OK, I may have mentioned that I finally got a job...been working for a week and a half at UST Environmental Contracting. Mostly running vacuum trucks and occasionally a semi with either a lowboy or a roll-off trailer.

Well anyway, we have one old monster of a vac truck, an 87 Freightliner with a rock hard clutch, a stubborn-*** 13spd that doesn't like giving you 10th or 12th, and HAD an interaxle lock....

It spat out the interaxle driveshaft about halfway from Baltimore Ohio to Lancaster Thrusdat morning...Someone left it on, and it vibrated the bolts out of one of the dogbone bearing cups in the front yoke. The bearing flew out, then the shaft dropped out, flipped around and smashed the left front drive axle brake cylinder, and snapped off at the pinion shaft on the rear differential...

It actually wasn't all that dramatic. There was a loud bang, the truck jumped, and when I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw the shaft skidding off the road. I pulled into the next parking lot, in front of a place called Allen'* Greenhouse, and when I hit the brakes, it just DUMPED all the air pressure through the open brake cylinder, and dropped it low enough to set off the spring brakes. The damn truck just STOPPED from about ten miles an hour and put me onto the steering wheel(lap-belt only...).

I feel I should also mention that this is the same truck that had the left rear set of duals FALL OFF the day before I started with the company because the supplier sent the wrong brake drum...

Other than that, I really like the job!
18 hours of OT this week at time and a half, $13 an hour starting pay.

Stay safe, Brian!!

If you see me Brian, don't bother honking