[devildice]

Originally Posted by Rev.Vassago

Devildice made me do it.:thumbsup:

And I appreciate you taking action Rev.

[tracer]

devildice, how do you like the 3:36 axle ratio on your Pete? Is it better than the 3.58 on your previous Western Star? I know you're rolling all over the country. Would be interesting to hear which one in your opinion is more suited for day to day driving. I know you had 24.5 tires, and wonder what size tires are on your Pete.

I'm in Canada and often have to run in the North-East.. My truck has 3.73s with 295 LP tires and I'm a bit slow. Have CAT C15 550 HP with a 13 speed. My Cat does 1350 RPM at 59 MPH

[devildice]

Originally Posted by tracer

devildice, how do you like the 3:36 axle ratio on your Pete? Is it better than the 3.58 on your previous Western Star? I know you're rolling all over the country. Would be interesting to hear which one in your opinion is more suited for day to day driving. I know you had 24.5 tires, and wonder what size tires are on your Pete.

I'm in Canada and often have to run in the North-East.. My truck has 3.73s with 295 LP tires and I'm a bit slow. Have CAT C15 550 HP with a 13 speed. My Cat does 1350 RPM at 59 MPH

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond.......I don't really see much of a difference. Sometimes I think that the Star pulls the hills a little better but I am not sure if it's because it had 3:53 rears or was a 500hp and this Pete is set at 475hp.

[matcat]

Originally Posted by devildice

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond.......I don't really see much of a difference. Sometimes I think that the Star pulls the hills a little better but I am not sure if it's because it had 3:53 rears or was a 500hp and this Pete is set at 475hp.

Sounds like your pete is spec'd nearly identical to mine.

[devildice]

Guess it's that time again......

Myself along with 4 other drivers loaded some Marine Harrier Aircraft support equipment at the Naval Air Facility in El Centro, CA on Monday the 29th of June headed to MCAS Cherry Point, NC. The Marines had told us that we could either deliver by 2pm eastern time on Thursday or wait until Tuesday as they were taking Friday thru Monday off when they returned to NC.

As I got got rolling down the road I started to calculate my time and distance to Cherry Point, I figured out that if I wanted to deliver Thursday I would have to run a little hard and do nothing less than about 750 miles a day. By the time I had reached the I-10/I-20 split in Texas, I decided to just swing by the house for a few days and deliver Tuesday. Talking with the other drivers, they too had all decided to do the same thing.

I spend the next few days at home relaxing and taking care of few things around the house. My son, who will be going off to college on a Navy ROTC scholarship this August wanted to come out one more time with me for a couple of weeks so him and I jumped in the truck Sunday morning and made our way to NC. I did not have any other loads lined up by the time I got empty so I bounce to the nearest TS to wait. Lucky for me the wait was about 30min. when I got a load of roofing shingles from Oxford, NC to Oklahoma City, OK that actually paid pretty decent.

We made the drop in OK City and headed over to the TA for the night. The following morning the same agent that I just delivered for called and asked if I would be interested in going from Catoosa, OK to Grand Junction, CO for a rather healthy rate. Even though the rate was tempting, normally I would have said no because CO can be hard to get out of for a flatbed, however, I jumped on the load board and there was a decent paying load coming out of Montrose, CO headed to Ennis, TX. Since I need to start heading towards the house to drop my son off, I decided to book both loads.

I am currently sitting at a TS in Grand Junction which happens to be across the street from my customer. I am letting my log book reset and the come Monday morning I will drop this load and bounce down to Montrose and pick up the other one.

I was looking over the map and the most practical route out of Montrose would be to take US 50 over to Lamar and then hwy 287. US 50 is not a restricted route but looks like it could be a little challenging. I talked to a couple of friends and one said don't take it and the other said it's not too bad but you just got to be on your "toes" in a few areas.

Since it is summer and the load is supposed to only weigh 20k I am thinking about taking it. If I was to back track up to Grand Junction and across I-70 it would add about 160 extra miles on. If anyone is familiar with that stretch of US 50 and can respond before I head out Monday morning, I would appreciate your input.

[ComfortablyNumb]

DD,

First post for me here... I've been lurking and doing my research like you did and have been enjoying this whole thread immensely, so I'm glad to be able to contribute something... Got laid off at 56 and looking into trucking now... hope I'm not too old...

I don't drive a truck (yet...) but do ride this route all the time on the motorcycle so can comment on it somewhat. It's a GREAT motorcycle route, BTW.

Coming right out of Montrose there is pass before Cimarron (can't remember the name) but it's not too bad. I've seen semis on that all the time. There is narrow 2 lane in the area between Cimarron and Sapinero where you will likely be holding up traffic. On second thought, this is tourist season so maybe not... Once to Sapinero there are stunning views of the canyons and Blue Mesa lake/reservoir before coming into Gunnison. This section is well worth the effort of driving this route since it's so beautiful.

If you're stopping for lunch in Gunnison, there is a great sandwich shop near the NE corner of Hwy 50 and Hwy 135 called Firebrand. Just saying...

After Gunnison you'll be driving over Monarch Pass. This is likely the most challenging part of the drive. I think it's up around 10-11,000 ft. Again I've seen semis on this so just take it easy coming down the other side into Poncha Springs. This also has some amazing scenery and is well worth the effort if you don't mind taking the time. Continuing on Hwy 50 past Salida, it runs along the Arkansas River and again some very nice scenery until Canon City where (for a motorcyclist at least...) it gets flat and boring again.

It's my guess that it will take about as much time to drive the Hwy 50 route as to do the extra miles to bypass it, but the scenery will be some of the nicest you'll ever run into. I'd say do it.

HTH, any questions, post 'em here I'll be glad to comment. I absolutely love these roads and take them all the time. :bow:

Greg

[matcat]

I did US 50 in the winter grossing 80,000, it isn't that bad.

[matcat]

As a matter of fact, I have pics of Monarch pass to prove my winter traverse over it

All of the following are US 50

[tootie04]

Beautiful ride....keep an eye out for elk!! We did that run in the Fall....no worries!

[devildice]

Thanks to all of you for the info. I love to run secondary roads especially when they have beautiful sights and based on matcat's pics, I think it will be a nice run.

Thanks again, I appreciate you all!!!