I've been pretty ornery all week. The weather sucks but that hasn't been the only problem. I'm self employed (milk hauler) and my milk truck Is doing all It can to put me under the last few weeks. 2 weeks ago one of the 2 turbo's on my truck went out along with the air/after cooler. Total parts and labor- $4000.00. Ouch I said!! Last week at 3:30 In the morning I had just left my last stop on that load and was heading In to the milk plant to unload. We had gotten about 6 Inches of snow that night and the wind was blowing. I put down my tag axle as I do when I get loaded. Something didn't feel right the whole way Into town. It was like I was lacking power. I was thinking that being the drifts were very hard from the -15 below temps and somewhat deep, that was probably what was slowing me down. After getting to the milk plant I saw what was causing the problem. The brakes In my tag axle had both high cammed and were stuck open which In turn had locked my tag axle brakes up which In turn roasted my tires. With all of the snow and snow dust I couldn't see that they were locked up. I roasted 4 tires (2 tires on each hub on the tag axle). At $300.00 a piece I was out $1200.00. Fast forward to Tuesday of this week. I was on my 2nd load of 4 loads I haul on this particular day. I was just pulling Into my last dairy farm of this load and poof, there goes all of the antifreeze! Blew a hole In the seam of the radiator. I backed the truck up to the barn and shut the truck off and pumped the milk out of the farmers tank. I called the tow truck guy to give me a tow to the shop that does the work I can't do. 6 hours later and $1600.00 dollars parts and labor later I had It back on the road again. I couldn't believe It, $1000.00 for a damn radiator! None the less It was back on the road again which Is the main thing. I planned on taking Wednesday off as I had some wood to be cut and split so my one full time employee took the route for me yesterday. At 5:00 yesterday morning he calls me and says the bottom radiator hose Is leaking. I'm thinking this Is getting real old but lets just hope the guys at the shop didn't tighten the hose good enough. My employee try's tightening the bottom hose but said It wasn't that loose. Anyhow It's still leaking but not to bad. I told him to keep picking up milk and we'll look at It tonight when the truck gets In. 3 hours later while I was splitting wood, my cell phone rings and my employee (Jack) tells me the top radiator hose blew of the radiator. He said It didn't actually blow up but just came off of the neck of the radiator. So off I go with 10 gallons of antifreeze to meet up with him and fill the truck back up with antifreeze. On the drive over I'm thinking what's causing all of these coolant problems?? I kept saying to myself there seems to be allot of pressure In the coolant system somewhere. Then It dawned on me, the air compressor that pumps air for the truck must be leaking air Into the cooling system. The air compressor on the truck Is cooled by antifreeze. If the head gasket on the compressor goes It can pump air Into the cooling system. That was my thinking anyway. Once I got there we filled up the truck with antifreeze but this time I didn't tighten the radiator cap thinking the pressure would sift out of there slowly to get us by for the time being. Sure enough It worked great and no more leaks. The problem still wasn't fixed though as I needed a new air compressor for the truck. Finally I was able to find another milk hauler to pick up one of my loads so I could get the truck back to the shop so the guys could throw an air compressor on. $1500.00 dollars later It was done. Turbo and cooler- $4000.00 Tires and brakes- $1400.00 Radiator- $1600.00 Air compressor- $1500.00 Tow bill- Haven't got It yet. Total- $8500.00 I talked with the shop foreman yesterday evening and said there's no way possible I can pay all of this at once. I told him It's going to take me a few months to pay all of this but each month I'll pay as much as I can. He didn't say much so I'm not sure what his take on It Is. It better not be a problem as I spend anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000 a year at this shop so they know me well and make a good coin off of me. I've had a few repair bills high but never one this high In a 2 week period. Can my week get any worse? Stay tuned as It Isn't over yet.
That sucks, Steve. Hanging your own shingle is both rewarding and scary as hell. I hope your luck swings.
Me too Jeff, me too. Nothing ever breaks when It's warm out either, It's gotta do It when It's miserable cold out. Such Is life I guess.
Wow, what a week for you Steve. The joys of trying to chase the American dream. Like the old saying goes, when it rains, it pours. Hope the rest of the week and winter treat you a lot better.
An $8500 repair bill is pretty rough. Hopefully you can get everything back in working order, shortly.
Mine always waits till the middle of winter to break down, Blazer is waiting for me to put a starter on it right now but at -4 this morning that aint going to happen. Sure hope things lighten up for you.
I was wrong, wasn't the air compressor. Just wasted a bunch of cash there. My driver blew the same hose off again. Just met up with him and dumped another 5 gallons of antifreeze In. After filling It up I loosened the the radiator cap again thinking that If there's pressure coming from somewhere else this will get me by. I just got off of the phone with the shop I brought It to. Were going to try and get In In there and do a pressure test. I'm lost and pissed!
AMEN!!! I sort of feel the pain Steve.... I've lost my block heater this week, my tranny started slipping a couple weeks ago, and I just had to go buy a new tailgate because my old one just crapped out the guts for the latches..... :D My total bill ain't gonna touch yours though. Thank GOD for the ability to DEDUCT expenses, otherwise it'd hurt even more.... What engine do you have in that truck??? I could be wrong, but $4000 for a Turbo and aftercooler sounds a bit high..... I think I could get a whole new system for my truck for around $2000, but I also have a SMALLER engine I'm sure being a 5.9L Cummins. The tranny was my own fault though, I just "upped" the power with a Fueling/Timing box, and I found out that 530HP and 1100ft/# of torque is TOO MUCH for a NV4500 transmission with 180K + on it....... Hope things get better (and SOON) for you buddy.
Heavy Truck parts are VERY expensive. Nothing compared to a regular pickup. My diesel motor Is a Cat, C13 to be exact. My diesel Is probably twice the size of your pickup motor thus the price difference. Thanks Doug and everyone else for the good luck!! I need some for once.
Sounds like you are being tested to the limits and handling it quite nicely. Chin up and good things will come. Just one of those spells that builds character and drains bank accounts.
Steve ,hate to hear you having so many truck problems.I'm a self employeed truck mechanic here in S.C. Truck parts are really expensive,it has gotten worse in the last several years it seems.What you're paying seems to be in line though.As for your cooling system problem sounds like possibly a head gasket.Hope things change for the better really soon. Don
Thought of that too. Hoping this Isn't the case. If this problem doesn't go away come Monday I'll have to some how find a truck to rent and get mine In the shop for a few days and put some quality time Into diagnosing this problem. Thanks Don.
Man i know how your feeling. Never fails every year when its time to get back in the fields stuff goes hay wire. We run every piece of equipment through our shop in the winter and you can still never seem to fix everything, and most of the time its the stuff that you don't fix because its perfectly fine that breaks. But we had major semi troubles hauling grain about a month ago, was sitting at the elevator dumping and all of a sudden the elevator employee knocks on the door and says shut the truck off, i get out and every last drop of oil was pouring out of an oil line. Sometimes is hard to catch a break.
Sorry to hear about your bad luck here, Steve. You have my respect running the business you do. LOTS of hard work, long hours, and financial stress like this. Hope everything turns around for you quickly!
Sorry to hear it Steve! Hope you have some great months to make up for it. I will say that stuff does break when it's warm out. Like when you're 250 miles from home, it's 2am and rainy/stormy.
