Turning my authority back on...

[Waterloo]

Well, just got the go from Amazon... I'm in... Still no IFTA.

[Waterloo]

Well, still no IFTA from the state of Michigan. I have my NY HUT and KY permits in hand, still no IFTA. I used to be able to drive up to the IRP office, next door was IFTA. Walk in with your letter stating your authority, give the vin and license, they would print the permit and give you your stickers. It took longer to park than to handle this in person. Well, they closed that office, must have been to efficient for them.

My buddy at Manards, he quit last night, found a flat bed to lease... Mercer has been burning up his phone with loads to haul... He will be better off, money was OK, but Mercer paying much better when miles and hours are worked in. If you are flat bedding, and have your authority, I would call Mercer, they have some nice runs for some very good money. They will even plan a route for you and keep you rolling. Really impressed with what my buddy is telling me about his experience with them.

Still waiting on fuel cards, Apex and NASTC are both on the way, should be here any day.

Swapping the stereo out in the truck, old one went teats up, was down to two speakers and one amplifier... Radio bugging out too... Driving me nuts. Did a bit if gutting of the sleeper, will be mounting new system on back wall. Added two fans back there too with a double toggle wall switch, along with a new fuse panel so that I do not have to splice into any wiring.

Oh, paycheck is in, FINALLY, need to go get that today...

That is all for now...

[Waterloo]

Fuel cards arrived, the Apex and NASTC, both came within two minutes of each other... Called State of Michigan, IFTA permit and stickers mailed out on Friday, should be here today. Went and picked up last paycheck... Deposited in bank. Should be rolling on Monday... Not playing out there this week with the 4th of July traffic.

[Waterloo]

IFTA stickers and permit finally arrived. They came Saturday... New signage is on the truck, just waiting for these stickers. Now I can roll legally.

Putting the truck together, new stereo is installed, had grounding issues that gave me some fits. I wound up running a new ground cable, no clue what that was about, but it is now fixed. I used the cab back wall, ground off the paint and secured with a good size sheet metal screw and washer. No clue what was happening, but I was getting power through the ground. No wires that I could see behind the wall, up near the roof cap that I may have hit. I drilled into a pocket, there was nothing behind it, as I could stick my fingers in there. Removed and replaced, and all issues went away with new cable. Weird.

Now, I have another problem, a 1st world problem, the stereo is is too loud, I cannot even turn the new head unit past 12 and your ears start to bleed and speakers get distorted... Need to tone it down a bit. Looking at the amp ratings on the box and the real amp ratings from the day of manufacture tell two different stories. They are almost double the output of what the box says. Then I have two line drivers, they are not helping matters. Sound is crystal clear, line drivers and amp gains are all turned to zero except for the subwoofer. I have the speakers bi amped, going to change that, and just run normally. More screwing around...

The new fans are installed in the sleeper, and talk about moving some air, LOL! Now I am thinking I should have ran a switch up to the dash as well as in the sleeper. Any recommendations on an RF remote to turn the fans on and off from the drivers seat with a key fob or small remote? Fans require a 3 amp fuse. Two of them on separate circuits and switches, a toggle 12 volt wall switch for an RV. Any help there would be appreciated, not too keen on running more wire.

The fun part, I went through all of the electrical in the dash, and fuse block. I cleaned it all up, 11 years of a mess it was. Drilled some new holes for USB plugs for the phone and new ELD. Ram Mount arm will hold the iPad mini that will be my ELD, I think it is called My20, a bluetooth set up, $130 on Amazon, 5 star reviews in more than a few locations, not just Amazon.

Had to run power up front, so I installed one of those Blue Sea fuse blocks under the dash where the dog house used to be. Now I can just hook directly to a fuse block without having to mess with the little pins or splicing into wires, very convenient. I installed one in the back too, darn things are nearly full! Well worth the money, solid units, I used this one x 2 https://amzn.to/2Xy7bG9

If you get tired of tapping wires or trying to find an open slot in your fuse block, these are a nice alternative. I ground both blocks to the cab, the rear is hooked up to my isolator that is tied into the ignition. The front is a direct feed off of that annoying 12 volt shut off device from the factory. I am going to install an inline shut off to the fuse panel under the dash. Not a big deal, as it was just too easy to tap into the power feed at that point. I have the CB and stereo HU running off of this block, sound is crystal clear, no engine or ground loop noise/whine.

Today we are going to start cleaning out the truck. It is a mess with me in there splicing, wrenching and drilling... Crap everywhere. Going to clean her out, scrape the boogers off the walls, when I say boogers I am speaking of the carpeting or fuzz that the walls have covering them. They are shedding, looks like cobwebs on the wall, I call them boogers. Bought a tool on Amazon for $20 that scrapes them off. It is called a Pilling Shaver, we shall see how it works, a manual one, not electric. Then I am going to use an orbital polisher with a microfibre pad to shampoo and really deep clean the walls with some all purpose cleaner, probably some Simple Green. Then vacuum and mop the decks, run up to the laundromat and wash the sleeping bag and hopefully be ready to roll on Wednesday.

Damn thyroid has been on a tear as of late, I have the energy of a slug. Just got my lab work back from the VA Hospital along with a letter from my doc. Everything looks good, they took two gallons of blood, except for my thyroid. I have an appointment in two months to see a specialist at the University of Michigan. Darn thing is swelled up right now, can feel it in my neck. When it does that I go from feeling good and right into reverse and then all I want to do is sleep. It is nothing for me to sleep 18 hours or more straight through. And packing on even more weight, and I have been eating very little and consuming little beer as it is just too hot outside. Not good, especially when I am trying to get on the road. I should have been finished with this crap last week. This sucks.

Looks like I bit off a bit more than I can handle at this time... But, the truck will be mine, there was still stuff in there from the last owner. I detested that truck, with all of the mechanical and other issues with it. Now, she is running good, (KNOCK ON WOOD), and I want to make it mine. Will screwing around with wiring and stereos make me money? Probably not, but at least I will be in a better state of mind going down the road. At least that is the plan.

[Rawze]

(07-08-2019 )Waterloo Wrote:  ...
I used the cab back wall, ground off the paint
...

Most prostars do not have a solid, direct-route ground connection to the cab and many of its other metal surfaces. In fact, the only real bonding point of the cab is right up at the very front, next to the plugs on the firewall, and it is not a very big set of wires.

If you want to use the metal surfaces of the cab, its sheet metal, or framework for any kind of current-draw, so that you can run things, then you need to add a heavy-gauge jumper directly between the truck batteries and the bottom of the cab, out near the batteries. Just make sure it has some flex in it so when the cab goes up and down, it does not weaken over time.

[Waterloo]

Thanks Rawze, I was trying to keep the ground close to the amps, but wound up going to my old original ground lug I installed in the floor of the closet, behind the driver seat. Seems to be working fine, used 0 AWG cable to the back for the ground into distribution block. Good connection in the floor with a good sized lug.

[Waterloo]

Well, have my first load with JB... Not bad, GM, empty racks from Flint to KC KS. Pays me $1.85 a mile, lite load. Just bought fuel with my NASTC fuel card, paid $2.70 a gallon at the TA in Monroe MI. The trailer I grabbed is two years old and in pretty good shape. Dropped it up at the truck stop, will leave out Sunday and get my spot up in Flint.

On a side note, just got this from Amazon...

Team,

Amazon is expecting an additional 4,000 loads to be pushed to the load board tonight. Some of these loads have already begun to hit the board please be sure to watch the load board and contact our team if you have any questions. We have also attached our team director to this email if you want to contact someone directly.

I am keeping an eye out for any quick loads over the weekend.

[Evotrucker]

Whats up waterloo! hope you keep in good health bud!.

The thyroid thing, i know it sucks bud. I thought i had thyroid issues n shi#t but before i went to do anything at the specilist office. My family doctor told me to loose some weight and stay away from sugar " good luck, i like my energy drinks " kickstart " lol. i lost some weight n i felt better n then a month before i went in for a ultrasound. the doctor told me i lost 10 lbs lol :D. i lost another 10 lbs that month and ultrasound n other tests came back all fine. Thankfully but i think lossing 20 lbs made it easier to breath as they say.

I didnt do anything special other then eating cig's lmao n not eating for 10-15 hrs a day lol. I was pretty much fasting and eating clean as much as possible. fasting is now a part of my life. lost 40-45 lbs since last year, my family members say im skinny now but in reality im way less fatter ahahahaha.

Good luck down the road dude! n keep in good health my friend. keep the stress to a bare minimum!.

[Rawze]

(07-12-2019 )Evotrucker Wrote:  ...
I didnt do anything special other then eating cig's lmao n not eating for 10-15 hrs a day lol. I was pretty much fasting and eating clean as much as possible. fasting is now a part of my life. lost 40-45 lbs since last year, my family members say im skinny now but in reality im way less fatter ahahahaha.

Good luck down the road dude! n keep in good health my friend. keep the stress to a bare minimum!.

i spent an entire year eating only every other day,.. absolutely 0 calories one day, whatever i want the next day (with the exception of high sugars). Best thing I ever did, as I am terrible at counting calories and eating only stuff that tastes bad.. lol

I lost 80+ lbs during the year. I feel better, hell i did not even know i was feeling bad before loosing the weight. -- I sleep better, I no longer snore or have to sleep on my side. I no longer get hangovers on the occasion i get drink with guests,,lol... I have way more energy, I can crawl under my truck now without it being jacked up,.. but i still have a ways to go.


Here 2 weeks ago, I started eating once every 3 days,.. i want to get below 175, and i just can't seem to loose the last of this beer-gut. seems to be working, weight is slowly inching down again.


-- I will never go back to eating every single day,.. I just feel too good now and my mind is sharper than ever from no intake of any kinds of sugars,.. been doing as ton of programming in c++ these past couple months,working on my turbo control box and a few other projects that have to do with writing my own program to handle engine files.