Dispatchers ELD rant goes viral after driver sent her a video

In my opinion, every time these people open their mouths, they tell on themselves. The rules were made for everybody and boo hoo if you can't break them any more.

 

I know more than a few guys with older trucks, I wish I had of went that direction, as I would have had money in the bank. The older trucks, if well maintained are nothing but money makers in my book. I look at all of the monies I pissed away on EGR and DPF emission related repairs. Issues that led to the premature failure of my motor. I took care of the EPA issues, $40,000 for the in frame two years ago, and I did much more than the in frame. I just put a CAC on getting her ready for winter, now my Air Dryer is on her last leg, so that needs to be replaced, along with some new brake shoes for the rear axle. After that, it is just general maintenance and regular services. It took four years to get here, to much down time, lost revenue and tens of thousands of dollars later. Say what you want about an old truck, they are still less expensive to own than these rolling software nightmares with all of the EPA involved engineering. Engineering that quite frankly does not pass the smell test.

 

I kept my older truck and would drive it anywhere there is land. I spent the money on maintenance and it's paid for. Maybe a little more on maintenance in the beginning until you get everything caught up and replaced but after that it's pretty much a glider without the payments every month.

 

Even a brand new truck with 0 miles will need updates, and warranty work for 3 years. Plus regular maintenance.
And if you do not know the service life of parts you have a big learning curve, or or flat out ignorant.
Disclaimer not trying to imply any certain person, by, race, sex, religion, sexual preference, or political policy.
Disclaimer did not want to hurt the feeling of any snowflakes.

 

And that is the best part, paid for. I could not have made all of the repairs on this truck of mine if I had a truck payment. I tell guys all of the time, DO NOT BUY an EPA truck. They may be great for the first hundred thousand miles or so, but then the fun begins... You hit that 400,000 mile mark and you better make sure you have some serious cash on hand, because that is when the real fun begins.

 

I get the difference between an "older truck" and a "POS wore out truck". I'm referring to trucks that are obviously the latter. When it's obvious, it's obvious. And you'll see them. You'll also see some that are kind of borderline from a casual observer's POV. I count those as "acceptable". But I've seen probably 6 in the past week or so that there's no way they could pass any sort of Level I without being written up, or more than likely be put OOS. I don't remember seeing so many wore out late 90's Columbias as I have in the past 6 months.

 

Even the old 2 strokes made past the 400,000 mark.

 

Columbia were never made in the 90s. Not until after 2000. I do believe. You must be seeing centuries.

 

Oh I know... These new motors, not worth spit in my book. Than throw in the SCR systems along with the DPF... And the electrical gremlins due to the cost savings to make up for all of the engineering costs to develop a motor that is unreliable and costly to own, much less repair. And repairs are another subject, try to find a mechanic that can actually repair one. They are far and few between and normally just throw parts at the motor. The first part they like to throw at you is a turbo for $6 to $10 grand. Been there, and passed on the turbo, it was a $20 sensor.

 

A tech will never be a real mechanic.