Running with JCT, Part Deux

The cheapest fuel you'll have from where you're at in WY, is the pilot in Evanston @3.89.

Don't use the EFS site for fuel prices at the Pilot, J, and Loves, as it's not accurate. Use the actual apps for those.

One more thing, subtract $0.11 from the cash price at Pilot and Flying J. That is what we pay at this places.

 

Also, you don't pay the fuel taxes, so why wouldn't you get fuel in Oregon?

 

Question for yall. If any of yall have the Tire montier system mine is annoying the hell outta me. After about 5 hours of driving the thing starts beeping until I shut the truck off then restart it. Anyone know how to make this stop.

 

What year is your truck? If you have a 2014, then I'm going to assume that it is not reading one of the tires. Is that what is happening?

 

I do have the 14 but it reads them then after 5 hours every time it starts beeping like every 20 seconds till i reset the truck.

 

That system is connected to the truck with a wire, yes?

Mine used to constantly make a racket for no discernible reason. It doesn't make any noises anymore, though.

 

I don't know what system JCT uses (but would be very interested in finding out; I am THIS close to pulling the trigger and making the leap. Been approved but still doing my due diligence); however I do have extensive experience as a manager in a medium fleet (120 trucks) with the Doran system and we had EXCELLENT results. http://www.doranmfg.com/doran360CE.htm

The only problem we had, had nothing to do with Doran and everything to do with internal processes. We used them on all our trailers too. Each sensor has to be programed for the tire position and the individual receiving unit in the cab (so if you are parked next to each other you aren't receiving each other's signals; just your own) and you can imagine the hiccups in swapping trailers or the tire changers in the shop mixing up the sensors on the trailers (putting the one they took off the LRI on the RFO etc). We couldn't fix the internal process problems so we kind ate the cost of all the sensors on the trailers and put a bunch into inventory as spares and the Pres made a deal with the Doran dealer and they bought back the balance but I guarantee it was not a wash. We took a little hit I'm sure. We wound up just using them on the tractors.

That and drivers (100% company driver outfit) not using it like they should. The epitome of a lazy PTI is not even just scrolling through the tire pressures while sitting in the driver's seat! Really? OK I get "sticking" a tire can be a real PITA Especially in bad weather. But not pushing a button in the cab? We issued every driver one of those 50' hoses with a glad hand fitting and air chuck and the mandate was if you got a low air alert you find a safe place to pull over and inflate it to spec and notify the shop. If it leaked down again you do it again and call the shop and they'd route you to the closest tire place to get the leak fixed. Fix a leak = $30 - $40; shred one from run flat = MUCH more; you guys are business folks you know all the costs). If you failed in that and either continued and just kept silencing the alarm (you can pull a very detailed history off the receiver) and ruined the tire . . . you bought that tire; but the company would prorate the cost based on tread depth. The history would show if it was a true blow out from road hazard, plus real tire pros can tell if it was a run flat or true blow out. If it was a true blow out the driver was off the hook for the cost.

Did it help? Absolutely. Tire cost went down 25% on the duals and almost 32% on Super Singles (say what you want about SS, but it was proof that our consistent problems with them were primarily due to underinflation). Granted, our venue was unfriendly to tires (scrap plants, mines, etc; dump wagons) so we picked up a lot of road hazard leaks (which is why we went with the system) so we had a tire problem; thus this brought pretty dramatic results in tire life. As far fuel economy; We did see a little increase but not as much as we could have. It is very hard to get drivers that don't have to pay for fuel to fully appreciate that, that five minutes each morning EQUALIZING pressure to SPEC (start the shift with equal tires at spec) saves fuel. Maybe only $5 - $8 for the day on their truck but multiply that times 100 trucks and five days a week and the money adds up quickly. I know the system was a bit pricey as far as TPMS's go and I don't remember the cost. But I do remember the day our Maintenance Director told us (we had weekly Directors' Meetings) the Doran system JUST paid for itself. It was only 4 months after we installed them. He was "totally geeked". So was the Pres. Granted, that was a fleet and the fleet had a tire problem that a TPMS is absolutely designed to fix. Still; if I make the leap and come on over to JCT, the Doran System will be one of my investments unless my unit has a system and it works as well as the Doran system does (did). The website doesn't mention it that I found, (granted I didn't look real hard) but I also remember our Maintenance Director telling us it had a special alarm for fast loss. If it detected a loss of 10psi in 10 seconds or less it had a special "Emergency" alarm that warned you of a fast leak and "eminent catastrophic tire failure" (fancy tire OEM way of saying "you are about to have a blow out" lol) and to pull over ASAP". As the Safety Director I especially liked that. I had to work more than just a few accidents from a tire coming apart and the "gator" hitting a vehicle.

Maybe I shouldn't be posting here since I haven't actually made the leap to JCT yet and if I'm out of line I apologize but I was perusing the JCT forum doing my due diligence checking out JCT and you guys were talking about a TPMS so I figured that any business person might be interested my experience with them. Oh, the install? Super simple. It doesn't even take a shop person. Any driver with a tad of skill can do it. If you can change a light yourself can do the install yourself; but I'd advise following company policy about such things just to CYA.

Have a good one all. Maybe I'll see you out there soon. So far I'm 90% sold on coming over. I've been approved but I have a few more items on my due diligence list to check out; and work out what kind of notice to give and transpo details (I'm not down for that long of a bus ride lol), but so far JCT and I are looking like a real smart match for a good business venture.

Happy trails and be safe.

 

Two other things I just remembered; It had a feature to use other systems to notify other "things" of an alert. By that I mean like e-mail our Maintenance Director that a unit particular had just alarmed and which tire and what the pressure was, and he had just got a ral fancy smart phone and said it would even send the alert to his smart phone. He was working out how to pull all that together but he said it id actually do that so if he got an alert he could be proactive and if the shop hadn't been notified by that driver, the shop could call or message: "Hey John, just got a low air pressure alert on your RFI. You wanna check that out please." I'm thinking that be a good thing too as you could set it to notify you on your own smart phone so if you were away from the truck when it leaked you'd know right away you had a tire problem you need to go attend to.

Also, we never really had an issue with the sensors on the valve stems causing leaks. Once in a while one would be a tad loose where a routine check for tightness by the driver tightened it a tad but it wasn't loose enough to cause a leak. Just when he twisted checking tightness it turned and tightened a little. We never had any problems from mud, crud and water messing with them either and we did a fair bit of off road driving in mud and crud going to mines. We did have a couple fail due to a driver not being able to avoid a serious road hazard (ironically, usually a shredded tire "gator) that "whapped" up and smacked it right and knocked it silly. That was unusual, though and those instances it did other damage too, like dented a fender, snagged a line or wire, cut the side wall, put a gouge on the aluminum rim. You know, the damage running over a big "gator" or tree limb does. We honestly couldn't fault the Doran design for those failures anymore than we could fault, Peterbilt, Alcoa or Bridgestone. Done talking about the system now unless anyone has questions. LOL.

 

That sounds like a tire pressure/temperature alert. Mine was set to alert at 140 PSI. On a hot day after a few hours of driving my drive tires (super-singles set at 120 PSI cold) could reach that mark and set off the alarm. You can fumble around with the buttons (if you don't have the manual) until you find out how to set the alert pressure higher and check your cold tire pressure.

The monitor is occasionally a PITA, but it saved me a super-single by alerting me to a leak. Well worth the aggravation!

 

Well, this sucks. Backed to the dock at Walmart in Los Lunas, NM only to find out that some where between Gallup, NM and here the air ride on the trailer stopped working.