Good luck on your endeavor. I've never had a whole lot of problems with parts availability. But I'm sure some folks do.
My bigger complaint is shops charging in excess of $100 an hr. What do they think we are rolling ATMs?????? MOST trucking adventures do not gross any where close to that.

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I have sent a request to Brickman to alleviate the 50 post problem. If not we can just keep posting back and forth and hit 50 in no time . I wll let you know when I get a response. What time of day is better for you daytime or evening.

Kevlar61

I hear you on the shop rates but my whole philosophy is that it is all inter-related. The industry is milking itself dry. We need to come up with a way to bring more money into the industry not just figure out how to cut everbodies profit. I know we all want lower prices but those lower prices come at a cost. So they lower parts prices they raise labour rates, they lower labour rates they increase part prices, the margins have to be met. Whatever it costs to run any business has to be the first priorty of any business. If they cannot cover the costs to run it, it cannot survive. If you do not eat you cannot survive. I did a quick poll on drivers biggest concerns and fuel costs were tied with downtime for main issues. While we don't yet have an alternate fuel that replaces diesel, we are coming up with many viable alternatives but that is still in its infancy. What we need to look at more so is figuring out ways to maximize the efficiency in that fuel purchased. And not just in the no idling, or looking for the lowest price, but coming up with creative ways to conserve fuel. Things like making sure that every time your truck is moving it is earning you money. Drivers are limited as to how long they can drive, the truck is allowed to run 24/7. I am not saying that there is one solution that will fix everything but I think if everyone came up with some kind of solution for themselves that is the solution. And hey if it is a really good one, share it with everyone. One of the biggest expenses we all know is fuel, yet is the biggest portion of what we spend that doesn't get directly filtered right back into the industry. Everything else does. The repairs you pay for, the parts you buy, the chrome you put on to spruce up your truck. All of that goes directly back into the industries that support the very industry it serves. The fuel companies contribute very little back to the community in terms of reinvestment in people or technology. So if we can't change the prices, we can learn to maximize our investment and get every penny out of the fuel we do spend.
Thanks again for your interest and please share
Kevlar61

Evening would be better after 7:00pm

When I was actively involved in keeping a truck on the road, my main peeve was getting parts when the truck broke down... which was never during regular office hours, it was usually at 3am. We ran a Kenworth, and Kenworth (in Edmonton), singlehandedly chased me away from ever wanting to deal with them again. So, if I ever needed parts my first port of call was Freightliner, who has a fantastic, helpful 24 hour staff who want to help you get your truck back on the road.
I spent much time sourcing parts, then running them out to the truck myself. Thankfully my partner had the skills to do the work himself.

In travelling through really remote areas and seeing trucks broken down on the side of the road, it has always been a thought for me to make parts/mechanic fixit trucks a fixture on these highways... but oh, how to make it profitable for the mechanic and affordable for the trucker being so remote.

Good luck on your venture, and anything you can do to shorten the down time of one of our fellow truckers the better!

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Hi there,
THe problems we have had are like someone else mentioned, the hours of parts stores make no sense. Trucking is a 24 hour business, why shouldent the parts places be the same? And, freightliner has a terrible exchange policy, if a part that you purchase from them goes bad, they want you to purchase another part from them, then they will send the original one off somewhere and if they decide it really is bad they will reimburse you. Needless to say, we rarely purchase parts there anymore. However they do happen to be the only place open 24 hours and they are an hour away from home.
Then there is the mechinic shop issue, we have found 2 that are dishonest, and a mobile mechanic who is great if you can get him. He is sought after because he is honest and reasonable, we need many more of those guys around!

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FunnyFarm04