Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Well Gary won't be here - but depending on things at home - I might be (hopefully not though) so stop and say hey if you want. If not I'm sure we just might meet up somewhere

 

So how did 160 look? I'm headed across the 40 to KY I was going to keep driving but as I pulled into the Flying J in Winslow I found a good spot and decided to just stay the night and push hard the next 3 days. My load is a drop location anyway so how bad can it hurt to be a little late? J/K I have plenty of time to get there. I'm loving being on my own truck now I can have it as hot as I want in the truck and not have to worry about sweating someone else out lol.

 

On that Volvo leaning issue.
It sounds to me like a Volvo. They lean. Wait till you have it in the wind. What I am referring to is body roll though.
If you really think it is pushing on one side when in curves have them check the bushings on the leaf springs.
They go out at right around your mileage. Happened in both my Volvo trucks at Central around the mileage range you are at now.

The shifter will tighten up some when you get an A service. They get really loose when people drive them that do not know how to shift, and from people leaving hands on the shifter when driving. Wears out the shifter bad.

Not really sure on your shifting issues. Only thing I can think of is if you are accidentaly missing gears. That truck I believe has a 10 speed right? Which means you have to remember that 6th is hiding under reverse.
Otherwise I am not sure. Unless it has bad back pressure in a cylinder due to a bad injector, this would cause a cylinder to not burn properly.
Those engines can run with only half the cylinders working. So would need a computer to check it.

 

Im at the yard in Henderson now. DOT lifted the chain law today so I am going over the 70 unless something happens overnight. 160 will take me an extra couple hours and this load is already a tight schedule. My critical walmart load of underwear...lol. If the 70 still had the chain law in effect it would have taken me about 5 hours to get over the mountain since they required chains for well over 100 miles the other day. But if you see pictures of monument valley, they are incredible. If you go on 160 then make sure you dont accidentally turn on US 550 in Durango, CO thats a pain in the ### road complete with a narrow road, no guard rail and a 400 foot drop at the fog line with several switchbacks.

 

I think ill get fingerprinted for my X endorsement while on hometime for xmas. Then take the DMV test in Feb.

 

I second Mikley's get in touch with OTRM. Also, use macro 33 to record the problems. Record EVERYTHING.

I read it's a volvo, and they have a number of problems. Expect your pumps to go out, and expect the cab to tilt. Our tilted, and the older it got, the more it tilted. It got so bad I had the inspection bay in WVC look at it, and they spent 40 minutes trying to determine why it would tilt and lean so bad. We never did find out why.

If it's an 07 volvo, it has a volvo motor. Those things are pieces of crap, and the engine brake sucks in them. It's more of a party favor than an engine brake.

You'll find if you take corners too fast, the truck will respond by not turning as sharply as you expect. I believe it's call floating, or drifiting, and it can really throw you. You'll turn tight enough, and it will take a wider arc, and you'll feel like you're floating towards the edge of the road. Can be scary if you're not expecting it. I don't know if that's part of your problem, but it's a possible.

 

It's already been explained, but in case someone doesn't connect the two (I didn't for a long time) it's the South East Dispatch Loop Of Death. Once you're down there, there's very little freight, and you have a hard time getting out of there. Usually when we go down there, we have to wait a day on a load, and it's usually short one, but it gets us far enough out to not force us to go back.

The other one we get stuck on is in the North West. You'll take a Fred Meyer load to the boise area, then an Americold back towards Portland, then another Fred Meyer load out. Sometimes you do this 2 or 3 times, although it might just be the planners playing "screw over the driver" to us because we've told them we're not saving their loads a couple times. I've done portland to ID, ID to Portland like 3 times in a row in one week. It sucks.

 

I would like to have that run all the time and have home time in PDX regularly. How do you get there?

 

I will be graduating from Mid Florida Tech in Orlando school on Jan. 05.20011. Was thinking about going to Central Refrigerated. I noticed that there closest Terminal was in Conely GA. Has anyone from Orlando or Central Fla. worked for this company, and if so how was hometime and getting the proper treatment for your truck worked out.

 

How much was that program at Mid Florida Tech? What was the schedule like? Just interested....I am also interested in Central. Hearing good things about them.