Wintertime is here!

Last trip over North Cross this year hauling hay, the pass report said, "slush on roadway, no restrictions", thankfully I was pulling one of our 53' vans and not the B-trains.

Fabbed up a new bumper for the 9400, the oem bumper is just too flimsy for how we use the truck and I've straightened it too many times. I still need to make a guard underneath to protect the ABS valves as that has been an issue this year.

Scott the owner of the business has been complaining of low power, the intake manifold pressure sensor was reading wrong so I repaired that, percent engine load is still generating weird numbers and I can't get a straight answer from anyone on exactly how that number is calculated by the ECM, I would tend to assume fuel rate, percent throttle, and boost pressure but all those numbers are correct so there must be something I'm missing. Also this engine uses ambient temp to determine how fast the turbo needs to spin, that sensor is reading wrong but no one at Motor Trucks is apparently capable of looking that sensor up and ordering me one. My frustration level with almost all the parts departments that I deal with is reaching new highs.

Recalibrating the transmission in our T7 New Holland, learning to work on AG equipment is interesting, most of what you need to do can be done through the console display and key sequences.

Fuel contamination issues

A brief pictorial history of the truck that pretends to be my service truck when it isn't stranding me outside of cell phone range. 2001 Duramax, major fuel leak codes and 2000 rpm derate under load, went to 3 shops that "fixed it" before I worked on it. They put in 8 new injectors, two fuel control modules, and reflashed it. None of which helped, at all.

This is the steel fuel line running along the frame rail, the rust scale inside the line allowed air into the line with the engine running but as you shut the engine down the scale would seal the pin hole and prevent an external leak.

The fuel tank pickup screen in the front tank was almost entirely plugged with dirt and rust scale, it was enough of a restriction that under load it would suck the fuel primer button down and effectively turn off its own fuel.

More fuel system issues, that is a metal shard... The fuel pressure regulator stuck open, truck would die at stop lights and foot to the floor it would barely stay running.  No fault codes.

Electronic issues for a change, intermittent electrical death... Instrument cluster failure and transmission controller faults (driving down the road the instrument cluster would die and transmission would default to neutral).

Found a major voltage drop on the Ignition 0 circuit due to burned contacts in the ignition switch.

Things that go around...

Finished rebuilding the KUHN 7822 that I've been working on, gave it a good 10 hour test run in Eastern Washington last week.

More to come on this picture later, for now I'll say that we're having trouble with fuel aeration in a Duramax and that I'm not impressed with the work that other shops do... Not impressed at all.

This'll be a long one.

Well, many things have happened since I last posted, I left the job at Utility after much frustration with the management. I just have to shake my head at some people... Anyway, I had a few job offers at the time and eventually took a position with a farm in Mount Vernon. I'm not sure what my job title would be exactly but I am responsible for repairs and maintenance for Lass & Lad farms, Puget Sound Veterinary Group, and also the Albion Group which is located in Eastern Washington.

It's a salary position (and the salary is very good), there is a retirement match, and a bonus tied to crop production. I've known the owner for a very long time, he does a good job of putting people in positions that "fit" persay, and the people in company are all good and decent people. As I have learned at previous employers (ahem... Utility) these are very important things.

The newer shop in Mount Vernon is 2 bays and heated, it's setup pretty well but I need to work on the security and update some shop tools. Lots of work to do before it's setup the way I want. On the East side I have a brand new pole barn with concrete floor but I'm limited by tooling and there's basically no parts availability for anything within a few hours drive. Because of that my CDL is becoming useful, major repairs I can just load on the drop deck and haul back to the home shop to work on.

I've been working on center pivots lately, welding galvanized pipe 12 ft in the air with a stick machine is not the easiest welding I have ever done. Supposedly they bought a second pivot that will need to be hauled in and setup, I'm not sure when that is happening though.

My equipment hauling setup, 53' drop deck and a 2005 International 9400i, I have a fair amount of seat time in this truck already... Had to haul our Kubota back over to Scholtens for a warranty repair, lost 3 teeth on a constant mesh drive gear and they're not really sure why, last I heard they were leaning towards a manufacturing defect in the gear.

I hauled back the rear section of a Kuhn rotary rake on that trip, someone left out a roll pin last time they rebuilt the track and rollers, bad things proceeded to happen. As I am learning everything German is cheap to buy parts for...

I need to have a discussion with our equipment operators about checking gearbox temps while they're running... I suspect this is going to be another someone didn't put it together correctly, we'll see when I get it hauled back over and torn down. I would have loved to see the thermal image of this while it was running.

They spent thousands of dollars to get the A/C fixed last year and it hasn't worked since, I of course took the truck over to the East side and was a little grouchy that I didn't have air conditioning. It took about 3 minutes to find the problem. It amazes me the things that some shops will miss.

Nothing to see here... None of the lights worked, I can't imagine why...

My most recent project is setting up a sprayer, no pictures of that but it's been an interesting project. Had to go through and re plumb chemical lines, fix hydraulic leaks, replace wheels that were the wrong offset, etc... I need to wire the new console/flow rate controller and GPS but the wire harness didn't get shipped with the console so now I'm waiting on that.

Attention to detail among other things

As of recently I am now working for Utility Trailer Sales of WA on the reefer side of the shop (they are a Carrier Transicold dealer), I'm in the Auburn location for now and will hopefully be moving to the Mount Vernon store in a few months.

We're installing hybrid multi temp units right now and my project has been doing the front part of the installation (wiring, lots of wiring). I did work on the A/C in a bus one night too, seized fan motor, dirty condensing unit, leaks etc...

It's been an interesting 1st couple of weeks, I'm not sure what I think yet but I'll try and take some pictures and update as I go. The service manager and another tech have both commented that they like my attention to detail on the installs. They're talking some training this spring and then a 6 week Carrier class after the 1st year so we shall see.

Drop axle install part 2

Axle mounted in place while drilling the frame and brackets, because of axle spacing requirements I had to remove the fairing brackets to mount the axle. Those will go back on after some modifications to clear the tires and bracket flange

I installed all of the control valves and air lines required to operate the axle lift and brakes, also installed an air switch under the dash to lock out the drop axle unless there is a trailer connected. Wired in a relay that is controlled by the body control module, the relay provides the ground signal to controller through the air switch and raises the axle when the transmission is shifted into reverse. The shop foreman worked with Navistar to write a program to control the drop axle which I then programmed to the body controller.

Finished up today painting, mounting the fenders, the steps, and toolbox etc...

Drop axle install part 1

I'm installing a drop axle on a brand new 2016 International for our leasing department, started working on it yesterday afternoon. So far I have the air solenoid installed, plumbed in a pressure protected air supply to the control valve, mounted the control valve, pulled off the steps and side fairing supports, and fabricated a bracket for the pressure regulator and gauge.

I'm a little out of practice at welding aluminum but the bracket turned out alright when I was done. This is what the regulator, pressure gauge, and trailer 7 pin connector will be mounted to.

Mounted in place with regulator and gauge installed, still need to run air lines to the control valve. More to follow in a later post...