Driving a Semi Tractor for Fun

Zeldman said:
I only use this stuff in my diesel pickup. 11 years and not a single injector problem. All my trucker friends steered me to it. I can tell a difference when I fill up and don't add any to the fuel.

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Yep, that's the stuff I used in my diesel pickups. I always could tell the difference as well. I bought a bottle of it and put it in the tanks when I got it. Only problem: The tank I put it in was the tank that the fuel system ended up not drawing significantly from. I need to buy another couple bottles and throw them in. Might drive the semi to work and tractor supply tomorrow to do that. :)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Seeing as right now the sleeper cab is just a thin metal layer above the engine, Dynamating that should help quite a bit with noise and vibration.
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And, throw a mattress in there as well. C'mon, you know you want to! ;);)

Zeldman said:
I only use this stuff in my diesel pickup. 11 years and not a single injector problem. All my trucker friends steered me to it. I can tell a difference when I fill up and don't add any to the fuel.
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I ran that stuff every few tanks in the Benz diesel, I suppose it helped.
 
weilke said:
And if he does that in a spot with a slightly soft embankment, he also has the opportunity to star in one of those russian 'truck epic fail' videos.
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Yes. I don't think the trailer was loaded to MGW either.

I would certainly have some spotters out on the road to help. By the time he gets the cab 90* to the trailer he has lost sight of the outside of the trailer, which is then on the very edge of the road. Also for a while he has the back axle tires hanging in the air.

-Skip
 
Bill Jennings said:
And, throw a mattress in there as well. C'mon, you know you want to! ;);)
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I definitely have thought about that for a number of reasons, including noise reduction. At the moment I'm just going to do the sound deadener until I figure out the configuration I want. i.e. do I want to be able to throw people in the sleeper area for short backroad drives so they can get the semi ride experience, or do I want to actually get this set up more like it would be for someone who was OTR trucking for the purposes of show or the like. I don't anticipate doing any long hauls with this where I would actually want to sleep in it. It'd need to be a lot more comfortable.

One other question for those in the know. I've found a trailer that looks pretty ideal for what I want. It was built in the 70s and has air over hydraulic brakes. I'm going to ask the seller how it's supposed to work, but I'm wondering if this would be a problem with my truck, which is set up for standard air brakes. The trailer is otherwise pretty much what I'm looking for and is priced well.
 
Why not get a boat to tow worthy of that rig? :)

Living vicariously,
Lurker
 
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Zeldman said:
I only use this stuff in my diesel pickup. 11 years and not a single injector problem. All my trucker friends steered me to it. I can tell a difference when I fill up and don't add any to the fuel.

View attachment 51931
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Back when I had my Dodge Ram with the Cummins diesel, I was advised by the service mechanic to put a few ounces of automatic transmission fluid in the tank after every fill up to provide additional lubrication for the injector pump. Whether it did any good I don't know, I did it for a while and stopped. A few years later I had to bring it in to the shop to fix some leaking fuel lines under recall warranty. I was initially afraid that the injector pump was going out, and the comment was 'these Bosch injector pumps don't go out.'
 
lurkerLuke said:
Why not get a boat to tow worthy of that rig? :)

Living vicariously,
Lurker
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This seems about right:
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Matthew said:
When are you getting a Zamboni?
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When it gets cold enough here that my pond freezes over enough for ice skating.

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If this winter is any indication, that will probably be "Never".
 
Matthew said:
Well, there was that one day I wore a coat.

I hope this doesn't mean we are in for a brutal summer. This old man can't take hot wx like he used to.
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We'll have to see. Last summer there were a lot of days that I wouldn't ride the motorcycle to work because it was too hot. The mornings would've been fine, but the afternoons would've been brutal. Of course, my bike is a black full dresser Harley, which isn't exactly the best bike for high temps. Maybe I need another sport bike or naked bike.

Tomorrow my parts ought to come in for the truck, so I'll make some progress over the weekend. Be interested to hear how the engine sounds once some of the cab noise gets muffled. From what I can tell it's technically illegal to run straight pipe on semis, although it seems the enforcement on that is relatively loose, similar to tinted windows or various other exhaust regulations. I need to figure out the right option there. The blown out muffler might be adding sound (and the wrong type of sound), and there are a bunch of muffler options that are mostly pretty cheap for these. I like the sound of diesels with straight pipes. Just need to make that decision.

Insurance ends up being remarkably cheap on this for personal use, right in line with my normal vehicles.
 
Can you temporarily use some muffler tape on it to see if that reduces the bad noise you're getting?
 
Bill Jennings said:
Can you temporarily use some muffler tape on it to see if that reduces the bad noise you're getting?
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The muffler has rust holes in the bottom. I noticed this when white smoke was coming out of the bottom of the muffler on a cold start. So my guess is the internal is screwed up completely. The cabovers provide a lot of room for resonance from the exhaust.
 
Matthew said:
We might get winter Saturday, between 8am and noon.
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My son decides that it's a particular season based on the weather that day. When we went to Florida in December it was winter here in Kansas and Summer when we got to Florida.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Back when I had my Dodge Ram with the Cummins diesel, I was advised by the service mechanic to put a few ounces of automatic transmission fluid in the tank after every fill up to provide additional lubrication for the injector pump. Whether it did any good I don't know, I did it for a while and stopped. A few years later I had to bring it in to the shop to fix some leaking fuel lines under recall warranty. I was initially afraid that the injector pump was going out, and the comment was 'these Bosch injector pumps don't go out.'
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They go out all the time, and there's a highly lucrative rebuild market for them. Dodge now wants $6000 for a new one. (In other words they want you to think you need to buy a new truck. Yay Mopar.)
 
denverpilot said:
They go out all the time, and there's a highly lucrative rebuild market for them. Dodge now wants $6000 for a new one. (In other words they want you to think you need to buy a new truck. Yay Mopar.)
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I heard they were problematic on the newer 24 valve engines. Mine was a '95.
 
Got my new steering wheel and knob yesterday. Need a steering wheel puller to get the old one off and finish the swap.

Also found a lot of my noise problem with the exhaust. The lower muffler clamp is completely rusted away, so it's not holding the muffler on. As such, the muffler is rattling against its support. That explains a lot of the unwanted noise. So, I do need to figure out what to do for the exhaust system - replace the muffler or do some form of straight pipe.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Got my new steering wheel and knob yesterday. Need a steering wheel puller to get the old one off and finish the swap.

Also found a lot of my noise problem with the exhaust. The lower muffler clamp is completely rusted away, so it's not holding the muffler on. As such, the muffler is rattling against its support. That explains a lot of the unwanted noise. So, I do need to figure out what to do for the exhaust system - replace the muffler or do some form of straight pipe.
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6" stainless and glass packs. :)
 
jsstevens said:
6" stainless and glass packs. :)
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Right now the truck has a 5" exhaust, with I believe a 10" muffler, which is pretty standard. I need to get exact measurements to see what a replacement costs. Getting a new muffler and clamp will be the cheapest option without a doubt. However I am also interested in anything that will increase performance on the gutless wonder. Maybe I'll just try pulling the muffler and drive it around the block like that to see what I think. That should give me a rough idea.

Looking at straight pipe options, you can go with basically any size you want. 5" or 5" going to 7" would probably be the way to go on this.

Oh, I also found out that my air locking differentials do work. While backing up I hit a low spot and the one pair of tires just started spinning. Hit the locker switch, air went to the differentials, and all 4 sets of tahrs in back started spinning. That's a nifty feature.
 
"Tahrs"! :)
 
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Ted DuPuis said:
The muffler has rust holes in the bottom. I noticed this when white smoke was coming out of the bottom of the muffler on a cold start. So my guess is the internal is screwed up completely. The cabovers provide a lot of room for resonance from the exhaust.
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Wouldn't you want straight pipes for the ultimate big truck sound?

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denverpilot said:
As long as no posts about polishing your knob show up, we're good. :)
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The ones I picked are arguably a bit tacky but work for what I'm thinking for this truck. I'll post pics. :)
 
tmyers said:
Wouldn't you want straight pipes for the ultimate big truck sound?

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That's correct, and I do love turbo whistle. But I also do want it to be something I can drive a longer distance if I want.
 
Matthew said:
Hmmm...still have your old props?
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Yes. One is getting turned into a light fixture for our entry way. The plan is to sell the other one, but we haven't gotten there yet.

Kinda thinking a Smokey and the Bandit / Texas truck kinda theme.
 
Zeldman said:
Are the jakes working..??

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That is one annoying omission from this truck - no jake brake. I wish it had one. I'm actually somewhat surprised it doesn't given that they went with the 13-speed transmission and it was purchased for training purposes. You'd think they'd want to teach the kids how a jake brake works. The brakes on it work so-so since most of the braking power is in the back and I'm driving it with no trailer or load. I also still have a sticking brake issue I need to address.
 
Oh man, no jakes......... that is what makes a truck sound like a TRUCK.....:)
 
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