And just to top off my week, before I left Buffalo Pete, I found out that my fuel pump is leaking. So tomorrow it's back to the shop to have O-rings put in. I did make it home with the leak (and delivered the load)but it's pretty bad. Luckily this isn't an expensive fix.
Oh yeah, and my water temp gauge took a s**t, however I had one put on in November so it's still under warranty but I have to drive to Lancaster Pete on Saturday morning to have a new one put on. Then from there go to the CB shop because that dove off a cliff as well this trip. jeezuz man!
The one thing about being home to do repairs is, my mechanic, who was a CAT mechanic for 20 years and knows this B motor very well, will cut me a break if I help, so at least I can save some money till I learn how to do things myself. If I could have limped the truck home the drive shafts wouldn't have cost so much cause I could have done a lot of it myself.
That's another thing about breakdowns away from home, trusting people when you don't know them or who they deal with. I tend to develop solid relationships with vendors and stick with them till I have a reason not to. When your out of town you need to pay sharp attention to what's going on. I did see the loose carrier bearing and u-joint for myself as well as another u-joint that the caps fell off of so that gave me comfort that I wasn't being scammed. I didn't see the two different sized drive shafts but I saw the yolk on the one and it was wore badly. Now, Hunter Peterbilt in Lancaster has a good reputation so I was hoping that Hunter Pete in Buffalo did as well but you never know, not with the limited experience I have.
All in all I will say this, it totally sucked to spend that much money and pay for a hotel for two nights BUT, I really learned a lot and I'm glad to have experienced it. You can only get through a learning curve by learning and you don't learn from success or everything going right all the time. It actually gave me some confidence that I can spot or feel a problem and know to react right away and find a shop and ask questions. I know you veterans don't think it's a big deal but it is your first time through it.
Sure would be nice though if I could go the next six months just changing the oil and greasing the chassis.
Another thing, a while back there was a thread on here about the CLC card, well I got one after reading the thread and lo and behold it came in handy for this breakdown. The room in Buffalo was like 95.00 per night, since I was with Buffalo Peterbilt for repair it was 79.99 a night, but with my CLC card.......47.00 per night, almost half!
I think it was Rev that started that thread, so thank you Rev...............but I'm not sharing any of the savings with ya.
I'll buy you a Dr. Pepper if I ever see ya out there. If this truck don't let up on me it's going to be a very small Dr.Pepper.
Sometimes I think everyone is a one truck O/O, or a maybe O/O wannabe, and then of course there are a few with several trucks.
When it rains it pours. oh, and my leveling valve broke yesterday as well as my thermostat is stuck open and my CB is on the fritz. WTF??? Mondays are usually bad but c'mon. 
:eek2:
