Ok, so this winter has been a particularly harsh one where I live. This causes more wear and tear on older trucks, such as what we all here drive. During this time more than any other, it is likely the things that have been failing will begin to fail finally or make noise. First example, was from a long time ago, I first completed the 4x4 conversion on my 1985, and I needed a speedometer cable, this was something I did not have, as my locals only had 4x2 speedometer cables. (They are too short), So I took the one I had for a 4x2, that was way too long, trimmed it down and welded some nuts together to make it all work. This naturally was not sealed, and with cold weather allowed moisture in (which froze) and made the worst noises. So, it came time to fix this, which also while I was there my cheap glow plug controller was giving me grief. It was trying to activate while driving, which is just unacceptable. So, I went in and fixed it too... Now, my Transmission was shifting terribly, and to make matters worst, 3rd gear (C6) was all but gone. It would NOT find 3rd, no matter how high I got the RPMs. So I can get away with this for a while, the snow is rough, nobody is going over 30. But still, I had a rather large mystery on my hands. I swapped a speedometer cable and glow plug controller, and now my Transmission is mad... Turns out after lots of looking, my air cleaner had pinched my vacuum hoses and caused them to fail. Thus shutting down my shifts, and causing all my woes. To make matters even more hilarious, while driving home I heard a noise... like a loud banging noise. This had me really worried, as with a transmission acting up, I do not want to look back and see my Transfer Case sitting on the ground. Then I looked to my side and saw it was just the beauty of nature. As when a Dodge with a Cummins grows too old for it's existing drive shaft, it sheds the old one to make room for a new one. Like a snake, and just as graceful. So sure enough to my side is a drive shaft sitting on the ground. Did the driver stop? No, he probably though it was that death wobble coming back or something. But then, the snow kept falling and somebody tried to pull out a brand new dodge minivan by the rear trac bar. That was waiting for me when I got to work to fix. Winter is fun, and nature is beautiful. Thought I would share, with some pics.

My peasant speedometer cable. To my credit, the transmission tech helping me didn't think it would work. It held for over a year.

My oops of pinching it with my air cleaner against the fire wall. The damage careless repair caused me

Left over Dodge driveshaft skin, you will see these often as they need to shed frequently in the winter. (God nature is beautiful)

A prime example of what not too hook up to when pulling something out of a ditch. Good for keeping my hours up though

 

People is dumb!

I agree that the winter is harsh on our trucks. I've been driving my Kia too often.

 

If you're near any decent sized town, don't they have a shop that does speedo cable repairs? One of the truck shops I worked in had a speedo cable repair kit. Bulk rolls of cable and cable housings of different diameters, plus all the various ends that could be put on with the crimper.

 

This is still my favorite one ever:

 

GEEZ!

I thought it was bad when they bent the bumper cover.

 

Unfortunately I am in a tech heavy city. Speedometer cables are a rare thing here.

 

Doesn't bronco graveyard have speedo cables? I know they have gears..
love the mini documentary on dodge's driveshaft shedding habits, my truck "shed" a u-joint once at 55mph lol

 

I am sure they do have them. Just have to order them. However going from a 4x2 to a 4x4 changed a few things. So I had to order one with the connections I needed (Cruiser Control and greater than 72 inches) due to my using a BW 1356 instead of a more traditional NP205. Also my layout was slightly different. But ultimately they do make still the right cables for my rig. Even with modifications

 

I also "shed" a drive shaft once at 45mph, I was deceling to make a turn into a road not far from home and the drive shaft fell out and got ran over by my rear tire. Things got interesting since the parking brake didn't work, had to run out into a highway to grab it before a big rig ran it over.

I just bailing wired the cross back in and made it the last half mile. Still miss that ol dodge, but it wasn't what this diesel Ford was..

 

i know that feeling. When my u-joint failed it was the one right behind the transfer case, so it was very loud and the drive shaft left a gouge in the underbody, and continued to be spun by the rear tires. I got home by putting it in 4x4, so I had a front wheel drive idi f250 lol

 

The worst almost disaster that comes to mind was when a temporary mechanic worked with us for the summer. If a know-it-all mouth could have fixed trucks, the rest of us could have stayed home. The boss had him and I team up doing a sleeve job on a Kenworth plus something else that involved pulling the driveshaft. The job was almost done and he got sent out of town and another mechanic and I finished it up. The other guy test drove it, came back and checked for a weird vibration. Holy Crap, the know-it-all had just started the bolts on the carrier bearing to hold up the 2 piece HEAVY driveshaft while he tightened the 2 ends then forgot to tighten the carrier brg support bolts. If the driveshaft had of dropped down it probably would have torn the back half of the Roadranger trans off and who knows what else. And if that little slice of heaven wasn't enough for one day, the foreman jumps all over me when he spots coolant running down the right side of the block. I told him I'm not taking a butt-chewing for something I didn't do, I did the left head and I told that clown while he did the right head, you had to glue down all 4 corners of the big quad ring in its block groove or it would slip but he knew better, therefore big time coolant leak. (8V92 Detroit Diesels don't use head gaskets) Our supreme leader said pull it out on the line, it'll be waiting for him when he gets back in town.

 

OMG we just got rid of one of those. He came in and no kidding claimed to have invented the tire. His words "I told them if they tilted the tread slightly, that it would make a mean mud tire. So I called up (some legendary tire company) and told them to make me a custom tire. They did, and it worked so good, they called me back and told me they wanted to use the design." (Read that in as best you can a... how to describe... Uneducated trailer park accent?) And you get the feeling of this clown. He wouldn't stop saying how his 5.9 gas dodge motor was getting too much air, so he had to put a two barrel throttle body on it. Instead of one large blade, because too much air caused a loss of power on a "custom" Edelbrock "high flowing" intake that he had custom designed with fuel injectors drilled into it for multi port.. He was aware of what the basic parts of a car or truck are. But he had no clue how any of them worked. A true legend in his own mind. He quit and went right back to where he came from when he couldn't afford the rent here. Which he was renting an "entire house" with garage space a shop, and a full yard, for practically pennies. Personally I think he was a hobo... his work history showed him getting fired from every job within a few months.... Those people need to come with a warning label, to save the jobs for decent employees.

 

Good idea, never thought of that.

 

Man I feel your pain. I am basically a B tech, I don't have the ability at my smaller shop to take on Heads or anything like that. Only 2 mechanical bays and the most of the work at our shop's front end is tires and general stuff. I do mostly Brakes, Struts, sometimes springs and very rarely T-Case replacements. But I swear, every person we hire walks in the door claiming an ASE masters from Wyotech, with 30 years experience. I no kidding had a parts counter guy claim 23 years of experience when he was 26... I am not the best by any means, I ask for advice because I am terrible more often than not... But one thing I have going, is I humble myself and take pride in doing my repairs right. That way I don't have to do it again. In a misery loves company kind of way, I am kinda glad to see it is not just me that attracts the morons too lol. For Diesels it really has to be a pain though. All of those parts are stupid heavy.

 

we had one of them a few years ago too. knew everything.
after he got fired from our shop i heard he bullshevicked his way into a firetruck repair facility. and telling everyone he was the shop foreman.
well, one day he started chasing a guy around the building with a pipe wrench in his hand because the "stranger" was trying to tell him how to do his job.
said "stranger" was the owner of the company.