenoid on them. It didn't take delco long to figure out that was a mistake, and they started putting them on. It's called an ims switch. If you run into a starter that starts to just click before its time, it would be a good idea to put the ims switch back on. jstpa

37chief · Dec 3, 2015

Good job. Just think of the money you saved. Stan

coshoo · Dec 3, 2015

Ah, the joys of having you're own business.

1- No matter who (or even if nobody) screwed up, its your problem.
2- No matter what the problem, you have to fix it.

With that said, I wouldn't trade running my own business for anything.

Buster · Dec 3, 2015

Good thing it wasn't a Oreilly automotive starter or you would have had to change it three times to get a good one! 😁

C. Amick · Dec 3, 2015

I look almost that bad every time I change the oil filter in my car. I always have to remember to take my watch off first. (Heard on the local news yesterday that the Volvo Truck Plant in Dublin, VA, where you got yours, is laying off 700 employees in February due to slow sales.)

tomstractorsandtoys · Dec 3, 2015

Be glad you are in Dallas. Just think if you had been in International Falls or some place colder(if there is such a place)LOL. Tom

JD Seller · Dec 3, 2015

That good old diesel oil sure will make you dirty!!!! The last semi starter I had to change was in the driveway of a rented farm. We had all four trucks lined up back the drive way and had loaded them the night before. Went to start them in the morning and the truck in the front would not crank. It was 35 degrees and raining steady. We had combined until we where rained out at about 1 AM. The driver called me at 6 AM that the truck would not start. So I got to lay in the drive way track in 2-3 inches of water and change the starter. Every single thing I had on for cloths was soaked by the time I got done. I told the boys the next time I was calling a wrecker to tow it to the shop at least. LOL

My middle son had to change one this fall in the shed we park the trucks in. We had nosed it right in so the trailer and all where out of the weather. So the hood was right against the wall. He got to change that one.

CenTex Farmall · Dec 3, 2015

At least you weren't caught in that pile-up on 35 the other day just south of Waco. Chain reaction; one driver hurt pretty good according to the news. When I get delayed somewhere I figure well maybe I missed something worse.

Clodbuster · Dec 3, 2015

Learned long ago to never buy anything that spins at O'Reilly!!!

john in la · Dec 4, 2015

"is laying off 700 employees in February due to slow sales"

I am not doubting your facts but I sure find it hard to believe how some companies are in this situation.

Where I work we buy 100% International trucks.
It makes for easy parts keeping and mechanic training when you have all the same thing.
Heck we have had a truck at the local dealer for warranty work and were told they could not find the correct part anywhere.
No International dealer in the U.S. had the part and it was on back order. It would be months for our truck to get fixed.
We had 2 of these parts in stock in our company system so we sold 1 back to International to get our truck fixed.

With all of that we placed a order for new trucks last year.
It was double our normal order for a year as we have been losing drivers due to use of older trucks.
We were told they could not provide 100% of our order.
They did not have the capacity to produce that many trucks in one year.
We were forced to buy some Volvo's and KW's just to fill our needs.

And now I hear truck manufactures are laying off.
HUMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Makes one wonder what the real story is.

Formerly PaMike · Dec 4, 2015

You need some of those cattle A.I gloves that come up to your elbow...

Mike M · Dec 4, 2015

I used to repair starters. Nasty job. All that oil on the outside also gets on the inside and mix that in with some brush dust and then burn it ! YUCK !

Welding man · Dec 4, 2015

John the rest of the story is this. My wife works at this plant. She builds the dashes that goes in the trucks. Right now they are building roughly 175 trucks per day. Six months ago they had 18,000 plus trucks on the order board to be built. Today that number is much less and they will be building only roughly 120 per day after February. Large companies like UPS and Fed EX replace trucks on a cycle.They have filled those orders. Volvo has always had a good run of 3 or 4 years and then a down turn of 2 or more. People that work there call it riding the roller coaster.Nothing sinister,just the way the business is.

Bad day today

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