O.S.H.A. and Truck Repaires

My guy was a mechanic in a past life, so he can usually fix most things that go wrong on the road if he has the parts and tools. The problem is, the company won't let him. It's actually grounds for termination to tinker beneath the hood. The other problem is the company mechanics are inept morons, who couldn't find their own butt with 2 hands and a GPS.

He has had his truck in to have the wipers repaired 4 times since Veterans Day. He just left Blenker, WI on Saturday. Guess what? His wipers aren't friggin' working again . . . and it's raining.He let them know about the problem via Qualcomm and they told him to take a fuse from something else for the wipers. Since he had already done this, he is now using a bent paperclip so that the wipers will work. Clearly, there is an electrical issue and just changing out a fuse is not the answer.

 

You tell em, Red!

You know, you hear steering wheel holders crying about money and wages and whatnot every single day "Oh, you cant make money being a truckdriver...I'd make as much money working at McDonalds and be home every night!"
You can tell that some of these so-called truck drivers dont do much driving.
Had an airleak on a trailer on a windfarm in New Mexico, 60 miles out of the nearest town, 30 miles out on some unmarked dirt road. Place didnt show up on either a GPS or DriverTech. Airbag suspension went flat on the trailer. Got under the trailer and found the leak. Airhose popped out of a compression fitting. 3 minute fix for the do-it-yourselfer. 2 day wait for a service truck to figure out where the hell youre at.

Time is more important than money.

 

Here's a perfect example of what I'm talkin' about. Guy is DRIVING an air compressor and doesn't even have the schmoots to realize it.
One gladhand, one tirechuck, one airhose, two hose clamps. Real complicated, huh?

 

Here's a perfect example of what I'm talkin' about. Guy is DRIVING an air compressor and doesn't even have the schmoots to realize it.
One gladhand, one tirechuck, one airhose, two hose clamps. Real complicated, huh?

Sorry, Sir. I'm not a driver. I'd pay to find out exactly what you mean. Can't PM yet though.

 

Someone here isn't driving a truck with a idle shutoff.

I'd also love to see how much torque those little wrenches put out. And how do you replace the lights on the top of the trailer that have burned out? Ya'll must be full of magical hot air and just float up there. For all you people complaining, think of it this way, the driver gets told which way to go, where to stop for fuel, how much fuel to put into the tank, and then by taking away everything that makes that person a driver, you now want them to fix a truck? How about ECU issues? I mean you guys could be like the fellows using a rock, not a wrench to undo a nut.

I look at it this way, if it's easy, and I can do it, fine, but I took my tools out of my company truck because I'm not going to work on YOUR truck for free. I do enough things for free, but fixing your truck because your shop is too lazy, then no way. Every time a company does something like fuel routing or routing, I stop doing one "extra" thing for them. Yeah, I want to waste 1.5 hours a day so the company can save .00001 cents a mile on fuel by having me take on 30 gallons here, 40 gallons there 30 gallons here. Route me the long way and then pay the short way.

Don't complain about the drivers, complain about the companies that turn them into steeringwheel holders.

 

If you are an experienced driver, and you choose to work at a company that micromanages every thing you do, but wont do the PMs on their trucks, THATS YOUR FAULT!
If theres a real problem with maintenance, all the solutions to your problems is 1 weigh station away.

 

Go back and read your post # 5. You indicate that they don't work for you.

It would also be a good idea to read up on the proper quoting methods.

There are many companies out there that feel OSHA is a joke and not needed. Many of these companies are risking their employees lives.

I worked for one. The company rules were a joke. The employee lost a leg due to the way the company required the work performed.

 

Funny you should talk about that. Knight and Cummins had a big blow over about their engines not too long ago. Knight pushed B services every 40,000 miles, Cummins says max is 25,000 miles. Silly Knight pulls Cummins trailers and parts, so Cummins got wind of it and dipped the oil.

Now Knight has A services every 10,000 miles, but the office guys say "you don't have to do them" Knight and Volvo had a blow up of Knight removing the bag dump valves on their tractors, Volvo told them they removed a piece of safety equipment and another lawsuit happened. It seems to me that a company should WANT to take care of it's equipment, but if they want a driver to do it all, but won't listen to anything other than a lawsuit, maybe that's what's wrong with Trucking today. Not people being "steering wheel holders" but companies pushing men and machines over their limits for a couple of cents over XXXX miles.

If it was my truck, I'd take care of it, at least I'd change the filters a bit more than they do!

 

If companies took care of their employees over their stockholders, then I could see not needing OSHA as the evil overlord, but since companies for the most part won't do anything unless someone sticks their foot up their bums, that's why OSHA, while not perfect, is around.

Think of it this way drivers. If their wasn't any DOT, just THINK about the crap-piles that would be on the road. Heck, just look at some of the rolling heaps out their now, and think how much worse could they get? I've seen major companies refuse to replace worn out tires.

In the winter. A $200 tire is alot cheaper than a $125,000 tractor. At least with my basic understanding of math it is.

 

DOT and crap piles?
I would be more concerned that they would never want the driver to take a break.