truck line assemblers

[Redline novdog]

Personally being an assembler myself, the end result starting/running/moving, is the satisfaction/gratification of knowing you did a good job! It is a double edged sword, if the tractor fails in test, and it was something I caused.

[Redline novdog]

Thanks for sharing the "Howie Makem" story! I can see some individuals being irritated by that.

[flykelley]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I have alsways been fascinated by that, too. Seems like you start off with little triangle shaped pieces of soup can, and you keep adding parts until you have a complete car body.

I felt that way even after having design/release responsibility for K2xx pickup cab/box and G van underbody structures.

The process is really set up to do the same thing, over and over, about a million times, with no changes. Building the first one is kinda tough but the following 999,999 are not as bad!



K

Keith not bad as long as nothing changes. I have seen robots lose their mind and do some crazy stuff, had one in trim that installed windshields, it thought it would be a good idea for the arm to not go to its home position but instead it went through the windshields. Made one heck of a mess.

Mike

[Redline novdog]

Thank You KeithSeymore and FlyKelley for your input,but I can't imagine there are no other inputs!

[Hiluxxulih]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I have always been fascinated by that, too. Seems like you start off with little triangle shaped pieces of soup can, and you keep adding parts until you have a complete car body.

I felt that way even after having design/release responsibility for K2xx pickup cab/box and G van underbody structures.

The process is really set up to do the same thing, over and over, about a million times, with no changes. Building the first one is kinda tough but the following 999,999 are not as bad!



K

I think it's kind of cool because until I ordered my 2004 Silverado it was probably a big roll of steel in a warehouse , I am not sure how long they have the materials sitting around waiting to be turned into a truck , I will surely keep it until I am dead just because I factory ordered it , my only regret was not getting the 5.3 liter v8 and the auto but the v6 5 speed has a cool factor too .

[Keith Seymore]

So - are we done here?

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

You just reminded me of a story...

Maybe you guys didn't do this, but up at Flint we would "fit" hoods and fenders with a big hammer and a big stick.

If the fenders were "inboard" relative to the doors, rather than undoing the lower bolts and adding additional shims at the anchor locations the fitters would open the door and stick a big 2x4 in behind the fender and "ERRKKK" reef on that baby to bend the fenders out.

Similarly, if the hood-to-fender gap was tight at the front, they'd pop the hood and whack the nose of the fender (out) with a big rubber mallet. At that point, I know we'd been using the same technique since at least 1960, since I knew the guy that used to fit the 1960 pickup hoods....

But, you're right. We probably shouldn't mention it.

K

I thought of another one we shouldn't mention:

The wheel opening moldings are designated by RPO (regular production option) B96.

Sometimes, when installing the moldings, the screws would hit torque but not be fully seated. Rather than grabbing a screwdriver and torquing the screws home my line side repairmen would grab a big hammer and WHAM 'em once so they appeared seated.

This led to us calling the screws themselves "B96 nails"...

K

[Redline novdog]

Thanks for the bump and more interesting information! I was hoping some others would chime in.
I am laid off until Jan.11th so I would imagine I'll be bored after I get some projects done.Never fails either you have time or money.Very seldom both at the same time!

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Redline novdog

Thanks for the bump and more interesting information! I was hoping some others would chime in.
I am laid off until Jan.11th so I would imagine I'll be bored after I get some projects done.Never fails either you have time or money.Very seldom both at the same time!

Agree. In my game (drag racing) it's the time, money, inclination, event and weather that all have to come together. The odds are never very good.

K

[mild68]

Hi guys. I'm new to this board and been lost in reading pages for a couple of weeks.
I just made my way to this thread. Never the less very interesting to me.
I haven't built trucks, but I have been assembling cars for the last 26 1/2 years. Actually, Redline novdog, I'm almost your neighbor. I'm sure we know some of the same people.
I started in May of '89 for Diamond Star Motors. Joint venture between Chrysler and Mitsubishi. Eventually it was just Mitsubishi.
Sad to say the plant closed and the last production day was just this past November 30th.
It was a long ride and reading some of the posts here are very similar to what I experienced.

[Redline novdog]

Welcome to the board!! Very knowledgeable/helpful people here. Yes We are only about 25 min. away from Normal.I would imagine we do have mutual friends. Sorry to hear of the plant closing .That's a bummer.Perhaps our paths will cross someday. Nice looking truck by the way!