[whine]Such fun.
I was up in Oregon last week, and was gonna be heading across Hwy 58 over to Klamath Falls. Needless to say, I had no chains (never needed them). Well, I figured I had better be safe than sorry, and stopped to buy a set. The guy at T/A was more than happy to sell them to me, and when I asked how to put them on, he told me "It's real easy", and gave me a 2 minute instruction on how to do so. They didn't have the right size for my trailer, but he told me the T/A down in Eugene might have them.
So I headed down to Eugene, and sure enough - they said they had the size I needed, so I bought a pair.
The next day, I was off - up into the mountains. I stopped about 7 or 8 miles from the summit to chain up, as I was seeing more and more cars in the ditch, and didn't want to risk it (as I was empty). I pulled off on the chain up area, and immediately got stuck - I couldn't go forward, but could go backwards.
I got out, and started trying to chain up. For the life of me, I couldn't seem to get the chains on the tires, though. I asked a cop who stopped if he knew how to do it, and he said "no". Yeah right. I asked a tow truck that decided to park RIGHT BEHIND ME if they could help, and they told me they had to get to a service call, and then proceeded to sit there for another 15 minutes.
4 hours later, I realized my problem - the T/A up by Portland who sold me the chains for my tractor sold me chains that were TOO SMALL, and the T/A down by Eugene that sold me chains for my trailer sold me chains that were TOO BIG. And I was stuck on the side of the road.
I managed to get one of the chains to go around my drive tire (just barely), and I jimmy-rigged it in place, and crossed my fingers that it would hold. I managed to get one of the trailer chains to stay on, and I got myself moving (finally).
I ended up losing the trailer chain, but not before it took out BOTH of my inner valvestems for the tandems, as well as the wiring for my turn signal. The tractor chain never budged (thank goodness). I ended up leaving one tractor chain on the side of the road, because when I managed to get the truck to move, I didn't want to stop again to pick it up, and risk getting stuck yet again.
Yesterday, I had scheduled a PM service at the Sacramento Peterbilt. I was also having a problem with my inverter not running properly and an exhaust leak, so I mentioned it to them. I took it in today at 7:00 AM. I actually BEAT the service reps in this morning. They finally pulled my truck into the shop at 1:00 this afternoon, and they found:
1. A blown exhaust manifold
2. A blown flexible exhaust pipe
3. 2 shot Optima Yellow top batteries ($200 each)
On top of that, while I was waiting this morning for them to open, my overhead light in the sleeper burned out. I attempted to replace the bulbs (which were both burned out), but apparently the entire unit is bad.
So here I sit in a hotel room for the next 2 days. I am going to have to rent a car on Thursday, as I need to go do my inventory on the shipment I have to load on Friday.
The plus side is:
1. The company picked up the tab for the trailer work
2. The exhaust manifold, flex pipe, and overhead light unit are covered under warranty (thank goodness for NEW TRUCK warranties, or it would have been about $1800 out of pocket)
3. The batteries MAY be under warranty - they are gonna fight it with Optima tomorrow.
4. The company found me an additional 5000 lbs to throw in my trailer, and it is a COD move, so it pays better.
5. I was waiting to load on Friday anyway. I just wish I would have gone in YESTERDAY, as then I wouldn't have to rent a car.
Such is the life of an Owner Operator. Those who think they can buy a $15,000 truck all on credit, and have a $3000 bankroll to finance the operation take note.
[/whine]
