Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

HEY! I dont complain either! not to them at least. Here, its a different story. mostly for entertainment! like my 400 mile Deadhead to pick up a 194 mile load... lol At least im out of the black hole states (WY, ND, SD, MT).

 

Effingham County GA bout 40 miles NW of Savannah.

 

Good luck widow. Nice to see you on here again.

 

To my knowledge it's solo, unless they are planing to team me up with someone but i seriously doubt that.

 

Hey guys just wanted to let you guys know i got my bus conformation. i will be in Utah on the 6th for class on the 7th. Very excited and nervous at the same time.

 

Ditto to what CD said, good to see ya back widow!!!!

 

My truck hates existing. It's the only explanation I have as to why we've had so many problems.

We were supposed to be home last Friday for a family function. And Central, being Central, was going to send us to the west coast via the east coast, a week late. We threw a fit, and ended up getting only send a ways out of the way, and were only going to be a day late in coming home. Of course, that meant we totally missed our family function, but Central has never expressed much concern in that, so we knew it would happen.

Instead, we woke up from a nap and we had no coolant. No leak, but plenty of white smoke out the exhaust. Spent the day we were supposed to be home getting a new oil cooler. Yay. And, had to get a repower for our load. That's another story...

So, we're home 2 days later than we wanted to be, but we catch the last 4 or 5 hours of the family function. Check the truck that night, we're out of coolant again. OTR tells us to drop the truck in the shop once we deliver.

We deliver. It's about 35 miles from where we're at, counting the stop in the drop yard. Before we hit the 99, we're both hit with a wave of sleepies, a killer headache, and when I get there, I'm sick to my stomach and dry heaving all the way into the shipper. Sounds like an exhaust leak to me.

So, Now the truck's in the shop, one of the parts is national backorder (still, 3 months later), and it's cracked enough to be a DOT violation. They might have fixed the exhaust leak, still diagnosing the coolant leak. It might be they installed a bad oil cooler, but if it's not that, they it's the head gasket that's blown. That's a week to fix. And, our ICON doesn't work, and they haven't even looked at that.

And to top it all off, I took my cats to the vet today, and found out one of them has a large mass in his stomach, and most likely has weeks to live.

 

Very, very sorry about your cat. Being a serious cat lover myself (yes I am a dog lover too ... and snakes as well) I can definitely understand your current situation. My thoughts are with you. Remember, as hard as it can be, sometimes the best favor we do for our furry friends is that final favor. Be well, and take heart there are those of us out here that definitely understand.

 

so anyways I have a question as I am not sure how central operates, my bro is driving for central now and heading to iowa tonight and then up to new york. This load originated in SLC or near SLC and it was pretty tight at first and he wouldnt be able to make it. They changed the appt times. With him being new I would think they would try to give him loads with a bit more time on them and also how would be go about getting a new dm as this one he has doesnt seem to be doing very good from what hes telling me. Also his truck has been overheating and hes not getting much on getting central to fix it, I told him to be persistent with them till they did fix it, but thought I would get some ideas to tell him from some central drivers. Thanks in advance guys.

 

That seems very unusual that if the truck is overheating that he is getting the run around. Maintenance needs to go through the otrm (over the road maintenance) shop ASAP. They may try to get to a TA or Brand shop over some country shop. I have found that when serious they get you handled right away.
When I was new all the loads were tight, but that was winter with very unpredictable conditions. Many loads are tight, but with experience can be "loosened" up through some creative solutions. Yes, that may include repowering the load. I have had them done for my loads and rescued others too. Once I switched loads to help. That one cost me money because of shorter distance.
I have found that the nights and weekend folks can be difficult to contend with because of timely communications and lack of understanding. More than once I have been hanging in a lurch with NO response via Qualcom or Phone for unacceptable
periods of time. Central expects immediate response from drivers, but doesn't always reciprocate. Recently, the response has improved, but I remain from Missouri.
In short, deal with OTRM first on maintenance and "down the aircraft" if necessary. The driver is expected to know when to stop and shout for assistance, especially on safety issues. Blowing an engine is definitely a safety issue. Good luck.