Dawn now breaking.

I take my hat off to you Steve, I have driven (a car) in Canada, and by the second week of arrow straight roads for mile after mile I was ready to slash my wrists.

Keep the shiny side up

Ian

Camstream info says Steve has 18 viewers at the moment.

170 miles to go:- http://wikimapia.org/#lat=40.706669&...10&l=0&m=h&v=2

Morning fellas:)

Well, pulled into this truckstop for coffee, but 2 miles ago, the truck accelerated ts own, the speedometer went wild, and then the truck started making horrible vibration and loud noises. LOL

NOT GOOD.

Notified maintaince department, waiting on word back from them.

From the sounds and feel of things, this might be the end of the line for today. LOL

Oh dear. Mighty Volvo gone cucumber! (sorry, that's a Scandinavian joke).

As a vehicle test engineer (retired) my first guess was inter-axle differential (if it was mechanical noise), but I'm not so sure.

Unintentional increase in speed / speedo going wild / vibration. Maybe it's engine-management / fuel?
Could've helped you more if it was a DDAD (Detroit Diesel).

Preliminary fact finding shows a broken leveler valve.....which supplies air to the tractorairbags. This makes the second one to be replaced for this truck. lol.

ok....update from dispatch.....since I cant move the valve arm to manually inflate airbags.....

transmission syncros have frozen. Truck gets towed to volvo dealer. :(

OUT OF SERVICE until I get fixed....but will still have the camera on as much as possible. :)

Sorry fellas.

Will they uncouple (and what happens to the produce in your trailer)?
How far to the dealer?

Unusual symptoms for such a seemingly unrelated part failure.

I guess it's a locally (ie US) designed and manufactured part rather than a Swedish bit.
How many vehicle miles?

Yes, the trailer is now dropped, and I will wait until another driver comes and gets it. The load will be saved since delivery is not until tomorrow morning. :)

Nebraska is a split tow state. That means they cant tow me and a trailer....so I will be bobtail-towed to the volvo dealer in Salina, Kansas. 160 miles south of here.

The synchro "doohicks" in the transmission froze up, so down for the count. LOL.

This a 2008 Volvo VN 670, and it has 226,000 miles on it. I have not been impressed with Volvo at all. I have been in the shop many times for everything ya can imagine. I was in the shop for 10 days for electrical problems when the truck only had 6,000 miles on it, not even a month old!

Looks like another $$$ bonus gone for the quarter. :(

Sounds expensive as well.

Sorry to hear of your problems, Steve.

Well, thanks. Stuff hapens. LOL

This is exactly why I am a company driver, and not owner-operator.

Every expense is the company worry. LOL. The towing fee is $2/mile, and they pay all the stuff everytime something happens. But, truck is under warranty, so company is covered. We always turn trucks in and get a new one before 500,000 miles.

BTW, Coastie...I aint forgot about the inside truck pics....LOL, but had my hands full so far. LOL

Thanks Steve. As I said, at your convenience and whenever you're ready.

Such is the life of a trucker. LOL. Real time. Not edited. LOL

Folks that visit BigRigTravels get to see life on the road. Good, Bad, Ugly.

:)

:cool:

So do you have any 'facilities' (apart from peeing in a bottle) in your cabin for when you are stuck out in the wilds?
Will the company pay board for you if you have to leave the truck for several days?
What happens with 'puss'?

Ya think I am a movie star? LOL

Ya do what ya need to survive. LOL

If I sit at a dealer, I get to bum around and take pics of stuff nearby, or take a taxi to places, etc. They usually have a lounge since truck dealers understand that people live in their trucks. If the repairs take days, and the dealer is not open at night, they will usually push the truck outside so folks can sleep in it. I have never heard of a dealer being all alone in the wilds. LOL Usually there are restraunts nearby, or truckstop, etc.

If it came down to it (like when dealer had truck for 10 days) the company paid for hotel. Heck, In Arizona two years ago, i was in a 5 star hotel for 3 days! NICE hotel. LOL. Cat can stay in the truck, but I do visit, feed, etc....so not like she is alone. LOL

If I had/get a motel that allows pets, then she would come with me.

Pretty much gotta take things, and see what options are available, and what I can do, where it is, etc.

I will keep ya'll posted on what is going on. :)

BTW, this is kinda cool...:) I actually got folks who are a part of me ....many miles away. LOL :)

Oh, we're all rootin' for you Steve and hoping you're not off the road for too long.:)

Thanks. We enjoy having you aboard.
As I've said, many of us are 'has-beens' rather than still truckin' . . .

(Hey, folks we got us a real live Yank - hope that's not offensive to you, Steve.)

Sadly, I'm not even a has been, I've only ever driven one tractor unit and that, strangely enough, was a Volvo.

Hi Steve
Not fond of the Volvo, .......so what Unit would you like?

Ian

I guess you have to separate 'Volvo' from 'White' as I suppose much of the truck relates to US-designed-and-sourced parts. I'm not suggesting that Volvos don't break.

Are there any Mercedes trucks in the US?

Thinking about you in the north of Scotland Steve :)

I was puzzled by Steve's predicament - how come that failure of an air-valve could disable the truck?
Frozen synchros? He'd been driving FFS so the transmission could hardly be cold. Then I realised that by frozen he meant seized. So how did the synchros get screwed whilst driving along a freeway?
The answer is that the transmission is automated-shift which needs air to operate the shifters. Air that is leaking via the faulty air-suspension valve . . .

Driving without air-suspension isn't impossible (apart from a rough ride) and driving without synchros isn't impossible - but shifting an automated-shift gearbox without air isn't possible.

However, I believe that any breakdown-mechanic could isolate the air-suspension valve and restore air to the transmission to enable delivery of the load to Omaha . . .

Just my opinion.

Mind you, I've spent years dealing with broken trucks and more years designing air systems or trucks (including gearboxes).

What make is the white 'shooting brake'?
 

Buggah - it's gone now!

I've seen several of these white 'estate cars' passing Steve (usually only slightly faster). Not a 'van' or SUV.

Of course the air problem could be caused by the transmission shifters (or, indeed, neither . . .) It might be just a split pipe.

The brakes will be 'protected' to provide at least secondary performance continuously (unless the compressor supply fails, then the spring-brakes would be available but couldn't be released of course). Auxiliaries (such as air-suspension and transmission controls) will 'fail' first.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=38.8719573...15&l=0&m=m&v=2

Edited to add that it wasn't necessary to haul Steve's truck down to Kansas. Guys - imagine being 160 miles from your nearest approved dealer (though I suppose some of you doing Eastern Europe in British trucks ran the gauntlet). I've also forgotten those of you in Haggisland.
When we did our test runs 'overseas' (Rovaniemi, Reggio di Calabria (Southern Italy) and Marrakech) we took our own fitters (and spares - though we did have to fly out a DDAD starter motor to Reggio - carried as excess baggage!).

Webcam running again - don't know whether the truck is fixed or whether it's waiting for parts.

Ready to Roll
 

ok. well, If folks (OTRM) had listened to me, we could have had this fixed lastnight!

Ok, replaced the valve, synchros did not freeze up as they kept telling me. LOL.

Guess what? I even had time to clean up and make a gallery if inside the truck!

http://bigrigtravels.smugmug.com/gal...4_AXcxX/Medium

And ya think I would drive an automatic truck??? Even worse, ya think I am a YANK? LOL LOL LOL Though ya'll was my buds.

Folks who dirvie trucks with an automatic are not truckers....but rather, "steering wheel holders" only. <G>

Texas ain't a Yankee state. LOL <G> :)

That looks like the generic Ford mini van

Thank ya:) I have gotten more than a few emails expressing the same. Greatly appreciate thoughts:)

Glad you're getting sorted.
I suppose without auxiliary air you had a lazy clutch (ours used to be drybollock with air-servo-assist) and without assist you couldn't get full pedal travel so you dragged gears. Of course, once you were rolling who needed the clutch anyway?
Sorry about the slur(s). When I looked at the Volvo spec it seemed to be automated shift or nothing (and to us Limeys you're all Yanks - no offence meant). :)

Just seen that you're rolling again.

Term - Yankee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee#..._United_States

Hi Steve
Have you had a tow to the dealership or are you still at the truck stop and when do you expect to be on the move again?

Keep the shiny side up

cheers
Ian

On the Move

Many thanks for the photos of the inside of your cab - much appreciated.

Indeed! I particularly like #6 (TK on her(?) perch). (S)he's a very striking-looking cat (more than 'pretty').
Although not spacious you seem to have the essentials for survival - hell, you could even live in there. You have to restrict your possessions though . . .

Do you have a microwave oven? I read that some have fridges as well.

What you have seems to be what we would call a sleeper cab. What do you call those that have a small condo behind the cab? Our length restrictions tend to discourage such things.

I wasn't referring to 'fully' automatic (though I have driven an Allison - DDAD 8V-71 38 ton 6x4 plus drawbar - great fun, especially on skidpans), but automated shift.
Anyway in my time all big trucks were crash-boxes - synchromesh was for little local delivery trucks only. :D

Omaha? :confused:

BigRigSteve out of action again, more problems and truck at dealer in Omaha.

I really think G-CPTN, must take a quick couple of weeks holiday, riding with Steve, he would absolutely love it, and from the events of the last couple of days, I believe the truck mechanicals could use his expertise.

This is not sarcasm, I am genuinely impressed with his development and research expertise, not to mention his and Bobjork's language skills.

Well done G-CPTN.


Good luck Steve.

No room in the cab . . .