what can a driver do if his boss says drive a truck that will not pass a dot inspection

Keep a diary write down exactly when you spoke to and informed your service center of the problem stating they refused to fix it or give you a replacement truck. By the way why on earth wouldn't they want to fix it?

 

Refusing to take it is the only way a driver isn't held responsible for a ragged heap on the highway. He may not pay the tickets if inspected but his record feels the hit none the less. If there is a crash and he knew he stands to be prosecuted. If he is fired for it there should only 1 conversation not multiple

 

Not drive the truck! would not be the first time I said *NO*

 

When my brakes cam over. It usually means the drums are worn out. As i usually have plenty of meat on the brakes still.

 

Yeah, I had heard it usually happens when both are pretty worn, but I haven't seen it happen yet.

 

Cammed over braked used to be common but not much anymore.

In times past, brakes we very seldom even looked at as long as the truck would stop. Outfits would run them until they cammed over as a indication the brakes were worn out. As has already been pointed out, about the only time you run into it anymore is severely worn drums. None the less, you need to know what is happening if you end up with a brake that won’t release.

In truth, they don’t really “cam over”, they get stuck on the point of the cam. If they do actually cam all the way over, you will have zero brakes on that axle, as apposed to being locked up.

 

Didn't read the 8 or so pages of comments, but I'll give you my 2 cents. What can a driver do? Drive the truck or find another job. It isn't how it's supposed to work but the reality is there isn't much you can do as a driver if you've got that kind of boss.

Edit: you can't be punished for refusing to run illegal. If you suspect you have you can go after the company. You might get lucky. If there is decent DOT presence in your area you can contact them for advice, but bear in mind if you are on the road illegal you will probably get cited too, even if you self report. If it's a big company it may have a safety department you can contact and they may side with you.

 

As a stealership tech over 30 years I can tell you that the statement of newer cars need less maintenance is bull! Truth is the newer cars are much harder to repair then ever. Even basic crap like replacing a rotor on some newer vehicles requires you to remover the wheel bearing hub to get it off. The electrical systems back then were all of about 100 wires, compared to 6 miles of wiring on some newer models. The newer stuff requires mostly specialty tools that a casual mechanic will never buy. I've more tools that I only used one time then I can count because a job had to go out the door that day(provided on of the tool trucks came in that day). Even things like a simple battery say on a ford escape(what a pain it the) are tough and some light bulbs require to pull the fascia off just to get at the bulb.

 

Harder to repair does not equate to requiring more maintenance.

 

Cars are designed to assemble easily, not for ease of maintenance.
I've always thought that the engineers who designed some of that PITA stuff should have to come down and work on it too. At night. Under a deadline.
We have a 2016 KW that has a instrument light problem. KW says we can't replace just the rheostat, we have to buy a whole "instrument light module"...whatever that is...at ten times the price of a rheostat. Truck is out of warranty.
Our mechanic hard wired an after market rheostat into the system. No more problem. The instrument light system was designed by an engineer with a college degree.
Our mechanic didn't finish high school.