Taking the plunge. My journey as an O/O.

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Farmerbob1, Jan 7, 2019.

  1. Farmerbob1

    Farmerbob1 Road Train Member

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    The Ranger spent about half it's life being garage kept, so up until a few years ago it was in good shape and looked decent.

    For the last 4 years it's been in Crete open air yards. Sometime recently, someone decided to steal the AC control module out of it, and left the windows open and a door not quite shut. That's apparently how the wasps got inside the door frame, and also why the truck had a moisture and mold/mildew issue.

    It also has a freaky transmission issue that locks up the clutch travel when the engine and transmission reach normal operating temperatures. You can drive it a few miles, then the clutch gets stickier and stickier until it won't move.

    Too many problems to try and fix/restore it.
     
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  3. Farmerbob1

    Farmerbob1 Road Train Member

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    Now, what I learned on my first day in a faster-than-most truck.

    First off, no matter how fast you are, some folks are faster, and some of them are stupid dicks with road rage issues.

    I was about 35 miles north of Atlanta on 75N in the center lane passing a clump of a half dozen 65ers at 72 miles an hour in a 70. The roads were wet, it was raining fairly hard, and tire spray was pretty heavy, making visibility more than a few hundred feet ahead a bit sketchy. I could have passed at 75, but I didn't feel the need, as I was passing at a good clip, and didn't want to add even more speed in less-than-ideal road conditions.

    Some Landstar tard in a beat up old white truck runs up next to me in the fast lane (which is a no-trucks lane) at about 80 miles an hour, evens up with me then toots his fancy air horn. When I look at him directly, he flips me a bird then resumes his race to make it to whatever wreck he was late for.

    So, yes, I got his trailer number and called Landstar safety and let them know what happened. They sounded rather unhappy about the scenario, but I have no idea if anything will happen. I have zero issues calling someone's safety department if they act out in such a rude and unsafe manner on the road. That fellow is going to get someone killed, and it might not be him.
     
  4. snowwy

    snowwy Road Train Member

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    It don't matter how fast you go. Cars will always want to go faster.

    There are times where I'll open throttle.
    They just keep on flying by.
     
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  5. Farmerbob1

    Farmerbob1 Road Train Member

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    Aye. I was just a bit startled by how I encountered such a stupid driver so quickly.
     
  6. Farmerbob1

    Farmerbob1 Road Train Member

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    Well, today the DEF system decided to crap up on me.

    Right now the computer is whining about low quality DEF and has me at a 25% derate.

    I suspect it's the ####ty little DEF filter I have had to get cleaned the last time I got this message. I cannot remember the name of the thing, but it was about 1.5 hours labor to get it pulled and replaced last time.

    Hopefully I can make it 215 miles before the DEF system truly goes to hell on me. Already have a paid parking spot set up at a Petro that can read Freightliner codes.

    Hopefully that's
     
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  7. loudtom

    loudtom Road Train Member

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  8. Farmerbob1

    Farmerbob1 Road Train Member

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    Thank you for this. I will have to look into it as an investment when I get a new truck. Not sure I want to pay this sort of money for a tool that will just be a paperweight after I sell this truck. My truck (2016) is at the tail-end of the units that the older model device will work on.
     
  9. Farmerbob1

    Farmerbob1 Road Train Member

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    I ran a 30 minute manual cycle and it cleared the L2 engine code and removed the 25% derate. The L1 code remains.

    It might be that the L1 code is just an artifact in memory, but I am having codes read tomorrow morning to be sure I don't have anything ugly trying to sneak up on me.
     
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  10. Cat sdp

    Cat sdp . .

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    In my limited experience once your asked to do manual regens a trip to the shop is in your near future
     
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  11. Farmerbob1

    Farmerbob1 Road Train Member

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    That actually hasn't been my experience. Opti-idle trucks require manual regens occasionally if you do 34's.
     
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