Another Watkins Shepard Thread

harley, out of about 1,230+- post on w.s and you seem to be the only one thats got bad things to say about them, yeah of course people have bad things to say about every company, and yeah, w.s has their bad, and their good, and their ugly, and yeah, they are fixing the trucks more now then they have in the past cause they are buying brand new trucks the way they used too.
harley what truck do you have?
if you want a brand new truck, swift is always looking for drivers, heard they buy brand new trucks and give them to brand new drivers.

 

I think you have a rather skewed viewpoint of trucking reality, worsened by some off-color experiences. The thing that gets me about new drivers is I don't see any ONE of them taking more than a partial rudimentary toolkit along, don't know the first thing about maintenance and repairs, expect everything to be done for them, sitting on the side of the road or outside the shop when they could have taken care of something and moved on to the next load.
A little study goes a long way. A little effort can save the day. When you do a job, learn all you can about it or expect less from it.
Not busting your chops, but that's just my viewpoint after fixing many things like loose fenders, clogged filters, flat tires, brake diaphragms, hoses, and a host of other things that would have shut me down. I guess I'm just an ol' duffer from the ol' school.

 

Harley was having a bit more serious problems with his equipment than just what a little handy tool box can fix. But I do agree with you Red Fox. A lot of these people cant even figure out the basics.

 

I took a T wrench with me this week, with multiple fittings. That's all. I usually carry a 9/16 wrench. It was a new job and I didn't have everything packed.

If a job requires a real tool box. I ain't even going to start the truck on day one. Been there done that...tired of the POS that some companies send drivers out in.

50 mechanics standing around with their fingers stuck up their ###. And know less about your truck, than you do. Yet the company expects you to make repairs for free ??? Bull#### !!

The company I just started with, does a full service every 20k. Checking the oil yesterday, it was clear as could be. And I'm within 3k of needing a service. The coolant was low though. I'm going to have to keep an eye on that.

When a company plainly states, We pay you by the hour, when your truck needs repairs. Then I'll bring a tool box. Otherwise, simple maintenance (brakes etc), fuses, lights, fluids. Is all they're going to get.

 

i actually just got done talking about, saying how that after 4.5 months here and all the truck problems you have had that you are still here, and that you havnt left. so that says something about what type of person you are, and what type of company you are working for. if youv got an older truck you are going to have problems with it, the newer the truck the less problems

 

Man, you haven't worked with heavy equipment much have you? New means "never ever worked"

In my other life as a pilot, the joke is (and we're not really joking) that if you pick up a new airplane, you pull all the inspection panels and go over it with a fine tooth comb and make them fix the stuff you find before you leave. And you WILL find stuff. Same thing with maintenance. Always double check everything twice when the mechanic tells you it's fixed.

 

I agree with that on the new trucks. Production lines aren't consistent, which is why you shouldn't buy a car made on monday or friday.
I guess the newer trucks require a bit less maintenance/repair than they did back when I'd quit driving. But my point is not moot: while you may sit there with a bad fuel filter, I'm getting paid by the milage accumulated after I fixed mine. I've fixed tires to get out of the desert, carried and used spare brake diaphragms, and many other things that I believe still have to go wrong with trucks.
I never was very good at sitting anyway.

 

Hell, they require more work and more knowledge.

I jumped in mine Tuesday, fired it up. The engine shutdown alarm immediately came on. After shutting the engine down. The low voltage alarm came on, until the system shut down.

I reset the codes, fired it up, no alarms. But I still get the low voltage alarm, after a few hours of sitting. And the new "dash harness" on the KW is going to be a total nightmare. Been there, done that too.

While the new electronics have given us more efficiency, they have created as many problems, as they solved.

Just look at the dash of a fleet truck. Count the gauges.

I'd be willing to bet, 70% of the guys in this forum have never seen a pyro gauge.

At least half of them have not seen a turbo boost gauge. And of the half that do know what they are, 2/3's don't know how they are used, in the day to day operation of a truck.