Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

I just missed getting there Saturday, but the gist of the drivers lounge chatter about it was A) the current loaner trucks are going bye-bye the 1st of the year(and possibly the loaner truck deal as a whole will be gone). B) they had an actual D.O.T. officer there going over the new reg's. C) New DEF Prostar's are due in sometime in the 1st quarter(the drivers believe they'll be DEF Cummins powered)

 

I was shocked when I got to GP Saturday(he says sarcastically)...my truck wasn't fixed yet. I took it in 3.5 weeks ago for the sleeper windows leaking, a/c issues and a huge lag in the turbo...the a/c is done...and that is it. They had to order a turbo, and they didn't reseal the windows yet. So, now I'm in another loaner. 3167 wasn't there, so I got one w/a super-10 (top 2) and a Carrier APU...the only issue so far is the typical sleeper window leak this body style Freightliner is known for. Seems to pull decent, shift decent(if I ever get use to a super-10...w/the top 2 auto shift) and it doesn't have any oil or coolant leaks...but it does have a sticky air dryer unloader(spitter). Sometimes it hangs and makes it sound like a really major air leak, then other times is's fine. Guess I just need to pump down my pressure just before I pull on a scale.

 

got the call to fly in for interview,any words of wisdom?

 

Don't put your truck in the shop! Seriously, good luck...sounds like you'll enjoy it there.

 

"New DEF Pro star's are due in sometime in the 1st quarter(the drivers believe they'll be DEF Cummins powered)"

Well at least they are 15 liters. I think they are still using their own 13s.

 

Does HEB on windfern rd in houston tx have overnight parking or somewhere close to park? I have a delivery at 1700 and we all know what houston traffic is like. Gonna suck to work those meetings in. But new trucks makes it sting less. Gonna take hwy 6 up to clay instead of the toll road it says to take in directions.

 

I have had the pleasure of talking to the following people today. Pat, Martin, Carl(and his sidekick John), Lionel, Fleetnet....and the friendly officer at theTerre Haute scale....who put me OOS because the numbnutz in the shop didn't know which air line goes on which part of the brake chambers....thus causing not only the last axle to have no operative service brakes, but to cause the bracket that holds one of the brake chambers to break. They had the air lines off the service brake valve on one chamber and the air lines off the spring brake valve on the other chamber. When they moved it, it bent the bracket, and every time you hit the brakes, it bent the bracket a little more until that and the road vibrations broke it completely. The odd thing is, while doing a pre-trip, it appears normal since the other chamber would release when you pushed in to check for leaks, and the gap between the new shoes and the new drums were the same, giving the appearance of the brakes being in proper adjustment. Then, after calls back and forth about the delivery not making the appointment, I stopped answering my phone...and I got a voicemail from Martin explaining the proper way to do my logbook so I could indeed make it legally, which included instructions on showing all this repair time as off duty (which was under the watch full eye of the DOT...on the scale property...which legally can't be done since 'waiting for repairs' is an on-duty status...and oughta be logged that way when you're sitting at the scalehouse that put you out of service in the first place) This call was the jump start that started the Supersnackbar Beech-mobile...and I returned a somewhat turse response to his voicemail since his instructions included finishing a break at a scale that doesn't allow over night parking unless you're out of service for a logbook violation. Honestly...I know a few posts back I said dope slap me if I complain...but I'm starting to miss Crete...they micro-manage a little more, their trucks are just as un-dependable, but at least they pay when they're down...and I had room to store my stuff and didn't have to ask permission to leave the property once I was within the Grand Prairie compound.

 

HEB does have parking available. Dry receiving starts at 1600 and make sure you have the PO #. It is a two, possibly the digit # followed by an X then a bunch more numbers. You will not get the time of day without that number.

 

Well my best laid out plans for a GP backhaul after home time lined up with a nice Miami run looks like it got squished fast. Picking up at 1800 tomorrow for a Friday morning delivery in Houston Oh well other than that I suppose things at home have been ok. Killed a lot of deer and managed to finish up processing them yesterday. Got my jerky made, got two loads of fire wood cut and stacked and other stuff around the house done.

 

Without a doubt this an extremely horrible situation. I certainly feel like I've lead you astray, for which I apologize.

In other news,I made delivery in Sanger, TX last Tuesday morning then headed to GP to wait for a call from outbound. That afternoon I was offered 5 or 6 loads leaving Wednesday. I chose a load going to Greenfield,IN for Friday morning. The backhaul picked up in Indy going to Bloomington,MN.... for Monday at 1145! That's 600 in 3.5 days. I was not a happy camper. Tried all day Friday via phone calls with driver supervisor & outbound( apparently outbound handles 900diffs at Cottage Grove) to get a 900 diff approved, but no luck. So I was given a choice of 4 or 5 loads, all going east, for Monday. I chose a three stop mom/pop going to N.Y.. I was informed it was already loaded.

At a little after 0700 on Saturday I called the customer in Bloomington (Sam's Club) and was able to get approval to unload that morning. YEAH! With a preloaded trailer waiting at CG I could get a head start on the next load. The first stop was in Chicago just off the I90/I55 split. Thank God for Google maps and it's street view. I was able to plan my route in and out avoiding low bridge routes. I made the other two stops today.

While enroute to the final stop I got info on the backhaul. It picks up between 0700-1400, which was a bummer because I was empty at 1430 and only 25 miles from the customer, but this is N.Y. and could not get loaded today. Now for the real problem.... the loss can deliver between 0800-1200M-F. Will,I can't make it to Houston till probably about 1400 on Friday. So if I can't get a 900 diff at Mont Belvieu I'll be sitting all weekend with a high probability of getting caught in the SOTEX freight hell. That being said...I shall pray.

Plus the truck has the yellow engine symbol coming intermittently and smoke comes putting out from the engine compartment during regen. According to others who have experienced the same circumstances it is most likely EGR valve, EGR cooler, or both. Just hope I can ride it out till the next PM.