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9-06-2006

 

  

What a day, with the conference getting near (opening tomorrow evening with the cookout) books are being made etc and I still have a little (getting smaller) list for our Sunday evening trip to the salt flats. I feel blessed with a great group of people both employees and friends.

The entire week has been a zoo around here but overall very smooth (tempers actually have been very good all week).

One of my remaining tasks was to calibrate our 140 mph Steward Warner speedometer on our chassis dyno. Our dyno has a neat little program where you run the vehicle at 30 on the speedo and then 60 on the speedo and it does a printout telling you how correct or incorrect you are . Ours was off 6 mph. My dyno was built by Mac Vandenbrink and this feature is a cool deal. A small adjustment (we used a adapter that was adjustable) was made and it was correct and on the money. Cool the day is going great!

 
   
Next I took the truck next door to check the loading ramps and we (Donnie Basala and I ) decided that we should take one more shake down drive to verify the new front sway bar and additional leaves in the springs had stabilized the front end. Also we had changes the header collectors and tail pipes to 3 inch and the truck actually sounded better as well.

Off we went on interstate 74 to Brownsburg with somewhat light traffic and only one visible radar cop right as we left speedway toward Brownsburg. The truck pulls well with the 350 rear axle and cruises at 80 mph really good. When the traffic allowed we got on the throttle and the truck pulls pretty steady up to 102-103 mph. We did this a couple times with a top speed of 104 mph at 4200 rpm. There was more there but the traffic wouldn't allow the run to last that long.

We blew by one older lady in a white van and when we slowed back down as we entered speedway she went by and shook her finger at us with a grin.
   
Back at the shop we loaded the truck on the bus for the first time and strapped it down. Once loaded it was 11:30 and we decided (four of us) that a ride to Lebanon Indiana would be a good test drive loaded and there was a buffet at a hotel up there for lunch. The ride was good and the bus will cruise at 65-70 mph with some slow down on a long grade to 60-65 with the other semis in the lane. On the trip I remarked that I thought the brakes felt a bit odd but with no experience it may not be a concern?? After the 50 mile round trip Walt cleaned the radiator and noticed a small brake fluid leak at the master cylinder brake switch. It appears that fluid is coming out of the brake lamp connector. We cleaned it up and washed the area and took the bus out again for some wood at the lumberyard for out pits on the salt.

 
   
The third red light or so the brakes went to the floor and I had to use the emergency brake to stop the truck!! WOW, what a feeling ! I limped the bus to a friends shop down the street and we checked the brake fluid to find the cylinder was empty and when filled it ran on the pavement out a broken rusted out front brake line. We both were really excited to see this failure BUT somewhat happy to see it here and now instead of the middle of IOWA or out west on our trip. Further limping to our shop the decision was made to go get a new brake line and brake switch. Walt did the new line while Topper and I went to International and bought the new switch. Once installed the new line worked well the brakes felt better but still leaked thru the new switch. Another trip back to International for a complete assembly. Installed and bleed the truck now has perfect brakes.

While all this was going on Scott and Mike installed a new CB radio and a satellite car pack so we could used Scott's satellite radio on our trip. WOW what a day? BTW after one test drive to a breakfast shop down the street I love the radio set up already.

More as we head west.
 

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