Tricks of the Trade

Yeah, you gotta plan you day. Thats why I kept that pocket size truck stop book close. Because when I started to get about an hour or two from wanting to stop, I could plan exactly where I was gonna be stopping and not worrying about parking, or running out of time.(Granted I did have those nights where, you park where you can because the qualcomms beeping, "its time to find a place to safely park, Rest is the key to safe trucking"(Schneiders qualcomm message.lol)

 

Drivers from the southern states often do not prepare for winter weather if they have a load to a northern state. Dress as though expecting the truck to break down at twenty below zero. Take a parka, or knit cap that can be pulled over your ears. Buy diesel fuel in the northern states that is treated to prevent gelling.

Drivers who live up north do not always follow this advice. I am reminded of a co-worker whose belly was always visible below his t-shirt and light wind breaker. One winter day, his fuel gelled while he was at a toll booth near Chicago. Toll road employees would not allow him into the building. In those days before cell phones, he was able to make a collect call from a phone booth to his fleet owner in Michigan. The fleet owner phoned the Illinois State Police who came to the rescue. I pictured this unprepared driver getting frost bite on his jelly belly.

 

If you are hooking to a trailer in conditions of snow and ice, the area under the nose of the trailer (where the drive tires will be located as the fifth wheel latches) may need to be shoveled and sanded before you back in there.

 

The following are rules of thumb rather than tricks of the trade, but they are two of my favorites.

For owner/operators in the olden days: Set aside a nickel per mile for future major maintenance and tires.

Here is a quote for the owner of Boelk Truck Lines, Mendota, IL when he purchased a new R model Mack in the early 1970s. "You can have money or "power", but not both." (Of course, "power" refers to any power unit or tractor)

 

The best thing I was taught was to read every sign you see... Its saved my hide more then once...

 

A tip I learned from one of my trainers that has served me well: When you pull into a parking spot covered with snow or ice, don't just back in and shut down. Pull forward, roll back, pull forward, roll back. Do this several times before you shut it off. You are compacting loose snow, cooling your tires, and reducing the chance of ice forming under your tires. If one were to combine this with the PP's advice of throwing down sand, it would virtually guarantee that the truck will not get stuck.

Several times now I've watched trucks starting out in the morning that have a real problem getting out of their spot because they just backed in and shut it down the night before. Knock on wood, but I've not been stuck in a parking spot yet.

 

Yeah, and a can opener if you don't have those easy open cans too. I didn't have a microwave, but I had soups in a can, just in case. What I did was put the defroster on full, and put the can right in the window and every few min turned the can and shook it. This was while stuck on I-80 in WY a couple of weeks ago when it was shut down yet again. It wasn't hot, but it wasn't cold either, it was warm enough not to have to choke it down anyway.