Hopper, Dump O/O's & Drivers

Good job. What is involved in that? That wasn't a requirement when I was getting started.

 

Ah They check out all of your paperwork, Logs, Driver Qualification, Drug Testing, blah blah, Pretty much tell ya this is how to not screw up

 

Insufficent data on mine too,WH,but i bet it has something to do with running local, like you said.

 

This CSA 2010 is just getting started . But the more Dot Inspection you get it will change the Data . If you get a clean bill of no violations that will help you every time you get stopped . But like us we had bought a used trailer and had the annual Dot inspection done and the inspector said nothing about the light being the wrong color Amber not RED in the middle of the 3 cluster . Well about 3 months later we got pulled over and a Level 2 inspection was done. guess who got 3 points on their record now for Violaton in section 393.11/ Wrong color ID Lamp rear center /amber. our driver and us , No ticket either just warning but had to send in paper work to Austin stating that repair had been made . Some of the items that they have on the list are very pricey on point values . get above the national average and you will find yourself getting stopped and inspected so many times that it will make you head swim. This is really going to hit the bottom feeders that cut the rates so low that they do not have enough money to keep their equipment up shape.

 

I use Rotella with that Lucas oil stabilizer. Oil is oil as long as you stay away from the really cheap stuff. I've never heard anything bad about Lucas and never had any problems with it. I run it in everything. I worked for a guy that ran nothing but John Deer oil in everything he had. I didn't see any difference or see the point in paying twice as much for oil.

 

Running OTR, I go 35,000 between oil changes with regular oil (Delvac), no filter changes. I do oil analysis at every change and absolutely nothing in the results says I need to change oil any more often. Even though the factory may recommend shorter durations, with my analysis results I'm confident I would win a warranty dispute (which is about to expire anyway).

The US is about the only country in the world that has been brainwashed into thinking we need to change oil as often as we do. Buy almost any car that's available in both Europe and the US and the oil change mileage recommendations for the European model is twice what ours are. Unless you're running highly dusty or hot conditions most of the time oil changes can go to 30,000 easily, IMHO. Just get an oil analysis every change to monitor what the engine/oil/filter are doing.

About two months ago I stopped in to see the fleet owner who gave me my first OTR job almost 20 years ago. He was an old fashioned truck owner; changed oil every 12,000 and greased every 4,000 back when I drove for him. He told me that about 12 years ago his truck salesman started pestering him about lengthening his oil change/grease mileages. Long story short, he now runs his dozen trucks 35-40,000 between oil changes and greases, and his maintenance costs haven't increased a dime.

 

When I got my truck new I changed my oil between 13k and 15k and then changed to every 20k and grease job every 10k. I have always used Rotella oil but have never gone to the synthetic, I use synthetic in my Harley and have always had good luck and it seems to run cooler. I am thinking about doing the oil analysis. If I was going to trade every three to four years I would change it every 100k like some of these fleets do. lol


What is the oil do you guys use? I have always been a Rotella user but went to Mystic one time 16 years ago since it was a Oklahoma product but between oil changes I used 2 gallons instead of one. I went back to Rotella and it was just using 1 gallon.