How much grease monkey stuff you have to know as a new company driver

This is something that is way to wide to answer. Some companies all you can do is fuel, some companies allow light bulb changes. Maybe a company exists that you can do an inframe on the side of I44.

This is a question to ask your employer what you're allowed to fix on the truck.

 

Some small outfits will train you to check and adjust brakes, but megas will likely fire you for attempting any maintenance aside from checking oil/coolant levels, replacing lights, and a fuel filter(most won't even let you replace a filter). Huge liability to let an non certified person adjust anything safety related.

 

Forced? Checking oil and coolant as part of your pretrip, and replacing lights that are within easy reach. They are not going to expect you to change out a trailer clearance light 13ft off the ground, but replacing a headlight that takes 25sec would probably be done by the driver. You don't want to wait 2hrs for a service truck to replace something you can do quickly with only a screwdriver.

 

My rule of thumb. If i can do it in under an hour, fix it keep moving. If it's over 2, I start my breakdown pay and say forget it, sleeper time.

 

This is hard to put into words but I think you need to know enough about the truck that you can give your company a general idea if you have a breakdown. Things like a blown turbo or a bad injector. Don't get too concerned with this because after a few years and experiences you will learn.

 

Like when you tell the mechanic it's a injector and he argues and argues....2000 miles away

 

Your full pre trip duties, and checking and adding fluids as needed.

As said before, most places don't want you fooling with much else outside your job duties.

 

I blew an injector a while back. I got out and took a flashlight and looked into my fuel tank. I saw the air bubbles coming from the bottom. The mechanic I spoke too asked me why I felt it was an injector and did it in a condescending way. Thankfully I was able to drive the truck a few miles to an international dealer who fixed it.