EPES TRANSPORT-Greensboro, NC

you're doing a lot better than me lol I posted my numbers awhile back it was like 43/57 drop to live......haven't updated the spreadsheet yet but not much change. maybe a few points either way

 

Picked up another gem of a trailer today. Those TSE trailers really lead a hard life. I've had a bunch of them now and only a couple of them were in decent shape. Most show wear and tear way beyond their age and generally in poor condition. I hope as more of them get through our shops they'll get to be a little better. I've used up almost every light in my tool kit on these things and various other parts and pieces every 3rd or 4th one I get.

Si so I get one out of Rockford to Tulsa with 11:24 on it and need to try to burn out as much of the 4:45 I've got left for today going into tomorrow. Hook to this thing and the only thing working on the right side is the middle market and tail lights. Front marker busted and hanging by the wires. Rear marker not working. No brake lights. Right side turn and flashers not working. Are you ####### kidding me? Left side everything works just fine.

30 miles to closest shop. 6 in front of me minimum 2hr wait to get in a bay. So here I sit and it's 10:56 to final from here. Burning my clock fixing #### that some lazy useless ####### dropped on that yard for the next guy. ALL that #### didn't just stop working sitting there between getting dropped and loaded.

There is absolutely no sense in that ####. Makes me want to work in safety so I could start firing these idiots that leave this #### and don't get it fixed.

 

sometimes up there in Rockford I think some one is damaging are trailers to try and mess up are accounts with lowes. I've seen hall brothers drivers messing with are trailers at north Vernon before talking about a argument . I have also seen yard dogs back into trailers and bust those front markers . But hey man don't feel bad I pu a trailer that needs annual inspection 4 tires and abs work talking about another argument telling epes I'm not hauling it .

 

yeah that gets my temper up a little don't it? lol no ####### excuse for it.

i had thought briefly about something like that considering the nature of the problem but when he pulled the 7 way off the nuts holding the casing to the mount were pretty well rusted on the studs......they hadn't been off in a long time.....so no tampering there.

the marker I can give you as I've seen them backed into before myself.

he pulled the 7 way off and some of the wires were hanging loose in the housing.......some of them were about to come loose and only 2 were actually secure. before I even said a word the guy said 'this didn't happen yesterday. no telling how many guys have pulled this thing without turn signals and flashers on that side. and you would have probably lost most of the rest of it before you got far if you hadn't gotten it in here' do we really have THAT many guys that either don't do a proper pretrip or just don't give a ####? if you can't walk the length of that trailer 3 times in a row checking these things each time you roll you've got no business holding the license.

it's not limited to the junk trailers either.....I got one off the yard a couple weeks ago.....on the high value line at that.......brand new, only been in the fleet 3 weeks.......turn signals were wired backwards. hit the right and the left blinked.....hit the left the right blinked. now how did that get through inspection and down the road 3 weeks? that one alone shows the need to always do a proper pretrip and don't take anything for granted....even with a new trailer.

no time at all to fix once I finally got in there....so I was able to get about an hour or so down the road. that bought me a little cushion for tomorrow but i'll still end up at final with only about an hour left so won't get far tomorrow after the swap.

walked across to a steak and shake for a bite and all I gotta say is there's some #### fine girls in south central Illinois lol geez they're everywhere. if I didn't have such a good wife..........

 

feel your pain on the trailer issue. but think it's a mix of both tse and epes trailers. or maybe just lazy drivers. my last trip out, 12 days, replaced: missing mudflaps, picked that trailer up in houston, epes. side turn/marker light again pu in houston, epes. then got a trailer with a racing slick in nc, tse. finally made it back to texas and drop/hook at a walmart dc. raining like crazy, so quick pre-trip then home. at home it had stopped raining so did better post trip and the trailer doesn't have it's registration papers, epes.

trailers in general are like a weak link, i don't think i've pulled one that's been newer than 06 in the last three weeks. scratch that, pulled a scrap cardboard load from ga to nc that was an '11 or '12 it was a roll up.

gonna try to get my truck in the shop next week, the a/c is iffy, which on the coast eh, i can live with. just it not working right the defroster aint working worth diddly, that and from the paperwork i've found seems i'm about 30k since the last pm. thinking it should be getting close. not sure of epes schedule on that and my dm/fm either doesn't know or doesn't seem to care seeing as i've asked @ it a few times and never gotten an answer.

 

oh hands down you guys trailers are worse than ours lol but you'll get a bad run of ours too.....seems like you'll get a bunch and then you won't have any for a while and then it's all you get for awhile......

tractor service schedule is A service at 25k, B service at 50k and C service at 100K........ they'll get it in at 75k also........rinse and repeat......they know what the schedule is.....or they should at least.....mine always asks me within 5k after it's due if I got it in and got it done

noticed we had a brand new 48 footer on the yard when I went out Saturday too........

 

oh yeah, i don't doubt that tse's are worse for wear. thanks for the tip on the pm schedule.

 

I don't know why, but I can usually drive the first 200 miles of a regular trip no problem, but let it be a HV load and I have to pee right off the bat!

 

Yeah funny how that happens lol you aren't the only one.

Had one of those gray hair days today. Funny too how you can do 600 miles and then the whole trip go to hell in the last 1/2 mile. Too tired going to bed post about it tomorrow. Will have plenty of time. Got one out of Tulsa already loaded and can't deliver till Wednesday. In Wilmer, tx. 2 days to do 272 miles. Gonna break the bank on that one.

 

Are they Wabash units, by chance? Here at Crete, we've taken delivery of a bunch of new ones over the last year-plus. I picked up one at the factory, went through the inspection bay, and the marker lights didn't work. A few other newer ones are very difficult to latch. And still a few others leak.

Quality, I tell ya. Quality!