What to do when you get your truck assigned to you

o.m.d. · Aug 20, 2010

Mrfasttrack said: ↑

This story is going to change after Jan 1st when CSA 2010 goes into effect and 175,000 of us are gone! THEN these scum bag companies that take advantage of the newer drivers will have to bite the bullet as life as THEY know it is going to change!

Could you explain more why so many drivers will loose there jobs please.
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what is csa and why will so many guys be gone???

RenegadeTrucker · Aug 20, 2010

Man great post, any of you noobs reading this follow it to the letter, the only thing is id make a video too.

You never know what kind of unwashed heethen was in your truck before you.

Expecially at a larger company.

Lilbit · Aug 20, 2010

o.m.d. said: ↑

what is csa and why will so many guys be gone???
Click to expand...

There are a couple of threads about CSA 2010 on here, or you can go to FMCSA's website for some info too. It's new safety stuff that is too hard to explain in a short post!

thedrifter · Sep 9, 2010

roll over that was a dandy post well written. I never thought of taking pics. well back when i drove it wasn't as easy to do either. But you sure got the brain to working for me for the future.

thedrifter · Sep 9, 2010

Rollover the Original said: ↑

I did say I would tell you what I used to clean my inside with but forgot but this thread needs to come back to the front so these rookies have a chance when they get their "first home away from home"!

I will say this to everyone going to a new company. The FIRST place you should head to when you hit their yard is the LOT! Look at what you might be issued. If there are certifiable POS out there RUN! If it looks like it's been in the demo derby RUN! If it looks like King Kong or Pig Pen lived in it and they didn't clean it RUN! This is a direct statement on this bottom feeder you are about to hire on with! No maintenance or respect for their equipment. It should tell you how they will treat You!

Now to cleaning supplies. I did this in another thread but can't find it. This new Mr Clean with Frebreeze works like a charm on all the surfaces of the truck!

Also get a scrub brush about 2 inches long and 1 inch wide with a handle and a tooth brush with a big head. Rags, Pick a few shop rags up and wash them before use.
Prestone or Turtle wax carpet cleaner will get 5th wheel grease out of the carpet and seats even butt grease out of the seat! Also get Prestone carpet protector to use after the seat and carpet is dry. This helps to keep it clean.Get a small trash can maybe 4 gallons and square. (reason, is square fits in holes better than round and also makes a great emergency toilet. Use the scented 8 gallon trash bags from Wal-Mart. (NO I'm NOT kidding. When you just gotta go and there is no throne around what are you gonna do hang your arse out by the side of the truck? Double bag it and throw it away at the next TRASH CAN you come to!) Keep 1 or 2 gallons of water in the truck for drinking and cleaning.

I always start on the ceiling for the first intense cleaning. I fill the trash can about half way up with water add Mr. Clean and use a big car wash sponge to scrub the ceiling. wash once and rinse once. Bet it's already smelling better in there! Then come down the A pillars and do the dash and on to the doors and finally the floors. The floors is where you'll use those brushes if they aren't carpeted. Then head towards the back of the truck and do it the same way from the top down.

About getting the smoke smell left behind from those losers. In FL's pull the fuse box cover open and remove the section of duct work and set it aside or head on to the fuel island with a spray bottle filled with a mixture of Mr Clean 2 DROPS of Dawn Dish washing detergent (Dawn cuts grease and oil better than anything else I've found in 32 years and does a good job of cleaning the wiper blades also!) and water. I use an old Windex bottle with this mixture for spot cleaning during the week and for spraying the windshield to loosen bugs and grease.

Any way run water through the vent and spray with your cleaner and run a reg through it with a coat hanger so you can get it all through the vent and rinse it.
Then fill your trash can with cleaner and rinse the rag and head back to the truck.

If you notice, those vent louvers will come out with a small screwdriver but be gentle with them and put them in the trash can and use the tooth brush on them and go rinse them. Set them aside and get the coat hanger with the rag on it and ram rod the vents as best as you can. Use a lot of water and cleaner. If you have the smarts to open the blower then get in there as best as you can. Believe it or not you can get most of that nasty crapola out of the truck!

Now just Frebreeze the hello out of any cloth like the linings in the overhead compartment, the carpet and the bottom of the shelves on a daily basics until you get that out also.This includes the webbing! Do the mattress as it's nice to lay on a nice smelling mattress and do your bed coverings too. LYSOL Spray is a MUST! Your health is how you'll make a living. I spray twice a day just to kill anything floating in the air!

Windows are up to you as to what you want to clean them with!

On my mattress I like to cover that plastic cloth with a mattress cover found at Wal-Mart or get a movers pad and I duct tape it to the mattress and it makes a nice soft cover and gets you off of the mattress itself. I use the fitted sheets found in the truck stops and also in a college town you can find sheet garders at Wal-mart (during school time) which help to keep those cheap China made fitted sheets on the mattress!

I stay away from JUNK like Armor ALL or any of those "look nice" spray on products! They just make the dash greasy, the floor slippery (which is really nice when you hit the brake hard and find your foot against the firewall and not the pedal you wanted and try a nice fall off the tank with that crapola on your shoes, It's also a police trick they use by spraying the floor board of their cruisers in case some idiot who's already in the car, given his DL to the nice officer and has his picture on the dash camera decides to run! Yeah like running on ice! ROFLMAO!

But really this stuff builds up on the dash and does nothing but gets thicker and collects dust! I use a 2" paint brush every day on the dash which is good for getting in all the "clean" cracks on the dash and around the gauges along with a chamois cloth.

These were a few tip I've learned over the years and they work. Those of you who say you never have time to clean your truck are just plain lazy and actually like to live like a pig! There is NO FREAKING WAY you drive than many hours in a day You're falsifying that log for what? You have to take time off and even 30 minutes a day until you clean that truck which more than likely costs MORE that the house you live in and should be a priority! Cops look in and see a filthy truck and they know that if the truck inside is that bad then they'll look that much harder at the rest starting at he paper work!

But it's your home to take care of the way you want to, but then again I've seen some real winners out here that makes a pig sty look like a palace!
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When I got a new to me truck the first thing my wife did was go to the store and buy a pint of pinesol and two or three cans of lysol and she used every ounce of them .............couldn't stand to sit in the thing for three days but I gaurentee you there wasn't a bug alive in it either

Truckernurse · Oct 3, 2010

Wow, great post, Rollover! I just got flashbacks to the way I used to maintain my truck when i used to work for Core Carriers. I had a 1998 International w/Detroit Diesel, and used to get many compliments on how clean my truck was for a company truck. I always washed by hand w/lo.ng handled brush, using a few drops of Dawn to cut the grease. washed everything, even the frame! Polished the wheels myself (thank you Blue Magic). In addition, it was a great workout! Not to boast, but even got compliments from the DOTties during inspections, and you're right, they don't look so close when your truck is clean as a whistle. They figure if your company truck is clean, your logs are in order, too. Your truck and its appearance are your handiwork, it says much about you, whether you are company, lease, or OO!

Rollover the Original · Feb 12, 2011

I'm reviving this to get it back out to the front but I realized a little earlier that something that can be a bad thing is also a good thing!

Interested?

OK....

Geotagging!

Yes the same thing that can tell thieves where your home is to go steal everything you own is now your friend!

In this thread I was telling you how to CYA with pictures. I had done a thread on how to quit a company that is now linked to this one but the deal is if you need to quit then you'll need the camera or cell phone again for more of those CYA pictures!

Turn on the geotagging on the device. Hopefully you caught the news about the bad side of geotagging recently and turned yours off. If you don't know or understand how call you devices provider or the cameras web site for help as they all can be different but should be found in the tools folder.

When you quit and that truck is sitting on that yard have it on as you document the truck for proof that it wasn't abandoned in BFE, or abandoned under a load in BFE or was abandoned after being run in the demo derby and you had a herd of cattle living in it in BFE!

Take all those picture with geotagging on but do get a few with the truck in front of the shop, company sign and with the mechanic as he's inspecting the truck! And as someone mentioned take a video inside and out also with geotagging on!

I do believe that a false DAC report is going to get harder for any company to dispute with your proof!

Yes I know this is a little off topic as it really pertains to when you get your truck but what the heck I'd turn it on so that "in case of" and they say that you didn't get the truck where you did that geotagging will make liars out of someone!

Use technology to CYA in this cesspool called trucking so these companies and BFI's learn that truckers aren't the idiots they used to take us for!

OH in case you need to quit that company and you now know to have geotagging on this link will help you to quit nicely so that they cant hit your DAC without you having proof! There are a few links to follow also as this is the "older" how to quit thread! http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...vice/96189-what-do-when-quit-pos-company.html

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