Originally Posted by double yellow

In my 15+ years of driving, I've somehow managed to not ever drive a convertible (110 degree summers might have something to do with it). So in an attempt to make lemonaid out of the breakdown, I headed to Enterprise car rental and picked up their only vert for a trip to the grand canyon.



I took a lot of photos, but none do the canyon justice -- its just something you have to see in person.

I had planned to make a full trip through the park and also check out the crater monument on a big loop back, but about 1/3 of the way through Freightliner called and said the truck was ready. I was like "really?! are you sure?" and they said yep come on down. 3 hours later I'm back at the flagstaff dealer after returning my car 17 hours early. I load up my gear, turn the key on and see the warning lights still on & flashing. Take it for a quick drive and confirm it still limited to about half power and 55mph. Come back to the dealer and am able to initiate a regen, but the stop engine light then lights up. So it seems they fixed 1 of the 20 things wrong and called it good. And in typical Freightliner dealer fashion, they also managed to break more things in the process of "fixing" it -- in addition to that new "stop engine" light, now the power steering is out...
Not looking good for my scheduled thursday hometime...

That is SOME kind of frustrating. I have read a lot of things about the quality of Freightliner's
repair service. Freightliners are great trucks, but if the service after the sale is not up to par,
then the next truck purchase would be less likely a Freightliner. Toyota went through that,
but they really stepped up their service and I know I will purchase another in the future.
Just makes good sense to do customers right in the long haul.
Really hope you can make your home time. We all need that break for health and mental well being.
If I did not get home to see my family and friends.... well as Bill Bixby use to say,
"You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." LOL

So I'd been trying to wait on posting until I had something positive to say, but I'm running out of patience... truck was "fixed" last thursday after nearly 2 weeks in the shop. We immediately get sent deadhead to Los Angeles to pick up a load going to WV. Heading back through Flagstaff we break down again. Dealer ordered wrong part for saturday, closed for holiday, & wont be able to get correct part until Wednesday... Total time spent broken down in Flagstaff this month: 19 days. To make matters more frustrating, I have over $1000 in expense authorizations waiting for qualcomm access to get auth #'s. Was on track to make over $50k this year, but it'll be nearly impossible now - especially with having to reschedule hometime.

Would ask for a new truck, but this one is still a baby w/ 114,000 miles & has the inverter, fridge, & cb all set up...

Double Yellow... was thinking about you yesterday.... wondering how you (and your team partner) were doing... You know, these new Internationals are piece of garbage. I'm sorry you guys are stuck with it. I would request another truck, a Freightliner. This truck is not making any money for you guys and for the company. I would much rather have a 350,000 miles Cascadia than a brandy new International. Have been driving this Cascadia for almost 2 months now and no problem so far. Unfortunately, "your" truck is pretty new and not ready to be traded in yet....

Ours is a cascadia, and to be fair I think 80% of its problems have been mechanic-induced. This last stay should only have been 3-4 days, but they just kept replacing perfectly good parts (and waiting 1-2 days for each of those parts).

On an unrelated note, how many parking incidents does it take before Covenant fires a driver? Codriver just had #3 in 5 months and hasnt learned much from any of them (This morning, just before he crunched another truck's fender/light I asked if he had enough room. "I know how to drive man!" he said... crunch... then he says "Oh. I really felt I would make it." -- Apparently he thinks it possible to drive on intuition and hope alone)

Originally Posted by double yellow

....On an unrelated note, how many parking incidents does it take before Covenant fires a driver? Codriver just had #3 in 5 months and hasnt learned much from any of them (This morning, just before he crunched another truck's fender/light I asked if he had enough room. "I know how to drive man!" he said... crunch... then he says "Oh. I really felt I would make it." -- Apparently he thinks it possible to drive on intuition and hope alone)

I would say that after 3 preventable's in one yr period, the company would fire him (that's what they told be). But a friend of mine, former Covenant driver, was fired after his first preventable. He bobtailed to a hotel and hit the roof of the truck under the lobby entrance.... I am not telling you what to do, but if it were me, I would go back to Chatt, look for another partner and another truck (or maybe keep the truck if I found a partner faster than him) and have Chatt shop fix all the bugs in this truck. It might take a little while but seems that right now you guys are not making much money and just having headaches.... Good luck.

Yeah, I don't want to be the one to cause his career to end, but I'm no longer willing to run with him long term. Since June is supposed to be super busy, I'll make do until July so we can both catch up on bills before I attempt to go Solo...

In unrelated news, I just heard today that you can request florida & Oklahoma toll passes @ the Chattanooga terminal. Will confirm whenever we get back there...

Originally Posted by double yellow

Yeah, I don't want to be the one to cause his career to end, but I'm no longer willing to run with him long term. Since June is supposed to be super busy, I'll make do until July so we can both catch up on bills before I attempt to go Solo...

You must be ONE very determined individual. Sure do hope things turn back around to "Thriving"!
June is suppose to be the best month for freight. Looking forward to posting about really good runs.
Here's to a good month!

Originally Posted by double yellow

In unrelated news, I just heard today that you can request florida & Oklahoma toll passes @ the Chattanooga terminal. Will confirm whenever we get back there...

This is good news! I wonder if it will be a separate transponder device for Sunpass or if it will work
with our PrePass/EZPass? Either way, this is good.
Right now, we are in Monee IL waiting on a load. It is just beautiful outside.
Great breeze and there are many things to do within walking distance. Love these type of locations!
Hope you are feeling better too. Remember, eat your fruits & vegetables!

From what im told, they are three different devices