The Tesla Semi is a large electric truck used to move freight. Instead of using diesel fuel, it runs on electricity stored in batteries. The podcast mentions semi trucks and breakdowns, which is relevant to how these vehicles perform in daily use.
A 13-speed truck has lots of gear options. That helps the engine stay in the right RPM range when you’re driving a heavy rig.
Term
PT pump swaps
This is a modification to the diesel fuel pump system. The goal is usually to change how the engine gets fuel, often for more straightforward fueling and fewer emissions controls.
Car
855 Cummins
Cummins 855 is an older diesel engine used in big trucks. In this story, they’re talking about converting its fuel system to a more mechanical style.
Mechanical injection means the diesel fuel system is controlled without modern electronics. People like it in some builds because it can be simpler and easier to modify.
It means how much twisting force the truck is actually sending to the rear wheels. It’s a practical way to judge how strong the truck feels when you drive it.
When someone says a “turbo blew,” they mean the turbocharger failed—often due to oil starvation, overspeed, bearing failure, or damage from debris. In a modified diesel context, turbo failures are a common roadside problem because the turbo is critical for boost.
“Reverse rotation” refers to a turbocharger variant whose compressor and turbine are designed to spin in the opposite direction from the more common setup. This matters for fitment and compatibility—if you install the wrong rotation turbo, it won’t produce the intended boost behavior.
Brand
Borg S 400s
BorgWarner (often shortened in speech) is a major turbocharger brand used on many performance and diesel builds. “S400” refers to the S400 turbo family, which is commonly associated with larger turbo setups aimed at higher boost and airflow.
The Dodge Spirit is a regular passenger car made by Dodge. In the podcast, it sounds like someone had one and added performance parts to make it faster. That’s why it’s being mentioned with turbo-related details.
Garrett makes turbochargers. A turbo is a device that uses the engine’s exhaust to spin a fan that forces more air into the engine, which can boost power.
On turbo setups, “boots” and “couplers” are the rubber hoses and connectors that connect the air pipes. They help keep the pressurized air from leaking.
Concept
limp it
“Limp it” refers to driving a vehicle in a reduced-capability state after a failure, typically to get it to safety or a shop. On modified diesels, this often means avoiding full boost/load while the driver manages a temporary fix.
“Junker Dragtrik” sounds like a specific custom diesel build. It’s the kind of project where the owner modifies the truck heavily for fast runs, not just normal street driving.
Term
five inch stack
On a diesel, a “stack” is a vertical pipe that changes airflow/exhaust routing. “Five inch” just means the pipe is about 5 inches wide.
This is a well-known racing track in Las Vegas. The hosts mention it to help you picture the tall exhaust “stack” on a drag truck.
Concept
break down in the middle of nowhere
They’re talking about getting stuck far from help and having to fix the truck with what you brought. With modified diesels, exhaust and pressure-related problems can be the hardest to patch quickly.
Term
stove pipe
“Stove pipe” is a slang term for a straight, stovepipe-style metal exhaust/pipe section. In the context here, it’s being used as an improvised part to route exhaust/stacking when stranded.
When they say they didn’t “seal up” the exhaust, they mean the exhaust parts weren’t tight enough at the connections. That can cause leaks that let soot escape and can mess with how the emissions equipment works.
They’re talking about the diesel soot filter. It catches the smoky particles from the exhaust, and if it gets clogged or damaged, the truck can lose power and may need to be pulled or serviced.
“Cold air” likely refers to using a cold-air intake or routing intake air to stay cooler, which can improve charge density and combustion efficiency. If the setup can’t use that cold-air path (or it’s blocked by fitment/exhaust issues), the engine may not perform as expected under load.
A flange is the part with bolt holes that connects two exhaust/turbo parts together. If the flange type doesn’t match, the parts won’t seal well and you can get leaks and soot.
“Borg 475” is a turbocharger setup people use for diesel performance. The important part is that the turbo has specific mounting/flange shapes, so if you match the wrong parts, it won’t fit or seal correctly.
Term
HT three B
“HT three B” is a specific turbo variant name. In this conversation, they’re saying it doesn’t match the other turbo’s flange/connection style, which can lead to leaks.
“Drill and tap” means making a hole and adding threads inside it so a bolt can screw in. If they’re talking about doing this for turbo mounting, it usually means the parts didn’t line up right.
A die grinder is a small handheld tool for grinding metal. If they had to grind the turbo to make holes line up, it’s a warning that the parts may not fit/seal as intended.
Soot leaks are when smoky exhaust particles escape from a bad connection. That can make the soot filter clog faster and can hurt power.
Term
roadside fixes
Roadside fixes are the quick repairs you do when your truck breaks down on the side of the road. The idea is to get it running well enough to drive again or at least make it to town.
Lag is the delay you feel when you press the gas and the truck doesn’t speed up right away. With turbos, it’s often how long it takes for boost to build.
Turbos are devices that use the engine’s exhaust to spin and push extra air into the engine. More air helps the diesel make more power, but it can also change how quickly it responds.
Term
stranded
“Stranded” means the truck won’t run or can’t move, so you’re stuck where you are. On modified diesels, certain failures can leave you without an easy fix.
If you run out of fuel, the diesel can’t keep burning because it’s not getting fuel. Sometimes air gets into the fuel lines, and you have to get the system primed again to restart.
They’re talking about adding engine oil into the fuel tank. That’s not the same as diesel fuel, and it can lead to problems like extra smoke and clogged or damaged fuel parts.
A sump is a low spot where fluid collects. In a diesel setup, it can help make sure fuel is available when the truck is moving around or when fuel supply is tight.
Diesel is the fuel the engine is designed to burn. Using the wrong kind can cause the engine to run poorly or not at all.
Term
blow boots
On modified diesel setups, there are rubber seals/hoses that connect parts of the turbo/boost system. If they “blow,” they split or pop off, and you lose boost pressure.
Towing means pulling a heavy trailer, which makes the engine work harder for longer. That extra stress can overheat and strain the turbo/boost connections.
Ambient temperature is just how hot the air is outside. When it’s very hot, the whole engine bay runs hotter, and the turbo/boost parts can get stressed more easily.
Boost is extra pressure from the turbo that pushes more air into the engine. More boost usually means more pressure on the rubber hoses/seals that connect the turbo system.
Tie wire is a thin wire you can twist to hold something in place. Here, it’s being used as a temporary fix to keep a rubber connection from coming apart.
The “hot side” is the part of the turbo system that gets the hottest. Heat can damage the rubber/silicone couplers that seal the intake plumbing. Using better boots helps them survive that heat.
On a turbo diesel, the intercooler cools the compressed air before it goes into the engine. The “boots” are the heat-resistant rubber/silicone pieces that connect the intercooler to the pipes and keep everything sealed. If they’re weak, they can come loose on hot days or heavy pulls.
Term
sustaining more than 30 pounds
“30 pounds” means the turbo is pushing about 30 psi of extra pressure for a while. Holding that kind of boost builds up heat and stress on the hoses and clamps. If your boots aren’t strong enough, they can come off.
“Compound” here refers to running more than one turbo. That can make more boost and create more stress on the hoses and connections that carry the pressurized air. So the intercooler boots need to be better quality to keep from popping off.
A “single turbo” means the engine uses one turbocharger. Even if it’s not a fancy multi-turbo setup, hard work like towing up grades can get the intake parts very hot. If the intercooler boots aren’t good, they can soften and pop loose.
Term
boot torque
“Boot torque” just means tightening the clamp on a rubber protective cover to the right tightness. It helps keep the cover sealed and protected so dirt and water don’t get inside.
“Hot-wired” here means they used a temporary wire connection to bypass the broken connector so the truck would keep working. It’s a get-you-home fix, not a proper long-term repair.
Engine braking means you slow down by using the engine instead of just the brakes. Downshifting can raise RPM, and if it’s held too high, it can stress the engine.
Term
unloaded RPM above 3000
This is basically saying the engine was revving high while not really under load. Keeping RPM that high for too long can be hard on the engine.
Rod bolts are the fasteners that hold the connecting rods to the crankshaft. If they come loose or fail, the engine can get badly damaged very quickly.
“Windowed the block” means the engine got so badly damaged that metal parts broke through the engine block. That’s usually a total engine failure, not a simple fix.
LBZ is a nickname/engine code for a particular Duramax diesel version. Enthusiasts use it to tell which generation they’re talking about, since different versions behave a bit differently.
Concept
hand roadside breakdowns
They’re talking about getting stuck on the side of the road and needing help. The idea is that modifications can increase the chances of problems, so you should be prepared with the right basics.
OEM quality parts are made to match what the vehicle manufacturer originally designed. They’re contrasting that with aftermarket parts, which can be better or worse depending on the brand and design.
Aftermarket parts are made by companies other than the vehicle maker. For modified diesels, some aftermarket parts are great, but others aren’t as well-engineered, so they can cause problems.
The CP3 pump is a key fuel system component on many diesel trucks. It helps pressurize fuel for the engine, and when you modify a diesel, people often upgrade or change how this pump works.
These are the fuel pipes that send diesel to the engine using very high pressure. If one cracks or breaks, the engine may not run right—or at all. Having a spare can help you fix the truck roadside and keep from being stranded.
Rubber isolators are parts that help absorb vibration. If a fuel line is constantly shaking, it can eventually crack. The hosts are talking about using isolators (or bracing around them) to reduce that shaking.
Term
aftermarket portion
An aftermarket portion refers to fuel-system hardware that’s been replaced or added beyond the factory configuration. In this segment, the speaker points to a specific aftermarket section that “teed” two pumps together, which changes how the system vibrates and where stress concentrates. That can make certain failure points more likely than on stock setups.
Term
T that teased the two pumps together
A “T” is a connector that splits or combines fluid flow. In this case, it connects two pump lines together. Connectors can be stress points, so if they vibrate or aren’t braced well, lines can crack there.
Term
19 mill range
They’re talking about a tool size—about 19 mm. That matters because the right wrench/socket is needed to loosen and tighten the fittings when you swap a fuel line. It’s basically the “what size tool do I need” detail.
JV Weld is a strong glue/epoxy you can use for quick fixes. Here it’s used to patch a radiator leak so the truck can get by until you can fix it for real.
A turbo pipe is a tube that carries the pressurized air made by the turbo. If it comes loose or cracks, the engine can lose power because the boost can’t stay in the system.
A radiator is the heat exchanger that removes heat from engine coolant before it recirculates. If a radiator fitting breaks or a hose pops off, coolant can leak quickly and the engine can overheat.
They’re talking about a Dodge truck with a Cummins diesel engine that has 12 valves per cylinder head. People like these engines because they make a lot of pulling power and are popular to modify.
A “line rupture” is when a hose or pipe that carries fluid suddenly bursts. That can cause leaks and can even lead to problems like overheating or not being able to drive.
Part
PDT transmission line
A transmission line is a hose/pipe that carries transmission fluid. If it breaks, the transmission can’t work correctly, so having a spare helps you get back on the road or track.
A torque converter is part of an automatic transmission that helps transfer power from the engine to the drivetrain. If it fails, the truck may not move correctly, so a spare can save a race day.
ATF stands for automatic transmission fluid. It’s the fluid that keeps the automatic transmission working and helps it shift properly, especially when the truck is working hard.
Overdrive is an extra gear that helps the engine spin slower when you’re driving steadily. If you lose overdrive, the transmission may not be getting the right fluid pressure, so it can’t use the higher gear.
Transmission fluid is what the transmission uses to shift. If the fluid level gets low, the transmission may not have enough pressure to keep the gears engaged.
A transmission hose is a rubber line that carries transmission fluid. If it fails on the road, you can lose fluid and the truck may not shift properly, so having a way to repair it can help you get moving again.
The transmission cooler line is the line that sends transmission fluid to a cooler to keep it from overheating. If the line rubs through, it can start leaking and you can lose transmission function.
Compression fittings are quick connectors that clamp onto a metal line to make it leak-free. They’re handy when you need to fix a line fast and get back on the road.
“Transmission’s blown” usually means the transmission is badly damaged and won’t work right. The speaker is saying some people jump to that conclusion, even when a simpler fix might work.
A tow truck is what you use to pull a vehicle that can’t drive itself. Here, it’s part of the backup plan when the truck starts making scary noises.
Concept
coast off
“Coast off” means you let the vehicle roll to move it without using the engine much. It can help you get to a safer spot, but it doesn’t solve what’s wrong.
Car
Ford power stroke
Power Stroke is Ford’s diesel engine used in certain Ford trucks. Here, it’s the truck the mechanic used to help tow and rescue the speaker’s vehicles.
Push rods are internal engine parts that help move motion from the camshaft to the valves. If a push rod breaks, the engine can start making loud, bad-sounding noises and may run poorly.
“Hammering” means a loud, harsh knocking noise from the engine. In this case, it’s caused by a broken internal part (a push rod) in one cylinder.
Concept
broken push rod not bent
They’re saying the push rod snapped cleanly instead of slowly bending. That usually means something caused a sudden break, which can help figure out why it failed.
Heat treating is how manufacturers “tune” the metal so it can handle stress without failing. If it’s done wrong, parts can crack sooner than they should.
The alternator is what keeps your car’s battery charged while you drive. If it stops working, the battery can only run the car for a little while, and then the car starts acting like it’s dying.
Concept
roadside repairs
Roadside repairs are what you deal with when the car breaks down and you’re not near a mechanic. The point here is that alternators fail often enough that it keeps happening to them.
The Ford Excursion is a big SUV that’s built like a truck, so it can tow and carry a lot. The podcast mentions it in connection with an alternator issue, which is part of the car’s electrical charging system. If the alternator isn’t working right, the battery can drain and the car may act up.
“Battery power” here refers to running the vehicle’s electrical systems using stored energy in the battery rather than charging them through the alternator. This is why a failing alternator can feel intermittent—everything may work until the battery voltage drops too low.
The ECM is the engine’s computer. It tells the engine what to do, and if it gets damaged in a crash or failure, the engine may not run correctly or at all.
The timing case is the cover that protects the parts that keep the engine’s timing in sync. If it breaks, those parts can get damaged and the engine can fail badly.
Common-rail is a modern way diesel engines deliver fuel. It uses a pressurized fuel system and needs more electrical power to control it, which is why charging issues can be more of a problem.
Diesel injectors are the valves that spray pressurized fuel into the engine’s cylinders in precise timing and quantity. In a common-rail diesel, they depend on electrical power and control signals, so weak charging or low voltage can prevent the engine from running or from building proper fuel pressure.
CP3 is the name people use for the diesel’s high-pressure fuel pump. It’s responsible for building the pressure the engine needs, so if the truck’s electrical system isn’t supplying enough voltage, the fuel system can’t work correctly.
That warning light means the engine isn’t getting enough oil pressure. Since oil is what lubricates the engine, you should take it seriously and check what’s wrong.
Oil pressure tells you how well the engine is pumping oil around. If it gets too low, the engine parts don’t get lubricated and can wear out or get damaged fast.
The turbo needs oil to keep it lubricated. The turbo drain bolts hold the oil return path; if they loosen, oil can leak and the turbo may not get the right oil flow.
Neutral is the gear position where the engine isn’t pushing the wheels. Mechanics use how the car sounds in neutral vs drive to narrow down where a problem is.
Term
torque convertibles
In an automatic transmission, a torque converter is the part that uses fluid to help the engine turn the wheels. It helps the car get moving smoothly, especially from a stop.
A flex plate is a metal link between the engine and the automatic transmission. A “billet” flex plate is made from a solid piece of metal, usually to handle more stress than the factory part.
The Sonoma is a pickup truck model. The podcast is describing a situation where the truck seems to lose oil, so the owner ends up carrying extra oil. That usually means there’s an oil leak or the engine uses oil faster than normal.
A low oil pressure problem means the engine isn’t pumping oil with enough pressure. When it gets hot, the host’s engine would trigger the oil warning light.
Term
interstage boost pressure gauge
This is a gauge that measures how much boost pressure is present in the turbo system. It helps you see if the turbo is performing the way you expect.
Term
AFC live line
AFC relates to controlling how the engine meters fuel based on airflow. The host is describing an in-cab setup to monitor/adjust engine behavior.
Turbos use engine oil to keep them lubricated. They also have a return path to send that oil back—if that return gets blocked, oil can build up and start leaking out badly.
Overheating means the engine is getting too hot because the cooling system isn’t working properly. If you don’t address the coolant problem, it can lead to serious engine damage.
Antifreeze is a coolant mix that helps prevent the cooling system from freezing in cold weather and from boiling over when it’s hot. Plain water can work in a pinch, but it’s not ideal for long-term protection.
A thermostatic bypass is a temperature-controlled path for transmission fluid. It lets the fluid avoid the cooler when it’s too cold, and then it switches so the fluid goes through the cooler once it gets hot enough.
A transmission cooler is a heat exchanger that helps remove heat from automatic transmission fluid. By forcing fluid through the cooler once it reaches a certain temperature, it helps keep transmission fluid from overheating and degrading.
They’re describing a workaround where you clamp off a hose that normally lets fluid skip the cooler. The goal is to force the transmission fluid to go through the cooler instead, especially if the temperature valve is stuck.
A tire plug kit is a set of tools and rubber plugs you use when your tire gets a puncture. You can plug the hole to keep air from leaking so you can drive to get it properly fixed.
An air compressor is what you use to put air back into a tire. Here, it’s the kind you can run from your truck’s power outlet so you can inflate the tire right away.
A cigarette lighter is the old-style power outlet in a car. Today it usually means the 12-volt socket you can plug things into, like a tire inflator or phone charger.
The Dodge Charger is a car made for power and sporty driving. People often talk about it because it can be modified and because older ones are common. In the podcast, it’s mentioned as a vehicle someone used before.
Concept
boony kit
A “boony kit” is a nickname for a small set of handy tools you keep in your vehicle. The idea is to be prepared for simple roadside problems without needing to find help immediately.
The serpentine belt is a single belt that powers important stuff on the engine. If it comes off or breaks, the car can lose charging (alternator) and cooling (water pump), so it can overheat fast.
An exhaust brake helps slow the truck down by using the engine. It’s especially useful when towing, because it can take some work off the regular brakes.
Term
tows
Towing refers to pulling a trailer or another vehicle with a hitch-equipped vehicle. In the context of modified diesels, towing performance is often discussed in terms of how well the truck maintains speed and control under load.
A MAP sensor is a sensor that tells the engine computer how much pressure is in the intake. That helps the computer decide how much fuel to inject and how to manage boost. “Factory” means it’s the original sensor that came with the truck.
A boost gauge shows how much pressure the turbo is making. If you don’t have one, you’re relying on other readings—like sensor data—to know what boost you’re actually running.
A turbo flange is the metal “connector” where the turbo bolts to the pipe. If the sizes don’t match, exhaust can leak, so you need the right fit or a seal.
Fiberglass insulation is a heat-resistant material. In this story it’s used to help fill space and improve sealing near the turbo.
Concept
temporary field repair to get home
They’re talking about a quick, temporary fix you do just to make it to the next stop. It’s not meant to be a permanent solution—just enough to get home.
This is the special tool that fits your lug nuts. If your lug nuts are different from stock, you need the matching tool to take the wheel off.
LIVE
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the power driven podcast today.
We're talking about kind of strolled on memory lane that hopefully will help
you in the future. We're talking about roadside breakdowns.
How many and repairs, how do, what do you do? You break down the side of the road.
Are you screwed? What can you do? And tools you might want to think about
bringing, you know, how do you prepare for the inevitable?
If you're going to modify your truck a lot, chances are some time in your
future can be broken down this other road.
This, this is an important topic because we're going into the summer hauling
season. And if you haul or travel a lot, stuff, stuff happens.
I was saying most of my breakdowns do happen while I'm hauling a trailer.
Like this kind of scene when you're hauling a truck in the trailer, never
when you're hauling a camper full of children all the time, every single
time, like not even most of the time, all the time.
Yes. So I kind of want to start back like we started doing, I mean, it's UCC
season. You're getting pretty ready to go to UCC week.
Wait, wait. What is UCC?
Right. Ultimate college challenge. The big event in Indiana that Myers
going to, we've competed four times.
Myers going to go and do better than we did. Is it four?
Four times.
You're right. Four. Yeah. Three and a half.
We did not compete the last day or the last.
Four and two thirds.
Yeah, 33 and two thirds.
But with how long your drag straight fist passes were, like that could
count as another one in the third, because you were setting more time
drag racing than anyone else there.
We have degraded the conversation.
He spent more time on the drag strip that he makes.
He's broke down the side or what?
No, I was saying like just his drag strip times.
But if you count that time in the air versus on the drag strip, you had
one of the fastest passes there.
It's really depends on how you work these numbers.
Yeah, degraded. It's a triathlon, the triathlon of diesel competition.
It's huge. It's a big event.
It's like the biggest show of the year. Super exciting.
Myers going to go and do extremely well better than we've ever done before.
I'm super excited for it.
Yay. Good. Go us.
So to give you guys context, so Myers getting ready for, you know,
basically going to war with this diesel truck, but he's got to haul
everything out there.
So from Utah, Cedar City, Utah to Indianapolis and Indiana,
it's about a 24 hour drive straight through time.
Yep. You're talking a lot of miles, states, stuff to go
wrong, hauling over the Rockies.
You're going over some big mountain passes, pretty much the worst in the country.
And then you get a, what do they call it?
Oh, I can't see it.
You get to flat Kansas and it's smooth sailing.
Yep.
Yes. And then you get on the bumpy roads.
Oh gosh, it's terrible.
We're lucky when we had our breakdowns.
We used to have a semi truck. We called the Mac. It wasn't a Mac.
It was a Ford.
It's a Ford Aero Max, but my kids called it a Mac because of the movie cars.
Every semi truck is called the Mac. So we had the Mac.
But for you, truckers are listening.
And then this was a legit truck.
All right. It was like a super crew had captain's chairs plus a sleeper.
Yeah. It had a single rear wheel, but it used to be a dual rear wheel chassis
had those big RV tires on the front that could or the cement truck type,
whatever the real wide front ones that are expensive,
not, not your normal skinnies on the front.
And every time you hit a bump, it went to the steering.
Yeah. 13 speed. Yep.
And then the engine was in in 14 and 14, but it was PT pump swaps.
They took an old 855 Cummins engine or injection system and made it mechanical.
So it was mechanical injection swapped, no emissions, just whatever.
It was awesome. Wasn't terribly powerful.
We thought it might have been, but we put on the dyno.
I think it made 360 to the tire and I think it made like 1300 foot-pounds.
And my daily at the time made like 600 horsepower and like 1440.
I was like, my little pickup truck makes more rear wheel torque and horsepower
than this big old semi.
It's true. It's true. But it was fun.
But that really kind of introduced us into fixing crap and MacGyver and stuff
on the side of the road. Remember that trip back?
Like our first UCC, we were coming back and our turbo blew somewhere.
It was in Colorado.
I thought it was maybe even more North for some reason, my brain's thinking
like Nebraska and I don't know why the heck we're on interstate 80.
But maybe we were, I don't know.
It seemed like it was there in that empty part of the Midwest, not a lot of towns.
Maybe it was like the outskirts of Colorado.
And we had to see the luck if you ever happen right now, we stop by
Mark Nixon, that guy that sells all the core parts.
That's why we're on 80 and he's in Nebraska.
I think we were in frickin Nebraska.
And so a good thing about breaking down after a race is you have every tool
you can possibly think about having. So lots of tool.
So we had a whole tool chat, like, like talking to any tool that we owned
was basically with us, with welders.
We had generators, but we didn't have as a turbo that would fit the truck
because it was a reverse rotation.
And so we had lots of turbos, but none that would drop into that.
Yeah, we had like Borg S 400s on the truck spirit.
We had Garrett GT 55s.
Yes, we had boots and couplers and airfielders, but nothing that would fit that.
So we were able to limp it to a little tiny ace hardware.
This is like a big one.
This is like a little in the country ace hard of very few things.
And it was raining a little bit as miserable.
And yeah, we was like, all right, I got this.
And so you went in, you're like, this is like, oh, I've done this before.
Don't worry about this is my specialty.
I've trained my whole life.
For this one moment, this is where I developed the name of WTF, Will Terry Fab.
But for you guys that are a little bit more familiar with English language,
WTF stands for something much different than Will Terry Fab.
It's definitely Will Terry Fab.
He looked at you and said, WTF.
I recognize that work.
That's WTF will Terry fabrication.
So we fabric cobbled this form rotation turbo on this semi-engine.
So, I mean, the thing that you got to understand is
Will has made the Junker Dragtrik.
His mantra is like on the cheap.
And so in the past, he made exhaust stack in his Junker Dragtrik out of what material
it was, it was the little B vent.
They call it like the little stove pipe vent.
Yeah. But I had it while I started with the HVAC stuff and I had to double it
because it wouldn't hold the pressure.
And then exactly what will and won't work.
And so if I wanted like a five inch stack, you'd have to put a piece of six inch
on the outside and double layer and stitch it with some sheet metal tech screws.
That's how you made it double wall so it would hold.
So just envision this, if you will, you're in the stands at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
in the stands watching drag ship.
And you see this truck pull up that has literally a chimney
at the back of us.
Like, is that a chimney?
Like, yep, that's a chimney.
And so that was version two version one look like.
Oh, my God.
Version three, we're going to get some like oven brick.
Yeah. It's got like a little piece of them back there.
It's like, oh, almost ready.
So when you break down in the middle of nowhere and you have will terry and ace
hardware and all the tools you could want, dude, nothing is impossible.
We probably could overhaul that engine with freaking bubblegum and lipstick.
You know, so we did have a 475 on the trail.
That's normal rotation.
And he was able to with stove pipe and weird bends and silicone couplers.
I mean, it had S curves.
The exhaust was the trickiest part.
Yeah. But we got hooked up and we made it.
And that was before to climb up the Rockies.
So you got that fixed and we got up the Rockies and I think the problem
is we didn't get the exhaust sealed up all the way because it wasn't quite.
It was still leaking.
And I think we packed the filter with soot.
And I thought we were having power problems and had to pull the filter off.
I think we hurt the filter because we.
Yeah, because we couldn't use the cold air on there.
We put one of our our race builders on there.
Might have been a dust bowl, but it had a little bit of a soot leak under there.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Shocker. Yeah.
You don't stitch two pieces of stove pipe together.
And the problem is a lot of guys don't realize how complex this is.
A Borg 475 has a T six flange and HT three B like this had a
reverse rotation. They don't have a T six flange.
It's that modified HT three B flange.
It's not quite the bolts are right.
So I had to like I thought we had to like drill and tap.
I remember kind of like grinding the turbo with like a die grinder
and the air to like move the stud hole in.
So it was like not correct.
Like you have the wrong flange mated to a T six.
And they're yeah.
And so there was inevitably going to be some some soot leaks.
But the problem, the thing is like like we didn't have the option.
We had to figure it out and he did.
And that's kind of what happens a lot on roadside fixes.
The Mac was a great supplier of roadside fixes.
Like there's multiple times we had to get stuck with that stupid piece of
crap that 475 pulled the Rockies better than that HT three B did.
It was I didn't notice the lag, but it definitely was way happier.
R.P. That might have been an HT 60 on there.
No, or was that that Garrett?
No, the Garrett was a replacement for that.
Yeah, I don't know.
That thing had many turbos on it.
So what are the causes aside from a reverse rotation?
Like things that have have stranded us in the past.
My are never going to stand it because he's hyper scared of it.
Like he's like it's like a nightmare scenario.
It is a nightmare scenario.
I mean, it has happened to me pretty like the first time.
So there's some like small ones like back on the farm days where the trip was
three miles like I got I like got left stranded because I ran it out of fuel.
I was curious how much the new sump would be able to like actually do.
It does really good, but I just put like a gallon of engine oil in the bed.
So I just threw that in the tank and got home and then coasted to the diesel.
But it wasn't actually like the right color diesel, but we got to town with it.
So it worked.
That was like the first time I didn't really count.
I've blown boots.
That's like the worst one, not really the worst one, but it sucks.
Because like when you're towing something, you blow, you keep blowing the
boot over and like I did that on the track out here.
And I was like taking dirt and stuff off the side of the road to try
like rub it into the boot just to give it some more grit.
And that helped, but you go pulling over grades at a hundred with a hundred
degree ambient temperatures, towing and just making boosts.
Like you blow boots off.
You're using dirt to have grit under the boot under the boots.
You're trying to like keep it from going inside the engine,
but like you try to use some strategy and it helped.
It definitely did way better.
But I was like pulling over like going on.
What is that on 70 through like Utah, like all those grades
that you just like sneak up on you.
Like there's you don't think of that long.
Yeah, you don't think of that place as grades, but yeah, there's grades there.
Now, have you ever reinforced a boot with duct tape and tie wire?
I did do that same trip.
That they're done.
That what I got back from there when the boots totally ripped.
It's tough.
But if you catch it before it like totally disintegrates the boot,
you can do a pretty good fix with duct tape, but you need the wire
to reinforce because the duct tape when it gets hot gets a little stringy and sticky.
Yep.
And you got to get the duct tape clear under the clamps and the wire clear.
Oh, I know this after that trip.
I like got back and immediately put our boots on it.
I was like, this is dumb.
We sell good boots.
We can put good boots on it.
And ever since then, it's been great.
So at least on the hot side, put good boots on there.
If you plan on, you know, you're sustaining more than 30 pounds.
So tip number one to avoid a roadside failure, boots, get good intercooler boots.
I mean, I Myers right.
I can't tell you many times I've blown a boot, knocked a boot off, whatever.
And yeah, like usually I'm hot riding around, but if you're on the side
of the road and you're pulling on a hot day, on a heavy grade, yeah,
that thing's going to super hot.
If you have a crappy boot, it's going to come off.
So and it doesn't matter if you have compound, I mean, compounds are worse
because more boost, but I've had stock single turbo on a truck that I
own for years and I finally was hauling to a race event.
So I'm actually loading, working that hard on the mills and that sustained
heat softens the, the rubber, the silicone in the boot and they'll blow off.
It's very, you know,
so one tip I do before is I'll go check the boot torque and make sure
that all the clamps are tight before I go on a trip.
And that number two, when you put on fresh boots, go for a couple of
rips, come back and be surprised how much more you can tighten that clamp.
Like when they get warm, they will take more torque.
So go out there, do some good rips, come back and check your torque.
They'll take a lot more.
Make sure the spring like our style where it's got the spring.
I just go to the spring coil binds.
Yeah, me too.
If that spring ever has is not coil bound means I can go tighter.
Yep.
Pretty much right.
That's a good visual aid.
Um, and then I had, oh, so it wasn't really a breakdown, but I had the alternator,
the little itty-bitty trigger wire that goes on the alternator, the, the spade
like cracked on it.
And so I just took a piece of junk wire.
I was actually, um, hauling out with Josh McCormick and he had a little
electrical kit in his truck cause he just calls all sorts of crap, a spare stuff.
So you had a little piece of electrical wire and some ends and stuff.
So we just bypassed that little block that goes on the alternator and just
hot-wired it straight.
And I think the truck's still sitting with the same fix and never actually
fixed it, but Josh does a lot of cross country hauling for racing and events.
He's not afraid of that, but I do notice he carries a lot of things like
electrical and different tools.
And it seems like the more you travel and do these big trips, especially if
you're by yourself and there's not other support vehicles, the more spare parts
and tools and yep, for sure, you bring it's kind of amazing how that works.
He always had a toolbox in the bed of his truck, which is all sorts of random
stuff. It was full of just whatever random stuff, probably some logic to it,
but you open the box and you don't think that, but yeah, that's kind of me.
I did have, um, we were doing some prototype stuff and I dropped a valve
seat on a truck.
And so we decided those valve seats were not the play.
Um, and that's it.
That's all the only issues I've ever had.
Otherwise the truck's always been really good.
I lost the tail light in Arizona one time, but I just kept going.
Good luck.
You weren't driving, but you did spill its guts out.
Your engines, but it's got that one time.
That yeah, there's nothing you're going to carry.
That's going to help that.
Nope. Nope.
Yeah.
And sometimes you've got to like, know when to call it quits.
I remember when you were coming back from King of the street and Josh was
driving and we were coming back over Colorado.
So we're about let's say six or seven hours from home and he's coasting down
the backside and this was a fourth gen Dodge that didn't have a factory
turbo had an S 400.
And so there's no exhaust break and Josh was hauling pretty heavy
gooseneck and so he was in, you know, some lower gear on that six speed
trying to get some engine braking.
And it did not like that unloaded RPM above 3000 for very long.
And bam, it pulled the rod bolts.
We later found out that it, it windowed the block, but it pulled the rod
bolts out of a rod and so we're broke down on the side of the road.
And so he's sitting here, what do we do?
We're all in the same vehicle.
We were, we were carpooling to save fuel and we had just come back from an
event.
So there was a barbecue at the back and I still had frozen burgers.
So on the side of I 15, you know, interstate 70, like, like beautiful.
I'm like, we're right by Vale, Colorado.
And I'm like, you know what I'm going to do?
I want to start cooking some burgers.
And so I started grilling burgers.
They called, I think that 23 diesel shop there and a grand junction came up
and helped.
I don't remember what they did.
I came and got you.
Oh, that's what happened.
Yeah.
I wasn't there.
You called me.
Oh, those guys had a spare block or something.
So you're thinking when Tina broke down, when it under Todd's ownership,
where the fan ate the radiator.
Oh, there's been many.
Anyway, but all I know is, is if you haven't grilled on the side of I 70
with freeway traffic going by, have you really grilled?
You haven't lived.
Can you guys have a grill master?
Can you?
I don't think so.
If you could see yourself along like a heavy hauler, like a long, like a hot
shotter, if you haven't grilled on the side, I don't know if the burgers
tasted good, but at the time, they should taste good.
And the truck was, I remember being cold.
I'm like, we can't run the heat or anything.
I didn't run.
So we were just like sitting there all bundled up, freaking cold.
That's another tip.
If you're going over the mountains, it's going to be a lot colder than
where you are now.
And if you break the top of the mound, it's a problem.
So we're talking about our worst breakdowns.
Oh, that sounds like power stroke doing power stroke things.
Oh, that was a, that was Duramax, wasn't it?
Yeah, I think we just watched a nasty burnout outside the window.
There's sorry for that pause, but you probably couldn't hear it on the
mics, but at first I thought it was a power stroke.
Shame on me.
Yeah, it was definitely trying to show us what's up.
It's definitely like a L a Y or something, right?
LBZ was not an L five P they have a distinct sound.
Anyways, back to the topic of hand roadside breakdowns.
I will say I've had a few and in Ruby, the world's greatest tow truck, as
it says on the tailgate in writing.
So you know, it's true.
Why are you up?
Myers second greatest tow truck has rescued the world's
greatest tow truck many a time, many times.
So I will say as you start modifying your vehicles, your risk increases.
You have OEM quality parts, you have aftermarket quality parts.
Now some aftermarket is as good as OEM.
Some is not.
And sometimes the design is such that it can't be the same, such as
like a CP three pump.
Now there are our twin CP three pump, which I'm going to like stop right there.
There are things you can do to make it better.
Yes.
But when you start like, you know, hitting four digits in your tow truck,
the reliability does go down a little bit, bit.
Fair, very fair.
But I had a, I had a lot of weird issues, but two that repeated themselves
were broken high pressure fuel lines.
And so.
Did you take the rubber isolators off them that absorb vibration?
This isn't a common rail and they, there's none that were removed.
This is the aftermarket portion that.
The, the T that teased the two pumps together.
Oh, so it was breaking not on the actual lines from the rail to the
because it has a big block in there and it rattles and it'll sometimes
we'll crack lines.
It's not super common, but there's other styles that may or may not be better.
So anyway, now I carry that spare line that I've broken twice.
And we've also, but we've also done a little homemade fix where like, you know,
the isolator you talked about, we have, we have braced that line.
I haven't had an issue again, but if I do have an issue again, I have a spare part
for that.
And so you're carrying that with you now.
Yes.
Like in the truck, I have a spare line.
And so that would have saved my or two big trips to save my butt.
You know, question three, you have the tools to install said line in the truck.
It's a 19 mill range.
And I do have a 19 mill range sitting there right permanently by that line.
Are you a diesel guy?
If you don't carry a 19 mill in your truck, really?
Yeah, that's true.
So that kind of leaves like tool selection.
Like, I mean, you take a pretty decent rate of tools and maybe where you go.
What's the stuff you take?
So, I mean, I don't have a decent amount.
Normally I'm hauling like race tracks to events.
And so I have my whole toolbox.
But I have like a truck toolbox and I picked it specifically because it has a
19 mil most year, like, you know, your case kits that you get.
They stop at 11 sixteenths or five eighths.
And so I was looking for one that went all the way to three quarter.
And so like the gear wrench there, it's like the almost like the mini
toolbox looking with the drawers and the lid.
They have a couple of them versions, but one of those versions goes all the way
up to three quarter.
And so that's what I, that's what I carry with me.
It's a decent kit that has what you need, but it has a three quarter.
Not quite as fancy as you guys.
I usually carry a big Crescent wrench in my door map pocket and then a pair of
channel locks in between the two, I can get just about anything loose tight.
I'm serious.
I channel locks in a big Crescent wrench.
Can't be ginormous cause then you can't use it on like the little 10 mil stuff.
But for sure.
But big enough that, you know, if it had to take a lug nut off, you probably could.
Another thing we've had success in the past was JV Weld.
It's a great thing to have on you, but one time we, what happened?
It was like in the Mac again, in the truck and something happened,
the turbo pipe, crappy boots, crappy boot popped off the factory knocked off the
fitting on the radiator, some little plastic fitting that was like maybe
fitting the tank or something.
And it was like a, but it was under pressure.
Yes.
And it was like a, it might have been like a D gas line to let.
Yeah.
So it doesn't hydro lock or something, but burpline or something.
But it was, it was on the pressure side of the radiator.
And so there was no longer a quarter inch pipe thread or eighth inch MPT.
And that bar was gone.
It broke the, broke the radiator.
And so we brought out the stick of JV Weld and we, we plugged it, drilled it,
tapped it right there on the side of the road, put the fitting mic in.
And that thing lasted until we sold it.
JV Weld, man.
We sold that thing to Western Chapman.
You might want to look at this and that and like, you know what, look at
everything, engine solid, but there's everything that keeps it happy.
So, I mean, take a little stick of JV with me in a lot of
different vehicles.
I have my boat.
I have it.
Like, I mean, you just never know when you need to steal something up.
A little stick of JV was a long way.
So if you have a little toolkit, I would recommend throwing a little JV.
Well, I mean, never know.
It's all sounds like I was just really glad to have that.
So the, the best breakdown I had that I was happy, I was able to fix it easily.
I was loaded up my, my third gen Dodge and I was, no, it might have been,
it was my second gen Dodge.
So I was in my 98, 12 valve long bed and I was hauling the Junker drag
truck on an open deck trailer and I just left Cedar City and I was headed
to Texas for the world finals to go drag race the Junker.
Now the Junker, I always would have trouble with boots and stuff at events.
And so I had learned over my years of racing, I brought this big box full of
random boots and clamps and fittings and half the time I was just helping
other racers and stuff too.
And then I had line because every once in a while you'll have a line rupture.
It gets on the exhaust or the drive shaft or something.
And so I had our, our PDT transmission line with me.
And then I brought, because sometimes if you have issues, I had a spare
torque converter and stuff.
I had power torque ATF and engine oil, like it just barely at the top of
the mountain here, right as I climb up to 10,000 feet out of Cedar City.
Cause I was going up over and we called the Duck Creek way to, to eventually
head on and get on interstate 40 and go all the way to Texas.
I get right at the top, right as I'm cresting at 9,000 feet and
overdrive or 9,600 feet poof, I lose overdrive.
And then boom, I lose third gear and then boom, it goes to second gears.
I'm slowing down.
And what that's a sign of is I had ruptured a transmission line and it
drained all of the line.
And as you lose volume of fluid, in my experience, you lose gears just
like that overdrive goes away.
Then third goes away.
Then second, that's like, that's just the chain effect of as the pressure goes
lower, it can't hold those gears.
So as I pulled over, I'm up there, there's no cell phone service exactly
where I was at.
It's like a dead spot.
So I'm close to the shop that within 30, 40 minutes, somebody could drive up
there, but I was like, you know what, I have transmission hose, I have hose clamps.
I have fluid.
And so right there on the side of the road, you know, 10,000 feet elevation,
I, uh, and it was the factory cooler line steel, they had rubbed together.
And this is a truck that had probably 300,000 miles on it.
But, you know, I hadn't had transmission line issues with it.
You know, I had that sort of ways I hatched it, cut it out.
I actually had the right tool to cut the steel line where it rubbed, slipped
a piece of hose over double hose claptics.
I didn't have the right compression fittings, had the trans fluid right there,
filled up the trans and headed on my way to Texas.
No issues.
Like nobody even knew about it.
I don't even think it cost me 30 minutes.
It was like a 20 minute roadside fix.
Not at all the parts had all the, because I had all the parts and stuff.
And it really wasn't as bad where a lot of people, they'd be like, Oh my gosh,
my transmission's blown in this.
And I'm just like, well, I'm just going to put fluid in it.
And you know what?
It lasted 50,000 miles after that.
So it didn't really didn't hurt the trans.
It was, so that was my best fix.
My worst fix, another time in Texas, same truck, same junker drag truck.
And I'm hauling there and all of a sudden my tow truck starts
making this like knocking noise as I'm hauling the piss.
Like it is hammering hard.
And I'm like, dude, this thing and I'm like, I can't fix this.
And so I threw in the towel before even fully investigating.
And so I pulled over, unloaded the junker, street drove it to the event.
And left my tow truck there at this random gas station.
I was able to coast off with it.
I mean, it was just knock, knock.
I mean, it sounded horrible.
So I have a truck and trailer and my tow truck.
So essentially I would need to get rescued.
And this is in Texas.
We're talking 22 hour drive from Utah, I mean, clear across the country.
So Baron at that time, our head mechanic takes his Ford power stroke,
which at the time pained me and six liter six liter and takes another six liter
and puts it on a trailer and hauls his basically two good tow trucks out to me.
And one hooked up to my, my trailer to pull the junker drag truck home.
One pulled my dodge home.
And when I got home, I found out I had these cheap Smith brothers
brand push rods in there and it had broken one of the three eighths push rods.
And all the hammering was because it was kind of like filling up with fuel
or I don't remember for this exhaust or intake, but it's because one of the
cylinders had a broken push rod and it wasn't bent.
It had broken off right at the connector.
And I had push rods on the junker.
Like I could have, I could have after the race, pull the pushrod off the
junker, put it in there and driven home.
There was nothing else wrong.
And I felt like such an idiot that I investigate because I had to pay all
this fuel for this power stroke to come out.
And then I had my family with me.
And so, yeah, it was, was like the worst breakthrough.
My wife's like, why, why do you race?
This is so stupid.
Anyway, everybody's wife thinks that at some point, why do you race?
This is, but it was just a push rod and I didn't have spare push rods,
but the race truck had spare parts that I could have stolen.
And anyway, and you know what's funny?
After I took those push rods out, it, uh, it, uh, that one was broken.
And another one I found a crack on when I went.
And so the push rods were flexing or had some eggshell problem where
their heat treated wrong or something.
I ended up getting replacements from the manufacturer.
Like, oh, that shouldn't have happened.
That was just a fluke thing.
So they gave me like four replacement push rods, replaced the one that was
totally broke and a couple of cracked ones.
And then I ended up selling them to the Coons brothers, Sam and Seth Coons.
Really cheap.
I was like, here's some cheap push rods for you.
They broke on them as well.
And so these six are junk.
And I was like, here's your money back.
Please throw them away.
Those push rods or something wrong with them.
Cause I think they, they're capable of making decent push rods.
We don't use them for our push rods, but, but, uh, I mean, I'd have to a
hard time believing a company like that could be in business.
If their stuff sucked that bad.
So it probably just was, uh, you know, bad, bad set or something.
But, but anyway, that was my worst breakdown.
Cause it was so expensive fuel hotel for employees and
I was rough.
I was there.
I remember that.
I know most of my breakdowns, aside from fuel related issues in Ruby, I'd say in
my life, the most roadside repairs I'm doing revolves around replacing an alternator.
I've been to many repair shops to replace a faulty alternator.
Six, so a power strip, my excursion is kind of like known for like going
through alternators.
So I met her place those a couple of times side of the road.
You had to replace it on Willard in Las Vegas.
I say alternators are fairly common thing to fail and not, not modified or anything.
Like that's just, they just have a life of service life.
It seems like it doesn't matter what you do.
They're going to go out.
So there's a lesson on the Willard thing though.
Cause remember how it started on and off, not working.
And we kind of went in on battery power to the track and then at the track trouble
shot a little bit and like, well, it's charging now.
It must be fine.
And I was like, hold on guys.
I, uh, yeah, I mean, I didn't make a change.
I, the, the alternator stud was like pretty grody.
And so I cleaned it up a bunch, cleaned it up and started up and it started
charging and this wasn't like after I had cooled down.
This was like, we pulled in, you're waiting in line.
I was making changes and then we started up like five minutes later and it was fixed.
I was like, okay, cool.
Apparently that was not the actual fix.
And that I wanted to get an alternator.
I didn't trust it.
And so instead, after we raced, we left the track and made it, you know,
20 miles over the mountain and then it totally died.
And then I had to drive all the way back to Vegas to get an alternator
into the hood.
It was wonderful.
No, I also, I also lost an alternator on my tow truck, but that was
because, um, it's split in half because I lost a rod and the bill rod
like cut everything in half and that was probably the most destructive
blowup I've ever experienced.
Like yours are pretty good.
But the only thing usable on that engine was the adapter plate.
The crank was bent.
ECM got hit.
Um, the ECM survived.
The ECM mount was like had a big old dent in it, but the ECM mount was,
was dented.
The cam got broke.
The cam was bent in half.
The tablets were all destroyed.
The water pump split in half.
The oil pump split in half.
The water neck split in half.
The, um, the head got beat up.
The, um, the timing case split in half, just the covered split cracked
because I mean, ever just at the top and bottom of the engine, anything
connecting it split in half.
It was like the most expensive blowup.
That was my tow truck and I wasn't even driving.
So that was, that was an interesting one.
Sometimes if you break down, you've got to be creative, but not necessarily
on creative, like cobbling something together.
Sometimes it's creative on, you know, how you get something.
I remember one time I was in my 2008 Dodge.
I was traveling through Montana on interstate 90.
And I was head of Washington state and my alternator, my
else in there went out and all of a sudden it dinged and there's nothing there.
And I had passed an exit and I was like halfway between, you know, butte and
like Missoula and I'm like, I mean, if you're not from that area to you,
that's like 150 miles of nothing.
There's some little like no name towns there.
And so I pull off, of course, there's no gas station where I pulled off at the,
at the next exit, pull up my phone, kind of have patchy service.
I have to stand like outside my truck at the right angle.
And I find basically Anaconda one way and I can't remember the town the other way.
And I was, I was looking and so then I was just using like the internet found
an alternator at one of them.
So I called the store and they're like, yeah, but I couldn't make it back.
It was too many miles back.
There wasn't enough voltage to drive back that way.
And the town, the other way, obviously, he wasn't in a 12 valve.
Well, actually that reminds me of a story I had.
Yeah, I was in a common rail.
And so you need power to run the injectors and the, you know, CP three.
And it's just, it's more power hungry than a 12 valve.
12 valve, I would have been just fine.
So anyway, and it's a 68 RV, so you need electricity.
I assume for the transmission of anything but fourth and you wouldn't
have lockup, right?
So you'd just be in fourth.
So anyway, I call the store and they're like, great, we have one.
And they're like, yeah, we can't deliver anything like that.
So I got the hex.
I call this other store and they're like, yeah, we don't have one.
And I'm like, there's one alternator.
There, there's nothing to do.
And find that callback store.
I was like, look, do you have like some like newer employee or something there?
And they're just like, who is this?
And I was like, can't remember his name.
It's my buddy, you know?
And so he found some random guy at the store that's kind of new.
And I was like, new guys usually get low pay.
So I know they're like interested in making a few bucks.
So I was like, hey, hey, so I'm broke down and I told him to exit.
And I said, I did map.
I'm like, you know, 40 miles or something from you.
Could I pay you to bring an alternator to me?
He's like, yeah, man, I get off work in like 30 minutes.
I was like, perfect.
And so he's like, so then he's like, he's like, but I don't, he says,
the store won't let me take this unless I pay for it.
And I don't have enough money to even pay for this alternator, even if I gave him
cash. And so it's like, all right.
So I said, I will take Carter the phone, pay for the alternator and the
core charge because he didn't have enough for a core chart.
I mean, he was like flat broke, you know, and, uh, because he's going to get an
alternator from me right there on the side of the road.
And I, I offered him on, remember if it was 30 or 40 bucks or something.
And so he, so by the time he got there, he had the alternator off.
I gave him 40 bucks.
He was like happy.
He's like, he's like, oh my gosh, 40 bucks delivered this alternator.
And I guess on his way home, he had to drive most that way anyway.
So it didn't cost him very much fuel or anything.
And, uh, and so I got an alternator on the side and I didn't run the trucks
so low that I couldn't restart it because I don't have a generator or anything.
And, uh, so I was able to just start it right there, got the alternator on.
And I think, I think it only didn't even cost me a full hour.
And I could not have made it back.
I mean, I probably would have broke down and.
Oh, that's the thing.
I was pulling a trailer.
And so I was worried your head to DDP.
And this is like to buy that six.
So test stand right after you were like having some shifting and truck problems.
And you were like, look, you're trying to burn it down and looking at delays along the way.
You're like, I mean, I will, I will make it shop while you're driving.
Like, maybe that's why I broke down or was there's no truck places.
Like, I lost an altar.
I was like, Oh, well, I was going to new truck.
Apparently that didn't warrant it.
I actually had a similar one.
So I would have been close to billions or a dealership butte or a Missoula
where there's truck dealerships are definitely like Dave Smith there through
Idaho, like Kello guide.
Oh, they have like 7000000000 trucks.
I'm sure they could have found me something that have been like, yep.
So I had, I had a similar one.
I, it was like, so a coworker broke down in there, like 1500 or something,
like two or three hours north.
And they're like, called me like, Hey, can you pick me up?
And I was like, cool.
Like it was just getting dark.
And I was like, sure, like I got you.
So I hook, I had my dad's truck.
I just put it together.
And I was like, this is a perfect, like he's about to take it.
Like I will tow a trailer, like barge your trailer.
And I was like, I'll tow a trailer.
It'd be a good, just like test run to make sure this thing works before I let
my dad use it.
So I get going.
I'm holding like cruise control on, you know, 85.
Like this thing is a freaking beast.
I start pulling the grades.
I don't remember what grade it was.
Um, I start pulling the grade and I get almost to the top and the oil, like
the low pressure oil light comes on.
I'm like, this is a freaking 12 valve.
Okay.
They don't like just lose oil pressure, you know?
And so I like, the first thought was like, it's fine.
Oh, I'm just going to rock it until whatever.
And then I was like, Buh, what if I'm wrong?
Like that would suck.
And so I was like, oh, whatever, I'll just be an idiot and I'll just pull
over and just double check.
And then I pull over and there's oil everywhere.
Oh my God.
Boy.
And so I looked and the turbo drain bolts had on the compound set up had, um,
come loose.
And so I was like, well, that sucks.
And so I liked, I was just like, well, and so I, I was like, I, this is not a good
spot.
So I like, I was like, let the oil get back to the pan.
I started up and just got a little bit of speed and like went over to an
off ramp and then gotten those like sitting shut it off and shut up.
Yep.
And I was able to coast a little bit, just get it up over that the nose and
then just let coast down.
And so I'm like, this is, and it wasn't like the oil light was on.
It was just like on off, on off or, you know, so it was like not out of oil,
but it was definitely very low.
And I didn't suck an air.
Oh no, I remember I had a gallon of oil or something, a quarter gallon or
something, but it wasn't even on the stick still.
And I'm like, so I put that in there.
That's how I got to the side of the road.
I was like, try to remember how you fix the drain.
Right.
Did you just have bolts?
Oh, there's no bulls or nothing.
And I'm like looking around and I was like, well, so I was like on the
soft ramp and I'm like, what, it's like, it's dark.
It's like 930 or something.
And I'm like, what am I going to do?
And so I, I try to remember.
I think I stole bolts out of something or something else, like the plenum or
something.
I was like, I got to deal with a boost.
I'd be looking at plenum bolts.
I was like, I forgot what it was exactly, but it was something kind of optional.
So I probably did on the outside of the plenum.
So I went up into boost leak, but I didn't have a wrench.
So I'm like, okay, here's my bolts, but I don't have a wrench of any kind.
I don't have anything to take it out.
You didn't have a Crescent wrench in the door pocket.
I just put this thing together.
I was super confident.
And maybe it wasn't, I couldn't get a Crescent right.
Maybe I had a Crescent wrench, but I couldn't get it up in the turbo drain
because it's not a great spot.
And so I'm just like sitting there and I'm like, well, first of all, I need oil.
And so I call a gas station.
That's like, I think they're 20 miles away.
And I was like, Hey, I need oil.
I was like, can I pay someone there?
And this lady barely speaks English.
I was like, can I pay someone there for diesel oil?
I was like, I will make it worth your time.
She's like, oh, we closed in like 40 minutes.
Can I, I'll bring it to you then.
I was like, quick, exit this number.
Yes, absolutely.
I think I paid her like 60 bucks.
It might even a hundred bucks.
I don't remember.
I was like very generous.
I was like, this is probably stupid, but like, I'm so grateful for this.
So, and I had to pay for the oil.
I didn't pay for the oil or anything.
She just brought the oil and so I paid for the oil and then I paid
an extra to, you know, for her time.
And then there was a, but well, that was always waiting because I'm like
stuck there for like an hour.
And so every time there's a semi truck that would just pull pull up.
I'm like, do you have wrench?
Guy didn't speak English at all, but his like wife or something was there.
And so she was like kind of a translator and it took a bit, but we got a
10 millimeter wrench and I'm like, dude, that I can work with this.
And so I used, I pulled the bolt out of wherever it was, put it in the oil
drain, kind of, I didn't have a, a gasket.
I'm like, well, it'll kind of funnel it's way down in there.
So I tightened it up, whatever.
And gave him his wrench back, finally got the oil, put the oil in it.
I got it good.
I was like, sweet.
I pulled over it, then I got it going.
Cool.
Got over the next rest stop, bought like a little overpriced, crappy little
right set, so I could actually like snug those bolts down a little bit more.
And we were good, went, picked up the, I'm going to tell him like it was
Tyson, who I was saving.
And I was like, on the phone with him, I was like, Hey, it's going to be a
little longer than we originally thought, but I get him.
I get his wife, his dog and everything in the, in the cab and get back.
We're like, almost a cedar and it starts making this pretty atrocious sound.
And I'm like, this is not great.
And you're thinking the engines going from below.
I have no idea.
It's like, it's kind of more of a rattle.
And so I was like, okay, um, we get back.
It just sounds terrible.
You put a neutral.
It sounds like it sounds like drive.
It sounds kind of bad.
Neutral sounded absolutely a horrendous.
And I was like, Oh, probably torque convertibles.
Like not what I would expect, but whatever.
No, we cracked the center out of a billet flex plate.
Don't know how that was the only billet flex I have ever hurt was just
cracked the center out of it.
It's not one of ours.
Luckily, like ours, it had square windows.
And so it kind of was really thin.
Like because it was one of those old ones that we skipped from DPC or whoever.
Yeah.
And so it cracked the center out of it.
And then we, so we pulled the trans replaced the, the whatever.
And yeah.
And so that's how I got oil on the side of the road from some lady that
barely spoke English.
I was so grateful.
But you also look at that analyze that a little bit.
Your resourcefulness, asking truck drivers if they had stuff.
So you found a tool, get that lady to do that.
Otherwise you would have been someone who had a driven, what, now or two?
Like, I mean, the gas station was about to close.
I don't remember the time, but it was like probably 10 o'clock or
something like that.
Like, sure.
I mean, that was two hours away.
I'm like, I would have to ask someone to bring me a freaking three gallons
of oil and a wrench and some bolts.
No one wants to do that on a Saturday at 10 o'clock.
So I was like, trying to just do it myself.
And I don't think if my dad's watching this podcast, I never actually
told him about that.
Your truck goes around with that oil for a very short period of time.
It's been great.
I was like, sitting there thinking like, should I tell him?
It's like, what?
I was like, he's not going to, I'm not going to do anything about it.
He's not going to do anything about it.
Why make him worry?
And now it's been long enough.
There's no way that's a problem.
I think it's a beast.
I think part of it, I mean, I'm not going to say it's the way you're raised,
but like my dad had a crappy truck run as a kid that burns so much oil.
There was always a quart of oil under the hood wedge behind the battery.
Like on his little GMC S 15 Sierra or something.
And so it's like, when you get used to that, you're always like carrying oil.
So it doesn't seem, it seems abnormal to me to not have a jug or carton of oil
in your vehicle, but if you were raised on new vehicles, maybe with a silver
spoon in your hand, you would never carry oil in your vehicle.
So that's how I did it is I had a gallon of oil, but it wasn't enough.
And I was like, and I knew like the oil light was coming on from my
previous experience with oil lights coming on.
There's not much oil in the motor.
It's probably at least a gallon and a half low still.
I'm like, I'm not risking this brand new engine build to try to get to town.
And I really thought about it.
I was like, I'm not doing that.
And I have, I've had issues with that once before I had a on the shorty.
When I built the engine, I had a low pressure issue where the, if I like
get the engine hot, it would turn the oil pressure light on.
And I was like really nervous.
And so I put a pressure, I had an interstage boost pressure gauge with
like a little AFC live line with a little gauge in the cab.
And so I hooked that up to oil pressure just to like watch it.
So I was like kind of nervous and two things.
First of all, I found that I had like, I got down to Trump, finished my trip,
drain the oil out of it.
And I had a rag in the oil pan from plugging the oil drain on the turbo.
And so apparently at some point I had gone in and it was plugging the, the, um,
well, yeah, because I was like watching, like if the light would turn on and
I'd slow down and it would turn back off again and I'm like, okay.
And then it would come on and it's slow back down.
So like by the time I got to my dad's house, like I was capped at like 35
miles an hour, I'm like, this is not good.
And I was like, I had like some thoughts.
I was like, maybe that happened.
So like my dad thought I was an idiot.
Like, why are you digging in your oil pan with a little like bent up wire?
Like, what are you going to find?
I'm like, I think I might know what I'm going to find.
I did, I found it and that took care of it, but it still turned on when it was
hot and so I had the oil pressure gauge.
So I just left it hooked up and the line blew off and just, and so I was coming up.
I was like by saying George and it just showered the hood with oil, drained all my
oil. I had learned my lesson.
I had three gallons of oil on that one.
So I filled it up and I got and so I filled it up with to the gas station.
The whole truck's like dripping.
I mean, it just shot vertically should shot two and a half gallons of oil
straight out the top and like, and like that one, like the light turned on and
I was like over and yeah, I just shot two and a half gallons up at the hood.
Like it's just dripping with oil.
And so I go to the gas station and like these kids are like, dude, that looks
sick. Can you pop the hood?
And I was like, E, so I was like, let me tell you what just happened.
But sure. Yeah.
And they're like, oh my gosh, like they were just like, whoa.
And then they, I did a burnout for him on the way out, but getting on the highway.
But yeah, I've done that too.
Carrying spare fluids, at least a little Creston Ranch or small tool kit.
It's a pretty good idea.
I usually carry, I've had radiator hoses and stuff blow up randomly.
And sometimes, I mean, I remember one time on the Mac, the semi, we overheated.
We lost, remember I was getting water, that, that snow melt.
There was like a stream on the side of I 70 and I was filling up water to fill
the radiator. I mean, like, I mean, it's good, you know, that good snow melt water.
I mean, there's, are there any minerals?
I mean, it's probably just D.I. and I, D.I. and I water, you know, it's D.I.
Water straight from the sky.
It's just water.
But, but, but I've noticed a lot of times it's like getting a jug because
there's times I've had a fill of a radiator and all you could find is like
a Coke can that's pretty slow going.
So I usually try to carry a, a jug, even if it's not antifreeze, just a gallon
jug that I could use to, to put fluids in.
I mean, everybody's, I don't know if everybody's ran out of gas or fuel,
but I mean, you do some weird stuff pulling a line off and turn it on.
So the fuel pump bills, I mean, there are all kinds of weird stuff over the years,
but the things that really hold you up is not having a container,
couple of just basic simplest tools, even a pair of pliers, you know, I had my
truck was overheating one time and I was trying to pinch the thermostatic bypass
on a lot of these Dodge transmissions where it opens and allows the transmission
cooler to bypass the fluid cooler allows the fluid to bypass
the cooler until it gets hot up to about 180.
And then this thermostat closes and then it forces it through there.
Well, if you're running hot, a trick, a lot of guys do is they'll pinch
that top bypass line, because sometimes that thermostat gets stuck.
And so it's not fully forcing all the oil through the cooler.
And I remember trying to pinch that with like pliers, because my freaking channel
locks, somebody borrowed them when my kids or something, I couldn't find my channel.
So I had to go buy some crappy pliers at flying J and I'm over there.
My kids like, what are you doing as I'm like pinching the transmission cooler
bypass shut? So it's really a good point, though.
Like your tool is missing.
Like sometimes you get a new truck, like how this happened to me recently in my
fort, I bought it. I bought the truck new to me and I'm like, oh, this is pretty
fun. I'm driving around and I had to go to Salt Lake for a basketball tournament
with my son. Like, yeah, I think the new truck, that'd be fun.
We get up there and it's like I went to his, his game and by the time his
games were over, it's like 9 30, nothing's open partly.
And we got to go to dinner and we got going on.
And I noticed my tires low and I'm like, like this, all the shops are closed.
I can't go to a tire store anywhere.
I'm like, and I have no tools.
I don't have anything that's like, I just got as a set.
I remember screw is a simple screw, right?
And so it's like, you really feel like your channel like, like, if you don't have
anything, you realize, like, dude, I just made a mistake.
I left my house. I'm four hours from home.
I don't have anything to fix a simple problem.
You know, so luckily there was no Riley's as open till 10 and I went in there
and bought tools, a tire plug kit.
I bought an air compressor.
There's no compressed air anywhere that I could see.
You have to, you know, so I pull the screw out, higher plugged and all that stuff.
So now that truck has a tire plug kit, a little air compressor that runs off
my cigarette lighter or your power port, you know?
So yeah, you youngsters only know what a cigarette lighter is like.
What is that? Power port, power port, cancer sticks.
Who would do that?
Look at those. Yeah.
Now I use before they had the vape charger for it.
Yes. But like, I mean, all of a sudden you realize, like, dude,
I just made such a stupid error because this is a very solvable problem.
A couple simple tools, a tire plug kit.
I mean, you can fix a lot.
Years ago in the forums, guys would get this, they called it like a boony kit
from Geno's garage.
And I remember a very common thing that came with an extra pulley and a radiator,
you know, a serpentine belt and tensioner.
It was just like those common things that would take people down.
Yeah.
And but I remember one time as a kid, back before Geno's garage,
I think it was around, I remember we were on a family vacation
and we lost the serpentine belt and so we had no water pump or alternator.
And I remember my mom had pantyhose and she took them off
and my dad made like a makeshift serpentine belt thing out of her pantyhose
and tied him in knot and cut it and it got us to the it got us.
I think we're like somewhere like somewhere between like Boise, Idaho
and Jackpot, Nevada, you know, somewhere in that no man's land there.
And we're headed to Elie, Nevada, where my grandparents were from.
More, no, even no.
But you know, but my dad grew up in Elie, you know, and when you're on,
you know, some of those, I think, I think Highway 50 is called the loneliest highway
in America. I mean, my dad said that you can go sometimes for two hours
when he was a kid, not see another vehicle either direction for two hours driving.
He's like, and so when you grow up in that type, you learn how to do stuff
like tie pantyhose to make a stupid belt.
And just as we were having this podcast, I remembered, I was like,
but yeah, I remember as a kid, probably 10 years old, my dad's out there
and asked her for pantyhose.
And I'm like, what are pantyhose?
And I'm like, what the heck are you going to do with that?
Now there's my dad holding the flashlight as he's that's another thing.
Put a flashlight.
There's so many times people break down and they don't have a light
and cell phones have spoiled people a little bit.
Not strong enough, but but a dedicated flashlight.
That's something I'd always keep all my vehicles have a flashlight in them.
Or if I go on a family trip, I always put a flashlight.
At least if you can you can flag down hell, but flashlights.
Pretty important thing to carry in your vehicle if you're, you know,
doing any kind of traveling or cross country.
But I digress.
I will need a grip.
You want Johnny Hopper too?
Anyway, I will say a big thing.
A very powerful position to put yourself in.
If you ever have a roadside assistant is be a good friend and have good friend.
Like, I don't, I mean, I went to Vale for you.
You've been to me many times.
I don't think it's anywhere you could break down in the country.
I'm like, all right, I'll get in the truck.
Let's go.
Like, I'm going to keep that in mind when I take a second best tow truck
to India next, next month, next month, exactly.
But I mean, we would all jump in a truck for anybody here.
We jump in the truck.
We'd go like having a not the camera guy, not the camera.
A good network of friends is important.
A good network of friends is important.
And if you're, if you're into performance,
if you probably have a network friends,
you have people of similar interests and pro have similar tools.
But it is, I mean, we had friends come two days to Texas to pick you up,
the Jensen's Baron, like without any two days.
I mean, yeah, you paid him, but still he, I mean, he did it.
You know what I mean?
And you've come up saving multiple times.
I don't even know if we gave him any money.
I think we just covered like his room and board and all the expenses
and like hotel room.
Like I don't, I think he just, and we put all the miles on his trucks.
I don't know.
Maybe I gave him a couple of bucks.
I can't remember.
So it's long ago, but I mean, it definitely was not, I did not pay him
anywhere, any way near the value that I got out of what he did for me.
And he had a nice King Ranch Ford.
And man, that's when I started not hating Ford as much.
I drove his Ford back with an exhaust break pulling my, my junker.
And I was just like, man, this thing, this thing tows freaking good.
And my kids are like, there was TV screens.
Like, dad, why don't you have a truck like this?
And it hits you right in the heart.
You know, you're in the backseat of this King Ranch Ford yet, but this is poverty.
Not like my good extended cab, one cab dodge.
You guys don't realize how bad you have it right now.
But it's true, but it may be true because there are going to be times
like you're just not going to be able to fix it.
You went to the block.
You had some, I mean, you tie some wind to that.
You had to go, I mean, luckily you're well, didn't ruin your engine.
But I mean, yeah, so I could happen on that.
I friggin he borrowed it and he need to go do it, whatever.
I was like, yeah, no problem, whatever.
And then he calls me, I was like, you heard, he called me and I answered it.
You heard it. And he's like, yep.
I was like, transmission.
He's like, no, I was like, what?
He's like engine.
I was like, how bad?
He's like, there's holes.
And I was like, that's impressive.
You're like, what were you doing?
He's like, yeah, he's like, that's like, I was just getting
on on ramp just about to merge and then it went and he's just like,
and with somebody with you and you're showing off.
No, it was actually, it's actually pretty funny.
So like the conversation literally just went just like I said, like engine.
He's like, I was like, transmission.
He's like, nope. I was like, really?
I was like, how bad?
And he's like, hold, like holds in the block.
And I was like, really?
Like, wow. Okay.
I was like, I suppose you need to tow up here.
And he's like, yep.
I was like, okay, well, I'll grab something and I'll come get you.
I called my wife and he's like, is my okay?
Like he's not nearly as mad as he should be.
And she's like, I don't even know anything about this.
Okay. I was like, no, I'm getting a gun.
I just bought a truck and wrote me up and drag the truck.
He he towed successfully.
He went back to our front.
Your friend Tyson borrowed your truck.
Yeah.
He went down towed with it like a hundred miles, whatever was a co-worker
at the time as well.
So so fellow employee, fellow employee needed to truck to tow something
whatever he towed it, just fine.
He was down in St. George.
He just he had towed it, whatever he was down south of here.
Yep.
And he needed to go to a like a wrestling match or something.
And he was taking his dad there and his wife had his truck or whatever.
Somehow he decided to drive my truck there and he wanted to show his dad.
And so he decided to get into it a little bit, nothing crazy.
He decided to get into it a little bit, getting on the highway.
And he's like, yep, I only took it.
He's like, all I saw it was like 40 pounds of booze.
That's all it was.
I was like, okay, I don't know if you know this.
It's a factory map sensor.
It doesn't have another boost gauge.
Like 40 psi, actually 38 is all it reads.
I was like, so who knows?
It could have been at a hundred.
I mean, it only made like 70.
But yeah, it could have been who knows.
But anyway, he was like, yeah, it was just funny because he's like, he's, I was
like, how bad he's like, there's like holes in the block.
I was like, that's impressive.
Okay.
Well, I guess you do tow tow back trying to take away credit for how cool you were
with situation, but you also knew there's nothing he did to it that you hadn't
already done to it for sure.
And other than it sucked that it was in his possession when it failed.
Yeah.
And like that, that was my logic.
It's like, I beat the crap out of basically everything I own.
Like, and that happens.
I mean, even back when I was in college, I borrowed a Banshee from one of my friends.
We took a bunch of girls to the sand dunes and dudes too.
Obviously we weren't just out anyway.
And, uh, that was a good Mormon boy.
So we're surrounded Delta and this freaking, this Banshee blew up and I'm
like, I mean, seized up hard and we get back and I find out the air cleaner was
bad and wasn't even like sealed or anything.
And, you know, I hadn't like gone over.
And so it sucked because I was the one responsible.
I had borrowed it, but the guy was good enough friend.
We're cool enough.
And I was like, Hey, if you, you know, I'll pay for some of these parts.
I'll do a labor and, and get it all fixed up better than new, you know, for you anyway.
And he's like, yeah, yeah, cool, you know, and so that's kind of, you know, you
kind of make the best of a situation, say friendships, but it still sucked.
You know, I blew up somebody else's quad that wasn't really in good condition.
But at the same time I'm responsible because I borrowed it.
Probably how Tyson felt with your truck a little bit, you know, but he didn't
have the money to, yeah, I mean, it was, it was fine, but.
Anyway, roadside breakdown suck.
We've had many, we've had some fun stories.
They make some, they can make fun memories.
They can definitely, you know, solidify friendships.
The guy who saves you definitely feel a lot of like responsibly to like
repay the favor if you ever can.
Like if you asked Josh McCork, who is the best roadside chef he's ever experienced?
I guarantee you his answer would be a will Terry on I 70.
One time he took me a burger after I windowed my block.
He's made, definitely made a couple of comments.
They might have to grab the barbecue.
That's great.
Yeah.
All tools a barbecue is good to have.
It's just your plan Z, you know, barbecue with burgers still ready to
oh, yeah, we have to catch up.
We had all the condiments, drinks.
I mean, we're probably had chips and stuff.
I mean, it was like legit meal on the way of the way back to a race is probably
because you are stock stock of stuff, food, drinks, tools.
Like it's the, it's the way to break it.
Anyway, we were hoping to get just some good tips here.
I mean, we just kind of went down memory lane.
It's a stupid story.
I don't know how if I learned anything.
I don't know if it's died or not, but it was fun to think.
I don't think about it.
I mean, the stove pipe trick though, that's, that's legit.
I mean, that'll come in handy someday.
Do you still pipe self-tappers do a lot?
You know, I was still a pipe and self-tappers.
So JB Welding, maybe put some like fiberglass insulation to like make the
flange because the turbo flange sizes were wrong on the outlet.
And I kind of packed it in there and I was like, I'll accumulate
soot and kind of seal up and it works.
Okay, got home.
We got home and I kind of have to remember like self-tappers with wire around
them and then wrapped around the turbo to like keep it tight.
I don't remember, but I mean, it made it halfway across the Rockies.
I mean, that's a long ways.
It didn't, it wasn't a permanent fix.
It was just, you know, enough to get us home.
You got 65,000 pounds gross hauling down the road.
What are you going to do?
I don't have a buddy with a semi truck.
I could call and say, Hey, Mario Manette in Canada, could you drive down?
He's like, dude, cost me more in fuel to get there than your trucks worth.
He's like, sometimes hard lessons are best learned on your own.
Anyway, it's fun to think about that, you know, gross I break does, but I still
have, I never had another one.
Anyway, I don't know how much mail for this one.
You guys, any other stories or things I think about?
Just say, just if you prepare a little bit, top off the spare tire, I always
check fluids and stuff.
If you keep up on your maintenance on the vehicle and check the battery terminals
and a couple of things before you go way easier to fix something at home.
If you keep that in mind and if you're about to go on a trip, you cut out a few
hours, you know, dedicate some time and top off all your tires.
You don't get a low tire and check your spare and some of that.
So much less stressful when you travel because you have everything you need.
You know, check that you actually have a jack and a way, make sure you have that
splined lug to take your tires off.
I mean, how many times that sideline people and I'm just like, my gosh, you
don't carry a spline lug to match your special spiky lug nuts.
And they're just like, no, I mean, I will say also, like, I married into a
family that's very into outdoor stuff, like hunting and stuff.
And so they always have like a jacket, a blanket and some water.
Cause they go in the mountains a lot.
It's cold.
Like you may, if you're going somewhere, like you may be spending the
night in your vehicle, it's possible.
So if you're, it's good to just think of that kind of stuff, like have a
jacket, have something so you don't freeze.
If you're going to the mountains that this is not a roadside breakdown
stuff, but I mean, I've used stuff like that before.
So I think I'd have a blanket.
If you know where you're going to prepare, prepare, cause you don't use
the machines, machines break, right?
If you're going somewhere where you might be, I have a broken
machine, it's going to be a problem.
Be prepared to survive.
But if you modify it like we recommend it will break less often promise.
So as we say, keep modifying, you'll love it.
It's great.
It won't be fun.
Anyway, I hope you guys don't have any problems inside the road.
But if you do, I know hopefully you can take care of them easily and have fun.
Have some good buddies to help you out.
That's a big, a big bonus.
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About this episode
Roadside breakdowns and long-haul logistics set the tone as the Power Driven Podcast hosts walk through what modified diesel owners should carry and how to use it. Stories range from turbo and exhaust fitment problems to boot blow-offs on hot grades, plus fuel, alternator, and transmission-line failures. Practical advice includes checking intercooler boot torque after warm-up, keeping spare fluids and hoses, and having the right tools (like a 19 mm) plus quick fixes such as JV Weld.
If you run a modified diesel truck, a roadside breakdown is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when. Todd, Will, and Myer dig into their best and worst breakdown stories to help you prepare for the inevitable before summer hauling season gets here.
The guys cover everything from blown intercooler boots and dead alternators to turbo failures, low oil pressure, and full engine carnage. Most of their stories happen while hauling a trailer, which is exactly when you do not want to find out your diesel performance build has a weak link. Some of these repairs got made on the side of the road with whatever was on hand. Others required a little creativity, a few phone calls, and people willing to help.
Along the way they hand out practical tips that apply to any diesel truck build, whether you are running a built second gen Cummins, a 12 valve, a 24 valve, or a common rail. Good intercooler boots, tight clamps, a tire plug kit, spare fluids, and a basic tool kit can solve a surprising number of problems that would otherwise leave you waiting on a tow truck.
The bigger takeaway is that preparation before a trip matters more than any roadside fix. Check your tires, top off your fluids, inspect your battery terminals, and make sure you have the right tools before you leave the driveway. Machines break. The guys who handle it best are the ones who saw it coming.
If you haul, race, or travel long miles in a diesel truck, this one is worth your time.
Subscribe to the Power Driven Podcast on YouTube and follow along on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen.
Shop everything mentioned in this episode at PowerDriven.com, including intercooler boots and everything else you need to keep your diesel truck on the road when it matters.
Shop Power Driven Diesel: https://www.powerdriven.com
0:00 Intro and episode overview
0:45 UCC context and Myer's trip to Indianapolis
2:00 The Mac: Ford Aero Max with 855 Cummins mechanical PT pump swap
4:15 Coming home from UCC with a blown turbo in the Midwest
5:30 Will Terry Fabrication: stovepipe turbo fix with Ace Hardware parts
7:55 Garrett 475 swap, T6 flange mismatch, and getting over the Rockies
9:45 Intercooler boots: when they blow and why it happens
12:00 Boot maintenance tips, clamp torque, and upgrading before you haul
13:15 Alternator trigger wire failure and diagnosing on the fly
21:00 Broken Smith Brothers pushrod strands the family truck
28:30 Alternator failures: 6.0 Power Stroke and the Las Vegas story
30:45 Montana breakdown: getting a store employee to deliver an alternator roadside
35:00 Low oil pressure on the 12 valve, loose turbo drain bolt, flagging down semi drivers
39:15 Cracked billet flex plate discovered on the way home
44:00 Carrying spare fluids, radiator hose stories, and what to keep in the bed
45:45 Transmission cooler bypass trick with a pair of pliers
46:45 Tire plug kit and 12-volt compressor: the tools that solve simple problems fast
48:00 Boonie kit concept and the pantyhose serpentine belt story
49:20 Always carry a flashlight
49:45 The value of a good friend network when you are stranded
51:55 Tyson borrows the truck and puts holes in the block
