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hotwiretamer
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Post  BC_boy Sun Jul 29, 2012 7:55 pm


Does your company do their outfitting in house or do they contract that out? How about maintenance, do you even have your own mechanics? What are some of your pet peeves as linemen working out there day in and day out that I could be watching for on the trucks and possibly fix before it becomes a problem?


Last edited by BC_boy on Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:45 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : pigeonholed)
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Post  MI-Lineman Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:13 pm

I'm not sure we're in house still and we have our own mechanics. We've given Altec the boot (thank God! Rolling Eyes ) and International I guess finally told our co. that payin to have the AC removed is no longer an option! I just got a 2011 F-550 srvc rig and I love it but it has no AC and is hot as hell! Crying or Very sad
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Post  BC_boy Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:21 pm

MI-Lineman wrote:I'm not sure we're in house still and we have our own mechanics. We've given Altec the boot (thank God! Rolling Eyes ) and International I guess finally told our co. that payin to have the AC removed is no longer an option! I just got a 2011 F-550 srvc rig and I love it but it has no AC and is hot as hell! Crying or Very sad

Yeah I was just lookin at the pics of your truck there MI and they're pretty much the same as that for the F-550's except ours have got a nice big winch bumper with a Warn 15000 lb'er on the front, and I'm not sure but I think the boom's are a little smaller, no outrigger's either they've got a ladder stabilizing bar underneath instead (couldn't tell for sure but it looked like yours has outriggers?). There's been hearsay about maybe bringing it back in house, apparently the higher ups are not too happy about all the work that is having to be done twice. How come you guys want the AC removed from the Intl's? Ours all have AC too Twisted Evil
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Post  hotwiretamer Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:11 am

Mike, seriously? No AC?
Now days I wouldn't doubt you pay extra to have it left out! You guys shouldn't spend so much time in the cabs with the AC running Very Happy

BC Boy:

Our rigs are mostly contracted out, but we have the same issues. Trouble lights on the headache rack on our line trucks installed inside the beacons, so they have to be moved.

I just got a new F350 chassis, and the took my old service body off my old truck and installed on new. I had to change a tire out the other night, and when I went to drop the spare the key wouldn't fit in the hole. I crawled under the truck, and the tube was no where near the hole in the back of the service body! What a pain in the ass! Especially in the rain!
Also, the installed rope lighting in the bins, and they used these plastic clips that glued to the top of the bins, above the doors.
Well after a few day with 100 plus temps, the glue gave up, and now the rope lighting is hanging down in the way of the tools, etc. Crappy craftsmanship!!
We contract all of our work out, because when we got bought out they didn't want the mechanic shop. We now suffer dearly for it. They have mechanics at TEP, our sister company who also now orders our trucks.
I liked it the old way!
Glad to see you are getting familiar with the fleet, that will definitely be plus on any resume!
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Post  BC_boy Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:29 am

Oh man that blows about the spare tire, yeah all the simple little things like that are the things that they seem to miss. Used to have 6 guys here doing new outfitting, but since it's been farmed out it's been cut to one guy and now it's called "New truck warranty dept." The guy doing it though is great, knows every little thing to look for, and does all the work with the linemen's safety in mind, I'm very impressed with how much he cares about doing everything right, and takes the time to explain to me why everything is done the way it is, seems to have a good grasp on what the linemen do on a day to day basis, I guess that comes with 40 years of experience though.

Another cool fact I learned is that most of the guys in the shop have been trained in bucket rescue a few times over the years. The reason being is just incase they happen to come across a single man working trouble whos in distress up in the bucket while they're out on their way to or from the shop, or just driving around in day to day life, they can help him out and maybe save a life. I think that's a great 'above and beyond' for safety practices.

Hmm I noticed we've got that rope lighting in the new service body's too, I'll have to take a look at that on monday and see how they're held up there, maybe put some wire clamps in there instead to make sure it ain't going nowhere. Good tip!
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Post  hotwiretamer Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:39 am

Let me know if you come up with a remedy for attaching it. I'm guessing they didn't want to drill through the service body, heavy magnets maybe? scratch

Have you delt with fiberglass bins yet?
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Post  BC_boy Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:48 am

Yes I was just using a hole saw to cut some bigger holes between the bins on friday for better air flow with the bin heaters on. They come with two tiny holes drilled between each bin which arent's enough to let the bins at the back heat up on those cold canadian days. I learnt that next time I drill fibreglass I should make sure I'm wearing gloves. Laughing There's only one bin heater on each side of the truck in the front bin. If they've got those crap glue clamps though I don't think it would be a problem to drill a couple holes through near top on the back walls and throw a nut and bolt on there with some dripseal and put the lights in one of those wire clamps. Lots of other things drilled through the bin walls, like the wire rack in the middle on deck (which came upside down by the way so the bar to hold the coils of wire in was on the top, the wires would just roll out) had to fill six holes and drill three more to put the rack in right Rolling Eyes

One of these:

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Post  hotwiretamer Mon Jul 30, 2012 12:56 am

Upside down wire racks, no that's funny! That reminds me, when I received my new truck, they didn't put the wire rack in at all!

We probably don't even back charge for any of this either. Do you know if your utiliy does?
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Post  BC_boy Mon Jul 30, 2012 1:00 am

I'm not sure if they send them the bill. Whenever a new truck comes in, they write up a shit list of about 100 things and send it over to the altec branch office down the street to get fixed. They pick and choose one or two things to fix and send it back, so then our guys write up another list of URGENT things, send it back there, and they fix another one or two things. From that point on it just stays at our garage and we do the rest of the work ourselves, it's just not worth the hassle.
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Post  rcdallas Mon Jul 30, 2012 2:34 pm

BIN HEATERS? ARE YOU SERIOUS...BIN HEATERS ??

Our little service/trouble buckets come from ETI juiced up. Don't know where the line trucks come from. They are Altec booms.

It'd be nice if they would wire in 12 volts to each bin; at least a cigarette lighter. One thing I noticed on the service/trouble buckets is they put the remote controlled "GO LIGHT" on one side of the truck say the right side where you can patrol a line at night on the right but when you need to patrol the left side the knuckle of the boom is in the way of the beam. Maybe mount that thing in the center of the roof--that or put a tear drop spot light on both pass and driver side doors in addition.

I notice some of the newer trucks they put LED beacon lights inside the headlight / tail-light assembly and that's all you have for warning lights; they are too small that nobody can see they are on.

The new crew/foreman pickups come with directional traffic light bars, mounted up on the headache rack; great location until you put a reel of wire on your truck--now nobody can see the directional light.

I like how some mount their fire extinguishers up high and out of sight. Real handy for when you need it. Very Happy

The new 2013 ( or 12 ? ) service/trouble trucks with a Dodge chassis have been appearing....had to sign for one few weeks ago. Tested the remote start/stop button from the bucket--truck starts but the PTO doesn't engage...they all do that. Pretty handy when your in the elevator!

NO A/C MIKE ? GAWD AL MIGHTY
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Post  MI-Lineman Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:25 pm

Ya our co. has always been against AC for the Union hands but they have little choice now! Mine has outriggers and we had a rental a few years ago that had no outriggers and I didn't care for it, waaaay to unstable! We just had a jl around the 4th of July get hit and killed by a car and now I'm being told I'll be carrying signs some where on my little truck now?
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Post  BC_boy Mon Jul 30, 2012 11:50 pm

Your company RENTS trucks from time to time!? Alright here's another question for you guys...any idea how many vehicles in your fleet company wide, line trucks and any other vehicles alike. Since you guys are renting trucks from time to time I'm guessing it's nowhere near the around 4000 we've got, but we cover a big province.
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Post  rcdallas Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:34 am

BC_boy wrote:Your company RENTS trucks from time to time!? Alright here's another question for you guys...any idea how many vehicles in your fleet company wide, line trucks and any other vehicles alike. Since you guys are renting trucks from time to time I'm guessing it's nowhere near the around 4000 we've got, but we cover a big province.

I've seen around here where they will rent trucks when their is excessive work load that will necessitate another digger or what not; make sense to do that instead of committing to a full time truck. Right now we have a digger derrick in this district that is around because of the summer work load.

We have about 50 service centers plus whatever corporate has; probably several thousand fleet vehicles; that doesn't count transmission--they are another breed around here kept separate from us lowly distribution boys.
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Post  rcdallas Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:35 am

MI-Lineman wrote:Ya our co. has always been against AC for the Union hands but they have little choice now! Mine has outriggers and we had a rental a few years ago that had no outriggers and I didn't care for it, waaaay to unstable! We just had a jl around the 4th of July get hit and killed by a car and now I'm being told I'll be carrying signs some where on my little truck now?

I think all buckets should have signs but to be used depending on what your doing.
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Post  hotwiretamer Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:50 am

We have "Go Lights" mounted on both sides of most of our trucks. To bad when you have a bucket, linetruck, and trouble truck all at the same work location, the remotes run lights from the other trucks! PAIN IN THE ASS!!

Mike, we have been carrying signs and cones for years now. Get with the program! Oh, and don't forget your fancy green vest!!

I've never heard of heaters in the work bins, either!
You Canadians have all the cool shit!
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Post  BC_boy Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:56 am

It's a consolation prize for our stupid firearms laws Rolling Eyes Yeah they're kinda neat, they run in series with the coolant system, little radiators with a 12v blower on em, 'auxiliary heaters' I think you'd call em.
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Post  hotwiretamer Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:01 am

Are you guys having any trouble with service buckets when they get wet, the boom won't operate??

We have three right now they can't seem to get fixed. Thank goodness it only rains a couple times a year in Havasu! sunny
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Post  CanadianLineman Tue Jul 31, 2012 11:51 am

British Columbia is one of the few holdouts left for hotsticking. Everything over 5Kv is with sticks and so it is important to keep 'em dry. We do not use rubber gloves with sticks here, either.

Actually is is one of the most pleasant working conditions due to our hotsticks because you don't look like a SCUBA diver when going up a pole or working U/G and it is one hell of a lot more pleasant when working in extreme heat or cold. I know most lineman recoil in horror when they see us working without rubber but we have relatively few fatalities here and if you do F up and have a phase to phase or phase to ground fault that extra several feet is the difference between skin grafts and a darned good sunburn.

I have been involved in several huge balls of fire in my 40+ years and I still have not had to have a skin graft.
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Post  rcdallas Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:55 pm

hotwiretamer wrote:We have "Go Lights" mounted on both sides of most of our trucks. To bad when you have a bucket, linetruck, and trouble truck all at the same work location, the remotes run lights from the other trucks! PAIN IN THE ASS!!

Mike, we have been carrying signs and cones for years now. Get with the program! Oh, and don't forget your fancy green vest!!

I've never heard of heaters in the work bins, either!
You Canadians have all the cool shit!

You know you can reprogram each individual go light dontcha? Just pop off the battery cover of the remote and move the dip switches to whatever position. Now kill the power to the go lights probably for at least a minute--then turn on power to one of them--then you have to hit the on button a few times and the light will be programmed for that remote Very Happy

I'd love to get my hands on one of those HID Stryker go lights. Fixin to just buy one myself so I can be willy wonka bad ass and signal in battman (steve) to come save the day laughing
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Post  rcdallas Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:59 pm

hotwiretamer wrote:Are you guys having any trouble with service buckets when they get wet, the boom won't operate??

We have three right now they can't seem to get fixed. Thank goodness it only rains a couple times a year in Havasu! sunny

I remember with this one truck I had where if I killed the engine from within the bucket I couldn't get it started; coached a (no shit) 85-90 yr old lady on how to start the truck and engage the PTO....anyways I was told that there are no wires that run through the boom (obvious reasons) and the way the push button worked for the remote kill was by air pressure--well with the dust of west texas and lack of rain dust would get in the valve.

Maybe ya'll have something similar going on?
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Post  Highplains Drifter Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:59 pm

hotwiretamer wrote:

I've never heard of heaters in the work bins, either!
You Canadians have all the cool shit!



Heck, I have seen the T-Man for SCE in the mountains stop and wait for the Mechanics to show up to install the tire chains on the Trouble Truck!! Shocked You need better conditions! stiring the pot
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Post  hotwiretamer Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:50 pm

Highplains Drifter wrote:



Heck, I have seen the T-Man for SCE in the mountains stop and wait for the Mechanics to show up to install the tire chains on the Trouble Truck!! Shocked You need better conditions! stiring the pot

I don't doubt that a bit! There is a lot of retired SCE folks livin on the Golf Course in Havasu. Spoiled Bastards!!
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Post  hotwiretamer Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:24 pm

Here is our Track Boom. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm guessing it is going to be a long day when that time comes! affraid


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Post  Gumbo Sat Aug 18, 2012 10:10 pm

hotwiretamer wrote:Here is our Track Boom. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I'm guessing it is going to be a long day when that time comes! affraid


Is that a Moruca?? If it is--it is a stout machine. I hope they redesigned it a bit though. The last one that size I used would not stow with an auger over 24". Had to remove the 36" and tie it on and stow the Kelly bar between each structure. THAT__will make for very long days.

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Post  Highplains Drifter Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:42 pm

I see a front winch so I assume there is a rear. Nice looking flex trac!! The last ones I ran the air cleaner was on top of the cab so one could really submerge it in water. I kind of got the feeling yours is a sand runner. Have fun using that nice piece of equiptment!!!
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