I am a driver not a mechanic...!!

I think something VERY important about this topic is getting lost. Forget about OOs because their situation is different. I am speaking about company drivers only. I am not passing out horns and halos here either. The thing is though people handle things differently. What is right for driver A maybe is not what driver B would do. I know drivers that would not do anything to fix an issue, NOTHING! They were happy to just wait and have it done. I respect this, in fact, a lot of carriers prefer you be this way. I just never was that way. If I could fix something and get back on the road then I fixed it. Again what is right for me may or may not be right for you! Neither of us is wrong. Just like almost everything else in this business, there is no such thing as a one size fits all solution.

 

A lot depends on the part of the country you’re running in also. If you’re in the mountains you need to be a little more self reliant. Like Hwy 12 in Idaho, you have highway patrol call boxes at the 169, 139, and 120, and a phone when you get to Lowell ID at mm 100. So you’re either waiting for a car to come by and then you’re hoping they will stop and call for help for you or you can do what you can to try and get you and your truck to one of those spots.

If you have phone service and help is an hour away then that’s a different story. It just comes down to what each person is comfortable with and how much time they want to waste waiting for help to come.

 

We weren,t required to do anything mechanical but most of our work was done after hours when the shops were closed. Driving un airconditioned trucks through the mosquito infested boonies of Florida usually on hot muggy nights is a powerful motivator to keep those things a rolln.....[And it wasn't unusual to see guys under their trucks at the top of a pass either.]...Done that a few times. You might have seen me. I have worked for small outfits that would require some unusual chores of their drivers. I just looked at it as paying my dues and did my work.

 

NEVER waited on a "shop/service truck" to replace a Mud Flap, Wiper Blade, Tractor Marker Light or Headlight, Trailer LOWER Side & Tail Lights (usually pulled either of 2 53' Dry Van Air Ride Barn Door Trailers at a small Local Carrier in NC).
I Maintained ALL Tire Air Pressures and had a Orange 50' Air Line (for Glad Hand attach), changed Tire Air Pressure Gauge every year or earlier ($14.00+) (depending upon how many times dropped), reminded Owner until Needed Items were fixed by Owner (who often gave me the "we'll fix it next week").
Once, Tractor needed a New Pigtail (because lights flickered) and the usual "we'll fix it next week" response was topped with "Okay, It'll be waiting on ya cause I no need to leave" which a couple minutes later, the Owner (Mr. Grumbles) came out of a storage trailer with a BRAND NEW PIGTAIL. Took Mr. Grumbles about 5 frantic shaking minutes whilst I watched and silently laughed.
Told the Owner about a BAD TIRE (L.F.I.) for 3 MONTHS till it went BOOM just b4 exit 7, I-10 EB. X-5 was a Love's, accessed by 3 right turns.
$150 sumtin and an hour or so, back on Tour.

That's MY Stories and I'm Sticking To 'Em!!
CHEERS!!

 

If I can replace a bulb, a mud flap, or a wire connector on a reefer starter solenoid, I’m going to do it rather than wait hours for dumb and/or dumber to show up and goof it up. I’m going to get it going and go on up the road. I don’t get paid to work on a company truck, but I’m not getting paid sitting and waiting either, and I normally have a delivery appointment. Stupid is rampant every where I look these days, I am sick and tired of it.

I stopped at the TA in Brooklyn, IA a few weeks back to have a mud flap put on, it was raining, and I wasn’t feeling well. The idiot didn’t even install the flap on the correct side of the bracket. Good grief.

 

Like everyone is telling ya, go talk to whoever signs the checks. My last company, I did everything from light bulbs to brakes to full out of frame rebuilds. I DIDN'T HAVE to do most of the major stuff, but I got paid to, and the knowledge has paid out in spades as an owner op. Knowing how to rebuild a 3406E more then paid for the time spent in the shop while an employee.

 

Sometimes we taught by example. Fix it here, or come to me at ?? and fix it there.
I'll wait, you fix and I will run it in on time. Don't fix, call him in an hour( from a nice
waiting place) Hey boss, That ?? went down-busted-broke-quit. I am at >???.

 

and that is a BIG difference..you had the desire to one day become an o/o..

i only had the desire to get a paycheck.

as mentioned by @Moose1958 , many employers DO NOT want you to do anything more than a pre-trip, and check the fluid levels, which was just fine and dandy with me.

other company's as you say, paid you to help out.

i actually one time, and one time only, applied to a trucking company, that back in the day, ran all cabovers...(yuck)

it was a "mom & pop" place and the wife called the day after our interview asked me, if i minded coming in on my day off to help change oil and grease the truck (either my truck, or help out with the others, i cannot recall)....

my response to her was, "uh, you didn't ask me that when you interviewed me yesterday, cuz i would have told you, i don't work on ANYTHING"...

then i hung up.........

they actually went out of business about 2 years later.

 

Most modern trucks return to resting position when you key off