One Of Those Days

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pipetrucker

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 13, 2010
937
1
Following the white rabbit
Well, yesterday was one of those days. I am hauling a fire truck out to Fort Sill, OK. I was making pretty good time and was on schedule to get through St Louis well before the afternoon rush hour curfew on over sized loads.
Well, that was until I suddenly heard a very loud, high pitched whine coming from my engine. I had an idea of what it was and knew it couldn't be a good thing so I backed off my speed and limped down to the next truck stop which was, luckily, only a few miles away.
The whine was extremely loud, sounding almost like a siren, and I got a lot of looks as I pulled into the parking lot. I raised the hood to try and determine where the sound was coming from and, as I had suspected, it was coming from the turbo. Nope, not good at all.
At 9:15 am I placed the call to our service department. An hour later they had decided that trying to drive the truck to a repair shop would likely do too much damage to the engine (duh) and they were setting up a road service call.
The road service guy showed up around 1:00 pm. By 4:00 pm the turbo was replaced and I was able to get on down the road. At this point I was sort of screwed because the afternoon curfew in St Louis had already started.
I went as far as Troy, IL where I had planned to stop for fuel anyway. I fueled up and parked my rig to do some quick calculations. The afternoon curfew ends at 6:30 pm. Lots of road construction combined with heavy traffic. Distance to the closest truck stop on the other side of St Louis with a parking lot large enough to park in with an over sized load. Sunset around 8:00 pm. Over sized load daylight only driving.
Nope, no way I could make it to that truck stop before I ran out of daylight. I was stuck here in Troy until after the morning rush hour curfew ends at 9:00 am. So here I sit.
I had hoped to deliver the fire truck today but now that is out of the question. Both Missouri and Oklahoma have me on some secondary roads to route around road construction and the Oklahoma tollway, on which over sized loads are not allowed, and I am forced to go about 150 miles out of my way to get to Ft Sill.
Also, my OK permit expires after today so we will have to order a revised permit to allow me to move the load through OK tomorrow.
Such is trucking.

 

lonestar

Lifer
Mar 22, 2011
2,854
161
Edgewood Texas
I dont think I could deal with all the oversize regulations you do.

Some of the routes they send you down make no sense to me, but what do I know?

Glad that got you rolling on the same day at least.

 

collin

Part of the Furniture Now
Oct 29, 2010
881
2
Oklahoma
Sorry to hear that Mason. The only time I destroyed a turbo, it was on a fire truck, in Oklahoma! I pulled out of the station and "WHAM!".....immediate loss of power and enough white smoke to cause 6 lanes of traffic to come to a screeching halt.
I accompanied it to the shop and was given the bad news that seeing as it was Mercedes engine there wasn't a turbo for it in the entire country, and there may not be one available anywhere. Four weeks later the one they found in Europe arrived.
I hope by the time you read this your at least out of this goofy state!
Best of luck to you!

 

pstlpkr

Lifer
Dec 14, 2009
9,694
31
Birmingham, AL
You're having yourself quite a stretch here lately.

Good thing you smoke a pipe... otherwise your BP might be just a tad too high.
You have a lot more patience than I have.
Be safe.

 

jasongone

Part of the Furniture Now
Mar 23, 2011
511
0
i grew up with an uncle and a grandfather (who acted as dad in his absence) who were both truckers, and i spent alot of time of the road with my grandfather until i was 16, when he retired from over the road driving. some of your posts and stories bring back many memories... although we never had to deal with oversized loads. just trying to climb over piles of onions pulling a heavy tarp during a severe and sudden down-pour in texas.

 

unclearthur

Lifer
Mar 9, 2010
6,875
5
I worked in truckstops for a long time in my wasted youth. Got to be friends with a bunch of truckers and heard all the stories. I sort of miss those days.

 

pipetrucker

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 13, 2010
937
1
Following the white rabbit
Thanks, gents.
It really has been a trying few days. After the turbo replacement the truck developed a very serious oil leak, on the order of a gallon every hundred miles. I am now laid over in Oklahoma City in the second repair shop trying to get the oil leak fixed. The first shop, down in Wichita Falls, TX replaced some o rings and said it was good to go but by the time I got here it was obvious the problem wasn't fixed.
I may or may not be stuck here all weekend. I will find out in the morning.

 

pipetrucker

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 13, 2010
937
1
Following the white rabbit
I spoke with the garage earlier, and the fellow said my truck should be ready to roll before Noon.
Lawrence, we are expecting delivery of my new truck around August. With any luck this will be the last of the mechanical issues with this one.

 

dawk

Might Stick Around
Aug 25, 2010
92
0
Next time you get stuck in good ole Troy, Ill give me a holler and I will show you the hot spots in town--It won't take long trust me. I live 5 min from the truck stop you were at!

 
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