Here in North Bergen, New Jersey, three miles west of the Empire State Building in New York City, is is ten degrees (10° F). To us here in the NYC metro area, this is "real" cold!
The wind Chill says it feels like -1° F. I guess that "Polar Vortex" arrived here, finally.
Up at the Bugout house in northeastern Pennsylvania, the actual temperature right now is ZERO with a Wind chill to -7°F. The solar batteries in the cement block solar shed dropped from 50 to 48 degrees overnight according to the Battery Management System, well within the proper operational temperature. So it looks as though all the work my son and I did to better insulate that shed, have worked. For now.
If this cold keeps up much longer, I think even the work we did on that shed will succumb; but we'll see.
SNOW PLOWING ISSUES
It started to snow here on Sunday and by about 8:00 PM, we started getting calls for snow plowing from our longtime customers. I do plowing as a way to earn more money in Winter.
As many of you will recall, I had big trouble with the snow plow truck as I brought it back to New Jersey from Pennsylvania a week ago, Thursday. The transmission dis-engaged on the highway as I got near my house. I took my foot off the gas pedal and the transmission re-engaged, but the temperature starting rising rapidly. As I went the 3/4 mile or so to the exit for my house, the temperature in the transmission had risen to about 220 degrees. I made the left onto Paterson plank Road and by the time I got the half mile or so up that road, to my house, the temperature in the transmission hit 260 degrees. That killed it.
I had to have the trans rebuilt, and I got that done ($3700).
So when my son and I took the truck out to actually use it for plowing, everything SHOULD have been good. Ha, Ha! The first thing we noticed is that the truck did not go into Overdrive at highway speed. Not really a big deal, but a harbinger of things to come.
We get to Staten Island to plow and as I put the truck into four wheel drive . . . . . . nothing. No 4WD dashboard light. has happened before because the electrical switch that triggers the light is temperamental. This time, it was accurate. The truck wouldn't actually go into four wheel drive.
This is now a catastrophe. How the hell am I supposed to snow plow with a truck that doesn't engage its four wheel drive????
I try to go up a hill into the entrance of the Homeowner's Association property customer I plow for, and the truck is fish-tailing as it tries to climb the hill. I'm turning into the skid and the truck finally made it up the hill, but WOW, what a nightmare. I plow. I salt.
As I'm plowing, I hit the brakes, the truck slows down and then . . . . . BZZZZZZZZZZZZ, the anti-lock brakes kick in. I can't stop. This activation of the anti-lock brakes proceeded to repeat itself every time I was stopping - even on roads heading home. The truck would decelerate to around ten miles per hour, then BZZZZZZZZZZZ, the anti-lock would kick in.
I hit the emergency brake . . . . . and the brake cable snapped! Peddle went right to the floor. Thankfully the truck finally stopped with the anti-locks. This was a real problem on the trip home. I would have to begin braking much farther in advance if coming to a red light.
We finish and get back to New Jersey around 2:00 AM.
At 7:00 AM yesterday, a hotel that we plow for, called. It had snowed a second time overnight and their lot was a sheet of ice.
Had to go out and salt there - again.
We finish and I take the truck back to the guys who fixed the trans. I tell them "no overdrive, no four wheel drive and now, the anti-lock brakes are engaging every time the truck decelerates and gets below ten miles per hour and my emergency brake cable snapped."
Yesterday afternoon, the guys called. They fixed the overdrive and fixed the four wheel drive. A vacuum hose that triggers the Actuators went bad and they couldn't create enough suction to trigger the actuators, which lock the axles together. So the big stuff is fixed.
The anti-lock brakes are another story. The sensor for those is in each front wheel hub; you know, the thing where the wheel bearings are located. I need one or possibly two wheel hubs: $450 each. The emergency brake cable will be chump-change to fix. Arrrrggggggh. I told them to fix it. The truck __should__ be done later today.
And so it goes.
UPDATE 9:29 AM EST --
The garage fixing the truck called, they will be doing the wheel hub(s) today to fix the anti-lock brakes but the emergency brake cables are OUT OF STOCK. I told them to replace one or both wheel hubs as necessary to fix the anti-lock and I can wait on the emergency brake.
