Another Watkins Shepard Thread

yo!!!! dont speak ill of my truck!!! thats my baby, she keeps me moving..... well actually to reply to the above question about getting home, i was in great fall and delived my load up there and then headed over to GM to pre-load for canada, and disp said he would have something for me for when i get down here to the helena, well, im still here, no load, and wont be going anywhere for sometime, as my truck is down right now, need breaks and i have an air leak, and she needs to be winterized, but the mechs wont be here till sat morning, and thres a few more people hear waiting for the same thing.
so, since myself and 6 others are all sitting here at the tem, we went shopping, and we all enjoyed thanksgiving dinner together. it was really nice, and it was better then sitting in a truck stop alone and eating some junk. so, evern tho im not runing anywhere, im kinda glad i landed here, were all having a good time.

 

The impression I got from Dwaynes at the shop is all our trucks under 500,000 and 5 years of age are under warranty.--Anyone notice trucks over those numbers seem to soon disappear from the fleet?--SilverCV, my truck 1722 on its very first trip layed me up in gillette with a so called busted EGR cooler (covered under warranty) and then a day later after I delivered I was still having problems so per Dwaynes instruction I went to a dealer around the corner for more repairs.--Someone in the office figured with the lead time I had on my next load it would be ok to pick up my next load while waiting for repair and I ageed. All it seemed to be was a poor job done by the prior mechanic, so I pick it up and return to the dealership.--They take my truck in and shortly tell me its a blown head gasket.--On the plus side it does start well.--I had the batteries replaced before I left the rebel base.--What I dont understand is how this 2005 columbia with a blown head gasket eating a gallon of coolant every 150 miles, can run stronger than the 2007 century #2021 that I had the first week.-

 

You mean they turned their trucks up from 65mph?

 

####. My truck runs well for an auto., but the heat doesn't work real well, and this is the 2nd time the batts. have died on me.. Macon said he wanted me out of this truck, so we'll see....

 

I remember when the last Volvo I had was a 17XX series brand spanking new. Hard to believe the newer guys already are getting 19XX series trucks. I've been seeing tractors with numbers creeping up towards 21XX. Time has flown by since I left. Is the fleet size still around 600 trucks?

 

BTW it wasn't too long ago, but W/S put a hold on buying trucks for a year or two when things slowed down after 9/11. We had 13XX/14XX series Volvo's with over a million miles on them or pushing real close. I even drove one OTR that had 943k. They're looking pretty worn by the time I left, but never really had any annoying issues with the trucks like everyone seems to be with these newer rigs.

 

no, it just has more power and the turbo kicks in quicker as the speed drops on inclines = quicker in overall real world driving conditions with the same load.

 

I snuck in 1916.
For the first 10 days out of the 10 day class I didn't have a truck and got bounced around from terminal to terminal trying to get one.
An epic tale of betrayal, lies, disappointment and ultimate triumph of the little guy.

They wanted to give me a 17xx at first, but the rear diff was blown and the repair bill estimate was in a three way fight between W/S, Volvo and Eaton.
Probably still unresolved after 7 months and for the best, the truck is an automatic

Yeah, still around 600 trucks. Just a few dozen 16xx's are left.

 

so rocky im still here in helena,
Wed,
Thurs,
Friday,
Sat,
Sun, still sitting in helena, 6 trucks needed work done to them, and and 4 of them are under loads, and then the mechs said they had to work on the local trucks before the rest of our trucks, i dont mind it so much cause im here and im getting the truck worked on, which is highly needed at this time,
so im ticked off and ok with the situation on the same hand, cause from what i hear talking the dozen or 2 driver that have come through this is supposed to be the better shop to have the work done, and it def seems like it is, i was talking the one mech and they actually care about the truck, and from what i have seen so far if you come in to get one thing fixed they will fix and tune up every inbetween. still sitting here with the same people as last wed, a few have left and some new ones have arrived, everyone seems nice, weird , but nice.
just thought id throw out an update.

 

You do come across some oddballs that drop out of the trucks at W/S and along with any OTR company lol. Helena was even a good shop back in the days too, though if I were to get my oil changed I'd plan for it to be an all day thing there. Get out of there soon and make some cash.