Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

No. Rusty.

 

Send him to Richmond, he’ll have a perfect spot to continue his load planning.

 

Ok, can someone explain to me if Volvo is now making the biggest pieces of poop on the roads today? Before I get to my issue, let me just tell everyone this, we have about 10 ‘22 Volvos in various parts of the country parked at Volvo shops with blown turbos. Not just the turbos, but the blue air intake hose and the clamp that connects it to the turbo. They’re parked because of lack of parts. Great, must have been made in China instead of Dublin Virginia.

Now my issue. My buddy that works here for the last 24 years, recently got his new ‘22. Same turbo issue, but his is at Richmond yard waiting on parts, meanwhile, he works local and goes home every night and plays with the wife and dog. When he got his truck new in January, it was all good, since then, the right electrical components in the window shorted out and had to be replaced. Last month, with 18K on the clock, he heard a thumping and knocking sound coming out of his front end when loaded and making any turn. The issue? Both front bushings on the right and left leaf spring weren’t pressed in properly and they had to change both springs. Which now brings me to my issue. 14,403 miles on my clock right now, when I left Oregon Saturday morning, I started hearing and feeling a knock and thump in my front end. Get empty today, get to the yard for a drop and hook, stop by the shop and have Trey come out to look at the issue, and low and behold, both my bushings are wore out and need to be replace along with the springs. Mind you, this started 3300 miles ago with 11,200 miles on the clock. In the meantime, I was assured by everyone above my pay grade that I can run to Indianapolis and back without winding up in the trees. I have hometime next week so I’ll probably leave the truck at Richmond and rent a car to go home. These parts they have, the issue is it’s labor intensive, the airbags need to come off, the springs need to come off and other various components need to be removed. Brand new truck built by robots and computers, off the assembly line in January, and in April it’s being taken apart and rebuilt by humans. I’m sure I can rest easy while I’m driving the truck for the next 250K miles.