Landstar Questions

that's one of the things im worried about. Im leasing a truck now and got money back on taxes. financing will change that a lot.

 

OZR, Heck thought we where having a pool party at your house, with the new truck parking lot you just put in!

 

Just be careful with the truck lease thing! Ran into a Bco yesterday who got a truck from lone mountain hes loving it, no problems good people to work with he said

 

What shop do you think will screw me less for my 120 day inspection? The TA in Dallas off of I-20 or the TA off of I-10 in Ontario CA? After I drop/hook tomorrow I am hoping that the empty I pick up will need a 120 day so the tech can focus his piece work repairs on the trailer instead of my tractor.

 

Look at the inspection web site to find a local shop, I refuse to use petro or ta for inspections, they work on comissions and play to many games, hell you cant even get them to grease a truck right

 

I also was wondering how often you veteran O/Os get 3-axle alignments? I got one back in January and truck was running smooth and now my front end feels loose and truck pulls to the right.

 

I replace shocks and get a 3 axle annually, i do a spring tune up every may, airfilters shocks air drier filter ect ect
saves me alot of grief every year

 

I will be doing my CABS on Wednesday in Grand Praire then will have Thursday to get my inspection done. Reload out Friday morning so hopefully everything will go smoothly.

 

Zan it sounds like you are trying to play it safe. I am with G/Man on the truck type. I buy freightliners for a few reasons but the weight and fuel mileage are the main two. Shop shop and shop some more. Ask a million questions about who owned the truck prior and is their maintenance paperwork on it. I make sure my trucks were either owned by a reputable company known for on time service, or they were owned by someone who has all the records. Then I pay $500 (approx.) for a dyno. If my gut says don't do it during any part of the process I back out even if I have a driver waiting for a truck. I usually do back out on the first truck I pick out. It just happens that way. The last time I was told trans was in excellent shape and then the dyno showed some small issue. Also buy whatever the longest warranty avail is. First make sure that the warranty actually means something, because some are pathetic. I am not own with Landstar so my advice will be limited. Also it will be limited because I have stepdecks and don't know much at all about vans. I actually wonder how vans make it when I see the going rate. Flats barely make it now days. The route you are referring to is the route everyone on earth wants...at least all flats do. We cannot get good pay to GA to save our life. Now we can to FL but then it is heck getting out 60% of the time. When I bought my last truck July/August of 2012, I said I wanted a 2005 or newer with less than 550,000 miles. I believe that truck is an 06 with 510,000 miles. We got a decent warranty and have put a lot of miles on truck so far. We have had a few issues with the a/c and some other small issues, but all of that was feasible given profit. I believe this truck was around $35k (not out the door). The step deck was a lot more than the truck. We buy trailers new, because the flats like to give ya trouble all the time. Good luck! I am also looking into leasing trucks to landstar. Frankly I am over trucking. I work 100 plus hours per week with my eyes glued to a screen and I cannot remember the last time I was in the sunlight. I have aged 10 years in 3. And I am just ready to start another venture. Landstar is my favorite broker so I am looking here first. Everything sounds good except that it seems you have to sweet talk and become a favorite to get loads. And that just does not seem good at all. And then also I am terrified of being able to keep drivers in trucks. We require 5 yrs otr, clean mvr, clean csa score, 26 yrs of age or older, 3 professional references, and the like. We cannot keep drivers and half the ones we get are horrible and start getting write-ups. So who knows if we could keep them with landstar. I can only hope the truck might make more so we could pay them more. Landstar dominates the loads and if I could make more under their authority instead of my own that would be a shame but I would be happy about that.

 

Is there any trick on getting into the driver's lounge in Grand Praire? I entered the # followed by my driver number then last two of social then * but no success.