Gear Shifter Broke Again!!!

[frank1]

During yesterday's snowstorm, I received a call from one of my employee's stating his truck is down ! I asked him what he meant by that and he replied the gear shifter broke!!! (03' w/six speed). I quickly replied how in the H##L THAT HAPPEN! He said when he got to the first parking lot he pushed foward to the curb and when he was trying to put the truck in reverse the shifter broke! This was at his first stop !!! The reason for the post is this already happened two years ago (another employee)! I replaced the bottom portion of the shifter with BD short shift kit, which is a lot more beefier than the stock unit. The shifter broke about two inches below where the threads to the shifter would thread into, almost at the same location two years ago! Have any you guys had this problem??? Any suggestions, (other then getting someone else who knows how to drive a manual). Got the truck home via a pair of vise grips attached to the top of the shifter stub. Not a good day! Thanks, Frank

 

[retirednak]

I have a friend who pushes snow up near Mount McKinley and claims to have broken 3 since it was new. I'm not sure if he has a short shift kit or not,he does deal with lots of deep snow and doesn't baby his truck and rarely gets shut down when its snowing & blowing. Last I heard the truck had a tad over 300K miles on it carrying a 9 ft Boss V plow and a sanding box on the back. It amazes me the punishment these trucks take,and come back for more.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Was the driver PO because he had to work? Just asking!!! no piece of equipment can stand up to a PO driver

 

[frank1]

I think what happened is the transmission was "loaded", meaning he had a pile of snow in front of him along with the concrete curb and he couldn't rock the truck foward enough to engage reverse? Any way, if he was PO plowing in a nice and warm truck cab, I wonder how he felt plowing with my M59 Kubota tractor with "open" cab for seven hours in the mid twenty's with winds 10-18 M. P. H. with gusts up to thirty miles per hour!!! Anyway, ordered new short shift kit from Geno's and stick shift from local dealer (which by the way he never heard of someone breaking a stick shift!). Should be here in the next week or so. Get everything repaired and ready for the next storm ... the joys of owning your own business!!!

 

[BIGNASTY]

I dont know about the OPEN CAB TRACTOR it dont seem to bother the wife!! on the Ford tractor with no heat at - temps :-laf she does a HELL of a job on the tractor, The mules start to cry when she picks up the reins for their snow plow :{ course we dont have much to hit out here in the way of parking curbs

 

[RVTRKN]

WOW, I want to move to Montana, but wife likes the warm California weather, and I can't get her to move out of State.

 

[S.Morris]

If they are yankin hard enough to break the stick off, how are the syncro's

 

[BIGNASTY]

WOW, I want to move to Montana, but wife likes the warm California weather, and I can't get her to move out of State.

YOU CANT!!!! move up here we have our kids up here and NOW, MT has closed the borders to all others, Sense your kind of stuck in Ca want to buy some land 5 acres you can have your very own little place with hot and cold running illegals THAT IS WHAT I DONT MISS ABOUT CA. the give it to me cause I dont want to work for it attitude. In reality we are in the process of selling it to a investment group that want to build apartments I cant wait to be done with CA



GOOD LUCK, AND TAKE THE AMERICAN FLAG WHEN YOU LEAVE

BIG



PS that was the first couple of snow's you would have to did DEEP to get to the fence line now :-laf today is 25* last night was 13* and its going to be colder tonight STILL WANT TO MAKE IT HOME??

 

[frank1]

Big - You sure do have a lot of fence posts running along your drive, with the crew of guys I have you would probably end up with one or two standing by the end of the season,Ha, Ha!!! Very nice pictures! Looks like a Christmas card! Enjoy it! Frank

 

[jelag]

Guys... during the time that I owned my business I owned at least 10 or 12 Ford/Dodges and we ran them to 450-500K miles before we sold them... we had some transmission problems with the Fords and ate one two input shafts with pilot bearing failure but never broke one of the shifters... we did have the short shift kit in all the Dodges...

As I think this through I see no reason for this to be snow related if the truck is fully in gear as the clutch is released...

Just my thoughts...

 

[BIGNASTY]

Big - You sure do have a lot of fence posts running along your drive, with the crew of guys I have you would probably end up with one or two standing by the end of the season,Ha, Ha!!! Very nice pictures! Looks like a Christmas card! Enjoy it! Frank

frank1

Im sure that she has hit one or two dozen of them and we have taken some down to provide a path to dump the snow into the pasture to make room for the next snow plowing adventure. It sure helps to have a bit of room to put the stuff but this year I dont think our 35 acres is going to be enough



BIG

 

[retirednak]

My friend fired his relief driver when told about broken shifter,he had never heard of one breaking. He had to weld up the broken piece since he is so far away from a dealer. He broke the welded one,replaced with a new one bought when #1 broke. Wife broke #3,how does a woman weighing 110 lbs break a shifter? I would call BS if I wasn't good friends the family.
I'm wanting to move out of AK,way tired of the snow. Sure wish MT didn't have crappy weather like we do.

 

[BIGNASTY]

. Sure wish MT didn't have crappy weather like we do.

We Don't have CRAPPY WEATHER??? The normal season's like most everyplace else Winter/mud/summer/fall. I aint going to BS ya this year has been hard ON ME at least, having a leg amputated more than what it already was, Near record snow fall, and NOW BEING SICK AS HELL CAUSE SOME SNOT NOSE BIT** BLOWING BUGGERS ALL OVER ME AT THE HOSPITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The hard part for me to get use to was that in the summers it DONT GET FRIGGIN DARK UNTILL 10:30 AT NITE!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ALL ABOUT?????????????? :-laf



But without all the so called bad part of the year how would these time's be SO SPECIAL!!!

 

[mgonske]

Love those pics, Big!

I put the BD short shift kit in my '03 early on, and broke it off within a year. Fortunately, it was right at the end of my driveway, checking the mail when I got home from work. Had a neighbor help me tow it in to the house, and called BD (I was in Florida then, and with them on the West coast, the time difference worked to my advantage). They overnighted me a replacement (on warranty) that I was able to install the next evening. I had nine years of problem free service after that.

 

[retirednak]

We Don't have CRAPPY WEATHER??? The normal season's like most everyplace else Winter/mud/summer/fall. I aint going to BS ya this year has been hard ON ME at least, having a leg amputated more than what it already was, Near record snow fall, and NOW BEING SICK AS HELL CAUSE SOME SNOT NOSE BIT** BLOWING BUGGERS ALL OVER ME AT THE HOSPITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The hard part for me to get use to was that in the summers it DONT GET FRIGGIN DARK UNTILL 10:30 AT NITE!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ALL ABOUT?????????????? :-laf


But without all the so called bad part of the year how would these time's be SO SPECIAL!!!

The couple times I've been in your neck of the woods,it reminded me of home here in AK. It was quiet,peaceful and down right beautiful,it even smelled like home. I thought I found the place to move to, till my body told me other wise. When I move,I need no more snow and ice,I'm tired of aching from all the abuse I did to my body exploring AK on horse,4x4,ATV and bush planes. Who knows,I may end up there any ways and travel during winter.

 

[RVTRKN]

Big, will you quit posting pictures like those. I get all worked up about moving out of Comifornia, then my wife comes home and tell me to wake up and smell the roses. Damn I want to move to Montana, I was in Billings a few years back in Dec and was shocked to be served by English speaking waitresses and the food was cooked by a European American.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Big, will you quit posting pictures like those. I get all worked up about moving out of Comifornia, then my wife comes home and tell me to wake up and smell the roses. Damn I want to move to Montana, I was in Billings a few years back in Dec and was shocked to be served by English speaking waitresses and the food was cooked by a European American.

Well if ya come up here you can eat in a cafe in town that has Native American Blackfeet Indians serving food and a cook that was born on the Blackfeet Nation Reservation 75 years ago!!! Might get to see a few deadbeat cowboy want-a-be mule packers that are there every AM and if YOUR REALL lucky ya just might get to see AND hear 2 of the UGLYEST cowboys sing a couple of songs and play guitars, and both of them recently MOVED from Commie calif. Only the REAL ugly one sings and when the Real ugly one sings the CUTEST little Blackfeet Indian girl cant resist shaking her sugar. Most all of us speak Blackfoot so dont think that we cant make fun of the tourist's and them not know it :-laf



Please dont judge the rest of Montana by Billings!!!! JUST KIDDING BILLING'S



RVTRKN

This place is the most friendly that I have ever been to, the young people are considerate of others the old folks figure that the young ones are trying to find a path in life and are willing to over look the things that they do to try and find that path.



On the other hand if you say or ask something that would require an opinion THEY GIVE IT TO YA LIKE IT OR NOT!!! and the funny thing is that at the end of the conversation you both leave with a HANDSHAKE and a different perspective of the discussion AND N0 HARD FEELINGS

I love it up here most of the year, when the tourist season comes around our population goes from 2k to about 4. 5 k over nite and brings with it some that just dont want to take care of our little town the way WE THINK VISTIORS should.





Its not as cold as one would think, First you dress for it and second you get use to it. At 3am its frigging cold im not even going to try to BS ya on that, but get out and start moving around doing some chores by the time they are done and the sun is coming up your having breakfast and its not that bad to go out and do what ever is on the agenda for the day, AND THERE IS ALWAYS something to do.



Our Son and His family have moved up!!! this part of his yard is 250 acres his Grandfather and he own another 1750 that he has to tend to along with aproxminatly 500 head of beef BEFORE HIS JOB AT THE HOSPITAL 4 DAYS A WEEK 10 HOURS A DAY :-laf:-laf

I call and he seems to be sleeping all the time



BIG

 

[RVTRKN]

Stop it, your going to make me cry, and the worst thing to see is an old man (well middle aged man) cry. :-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf



When in Montana and Wyoming back in 09 I was impressed with the people. Always polite and courteous, and that was the younger generation. I never got into conversations that would require opinions, but their demeanor was evident they would stand their ground if provoked. At that time I wanted to live there, but I had just bought my second house in Las Vegas NV and was going to move there next to my daughter. Its ironic, because she is a banker and she was caught up in the economy, and the bank closed their office there. She then moves back to Comifornia and gets a job in another bank, and then she divorces her husband. So now that home in Vegas is only an investment property. My wife wont move there now because our daughter is back in Comifornia.



Thanks for making me cry, its been awhile. :-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf

 

[BIGNASTY]

The couple times I've been in your neck of the woods,it reminded me of home here in AK. It was quiet,peaceful and down right beautiful,it even smelled like home. I thought I found the place to move to, till my body told me other wise. When I move,I need no more snow and ice,I'm tired of aching from all the abuse I did to my body exploring AK on horse,4x4,ATV and bush planes. Who knows,I may end up there any ways and travel during winter.

retirednak

We Love this place its been the wifes home from birth and mine sense I married her (only in my mind) now that we have retired and moved here PERMANENTLY ,I will not leave it for very long I cant stand the thought of going to a city much bigger than Missoula,Helena,Great Falls its just to BUSY, nice to visit and let the wife shop and me get my Starbucks and LEAVE!!! in the Summer I pull on to our Drive from going to the city and I feel as thou a weight has been lifted off me

Stop it, your going to make me cry, and the worst thing to see is an old man (well middle aged man) cry. :-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf



When in Montana and Wyoming back in 09 I was impressed with the people. Always polite and courteous, and that was the younger generation. I never got into conversations that would require opinions, but their demeanor was evident they would stand their ground if provoked. At that time I wanted to live there, but I had just bought my second house in Las Vegas NV and was going to move there next to my daughter. Its ironic, because she is a banker and she was caught up in the economy, and the bank closed their office there. She then moves back to Comifornia and gets a job in another bank, and then she divorces her husband. So now that home in Vegas is only an investment property. My wife wont move there now because our daughter is back in Comifornia.



Thanks for making me cry, its been awhile. :-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf:-laf

Have to go to Calif One last time in a month or so to sign paperwork to sell the last place that we have there. Cant wait to not have any ties there other than Friends and Family that came to live with us for school and found GREAT WORK and started their family there.

 

[retirednak]

When I do move,no way in hell can I move to a city or town. I'm 8 miles out now and that's 8 miles too far. Willa is the fastest growing area of the state and it makes me sick of all the reject from the lower 48 moving here. Use to be able to leave the keys in your vehicle or the houses unlocked,not now. At night I answer the door with a gun in my hand due to all the late night burglaries and shenanigans. When I move it will be out in the middle of no where and will need to be reminded of AK every time I look or walk outside.