Good Night From II

Inver Grove Heights, MN at the Pilot.

I delivered the Target load in Fridley then headed here, bobtail.
That was the only way I knew I would find a spot to park, and I didn't want to stay at the old terminal.
I figure I can scoot over there in the morning for an mt if needed, but no pplan yet.

A nice uneventful day, except for some cars in the ditch just before I pulled off I-74 to pick up my load this morning. An iced up bridge caught some people by surprise, and I'm glad I wasn't one of them.
I took a different route out of town.

 

Put it in reverse with tractor parking break on. Apply a little throttle off and on which rocks the truck. While this rocking is going on, apply the kingpin release button. This also works when on a side to side incline and the kingpin won't release. If I'm on a steep side to side incline my auto kingpin release typically won't work. Obviously, once the kingpin is released you will then need to disengage parking break and drive forward. Good luck.

 

Well, in this LT the release won't work if the brake is set. It just beeps at me and doesn't activate.
There is a lot of beeping in this truck, and most of it I have no idea what it is for.

I will turn the truck off, with nothing on except for a couple interior lights, and it beeps every 30-60 seconds.
Sometimes once, sometimes twice, now and then three times.
Try getting some sleep with all the beeps.
If I hit the battery kill switch for 30 seconds or so it will stop, until I turn the key again.

Random beeps while driving, with no lights or messages to tell me why.

I won't report it when going into the shop. The last two shop visits have cost me 4-5 days of down time and there is no telling how long it would take them to find a random beeping problem.

I've been glad for the cold conditions because I can just keep it running, so no beeping or the need for the bunk heater.
Because that thing only stays on for about 20-40 minutes before shutting itself off.

I have never had a really good International truck.

 

If the TWIC card is current they'll never notice.
Plus you need a RFID for your truck.

 

Leave it to Swift/Knight to mess things up.
Probably more on the Knight side.

Fueling this time.
A new system that makes it harder for our DM's to get us fuel when we need it.
They say it will save time and money, while in fact it takes more time and thus more money.

When we are very low on fuel the system will not provide a fuel stop, even if you are at a valid fuel stop.
The DM can no longer adjust the fuel amount to compensate, so we both have to run through hoops to get emergency fuel at that location.
Then a new re-opt has to be made to get to a real fill up.
But if you are in the wrong state that next fuel up might be for only 66 gallons, with a top up somewhere along the way.
More time wasted for fueling.

Sometimes I think those bean counters are eating their own sh, and passing the leftovers to us.

 

Same. They just seem lower quality, feel bigger, and don't turn very sharply. I had a few newer LT's, but would rather have an older Freightliner. I think I remember leaving my key in the 'on' position while parked, to stop the beeping.

 

My choice would be a Cascadia with the DD15/DT12 combo.

The ProStar/LT rigs just don't cut it.

 

Forget the tiny armrests and the privacy curtains that are too short to close properly....the LT is a nice looking truck. lol. I was happy to get this '20 with 18k on it a while back. Broke down before I put 50k on it. Had another with similar results. Sticking to Freightliners from here on out.

 

Your right, forgot about the RFID, my old condo had one for when I'd break off from the drywall account to do container deliveries from the division. Cause they'd bring them in, and there was me and another driver on the certainteed account that would break off and do that.


But yeah the TWIC is current. Might have to ask my DM Monday morning about all this. Poor Jeannette is handling the entire fleet by herself this weekend. Either way, they may alternatively have someone else take it in. Yeah I'm gonna have questions.

There for awhile they were taking them straight to PHX and putting them on Chassis and having intermodal do the final run.

 

But I'll be sitting in JV tomorrow night at some point, or fontana. Depends on the level of #### show.