Cresson Ridge garage, at the Cresson exit on rt 22, just east of Altoona never done any buisness with them, but other friends have, all good reports

 

And so it goes with most buisness owners, not just trucks either, have seen lots of other talented, educated people fall the same way............

 

no misfortune really just one of those times. i learned a while ago doing this no point of crying over spilt milk. the rates are nothing more then awful. i do think the economy is a lot worse off then anyone thinks. this is all part of the game i guess. oh to top things all off.. thursday night i'm sleeping really well.. its that time of the year you need heat but don't.. so i left it off. sleeping really really well. wake up cold reach over to put the bunk heater on.. nothing. i just laughed got up got the other blanket and went to sleep. all getting mad does is make you feel worse and the situation the same.

 

Good point Firebird! In my mind, i'm with you...Still getting pissed off tho... That's human...

 

Gman your tranny sounds alot like what mine did way back in 96 when I was in AL when I was driving for a Smaller Mom and pop outfit in IL. Truck was an 88 KW T600A model lightweight and I mean Lightweight even full tank all my crap in it it was 13K out the door. Well I am in AL and the transmission is hanging up in gear and also sounding like a washing Machine. Called the boss he said Deadhead in we do not need it broke down on the side of the road. Get back to the shop with my empty Trailer. Drop the wagon and pull the truck into the shop. The check the Transmission oil level WHAT OIL in the transmission. The shop pulled the transmission and the top plate off. They find the Main shaft is Busted but being held together by 2 gears. I drove her home with broken Main shaft 800 Miles. Bossman never doubted me when I said I could get a sick truck home after that one.

 

Yep, that is the shop. They have treated my friend very well at that shop. I have cards from shops across the country where I have been treated fairly. When possible, I try to get to the one that is nearest to my location. I have a shop in Arkansas that did a good job for me once and I have used him several times since. The shop is near Fort Smith. When my driver broke down, I called this guy. He got the truck towed by a friend of his and got my driver back on the road in a couple of days. The thought the price was very fair. I would recommend that any owner keep a file or list of shops where they have been treated fairly while on the road. There are too many who are more than willing to take advantage on the road.

 

You were very lucky to get the truck home, ironeagle. Unless it is something that must be dealt with on the road, I nearly always try to make it home. In this last case, it took me about 5 days just to get into the shop. Had I done this on the road, I might have had to spend that time in a motel rather than in my own bed. That was a very light weight truck you had there, ironeagle.

 

Alum Framed and wheels 60 inch Flat top single 140 gallon tank single Screw with a tag axle M11 Cummins rated at 350 we joked as the drivers if it could be made out of Alum on those trucks it was. This should give you an idea of what I did haul weight wise with that old girl. Was told go scale out one of the bosses old 40 foot vans make sure I was full of fuel and go to the local bolt blank plant. I hauled 55 Thousand Lbs of Blanks to Philly and still had 1 ton I could have hauled. My Backhaul was 54 K of Honey and I was like that's it.

Boss used these 5 and he had 5 of them normally for hauling heavy Liquid loads in his tanker fleet. Why because he could get another 4K lbs of product in the trailers and paid alot more. I did not sweat weighing a reload out unless I had one of our Heater Trailers on and it weighed over 47K.

 

Aluminum can really lighten up a truck. I have a friend who owned a 9200 International with a 51" sleeper. I bought an East all aluminum trailer and could scale over 51,000 pounds with that combination.

 

I have been saying this for months. Something is not right. I don't care what they put in the newspaper. We on the ground can see it. Funny just a few months ago Time magazine had on it's cover that trucking was one of the best small businesses to get into. I said once it it's the cover of a major media outlet you've missed the boat. Last couple of years was great. But the party is over for now. Then just the other day now all of a sudden there was a WSJ article saying things aren't looking good for trucking. I've lost a few people lately as they wanted to buy their own truck. All about timing. They should have done that a couple of years ago. Now is the worst time to get in. (Well trucks are cheaper but there is an obvious reason for that).